Think Pink!

NO MEETING LABOR DAY

2007-08-22T22:28:00.000-05:00

Just when it looked like the regular meeting schedule would reappear, we have a change -- no meeting on Labor Day, September 3rd. But we're cooking up an event or two for Sixteen Days (against gender violence) November 25 -- December 10. More details to come.

The next Madwomen meeting will be Monday, September 17, 2007, 6:30 pm, Social Justice Center.

Meeting Monday Aug. 20

2007-08-18T20:54:00.000-05:00

Our regular meeting schedule is here again. We meet this Monday, Aug. 20, 2007, 6:30 pm, Social Justice Center, 1202 Williamson St. Madison. E-mail Madowmen at Merr.com (but close the spaces and use the @ instead of the word) if you have questions.

Aug. 6 meeting update

2007-08-04T07:10:00.000-05:00

Our regularly-scheduled Monday Aug. 6 meeting will be at Shelly's house at 6:30 pm. This is a combination social and business meeting. If you are on our list you received a message from Shelly with the address. If you need the address please contact madwomen "at" (change that to @) merr.com. There are no spaces in that address.

IMPORTANT NOTICE -- MEETING CHANGE TO TUESDAY!!!

2007-07-15T12:44:00.000-05:00

Our July meeting is moved to Tuesday, July 16, 6:30 PM, at Mother Fools, 1101 Williamson St. Women For Peace, please come to the meeting. No meeting on Monday this month.

Malalai Joya Update

2007-06-10T18:42:00.000-05:00

Please contact your members of Congress, asking them to go on record in support of Malalai Joya's reinstatement in Afghanistan's parliament (as called for by Human Rights Watch and others). In other tragic news, another brave Afghan woman who criticized the country's warlords and drug lords, Peace Radio's Zakia Zaki, has been killed.

From the Defense Committee for Malalai Joya:

On June 6, 2007, police in Herat province in West of Afghanistan stopped hundreds of Joya supporters to stage their peaceful protest demonstration in the center of the city.

Malalai Joya's supporters had planned a demonstration in front of Sports Stadium in center of Herat city in protest to Malalai Joya's suspension. Despite the fact that they had been permitted by the related authorities a day back, before the people gathered in the mentioned area all the routes leading there were blocked by tens of armed police to prevent the demonstration. ...

The organizers of this demonstration claimed that they had also been threatened several times by unknown people to refrain from this protest and a number of warlord authorities are responsible for intervention in this peaceful movement in support of Malalai Joya. ...

It is worth mentioning that earlier a similar protest of Malalai Joya's supporters in Kunar province was stopped by the head of security of that province.

Malalai Joya Needs Your Help

2007-05-28T12:04:00.000-05:00

Madison Women for Peace was honored to host Afghan parliamentarian and women's rights activist Malalai Joya in March 2006, as part of our International Women's Day celebration (organized with the WI Coordinating Council on Nicaragua; see our photos section for pics from the event).

The warlords and drug lords who Malalai frequently criticizes have long tried to silence her, even attempting to assassinate her. But Malalai has been able to continue her activism and outspoken defense of human rights - until recently, when she was suspended from Parliament. The given reason for her suspension is that Malalai called the Afghan parliament "worse than a stable or a zoo," because "at least there you have a donkey that carries a load and a cow that provides milk." Human Rights Watch is calling for Malalai to be reinstated.

Below is an action alert from the Defense Committe for Malalai Joya. Please take action, in support of real democracy and women's rights in Afghanistan!

In the past few weeks, after Malalai Joya's return from a successful international tour and interview with a local TV station in Kabul, the warlords and criminals in the Afghan Parliament and Senate, tried hard to silence Joya and kick her out of the Parliament.

They have used one of her recent comments during an interview as a justification for their move. In the interview, she expressed that the Afghan Parliament is worse than an animal stable whose many members are the murderers and enemies of Afghan people.

On May 21, 2007, with a gross majority, the Parliament dominated by warlords and drug-lords suspended Joya for three years and ordered the High Court to file a case against her. They also directed the Interior Ministry to restrict her movements to within the country. This means she is not allowed to travel outside Afghanistan.

In a press conference in Kabul, Joya announced that it is a political conspiracy against her and she will continue her fight against the warlords and enemies of Afghan people. She is ready to face an independent court and will use the opportunity to expose the enemies of Afghan people through it. Joya added, "but I am very sorry that there is no justice in Afghanistan and the judiciary is also infected with the virus of warlordism and the fundamentalists occupy it."

