United for Peace & Justice - Bay Area » Miscellaneous

Nuclear-Free Future Month

UFPJ - Bay Area — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 03:47:14 +0000

United for Peace and Justice has declared August Nuclear Free Future Month – a month of education and action for a world free of nuclear weapons and nuclear power! Visit www.nuclearfreefuture.org to endorse the Call to Action, access or add to a calendar of events, and view a variety of action ideas and educational resources.

Start the month by casting your vote in the New Priorities Network budget poll! Tell the President and Congress what you think of the alternatives for our nuclear future that have been offered in three budget blueprints: the Obama budget, the Congressional Progressive Caucus People’s Budget and the Ryan (GOP) budget. As we approach the August 6^th and 9^th anniversaries of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, consider how the three budgets deal with nuclear weapons.

Obama budget: Well over $185 billion by 2020 to maintain and modernize U.S. nuclear weapons systems, including construction of three new warhead production facilities and an array of new delivery systems. The FY 2012 budget request includes $7.63 billion for maintenance and modernization of nuclear warheads – the largest amount ever; $197 million for research and development of a new long-range nuclear bomber; $2.6 million for a future Intercontinental Ballistic Missile; and $1.07 billion to develop a new ballistic missile submarine slated to be in operation through 2080.

The People’s Budget: Reduce the U.S. nuclear arsenal, cancel the Trident II missile, limit modernization of nuclear weapons infrastructure and research, and selectively curtail missile defense and space programs.

Ryan Budget: Fully fund modernization of the infrastructure that builds and maintains the nation’s nuclear weapons systems.

And, as the earthquake and tsunami-damaged Fukushima reactors continue to spew deadly radiation into the atmosphere, the ground and the ocean, let’s look at how the three budgets deal with nuclear energy.

Obama budget: The FY 2012 budget request provides $36 billion in taxpayer loans for new nuclear reactors.

The People’s Budget: Eliminate subsidies for new nuclear power plants.

Ryan Budget: Encourage the development of American-made energy sources, including nuclear.

Which budget would you choose? Vote now and join the more than 15,000 people who have already cast their ballots! And please share the poll with community groups, family, coworkers and friends. The results of this poll will be sent to members of Congress, the media, and everyone who participated in the poll who provides an (optional) email address. The greater the numbers, the bigger the impact!

Want to do more? Enroll your mayor in Mayors for Peace! A great new recruitment tool, a Dear Colleague letter signed by 15 mayors, is now available for your use. Click here for more information and a recruitment kit! Help us make Nuclear Free Future Month a month-long success!!

Support Nuclear Free Future Month. Seek peace, be part of the solution. No Nukes! No Wars!

PS: Please donate to this effort here!

Cast Your Vote in the Federal Budget Debate!

UFPJ - Bay Area — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 23:50:22 +0000

Dear Friends of Peace and Justice,

United for Peace and Justice – Bay Area has endorsed the New Priorities Campaign, part of the national New Priorities Network. Please take a few minutes to voice your opinion about the budget choices that have been offered to Congress: the GOP Ryan budget, the Obama budget, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus’s People’s budget.

CAST YOUR VOTE HERE! Does the country need the GOP/Ryan budget, President Obama’s budget or Congressional Progressive Caucus People’s budget? Take the New Priorities Network budget poll. As the President and Congress work on the FY2012 budget, they need to hear from the grassroots about what the federal government needs to do to rebuild the economy.

Please share the poll with community groups, family, coworkers and friends. The greater the numbers, the bigger the impact. Share the poll on community listservs, post it to Facebook and send it out on Twitter. Set up tables at street fairs and conferences; use your laptop, tablet or Smartphone to collect votes.

The New Priorities Campaign is a grassroots initiative to build a broad movement demanding that Congress adopt a budget that reprioritizes our nation’s spending to meet the needs of the people by stopping the wars and cutting the military budget. Click here to read and sign onto the Declaration of Principals.

Budget Background

Right now the President and Congressional leaders are trying to strike a bargain on the Fiscal Year 2012 budget. They have until July 22 to close the deal before the debt ceiling is reached on August 2.

As reported in The Hill: “During discussions over raising the debt ceiling, the White House has floated $300 billion in security spending cuts on top of $1 trillion in domestic cuts over a decade.” This means that “security” cuts are only 23% of the discretionary cuts that Obama is offering – less than one in four of the discretionary dollars on the table. “Security” makes up nearly six in ten dollars of discretionary spending. The President’s budget priorities are upside down!

