DISARM/End Wars Issue Committee

Join Us!

DISARM/End Wars Committee Contact Information –

Chairs: Cherrill Spencer, Dianne Blais, Ellen Thomas

WE WELCOME NEW MEMBERS to our committee. We meet by zoom on the second and last Sundays of each month at 4:30 pm PT, 6:30 pm CT, 7:30 pm ET. 

To find out the zoom link and to request to join the Disarm listserv, write to disarmchair@wilpfus.org.

Mission

• Work for a Nuclear-Free Future by eliminating all nuclear weapons and phasing out nuclear and fossil fuel energy.
• Develop resources to educate the public about the importance of moving the money from weapons and war to carbon-free, nuclear-free energy and other crucial societal needs.
• Encourage diplomacy as the way to deal with conflict, bringing more women to the negotiating table by promoting UN Security Council Resolution 1325.
• Raise consciousness about the need to address the environmental and economic effects of militarism and nuclear weapons, especially on black, indigenous, and low-income communities.
• Support members and branches in their own projects for peace and disarmament. 

A Short History

WILPF has been working to disarm the planet since 1915. In 1975, WILPF International convened the Women’s Disarmament Conference in New York, and in 1999 created Reaching Critical Will. Reaching Critical Will leads WILPF’s analysis of the United Nations and advocates for disarmament and the reduction of global military spending and militarism. It also investigates gendered aspects of the impact of weapons and of disarmament processes. 

The WILPF US DISARM / End Wars issue committee was started several decades ago. Current members are the latest in a long line of dedicated women who try to approach disarmament from every direction, welcoming the ideas and assistance of allies in the peace and disarmament movement. The Committee collaborates as appropriate with other WILPF US issue committees. 

Our Vision

A world free of nuclear weapons and militarism, with a feminist economy based on human needs.

Our Goals

Our committee work is driven by the growing threat that nuclear weapons pose to human survival, the environment, socioeconomic development, the global economy, food security, and the health and welfare of current and future generations.

• Getting support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW): circulate petitions to the House and the Senate, write to our Congressional Representatives and Senators, work on getting resolutions from cities in support of the TPNW.
  • Support the Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Conversion Act (“the Norton Bill”), introduced each Congressional session since 1994. See http://prop1.org. Please sign and circulate the WILPF US petition to the House and petition to the Senate. 
  • Promote the ICAN Pledge and Back from the Brink.
• Promoting the Warheads to Windmills campaign to move the money from nuclear weapons and address climate change.
• Reducing the US military budget. We are partners in Cut the Pentagon, a resource-full website led by Code Pink. Another coalition we work with is People Over Pentagon. Another tactic we are advocating for is divesting from the military-industrial complex, see Divest From the War Machine.
• Dealing with the radioactive waste and contaminated lands created by the decades of producing nuclear weapons. We are members of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, founded by a coalition of organizations near radioactive sites, which educates people via DC Days training in the spring each year, and helps to set up meetings with Congress members. 
• Advocating for ceasefires in ongoing wars such as the war between Palestine in Gaza and Israel and between Ukraine and Russia. We have attended Peace in Ukraine peace summits, in person and via livestream, such as in Vienna in June 2023. 
• Collaborate with WILPF sections in Africa to work against AFRICOM and to spread awareness, here and abroad, about the International Congress on Pan-Africanism.
• End Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (L.A.W.S.) and weaponized drones. This campaign educates the public and legislators about the use of Artificial Intelligence in military weapons, and the need to follow international law.
• Promote peace via treaties. This campaign draws attention to the arms control treaties that have recently been abandoned by the US and Russia and educates the public about the urgent need to re-negotiate treaties that concern nuclear weapons and their testing. We are members of the LAW NOT WAR coalition which promotes legal alternatives to war. See Project Enduring Peace, a project of A Future Without War.
• Get institutions and individuals to divest from weapons industries. For example, we collaborate with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) to develop strategies to press for divestment in pension plan portfolios, such as Don’t Bank On The Bomb.

Other Activities

• We collaborate with many peace or anti-nuclear weapons organizations, working with Abolition 2000, Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, Black Alliance for Peace, Code Pink, Defuse Nuclear War, Extinction Rebellion, Mayors for Peace, NuclearBan.US, Peace Action, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, Peace in Ukraine, People over Pentagon, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Poor People's Campaign, Proposition One Campaign, Raging Grannies, Roots Action, Veterans for Peace, Women Against NATO, World Beyond War, Warheads to Windmills Coalition ... and more.
• We post a variety of videos to the @WILPFUStoday YouTube channel, listing them on the Disarm/End Wars Playlist.
• We encourage members to share notices, photos, video links, and reports about events on Facebook at @WILPFSMART.