Some Afghan lawyers that we approached believe that the Parliament's decision is illegal and only a court can decide to oust an elected representative of people from the parliament.

But we are happy that majority of ordinary Afghan people strongly support Joya and she is receiving many phone calls, letters and emails full of sympathies and solidarity following the parliament decision.

WE URGE all her supporters and well-wishers to come forward and help Joya now.

YOU CAN do so in the following ways:

* Write to Afghan officials and file your protest for expelling and prosecuting Joya, while the terrorists and human rights violators in the parliament were provided immunity before any court for their past crimes last month.

* Express your concern for Joya's security during the court sessions as the fundamentalists currently hold key positions in Afghanistan's judiciary.

* Circulate this letter and ask lawyers and defenders of human rights in your area and country to come forward and help Joya during her court proceedings and defend her.

* Donate to Joya's security fund online at https://www.malalaijoya.com/donor/donor_info.php to help improve her security with necessary equipment and facilities, while she is now deprived of all official facilities.

Letters of protest can be sent to the following sources:

President Hamid Karzai
eq.ahmad@gmail.com
president@afghanistangov.org

Supreme Court of Afghanistan
aquddus@supremecourt.gov.af
Feedback Form of the Supreme Court

Afghanistan's Parliament
hasib-n786@yahoo.com

Interior Ministry
moinews@gmail.com
wahed.moi@gmail.com

Justice Ministry of Afghanistan
info@moj.gov.af
hidayatr@moj.gov.af

We thank you for your prompt action and support and hope you will forward a copy of your letters to mj@malalaijoya.com.

For more information, visit www.malalaijoya.com.

Is It Time to Put Impeachment on the Table?

2007-05-20T21:01:00.000-05:00

Town meeting on "Impeachment, Peace & Action"

Monday, May 21, 2007, 5:30 to 7:45 pm
UW Memorial Union, Great Hall, 800 Langdon St, Madison

From Buzz Davis, the chair of the WI Impeachment / Bring Our Troops Home Coalition, and a member of Veterans for Peace:

We said in the November elections, "Get our troops out of Iraq!" Did Congress listen? No! They've spent four months talking about spending $100 billion MORE for MORE troops. ...

Under the United Nations Charter and the U.S. Constitution, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are illegal. They're wars of aggression. Rep. Conyers introduced his House resolution to impeach Mr. Bush in December 2005. Thirty-six House members signed on. The Republicans buried the bill.

Then came November, we voters gave Democrats Congressional control and what does Speaker Pelosi say? "Impeachment is off the table because Democrats will be too busy doing the public's business."

Huh? Ms. Pelosi, impeachment to protect and defend the Constitution is the MOST important public business!

Rep. Kucinich now has introduced his House resolution to impeach Mr. Cheney. Are House members rushing to cosponsor? No, House members are taking orders from Pelosi.

State Rep. Frank Boyle has introduced his Assembly joint resolution to impeach Mr. Bush. No rush by Assembly members to cosign either. That's a federal issue, they rationalize.

Thousands of WI National Guard and Reserve members have been called up to serve in illegal wars and it is not a WI issue? When tornadoes next rip through WI, we will not be able to properly react because the Guard members and equipment are in Iraq. Our governor remains silent on allowing WI citizens to be called to serve in illegal wars. And this is not a WI issue?

The solution is simple: Impeach Bush and Cheney for massive high crimes - illegal wars, illegal torture and illegal wiretapping of Americans. Impeach and remove the crooks from office because the wars are illegal and our troops will be brought home. Why? Because the next president will NOT be dumb enough to say, "Well the first thing I must do is continue the Iraq war."

Mother's Day for Peace: Sat. May 12

2007-05-06T16:47:00.000-05:00

Join local Women for Peace: CodePink members in reclaiming the peace activist roots of Mother's Day on Saturday May 12!

From 9 am to 12 noon on May 12, we'll be in front of the Children's Museum, where State Street meets the Capitol Square. (Other events, including Art Bikes and children's events, will also be going on, hopefully increasing our audience.)

We'll have a few large exhibits, including Julia Ward Howe's original Mother's Day proclamation from 1870, which reads in part:

Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.

Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.

We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.

We'll also have information on the U.S. war economy, and postcards for passers by to support a more sane allocation of resources that prioritizes health, education, the environment and other human needs over war.

Join us at the planning meeting on Monday May 7 and/or for the event on Saturday May 12. And wear your pink proudly!