There are better choices. InApril, members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted on two different blueprints for the FY 2012 federal budget – one introduced by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and the other by the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC). One (Ryan) was approved, the other (CPC) was rejected. Together they represent opposite ends of the continuum of budget options currently under debate in Washington.

Last month, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the national association of cities with populations over 30,000, adopted two groundbreaking resolutions calling on Congress to slash spending on wars and nuclear weapons, and to redirect those funds to meet urgent domestic needs.

America’s Mayors have voted. Now it’s your turn to help build a consensus for how we can feed the hungry and employ the jobless by ending wars and militarism and redefining security in human and ecologically sustainable terms.

Want to do more? Contact progressive members of congress (e.g., CPC members) and ask them to make public statements or hold press conferences, minimally doubling, to at least $600B, cuts in the “defense” budget as part of any deficit deal.

Thanks for casting your vote, and please get active with United for Peace and Justice – Bay Area and the New Priorities Campaign.

The People’s Budget

UFPJ - Bay Area — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 01:23:27 +0000

Read The People’s Budget, the Budget of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Fiscal Year 2012! According the to Congressional Progressive Caucus, “The People’s Budget eliminates the deficit in 10 years, puts Americans back to work and restores our economic competitiveness…Responsibly ends our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to leave America more secure both home and abroad…Cuts defense spending by reducing conventional forces, procurement, and costly R&D programs.”

Click here to read The People’s Budget!

On a related note, check out Joshua Holland’s AlterNet article, Five Eye-Opening Facts About Our Bloated Post-9/11 ‘Defense’ Spending.

US Conference of Mayors unanimously adopts Mayors for Peace resolution

UFPJ - Bay Area — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 01:09:13 +0000

Jackie Cabasso of the Western States Legal Foundation and the North American organizer of Mayors for Peace attended the US Conference of Mayors last week and filed the following report.

Another victory! The US Conference of Mayors, the national association of cities with populations over 30,000 today unanimously adopted a resolution calling on President Obama to work with the leaders of the other nuclear weapon states to implement the United Nations Secretary-General’s 5-point plan to negotiate the elimination of nuclear weapons, by the year 2020, as urged by Mayors for Peace, and calling on Congress to terminate funding for modernization of the nuclear weapons complex and nuclear weapons systems, to slash spending on nuclear weapons well below Cold War Levels, and to redirect those funds to meet the urgent needs of cities. The resolution was introduced in the final plenary by International Affairs Committee Chair, Mayor Jean Quan of Oakland, CA. Unlike the Bring Our War Dollars Home resolution adopted later, the Mayors for Peace resolution was not pulled for for discussion and a vote, and therefore was not debated.

In an historic speech to the USCM yesterday, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised Mayors for Peace and its Cities Are Not Targets campaign, with over 1 million signatures. The SG also thanked the UN for its resolution supporting his 5-point plan for nuclear disarmament. Ban was greeted enthusiastically by the American mayors, who gave him standing ovations at the beginning and conclusion of his speech. Linking the global and the local, the SG told the USCM: “The road to peace and progress runs through the worlds cities and towns.”

I urge you to use and promote the Mayors for Peace resolution in your education and advocacy along with the Bring Our War Dollars Home resolution. They are mutually reinforcing and complimentary. Following his speech to the USCM on Saturday, the Mayor of Kabul Afghanistan joined Mayors for Peace. He told me that his city had been 90% destroyed by war, like Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I think this little story nicely ties the two resolutions together. Many thanks to everyone who helped get co-sponsors.

Next step: Mayors for Peace currently has more than 4,700 members in 150 countries; over 175 in the US. We’ve launched a new recruiting drive with the goal of reaching 5,000 member cities by the August 6th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima. At that point Mayor Matsui, the new Mayor of Hiroshima, will be able to announce that Mayors for Peace represents the wishes of more than one billion people around the world. I hope you’ll help us reach our goal.

Click here to download the resolution, as adopted, with the list of co-sponsors.

Click here for an Information Brief on U.S. nuclear weapons spending. (You may be shocked!)

– Jackie Cabasso, North American Coordinator, Mayors for Peace, June 20, 2011

Further information on the US Conference of Mayors:

Call on Congress: Use Pentagon Budget to End Wars and Bring Troops Home

UFPJ - Bay Area — Wed, 25 May 2011 17:45:01 +0000

This week, the House is expected to debate and vote on the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) – the bill authorizing spending for the Pentagon. Call Congress today, using this toll free number 1-888-231-9276.* Urge your representative to support the Lee, McGovern-Jones, and Garamendi amendments to the Defense Authorization Act. Collectively they represent responsible steps that can put us on the path to end the war in Afghanistan. Also ask your congressperson to support an amendment to strike the Mckeon-McCain reauthorization language from the bill.

