The winter/spring 2019 issue of "Peace & Freedom" magazine will appear soon in your mailboxes. Watch for the print issue, and let your friends know that the magazine is available as a PDF on the WILPF US website.  

 

The winter/spring 2019 issue includes "global narratives with individual perspectives." From Ghana Congress Reflections to a handful of articles reflecting on environmental justice and its interrelationship with peace issues, these accounts highlight WILPFers and other activists throughout the world who are standing up, speaking up, and working tirelessly for human rights, peace, and environmental sustainability.

In the winter/spring 2019 issue  

• Former President Mary Hanson Harrison reflects on the "feminist, global, grassroots" vision and mission of WILPF US. She encourages collaboration with like-minded movements and organizations, looks back with gratitude on her own time as president, and stresses the "human connections" that "put theory into action."
 
• Read about President Darien De Lu's lifelong commitment to "justice issues and taking action around them." Darien hopes to build on WILPF's strengths by encouraging WILPF members to stay open to new ideas while providing the kind of leadership which "addresses the whole person" so we can "be effective in our political work."
  
  
• Dawn Nelson   reports on the 2018 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, emphasizes the need for peacebuilding if the 2030 Agenda is to be successful, and explains the local relevance of these international goals. "Investing in sustainable development is an investment in the peace economy," she writes.
  
  
• Two articles from different parts of the world describe the devastating local impact of environmental contamination: Linda Cataldo Modica details the sickening results of weapons contamination in East Tennessee and the community-based activism-the "Wall of Women"--fighting for recognition and action. Linda pleads for continued WILPF support to stem the arms trade. And Barbara Taft recently visited another well-known site of environmental devastation, Ogoniland, where long-term oil contamination by Shell Oil has destroyed what used to be Nigeria's breadbasket. Her eyewitness account of abandoned projects, empty hospitals and schools, and polluted rivers, streams, and fields, is a call to action.
  
  
• Marguerite Adelman shares an inspiring story of the ambitious Burlington Branch effort that brought two atomic bomb survivors to speak at Vermont colleges and high schools. Described as "the largest peace education program in Vermont in over 30 years," it included sharing ideas for direct action. The branch hopes programs like this can "empower the next generation of peace activists." 

In other contributions:

• H. Patricia Hynes draws on her interviews with WomanStats researchers and Ghana Congress participants to make this clear case: "Peace and the security of nations are powerfully linked with the equality of women."
• Barby Ulmer and Darien De Lu write about the courageous women and inspiring African Sections at the Ghana Congress; Jean Verthein shares photos and reflections from the side trip she took to Elmina's 'slave castle.'
• Dixie Hairston describes the innovative program that sends a delegation of university students to the CSW at the UN headquarters each year; other participants, past and present, look forward to this year's 63rd CSW.
• Beth McGowan shares "get-out-the-vote" and other activities by the newest WILPF Branch that have already gained Rockford, Illinois members a reputation as "the women who get things done."
• The WILPF US Board and Development Committee met face-to-face in Des Moines; Jan Corderman reports on this "productive and informative" work session.
• The branch round-up reveals busy months of rallies, lobbying, and working with other local groups to advocate for change.