Action: No New Nukes in Wisconsin

2007-04-29T14:35:00.000-05:00

Wisconsin's very reasonable restrictions on new nuclear power plants -- saying no new nuclear plants can be built in the state until / unless: (1) nuclear power is economically advantageous for state residents; and (2) there is a designated repository for nuclear waste -- are under attack.

On May 10, the state Joint Legislative Council will receive a special committee report recommending that the above restrictions be revoked. (If you would like to attend the Council meeting, it opens at 8:30 am on Thursday May 10, at the 411 South room of the state Capitol.)

The Wisconsin-based group Nukewatch is encouraging all state residents to contact their representatives in support of the state's restrictions. Their sample letter is copied below. See www.nukewatch.com for more information.

Dear Representative / Senator,

Please vote no on any repeal of state statute 196.493 -- a common sense law that protects the public from unnecessary pollution and nuclear waste. A bill to repeal the law may be introduced by Representative Phil Montgomery (R-Dist 4) May 9.

If passed, the repeal would encourage the building of more nuclear reactors in Wisconsin and increase the likelihood that the state will become a national high-level nuclear waste dumpsite.

If passed, the repeal would eliminate two legal conditions that must now be met before new reactors can be built in Wisconsin:

1) That a federal nuclear waste storage site must be in operation and accepting waste fuel; and
2) That reactor-generated electricity must be economically advantageous to the ratepayer compared with alternatives.

A special Nuclear Power Committee has recommended (March 5, 2007) repeal of these precautionary and fiscally conservative requirements. Its effort is part of an industry-wide push for more reactors (and waste production) nationwide.

Pro-nuclear propaganda has it that nuclear power is "cheap" and "carbon free." But nuclear waste management will cost hundreds of billions of dollars for at least 300,000 years; and the mining, milling and production of reactor fuel creates millions of tons of carbon pollution that the industry ignores.

The proposed Yucca Mountain dump site in Nevada is unfit and should never open. A Nuclear Regulatory Commission member said Feb. 7, 2007 that the Yucca project must be scrapped. This puts Wisconsin near the top of the list of potential national dump sites, especially if thousands of tons of new waste is produced by new reactors.

On April 12, the state of California rebuffed a similar attempt to repeal conditions on reactor construction. Wisconsin should do the same. Please vote no on repeal of State Stat. 196-493.

Sincerely,

Name
Address
Phone

CAN: "Why We Occupied Senator Herb Kohl's Office"

2007-04-22T15:14:00.000-05:00

The following statement was issued by the Campus Antiwar Network on April 19:

On Wednesday, April 18, the Campus Antiwar Network at the University of Wisconsin-Madison led a walkout of approximately 200 students against the war. This walkout culminated in 100 antiwar activists entering the office of Senator Herb Kohl, with twenty-five staying the night and dozens more joining us in the morning before Senator Kohl's staff had us evicted by the Madison Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security.

WHY WE OCCUPIED SENATOR KOHL'S OFFICE

The simplest reason: Senator Kohl says he's against the war, but votes to fund the continuation of the war. Moreover, in a remarkable display of arrogance, Senator Kohl has refused to meet with the antiwar movement in his state during the entire four years of the war in Iraq. Thus, the vibrant antiwar community in Madison, including chapters of the Campus Antiwar Network and Iraq Veterans Against the War, the Madison Area Peace Coalition and the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, has never been able to discuss our position with a senator who says he is on our side, but never votes that way.

We presented Senator Kohl's office with six demands, and informed him that setting a definite date for a public meeting with him to discuss these demands would end our building occupation immediately. Ultimately, his office preferred to inflict the force of the police on us rather than the force of our arguments on the senator.

Our demands:
1) Immediate withdrawal of all US forces from Iraq
2) Iraq for Iraqis
3) Fully fund veterans' benefits and health care, including mental health care
4) Reparations to the Iraqi people, no strings attached
5) Ban the use of depleted uranium munitions in Iraq
6) Money for Jobs & Education, not for War and Occupation

Ultimately, our experience in the senator's office validated the premise of our protest: that we cannot wait for politicians like Herb Kohl to end the war of their own initiative, but must hold them accountable through our movement to the demand of Iraqis, Americans, and U.S. soldiers to end the war now.

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE SENATOR'S OFFICE

From the beginning, our movement was peaceful yet very lively. We filled the senator's office with chants like "Iraq for Iraqis, troops out now"; "1 -- we are the students, 2 -- this is our movement, 3 -- we want to meet with Se-na-tor Kohl"; "Cut the funding, end the war -- What the hell is Congress for?" and many more. We received messages of solidarity and support from the historian Howard Zinn and antiwar sportswriter Dave Zirin (and, as the evening wore on, many other people from around the country who received word of our protest).