Lend your voice to this nationally coordinated campaign. We want to keep pressure on Congress until the vote which is expected on Thursday.

It is time we brought our troops home from Afghanistan and stopped wasting billions of dollars we need at home. The last thing Congress should be doing is authorizing endless war, but that’s exactly what the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act does.

Click here for more information on this call-in campaign.

* This toll-free number was paid for by the Friends Committee on National Legislation.

Pietro Ameglio – Nonviolence Organizer from Mexico in Bay Area May 14 to 20

UFPJ - Bay Area — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 01:31:38 +0000

Fed up with the spiraling collateral damage of the drug war and sparked by the torture and murder near Cuernavaca of several young people, including the 24-year-old son of Javier Sicilia, poet, columnist and nonviolence activist, Mexican civil society groups are coordinating nationwide actions May 5 to 8, including a march from Cuernavaca to Mexico City. The theme for the May 5-8 actions is “Estamos hasta la madre. Alto a la guerra. Por un México justo y en paz,” or “Fed up! Stop the war! For a just and peaceful Mexico.”

These actions build on those of April 6, when 25,000 people marched for peace in Cuernavaca – the largest in the history of Morelos (the state where Cuernavaca is located); similar actions took place elsewhere in Mexico and at Mexican embassies abroad.

Pietro Ameglio, a prominent Gandhian nonviolence educator/activist and close collaborator of Javier Sicilia, will be in the Bay Area May 14 to 20, speaking about the current crisis in Mexico and the emerging nonviolent resistance.

Over the past four years, the drug violence in Mexico has claimed the lives of close to 40,000 people. In January 2011, Pietro played a key role in a public demonstration and fast in Juarez, the most violent city in Mexico. He wrote:

“In the two days following our original gathering in Juarez, six women were murdered, two of them in Juarez itself; there were kidnappings, disappearances, massacres. All of which raises the question: If our gathering and a public fast didn’t halt the violence, what good were they?

“But it was never suggested that this action was going to stop the barbarity. Rather it was intended to contribute to creating better conditions for listening, for coming together and for community action; to increasing the ties of national and international solidarity; to developing the next stages of our broad-based and peaceful struggle; and to shouting out in a very public way ‘Enough!’

“We are in the midst of a tragic war not of our making – the Mexican government declared war against organized crime, and we know that violence generates violence. The saying of Gandhi is more than ever applicable here: ‘An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.’”

Several groups are coordinating events throughout the Bay Area to raise public awareness and support for nonviolence efforts in Mexico. Pietro’s engagements currently include:

May 14, 7pm: IF Latin America Dinner, a fund raising event for Pietro. 160 Sunflower Lane, Watsonville. For reservations or more information, visit www.integrities.org or email ifofficemgr[at]gmail[dot]com

May 16, 6pm: Presentation at Monterey Institute for International Studies. For information please contact Pushpa Iyer at pushpa.iyer[at]miis[dot]edu

May 17, 7 pm: Presentation at the Metta Center for Nonviolence, 1730 Martin Luther King Jr Way, Berkeley (near Berkeley Center BART) Sponsored by Fellowship of Reconciliation and Metta Center for Nonviolence. For more information contact John Lindsay-Poland at johnlp[at]forusa[dot]org

May 18, 7 pm: Presentation at the Center for Political Education, 522 Valencia St., San Francisco (near 16th St. BART). Sponsored by Global Exchange, CPE, and Fellowship of Reconciliation. For more information contact John Lindsay-Poland at johnlp[at]forusa[dot]org

May 19, 7PM: Presentation at Watsonville Brown Berets Bike Shack. Contact Sandino Gomez at sandinista[at]freakradio[dot]org

May 20: Santa Cruz area presentation TBA

The Bay Area groups coordinating Pietro Ameglio’s events include IF and the Resource Center for Nonviolence in Santa Cruz; Fellowship of Reconciliation and Global Exchange in San Francisco; and the Metta Center for Nonviolence.

About Pietro Ameglio

Pietro Ameglio of Mexico has worked for more than two decades promoting active nonviolence in Latin America. Currently his efforts are at the heart of an emerging nonviolence movement in Mexico, offering new hope against uncontrolled drug violence and increasing militarization.

Our Money: Waging War, Bailing Out Banks, and Subsidizing the Rich

UFPJ - Bay Area — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 21:23:17 +0000

This year will mark ten years of U.S. war in Afghanistan. That’s ten years of your taxes paying for war. Now the same people who keep us at war and bailed out the banks and Wall Street (Congress and the president) want to cut important services and programs our communities need. They want to give tax cuts to the rich and balance the federal budget on the backs of the poor.

