Committee Updates: WILPF US Board’s ‘Call for Peace,’ AHR Meets Oct. 1, W$D Public Banking Toolkit

September 2020

WILPF US Promotes Call for Peace

By Eileen Kurkoski and Darien DeLu

WILPF is promoting radical ideas again! In August, the Board voted to agree with the Program Committee’s decision and support the Call for Peace proposal. The Call is for two major initiatives: a permanent extension of the UN’s Global Ceasefire and a 50% cut in total military spending (both the "official" budgets and "behind the curtain" money), moving the money to diverse human needs.  

The Ceasefire campaign connects to the second part of our national "solidarity season" action. (See more on the Ceasefire, including a timeline of important events, in this Resource Guide – UN Global Ceasefire).  

With the spending cut/money move, WILPF is supporting the Poor People's Moral Budget, which proposes to move funds from a $350 billion (50%) cut of carefully selected items in the Department of Defense budget. Our WILPF position goes further, with 50% cuts of other selected military spending, under other projects and departments, plus a 50% cut in unbudgeted – unaccounted for! – military spending.

The selected cuts will be tracked down with careful research, leading to a total that could be close to a trillion dollars – funds to be applied to the Green New Deal and other greatly needed projects. More next month.

Advancing Human Rights Meetings Will Determine Next Steps

On Thursday, October 1, the Advancing Human Rights Issue Committee continues its regular meeting schedule – the first Thursday of the month. Join us! If you haven’t joined in our meetings in the last few months, please be sure to pre-register here.

We’ll be determining next steps, based on member interest, in the several areas of work we have before us:

• activities around the UN’s International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024)
• promotion of voting rights for all (see Election 2020 - Facts Not Fear: What YOU Can Do) 
• work to advance racial justice (see the July 2020 AHR article which includes the beginning of a Resource Library).

Of course advancing human rights covers numerous topics. If you want to encourage activities in another area, join us and speak up! We meet Thursdays at 5 pm PDT / 7 pm CDT / 8 pm EDT.

For more information (or if you can’t make it to the scheduled meeting), contact AHR at AHRChair@wilpfus.org.

What if WE Could Fund What We Need with Local Investments Kept Local?

By the Women, Money & Democracy Committee

The Women, Money & Democracy Committee is finalizing a toolkit to help YOU advance local projects you care most about. 

Public Banking has been gaining support around the country, particularly in California. And the W$D team is working hard to connect activists with a ‘primer’ that consolidates information from many sources to explain how public banking works. Understanding how we could PAY for important transitions to a more sustainable world can help us answer the nay-sayers who insist we must work from a false narrative of scarcity and austerity that only punishes the poor.

Innovative investment could help fund the Green New Deal, locally-owned water plant modernization, new bridges and roads, as well as investments in healthcare and education. It can offer small businesses and students low interest loans that keep them going. It can help fund low income housing, land trusts, public transportation services, and all the things we’re told we can’t afford. 

This booklet includes handouts and talking points to help you begin the dialogue in your own community…and offers connections to current public banking initiatives in states across the country.  

If you’d like to help edit this early draft, contact the committee at mbgardam@gmail.com. Look for the finished toolkit before the end of 2020!