If our energy and support were inspiring, however, the reaction of Kohl's office proved extremely disappointing. The only message we could get from Kohl was a generic statement reiterating his supposed "support" for us while implying that as a U.S. senator, he has no power to stop the war. The message ignored our specific demands, perhaps because there was no way to address his lack of support for them without calling into question whether he is willing to pose any opposition to Bush at all.

At this point, we presented Kohl's staff with our demand for a public meeting and determined to stay in his office. Despite our offer to leave once we had an agreement to this seemingly basic demand from a large group of constituents -- that the senator publicly discuss with us the pressing issue of the day -- the country's richest senator was apparently unwilling to commit to this. Many times his staff tried to break our protest, as when they had security tell us we could only keep five people in the office, and others would be forcibly removed. After a democratic discussion, 50 of us decided to stay anyway, and they were forced to back down. They also promised us a conference call with Senator Kohl within the next two days (only to later renege), but told us they could not negotiate a public meeting since we were occupying their office, because "it's like negotiating with the terrorists."

But after this, the police, under the authority of Kohl's staff, turned what can only be called spiteful. They confined us in a small room where we could not possibly be comfortable (we couldn't all lie down at the same time), limited our bathroom breaks, and denied us access to our own things (including medications) that were in another part of Kohl's office. Acting under what they said were their orders from Kohl's office, police denied the protesters access to water bottles and other necessities. A student who asked to be able to access birth control pills in her purse was told, "You don't need birth control now." A student who wanted to get his sweatshirt, six inches from the guarded door of where we were camped, during the cold night, was told he would be forcibly evicted if he did so. A female protester was physically manhandled by a male officer, who then refused to reveal his badge number. The press was banned from the office (although through our own creativity we managed to get in several reporters anyway). And the police, and Kohl's staff, refused to discuss any of these issues with us.

There was no reason for these decisions other than spite. We decided to accept them rather than be evicted at night because we knew that more support (and media) was coming for us the next morning -- and indeed it did, in the form of dozens more activists who joined us when Kohl's office opened for the day. Having spent the night in political discussion, frequent chanting and singing, dramatic readings from Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove's "Voices from a People's History of the United States," and other fun and important pursuits, we were ready to greet our fellow activists. At that point, we retook the main room of the office, until Kohl's staff had the police come in to remove us. Although Senator Kohl's staff refused to speak with us entirely, the police confirmed for us that they had asked to have us cited (with a $425 fine per person) if we did not leave. After all, this was "private property" and we, Kohl's constituents, were not welcome.

WHERE DOES C.A.N. GO FROM HERE?

Our protest confirmed that our political representatives will not end this war unless our movement forces them to do so. We left Kohl's office with a united plan to use the momentum and publicity from our stand (and the reprehensible reaction of America's richest senator) to build a stronger antiwar movement in Madison and everywhere.

At our campus rally, we presented four demands to the University of Wisconsin under the headline "University of Wisconsin Out of the War":

1) No more military research
2) Military recruiters off campus
3) No more CIA recruitment
4) Cancel Halliburton's planned April 30 recruitment visit.

The last demand is urgent. Our movement will not allow war profiteers to openly recruit on our campus. ...

While the walkout and sit-in was organized by the Campus Antiwar Network at UW-Madison, students from all three Madison colleges -- including Edgewood College and Madison Area Technical College -- occupied Kohl's office overnight. Those two campuses, which have not had antiwar groups before, are now in a position to start CAN chapters of their own. It is time for a bigger, stronger student movement in Madison, that can create the sustained militant action that it will take to end the war.

Who "Owns" the Iraq War?

2007-04-15T15:52:00.000-05:00

The following message was sent by local peace activist Joy First on April 11. The weekly anti-war vigil continues on Wednesday April 18. UW students will be leading the vigil, which will start with a rally at UW Library Mall at 1 pm, followed by a march to Senator Kohl's office at 2 pm (Kohl's office is at 14 West Mifflin Street, on Capitol Square).

Check our events page for other local activities, including the next meeting of Madison Women for Peace: Monday April 16 at 6:30 pm at the Social Justice Center (corner of Williamson and Few Streets).

Today citizens in Madison, WI met with our Senators and Representative to present them with the "certificate of ownership" that they must accept after voting to give Bush $100 billion more for the war in Iraq. Since they voted to pay for the war, they now own the war, and are responsible for the deaths of well over 200 US soldiers and countless Iraqis who have died since the Democrats have taken control of Congress.

