An alert from the US Section of the
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
The Fall/Winter 2022 issue of Peace & Freedom 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 or the links below
This issue covers a wide range of the important work WILPF US is doing in the world to advance peace and justice and to care for humanity and the earth. Whether it’s a new issue committee on domestic violence, an eye-opening trip to Cuba, WILPF’s many unique projects and collaborations happening around PFAS, or smart and comprehensive analyses of sanctions and of the abortion rights struggle, the authors here combine reflection and action. Also included is a summary of what went on at the 33rd International Congress in July. Dig in as soon as you can – many articles are better read before the November midterms!

Click here to view PDF as "turnable pages" using Yumpu.
Click here to access a standard PDF.

In the Fall/Winter 2022 issue:

  • President Darien De Lu notes the “set of bad situations” in the US right now, the “multiple and intense shocks” and the “sheer number of terrible events” assaulting us all. But she reminds us that the very point of WILPF is “we are not alone and isolated.” She points to the importance of our branches, which “seek to construct a safe space for activist critiques and work – one of familiarity, trust, and understanding of the multiple layers of real people.”

  • Patricia Hynes starts with the current reality of sanctions against Russia to introduce her well-researched analysis of sanctions. Drawing from many specific examples of US sanctions against other countries, she asks us to consider whether and when they are a just, effective policy tool (as many believe they were in South Africa and Liberia), vs. when they are “a blunt and ineffective policy tool, disproportionately harming the most vulnerable populations while not changing the targeted government” (as in Cuba, North Korea, and Iran).

  • Leni Villagomez Reeves and “Dr. Jean” Kennedy report on their July trip to Cuba with a Pastors for Peace Caravan and both remark on how they find the Cuban people to be inspiring. Leni focuses on Cuba’s international medical solidarity and the service-oriented Latin American School of Medicine, while Jean relays conversations she had with Cubans about suffering under the long economic blockade and wanting “USA-ers” to recognize that they, too, are Americans. 

  • A new branch PFAS education project is the latest among WILPF’s unique projects to raise awareness about these “forever chemicals,” detailed here by Nancy Price and Marguerite Adelman. The 2020 California Tour “Exposing the Pentagon” and the Vermont PFAS/Military Poisons Coalition have already raised the visibility of PFAS and its dangers across the country. Now Marguerite is offering a free Zoom program to WILPF branches tailored to their specific location and needs. Meanwhile, a new national organization, S.A.F.E., is taking their case right to the EPA’s door.

  • Deanna Murphy describes the work of the newest issue committee in WILPF US, the “DPoW” (Domestic Prisoners of War) Committee. A majority of DPoW members are themselves survivors of domestic violence, and they know firsthand that “the lasting and harmful effects of this trauma-inducing phenomenon deserve much more attention.” Dee explains the three-year plan of the committee, which will include educating ourselves and the public, examining legislation, and working on a series of improvements to our judicial system. The aim of all of these efforts is for more people to be “liberated from the cruel and dehumanizing impacts of domestic abuse.”

  • WILPF’s 33rd International Congress was hosted by WILPF Australia and held online July 16-24. 2022. Coverage here includes: Deanna “Dee” Murphy’s account of what it was like to be a first-time participant and a delegate from the US Section; Cindy Piester’s summary of Congress Workshops on the environment, social justice, and demilitarization for feminist peace, about half of which were offered, presented, or sponsored by members of WILPF US; an account by Robin Lloyd of the Vermont gathering where members watched Congress together; and an introduction to WILPF International’s new President, Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo of WILPF Cameroon.

  • Marybeth Gardam shares how Public Banking Learning Circles held by the Women, Money & Democracy Committee have led to a revived public banking movement in Vermont. Local leaders Shanda Williams and Jaqueline Reike are organizing in preparation for the November 2022 election for State Treasurer. As more women learn how public banks “can benefit women, families, economically depressed communities, small businesses, and communities of color while fostering peace and environmental justice,” Marybeth explains, they become “on fire about economic justice.”

