United for Peace & Justice - Bay Area

Occupy Be the Change Caucus Meeting

UFPJ - Bay Area — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 23:52:20 +0000

Monday, Nov. 28, 12-3 pm
Friends Meeting House, 65 Ninth St., SF
Please RSVP to obtcc_at-request@npogroups.org

Lunch will be provided at 12 Noon. The meeting will start at 1 pm.

Only signatories to the Occupy Be the Change Pledge (see below) will be able to participate fully. Others are welcome to observe.

Proposed Agenda:

Welcome and Introductions: Why are you here?
Selection of Facilitator and Note Taker. Proposed: Facilitator, Jan Hartsough; Note Taker, Steve Leeds.
Adoption of the Agenda and Our Process for Today:

Decision-making. Proposed: We first try to reach 100% consensus and if that fails make decisions with an 80% super-majority of those voting.
Time Frame. Proposed: That we agree to proceed with this agenda at a thoughtful pace, complete as much as we can, and adjourn at 3 pm.

A Moment of Silence
Reflections on the Pledge
Mission. Proposed: That our primary mission is to help transform our society into a truly nonviolent and compassionate community dedicated to the common good of all humanity by continuing to actively support and participate in the Occupy movement.
Next Steps?
Next Meeting. When shall we meet again? Day or evening? Meal?
Announcements.
Evaluation of this Meeting.
Adjournment.

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Occupy Be the Change Pledge

As a participant in the Occupy movement, I hereby commit my whole self to nonviolence. Therefore to the best of my ability:

I am firmly committed to nonviolence as a way of life, not merely as a tactic.
I meet violence with compassion for others and myself.
I walk, talk and act in love and nonviolence.
I refrain from verbal and physical violence.
I do not accept “a diversity of tactics” when those tactics are violent or damage property.
I am open, respectful, and kind with everyone I encounter.
I invite the 1% to join us and will not insult them.
I seek justice and reconciliation so that we are all winners.
I avoid both selfishness and power trips.
I strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health as we work to build a just and democratic society.

One can sign the Pledge by sending an email to obtcc_at-request@npogroups.org with “Pledge” in the Subject line and “I sign” in the body.

NOTES:

* Neither Occupy SF nor any other occupation has endorsed or adopted this pledge, which is being circulated by the Occupy Be the Change Caucus, which is open to participants in any Occupy.
* If you sign, we’ll add your name to the list of signatories at http://goo.gl/lKRPh and invite you to subscribe to Be the Change News and participate in Membership Meetings.
* The founders of the Caucus-the original signatories, most of whom helped write the Pledge, which was inspired by Dr. King’s 1963 nonviolence pledge-were: Adam Baratz, Zoe Christopher, Roma Guy, David Hartsough, Mary Hudson, Wade Hudson, Ruth Lang, Steve Leeds, Rhonda Magee, Brenda Salgado, Muki Karen Villanueva, and angel Kyodo williams.
* The Meeting House is 1.5 blocks from the BART/MUNI Civic Center Station. Please enter through the South Door, closest to Mission Street. Ring the “Quakers – 1st floor” bell to the left of the door. The Friends Meetinghouse is accessible. No alcohol in the Meetinghouse

UFPJ-Bay Area Meeting – Sep. 22, 2011

UFPJ - Bay Area — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 03:58:53 +0000

When: Thursday, September 22, 2011, 7:00 pm.

Where: American Friends Service Committee, 65 9th Street, San Francisco, CA (close to Civic Center BART). Click here for a map.

What: United For Peace and Justice – Bay Area Fall Organizing Meeting

WHY: Many things are happening and we need to decide how we are going to be involved.

Added bonus – see the beautiful new mural on the side of the AFSC building as you are walking from Market. This was a summer project from our youth team, 67 Suenos, coordinated by Pablo Paredes and Sandra Schwartz.

It has been a while since UFPJ – Bay Area met and there is A LOT going on. Please plan to join us this Thursday.

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.