Three of us first met with Senator Russ Feingold's staff in Middleton, WI. this afternoon, in spite of heavy snowfall throughout the day. Emily Plagman, Feingold's aide on Iraq, joined us by phone from Washington. We told his staff that we appreciated all that Feingold is doing and that he is a giant among the Senators. At the same time, we were disappointed in his vote for the supplemental funding, and we presented him with the "certificate of ownership" which has a 30-day return policy. He can return it by voting against the funding when it comes before the Senate again. We also discussed his current legislation that he introduced to end military involvement in Iraq. Our concern with this legislation is that the three categories of soldiers that can exempted from the withdrawal could potentially include all US soldiers in Iraq. Under this bill, Bush could continue the war as it is currently being fought. Emily said that she thought the exemptions were very narrow (which I strongly disagree with). She also said that putting the exemptions in the bill was part of the compromise Feingold made with Harry Reid in order to get the bill introduced. This sounds like blackmail to me. I asked if Feingold would consider a filibuster or even the threat of a filibuster of the supplemental funding if the senate decides to strip all the restrictions out of the bill. His staff will pass on to Senator Feingold that we would support him in a filibuster. Steve Burns ended our discussion by saying simply and clearly that the surest way to end the war would be to stop paying for it, and that is what we are asking Senator Feingold to do.

We drove across town to Senator Kohl's office in downtown Madison meeting about 12 others who have been joining us regularly for our weekly vigil at Senator Kohl's office since February 5. It was a good turnout for a very snowy day. We had a short visit with Senator Kohl's staff today, presenting them with the "certificate of ownership. We asked his staff if he was supporting Senator Feingold's bill to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq. They did not know, but would find out. We reminded them that we are here for the same reason we have been here for the last several weeks. We want Senator Kohl to vote no on funding for the war in Iraq.

We walked across the Capitol Square to Representative Tammy Baldwin's office and met with a member of her staff. Again, we presented Kurt with the "certificate of ownership". Tammy Baldwin has been a great ally. She is in the Out of Iraq Caucus. She has consistently voted against funding for the war. BUT, she voted yes a few weeks ago. We told him how disappointed we were, and that we would be counting on her to do the right thing. He said that she had sent out a statement explaining her vote. Basically, she said that she felt she had two choices, either vote for the bill that came before the house, or the leadership would strip out all the restrictions and they would be voting on a bill to give Bush $100 billion with no restrictions. I think it is disgusting that we have a Democratic leadership now that uses bribes, threats, and blackmail to get their way.

At the end of the day, I don't know how much of an impact we really had, but we keep plugging away, doing what we can, and speaking our truth. It is what we have to do. We cannot sit quietly, hopefully waiting for our Congress to do the right thing and end the war. Our voices will be heard.

Vote Tuesday April 3!

2007-04-01T20:15:00.000-05:00

Democracy starts at home, so make sure you vote in local elections this Tuesday, April 3! More information is available on the following websites:

Madison City Clerk

Dane County League of Women Voters

Isthmus election coverage

Good luck and thanks to the activists in Stoughton who successfully added to their ballot two referenda questions: one on withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, and one on impeaching President Bush and Vice-President Cheney. As John Nichols wrote in the Capital Times:

With each new revelation about what Gonzales did at the behest of the Bush White House to politicize prosecutions by U.S. attorneys, the revulsion with the way this president has disregarded the Constitution and the rule of law becomes more intense. And citizens are not cutting their president much slack.

A new USA Today/Gallup Poll conducted over the weekend shows that, by nearly 3 to 1, Americans want Congress to issue subpoenas to force White House officials to testify in the Gonzales case. Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed say the president should drop his claim of executive privilege in this matter, while only 26 percent agree with the reasoning Bush has used to try to block a meaningful inquiry. ...

As [Republican Senator Chuck] Hagel says, "This is not a monarchy. There are ways to deal with (executive excess). And I would hope the president understands that."

If not, perhaps Stoughton, and other communities like it across the country, will remind him -- just as they will remind Congress that it is time to take the "I" issue up.

Of Occupations and Economic Justice

2007-03-18T14:47:00.000-05:00

From local peace activist Joy First:

Our vigil with Senator Kohl continues for the 7th straight Wednesday this week on February 21. We will again meet outside Senator Kohl's office at 4:00 pm at 14 W. Mifflin St. and then go inside. Our message remains the same, and is being echoed by peace activists in congressional offices around the country. We want Congress to end the funding for the war and bring all of our sons and daughters home NOW. Our work is part of the Occupation Project, a nationwide campaign organized by Voices for Creative Nonviolence. There are similar actions taking place in 35 states around the country. ...