This tax day people are fighting back across the country. Learn more about where your tax money goes and what you can do about it.

Resources you can use:

The War Resisters League’s federal pie chart illustrates how much of our tax dollars really go toward military spending.
The National Priorities Campaign’s website has up-to-date breakdowns of what the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are costing your state and your community!
The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee’s website offers many resources.
12 Facts About Military Spending

What you can do:

US Uncut: National Days of Action
Right to the City: National Tax Day Flash Mobs
Educate – Hand out the War Resisters League pie chart at your local post office or simply leave a few in public places like Starbucks and Barnes and Nobles.
Influence – Click here to email your Representative in Congress

Malalai Joya Will Be in U.S.!

UFPJ - Bay Area — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 01:20:38 +0000

Afghan Women's Mission

Malalai Joya, the acclaimed Afghan human rights activist and former MP, was granted a visa on March 24 by the U.S. Embassy. This allows her to attend the remainder of her U.S. National Tour, including her California visit (see below).

San Francisco Bay Area Malalai Joya Events

Ending the War in Afghanistan, An Evening with Malalai Joya

When: Sat, Apr 9, 6pm Pacific Time.
Where: Episcopal Church of St. John the Evangelist, 15th and Julian, San Francisco, CA (map).

$7-25 (no one turned away). Wheelchair accessible (wheelchair entrance on 15th Street).

Malalai Joya has been called the “bravest woman in Afghanistan.” She was the youngest member elected to the Afghan Parliament but was suspended for denouncing the warlords and the US/NATO war and occupation. She continues to speak out despite death threats and assassination attempts.

Join us as she talks about the situation in Afghanistan and why it’s essential that US/NATO troops leave immediately. Her book, A Woman Among Warlords, with a new afterward about the war under Obama, is now in paperback and will be available for purchase.

Back to the Streets! Rally Against the Wars at Home and Abroad

When: Sun, Apr 10, Noon Pacific Time.
Where: Dolores Park, San Francisco, CA (map).

Click here to download the flyer.

Four Things YOU Can Do About Malalai Joya’s Visa Denial

UFPJ - Bay Area — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 04:16:09 +0000

The U.S. Embassy this week denied famed Afghan women’s rights activist Malalai Joya a visa to the United States for an extensive speaking tour that was to kick off on Saturday March 19th. Americans are being denied the right to hear from an on-the-ground activist how the war is affecting ordinary Afghans, especially women.

Click here to read the Afghan Women’s Mission press release.

FOUR THINGS YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT:

1. Have your elected representatives sign onto a letter urging the U.S. Embassy to reconsider their decision.

Six Members of Congress and three Senators have sent this letter.

Ask your Senator or Representative to send a similar letter AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

The more elected representatives that contact the Embassy, the greater the chance of that the U.S. Embassy will reverse their visa denial.

2. Sign this online petition demanding Malalai Joya be granted a visa to the United States.

Then, send it to all your friends and post it on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

3. Attend one of the many events organized for Malalai around the country.

Whether she gets to the U.S. or not it is imperative that the events go on as scheduled. If she is unable to be physically present organizers will attempt to have her speak to the audience via live video chat. Transform the events into “free-speech” events, to affirm your right to hear from people like Malalai Joya.

Click here for details of Malalai’s tour.

4. Demand media coverage of Malalai’s visa denial.

Contact local and national media urging them to cover Malalai Joya’s visa exclusion. The denial of a visa to Afghanistan’s most intrepid and well known feminist should make headlines! Point them to our press release for details: http://www.afghanwomensmission.org/?p=1255

In solidarity,

– UFPJ Afghanistan Working Group

Another Open-Ended War?

UFPJ - Bay Area — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 01:52:33 +0000

As the U.N. Security Council authorized the use of force in Libya, France’s U.N. envoy is predicting imminent military action, while U.S. envoy Susan Rice has warned of “swift and sure…military action.” It’s the job of Congress to ensure that the U.S. does not get pulled into an open-ended war in Libya. However you feel about the necessity of military action in Libya, it’s time for Congress to question what the U.S. role will be.

What are the chances that this could backfire and cause harm to Libyan people?
What is the potential for escalation into a wider bombing war or even the use of ground troops?
How much will this result in loss of civilian lives?
How much would this cost in U.S. lives and money?

Peace Action West has provided a way to urge your representative to ask these questions. Click here to act.