Resources

Toolkits developed or supported by WILPF US Disarm Committee, available on the web:

•  "A flyer for engineering graduates”: a double-sided single-fold flyer to hand to new engineering graduates to dissuade them from working for the "Defense" industry. 
• ”Let’s End the Whole Nuclear Era!”, a trifold flyer to hand to moviegoers who have seen the film “Oppenheimer”;
• History of The Bomb: an illustrated timeline of the period between February 1945 and January 1946 that describes the maneuvering of the British, Soviet, and US leaders, the workings of the Manhattan Project, and the dropping of nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. https://www.vtwilpfgathering.com/timeline
• Online and UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons ratification
• Paper petition to Representatives for the “Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act"
• Reports on WILPF US Nuclear-Free-Future nationwide tours in 2016 and 2017, and 2019 in California and Japan 
• “Climate, Justice, and Peace” – a PDF of the WILPF US infographic card. Order cards here.

CALL FOR PEACE Resource Guides have been developed which are listed below:

WILPF CALL FOR PEACE RESOURCE GUIDE # 1 Contains Templates for TPNW letters to Biden, corporations, editor; media release. Treaty Compliance actions

WILPF CALL FOR PEACE RESOURCE GUIDE # 2 Two Treaties to Abolish Nuclear Weapons by Dianne Blais

WILPF CALL FOR PEACE RESOURCE GUIDE # 3 National Military Spending and YOUR Town. What .to do about it!

WILPF CALL FOR PEACE RESOURCE GUIDE #4 Moving Money out of the Military Budget into Programs to Help the Poor as suggested by the Poor People’s Campaign

WILPF CALL FOR PEACE RESOURCE GUIDE #5 Your Tax Dollars at Work in the Middle East. Main authors: Middle East Peace and Justice Action Committee

WILPF CALL FOR PEACE RESOURCE GUIDE # 6 Sample Letters to Leaders on Treaties & Reducing Military Spending & City Resolutions 

Toolkits from other organizations

• “Warheads to Windmills: How to Pay for a Green New Deal”, report by NuclearBan.US
• “Warheads to Windmills: Preventing Climate Catastrophe and Nuclear War”, book by Timmon Wallis 
• “Invest in Communities, Not Violence”, a fact sheet from National Priorities Project;
• Many resources for actions to get your city or your pension plan to divest from weapons companies - https://www.divestfromwarmachine.org/guides 
• Toolkit for getting your city to join Mayors for Peace - http://www.wslfweb.org/docs/MAYORS-FOR-PEACE-ACTION-TOOL-KIT.pdf

Social Media

• Facebook - WILPF SMART action blog for members, and WILPF US home page  
• YouTube - @WILPFUStoday – Disarm Playlist
•  NucNews - Facebook page, and on Google Groups, with daily posts about all issues nuclear
• Eye On Congress – group on Facebook

Values

At the heart of our work is a commitment to advance freedom, human rights and justice for all, without discrimination based on gender or any other grounds.

Our ultimate goal is a nonviolent world without war, because we believe every human being has an inherent Right to Life. 

We acknowledge the root causes of war - injustice; poverty; militarism; racism and ecological devastation - and do not support violence in any form to rectify challenges. We engage in peaceful forms of protest to promote sustainable and positive approaches to solving problems.

We reject militarism in all its forms as a mindset that weaponizes security and gender relations (because innocent women are raped and abused more in wartime). Militarism is a leading contributor to armed conflict around the world. Nuclear weapons are a paramount concern. We agree with the United Nations Human Rights Commission, which declared the threat or use of nuclear weapons violates the Right to Life. We are also concerned with the development of new weapons enhanced with artificial intelligence, particularly those that operate autonomously. No one should be arbitrarily or intentionally deprived of life.

We value the feminist perspective as applied to the implementation of the United Nations Charter and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which declares that every human being has the inherent right to life, which shall be protected.

Our issue committee welcomes and appreciates the work of all WILPF members, regardless of their socio-economic status, nationality, race, or sexual orientation.

We are supportive, compassionate and frank in a non-confrontational manner as we carry out our committee tasks.