While many of you were vigiling in Madison on February 14, I was in court in DC with 20 others out of the 97 people who were arrested last September in an attempt to give the message to members of Congress that we want them to take responsibility and do something to end the horrific war in Iraq. There were many people in court this past Wednesday who spoke out so eloquently against the war, and their words were entered into the official court record. We were tried by the Chief Judge in the Washington, DC District Court. Though he found us guilty, I know that our words moved him, and we received a suspended sentence.

The Iraq War isn't the only issue on which Sen. Kohl's stance is wanting. He also voted for a bankruptcy bill authored by credit card companies and widely criticized by consumer groups, progressives and Democratic groups.

On a related note, two feminist economists present an interesting critique of microcredit and the Grameen Bank in a Women's eNews article:

One can hardly imagine a more paternalistic act than acknowledging the need for women's economic equality by making an award to a U.S.-trained, conservative male economist. This marginalizes the achievements of the world's first female-led microcredit organization, the Self-Employed Women's Association of India, known as SEWA.

Unlike Grameen and other microfinance enterprises, SEWA is run by poor women for other poor women. It organizes women working in the informal sectors so they can obtain income security, food security, health care, child care and shelter. Its philosophy unites the labor movement, the cooperative movement and the women's movement to ensure that self-employed women, like salaried employees, have a right to their wages, decent working conditions and protective labor laws. ...

Does the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Grameen Bank add credence to the neo-liberal myth of individuals escaping poverty merely through their own hard work? Yes. Do these programs help some women pull themselves up by their bootstraps? Yes. Will micro-enterprises do much to end widespread poverty among the world's poorest women? Not a chance.

Stop the Wars (Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti...)

2007-03-11T20:08:00.000-05:00

In Iraq, at least three young women have been sentenced to death, for vague offenses. "Questions have arisen about the fairness of proceedings, the lack of legal representation, transparency in the justice system and use of the death penalty as well as the legitimacy of the legal tribunals themselves," reports Women's eNews.

More information on the three women's cases is below, and on Amnesty International's website. But first, this reminder to join the peace rally and march this Saturday:

Rally and March to End the Iraq War
Saturday, March 17 2007 at 12:30 pm
UW Library Mall in Madison (Lake and State Streets)
We are calling for an end to the war and bringing all the troops home now. We will gather to mark the 4th anniversary of the start of the Iraq war and call for "Not One More Death. Not One More Dollar." We will also be leafletting with the theme of encouraging young people to seek alternatives to military enlistment, and to resist the lures of military recruiters.

Gather at UW Library Mall at 12:30pm for musical satire and spoken word artists. Rally begins at 1pm with speakers. March steps off at 1:30pm. Bring signs and noise makers. Come early if you can volunteer to leaflet or help with another task.

From Women's eNews:

According to information collected by Amnesty International, Wassan Talib and Zayneb Fadhil were sentenced to death by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq on August 31, 2006, after being convicted of killing members of the Iraqi security forces in the Baghdad district of Hay al-Furat in 2005, charges that both deny. Zayneb Fadhil, the mother of a 3-year-old girl, has reportedly said that she was not in the country at the time of the incidents.

Liqa' Qamar Muhammad was convicted of participating in a kidnapping in 2005 and sentenced to death on Feb. 6, 2006. Her husband was detained and charged with the same crime, according to Amnesty International. Muhammad has an infant daughter, who was born in prison and remains there with her.

The International Committee of the National Lawyers Guild, a network of lawyers in the United States, points out that the U.N. has passed a resolution against imposing the death penalty on new mothers.

The group called for the Iraqi government to repudiate the executions. "We have received information that these three were denied legal counsel," the group said in a public statement. Denial of counsel violates international guarantees to a fair trial, the group said.

Monday March 5: Feminism on Film

2007-02-25T15:05:00.000-06:00

International Women's Day: Feminism on Film
Monday, March 5, 2007, from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m.
Wisconsin Union Play Circle
(in the UW Memorial Union, 800 Langdon St)

Please join us for an evening of capturing women's rights through the lens of local, national, and international film-makers in celebration of International Women's Day!

Two feminist shorts will be screened and discussed by their filmmakers: Lucie Ferrari will discuss the role of women in film from a grassroots perspective and Cecelia Condit, an internationally acclaimed filmaker, will screen her film, "All About a Girl." The feature documentary, "View From a Grain of Sand" by director Meena Nanji, chronicles a journey through the last 30 years of Afghanistan's history as lived by three Afghan women.