UFPJ-Bay Area Meeting – July 12, 2011

UFPJ - Bay Area — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 03:05:10 +0000

UFPJ-Bay Area monthly meeting.

When: Tuesday, July 12, 2011, 7:00 pm

Where: Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library, 6501 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA 94609-1113 (at 65th Street)

Library phone: (510) 595-7417

Click here for a map.

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:

UFPJ-Bay Area Meeting – June 15, 2011

UFPJ - Bay Area — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 23:24:46 +0000

UFPJ-Bay Area monthly meeting.

When: Wednesday, June 15, 2011, 7:00 pm

Where: Niebyl Proctor Marxist Library, 6501 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA 94609-1113 (at 65th Street)

Library phone: (510) 595-7417

Click here for a map.

UFPJ-Bay Area Meeting – May, 2011

UFPJ - Bay Area — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 23:17:29 +0000

Reports:

National Level.

Through many small donations the national was able to hire Michael Mc Pearson (National Co-chair) for two-thirds time. He’s working out of his home in Newark NJ. The coordination committee is developing a work plan for 2011 by emailing member groups for feedback. There will be some kind of national coordination on the war in Afghanistan in October.
3 existing working groups: Legislative, International which gives info and advice for international matters if requested, Nuclear disarmament, redefining security.
New group: Beyond war will take on New Priorities focus.
New WEB site
Monthly e-mail letters
Up-dating list serve of UFPJ activists.
Dues: local with no staff – $50, paid staff – $100, national – $100.

New Priorities

More than 50 organizations have signed on
Over 1600 signatures
Barbara Lee’s office is drafting a letter of support we can use
We added a new point about fair taxes
National is working on getting budgets compared: Republican, Obama, and Peoples’ budgets
Small group foci
- Berkeley and CCC will work on signature campaigns
- Oakland has 2 city council members signed on and will ask them who their key supporters are. They are discussing a possibility of a town meeting with Barbara Lee.

Sandra called a meeting of religious leaders and a number of them agreed to take the petition to their congregations.
SEIU has targeted 17-18 cities to discuss the budget with the Progressive Party. They will work in areas where there isn’t a New Priorities campaign.
The People’s budget didn’t get enough support to be considered so portions of the budget will have to be considered piece meal.
Betty is exploring possibilities of supporting New Priorities with 5 groups and will try to convene the religious community in Contra Costa.
Grey Panthers feel the work is going too slow.
There were questions about Peace Action’s support locally; Peace Action is on board nationally so we don’t anticipate they’re not coming on board.
War portion of the budget is 128% of above where it was in Regan’s budget (adjusted for inflation).
Next New Priority meeting is June 25^th.

Nuclear Updates.

4 years ago Nuclear Free Future month had a separate website, this year it will be better integrated with the UFPJ website starting around August 6^th.
June 25^th is Nuclear Abolition Day.
July 16^th Anniversary of the Trinity Test
Livermore’s August 6^th Rally will be an evening event with live feed from Japan. On August 9^th, they’ll be an action at Livermore. Committee is in the planning process.
Parts of the Abolition Alliance are reconnecting;
- PUC demo in SF
- Protests for the relicensing of Diablo Canyon.

Jackie has article in UFPJ Newsletter: discussing the cost of nuclear weapons, how weapons are supported in Ryan’s bill, and Obama’s policy.
East Bay Veterans for Peace working on nuclear issues.

Carolyn asks for suggestions for getting publicity on KPFA. It was suggested that instead of going through community announcements that she directly contact specific programs.

NATO summit in the fall seen as an opportunity for demonstration for education about the expansion of NATO and about nuclear weapons. Russia sees this expansion as a great threat and is upping nuclear weapons.

Suggestions for activating member organizations:

Make calls
Plan a teach-in in February. Promote in August.

Announcements

Pace Bene event on Peace 5/19
Oakland Living Graveyards for June 20 and July 18 only have been cancelled. They will be resuming the usual schedule of weekly vigils and monthly Living Graveyards the next of which will be August 15, 2011, the third Monday of August.

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.