  • “The Supreme Court’s decision to nullify Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022,” Laura Dewey explains, “signals a trend building for decades – the rise of authoritarianism and the further decline of democracy.” Laura’s far-reaching analysis links the attack on abortion rights with the attacks on voting rights. “This is what ending abortion rights is about – power,” she writes. She encourages us all to do what we can to make sure good candidates make it into office this November, and to work for an even bigger backlash than the one led by women in 2017-18.

  • Having attended the June 18 Poor People’s Campaign “Moral March on Washington and to the Polls” along with 37 other WILPFers, Jan Corderman takes us through the history of the original Poor People’s Campaign to show how the current movement is continuing the work of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. At the June 18 rally, participants heard from Dr. Bernice King and others about “the reality that poverty in all its forms is violence.” Jan ends with praise for Emily Keel’s leadership of our WILPF-PPC Initiative and her “ever louder calls to take action against immoral policies and interlocking injustices.”

In other contributions:

  • Mary Hanson Harrison interviews WILPF US Development Liaison Jeneve Brooks and they end up discussing fundraising and serendipity. They also raise up the fact that it’s the 100th anniversary of Jane Addams’ book Peace and Bread in Time of War, and discuss how “her messages on pacifism and humanitarian aid to send food to former enemies…speak to our mission today.”

  • Donna Pihl, the new chair of the Advancing Human Rights Committee, provides an account of the varied work covered by active subcommittees. Among these activities are: advocacy for the human rights of people seeking freedom, opportunity, and safety in the “Border and Migration Justice” subcommittee; engaging branches in supporting efforts in their states to “end mass incarceration and the death penalty” (by the subcommittee with this name); supporting the UN Decade for People of African Descent as part of the “UN Decade/Reparations” subcommittee; and bolstering “anything and everything” covered by/at the United Nations that is related to women in “UN4Women.”

  • Judy Adams reports on the actions by WILPF’s Voting Rights Solidarity Action Committee to get out the vote (GOTV) in this year’s critical elections, including Ashley Carrington’s Voting Rights Toolkit and Judy’s resource document on voting rights introduced by an article about voter suppression. She also shares her own experience making calls with the Center for Common Ground, whose aim is to empower underrepresented voters in voter suppression states.

  • “Having some common-sense guidelines for our branches will allow us to grow and sustain ourselves in today’s times,” writes Membership Development Chair Shilpa Pandey. Shilpa describes how and why the national Board created these six time-honored “Branch Recommendations and Protocols,” to improve communication channels and to make sure WILPF US has a collective voice.

  • WILPF US members from three different branches offer us here, as Darien De Lu puts it, “loving farewells to three widely known WILPF activists, whose lives can inspire us.” Susan M. Smith and Mary King share the “boundless energy” that Edith Bell always modeled in her activism in Pittsburgh, and how her experience as a Holocaust survivor shaped her lifelong commitments to speak up for all who have been dehumanized and mistreated. Lucy Lewis describes how Triangle (NC) Branch member Miriam Thompson led labor efforts and created alliances with other local organizations, while mentoring other activists along the way. Tina Shelton of the Philadelphia Branch lists the many talents of Marge Van Cleef, who “practiced a non-consumer lifestyle before we had words for it,” who was a lifelong teacher, and who was “creative, outspoken, and politically acute” in her many activist home bases.

  • The branch round-up reveals the many and remarkable things our branches have been up to recently, including: dressing up in symbolic “I Miss Democracy” costumes for a local July 4th parade; holding a Zoom roundtable on white privilege; joining Rainbow Pride parades and handing out Jane Addams book award winners to local libraries, co-organizing a “Climate Emergency Event”; cosponsoring an Africa Day; and continuing to express support for the TPNW. Multiple branches report on their efforts to protest for Peace in Ukraine and to commemorate Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Your support helps us reach farther and be more effective. Consider a donation to WILPF today to demonstrate your solidarity with our work.
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom/US Section
Friends House | PO Box 13075 | Des Moines, IA 50310 | 617-266-0999 | www.wilpfus.org


Stay Connected