Co-sponsors: Madison Women for Peace, the Campus Women's Center, the Wisconsin Coordinating Council in Nicaragua, Wisconsin Union Directorate

Reality Unflattering? Ignore It!

2007-02-17T19:38:00.000-06:00

That's what U.S. media seemed to do when confronted with the results of the latest UNICEF report. According to the Feminist Daily Newsire, one of the few outlets to cover the story:

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Innocenti Research Center released a report yesterday ranking the well-being of children in the world's most economically advanced countries. Out of 21 countries, the United States came in second-to-last, at number 20.

Looking at the report itself (PDF file), the U.S. is the worst country surveyed for health at birth and for childhood poverty. However, the U.S. ranks respectably on education-related matters (thanks, public schools!).

A Google News search showed that not only did British media actually pay attention to the UNICEF report, they asked how their country could do better. While in the U.S., media outlets either totally ignored the report or wondered why Britain was so bad for children. Wha...?

On another note, celebrate International Women's Day with us, on Monday, March 5. Women for Peace, along with the Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua and the Campus Women's Center, are hosting an evening of film and international women's rights. The event starts at 7 pm, at the Wisconsin Union Play Circle (UW Memorial Union, 800 Langdon St), and includes shorts by local filmmakers and a discussion of global feminism, followed by "View from a Grain of Sand," an acclaimed documentary by Meena Nanji that explores Afghanistan's history through the experiences of three women.

Taking the Occupation to Sen. Kohl

2007-02-11T13:10:00.000-06:00

For those who would like to take part in the "occupation" of Sen. Kohl's Madison office (at 14 W. Mifflin St, Suite 207) to support bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq, the Weds Feb 14 vigil will run from 4:30 to 5:00 pm, and the Weds Feb 21 vigil from 4:00 to 5:00 pm.

From local peace activist Joy First:

We began our participation in the Occupation Project with a vigil in Senator Kohl's Madison office Wednesday February 7. Senator Kohl refuses to take any kind of stand or do anything to end the war in Iraq. We have occupied his office many times over the last couple of years. Now, as part of the Occupation Project we plan to occupy his office weekly for the next couple of months.

Six adults and one 4 month-old baby (my grandson) were present in the reception area of Senator Kohl's office and read names of Iraqi people, many many of them children, and US military people who have died in the war. We had three large posters. One said "Senator Kohl. Listen to the People. Stop the War Now." One had pictures of Iraqis, showing the horrors and suffering of the war. One showed pictures of the 67 Wisconsin soldiers who have died in the war. When I updated the poster, I had to add seven pictures of Wisconsin soldiers who have died since November. As I printed their pictures and added them to the poster I thought about the terror they must have felt the last moments of their lives, dying so young and so far from home and loved ones.

We will be visiting Senator Kohl's office on Feb. 14, Feb. 19 and weekly after that to demand that he vote no on the supplemental funding for the war. We will increase the level of our actions, continuing to risk arrest, as we call for an end to the immoral and illegal occupation of Iraq. For more information on the Occupation Project, see vcnv.org.

Pictures from the Peace Rally

2007-02-03T18:14:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Amy (in pink in the first picture, below) for these fabulous pictures from the Washington DC peace rally on January 27. For more (including larger verions of these), see our pics page.

Coverage of Yesterday's Peace Rallies

2007-01-28T17:03:00.000-06:00

Yesterday's peace rally in Washington DC brought active-duty military, military families and concerned citizens together to call for an end to the Iraq War, and real leadership on the issue from the U.S. Congress. According to organizers, hundreds of thousands of people rallied; major media put the number at tens of thousands. Here are some excerpts from news accounts of the event.

From the DC Indymedia site:

Another speaker at the event, Rabbi Michael Lerner, said that if Congress doesn't cut off the funds for the war, then they are acting as "enablers" of the Bush-Cheney administration. The Rev. Jesse Jackson said: "It was easy to admire the late Martin Luther King Jr., but it was hard to follow him... We need new leaders and new priorities... Bush ignored Katrina... We need more money and justice at home... Stop spending $8.5 billion a month on madness. End the war."

From the Washington Post:

Oriana Futrell, 21, of Spokane, Wash., came with a sign that said: "Bring my husband home now." She said her husband, Dan, an Army lieutenant, was in Baghdad. They were married in April. She said she was weary of attending military funerals. ... "I don't know what else to say, other than: 'Bring them home,'" she said. "It is time. We need to bring them home where they can be safe."

From The New York Times:

Tassi McKee, from Bastrop, La., who said she was a staff sergeant in the Air Force, was among a small contingent of about 20 active-duty service members who turned out. "I believe this has become a civil war, and we are being hurt and making matters worse by staying in the middle of it," Sergeant McKee said.

She said that it was not illegal for active-duty members to attend protests but that it was strongly discouraged.

Veterans were more numerous among the crowd. ...

Fernando Braga, a 24-year-old Bronx native who is a member of the Army National Guard, said that he was skeptical of the war before it started. Mr. Braga said his views hardened into opposition while he served in Iraq from March 2004 through January 2005.

"My own commander told us when we arrived that if we thought we were there for any reason other than oil then we had another think coming," he said. "I realized even commanding officers were against it but following orders."

Michael McPhearson, executive director of Veterans for Peace, said more than 100 veterans from the Iraq war participated in the march, and several hundred veterans from previous wars attended as well.

And the Isthmus' Daily Page has a good account of yesterday's Madison rally.

Jan 27: Protest the Wars! and Meeting Notice

2007-01-21T12:59:00.000-06:00

The next Women for Peace meeting will be Monday, February 5, at 6:30 pm, at the Social Justice Center (1202 Williamson Street, at the corner of Willy and Few). Stay tuned to the events page of this website for the locations of upcoming meetings.

But before then is the national anti-war mobilization called for Saturday, January 27. The main protest is in Washington DC, and is intended to help members of Congress discover their backbone. The United for Peace & Justice website says:

IT IS TIME FOR CONGRESS TO ACT!

With support from MoveOn.org, True Majority, Working Assets, the RainbowPUSH Coalition, the National Organization for Women and hundreds of other national and local groups, word about the Jan. 27th antiwar mobilization is reaching far and wide. Momentum is building and people from all walks of life and every corner of the country will be marching on Washington, DC, on Saturday, Jan. 27th.

Our message will be clear, our voice will be strong: End the war in Iraq, Bring all the troops home now! We urge you to join us!

On Mon., Jan. 29th, we will take our message directly to the new Congress during our lobby day.

Thanks to Sr. Virgine Lawinger of Milwaukee, WI protestors can meet with Senator Kohl's office at 1:30 pm and Feingold's office at 2:30 pm on Jan 29 to discuss the war on Iraq -- and hopefully also the war on Afghanistan. For more information on these meetings, and others being set up with Representatives' offices, contact the WI Network for Peace and Justice at www.wnpj.org or call 608-250-9240.

Buses from Madison to Washington are being coordinated by the Campus Anti-War Network; see revoltingstudents.com or stop by Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative (426 W Gilman St) to get tickets.

Lastly, if you can't go to Washington DC, join the local January 27 rally and march. It starts at the UW Library Mall at 12 noon, followed by speakers at 12:30 pm and a march up State St at 1:00 pm. See the Madison Area Peace Coalition website for more info.

But Will Congress Listen?

2007-01-05T10:45:00.000-06:00

On Wednesday in Washington DC, peace activists interrupted a press conference by Rahm Emanuel, the chair of the House Democratic Caucus. After failing to regain control, the Dems cut short the event, and Cindy Sheehan took over the microphone. From Democracy Now!:

Cindy Sheehan: "Our leaders who get us into these messes are the ones who need to be held accountable. And if that happens then maybe my grandchildren won't have to be fighting in an illegal and immoral war."

Sheehan's other comments, from the New York Times:

She called for a greater role for the peace movement in the new Democratic majority, which she said is ignoring the people who put them in power. She called for an end to financing the war.

"And these are not requests," said Ms. Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq. "These are demands."

The Raw Story has the transcript of the aborted press conference, including the protesters' chants: "De-escalate, investigate, troops home now!"

Sheehan later told Amy Goodman:

We wanted the Democrats to know that we're not going away, that we are going to hold their feet to the fire as much as we did the Republicans, and that the most important item on an agenda for our country is to bring the troops home.

George Bush is going to set out a plan in a few days ... and we know that it's going to be a bad plan. Everything single thing he's done since the invasion -- well, and including the invasion -- have been disorder. ... It's been wrong for America. My son is dead because of it. And the Democrats should not be waiting for George Bush to articulate his plan, because they know it's going to be a bad plan, and they know it's probably going to include an escalation of troops.

The Democrats need to have a plan. They need to have the courage and the strength and the integrity to know that George Bush cannot fix this mess that he has gotten our country into. The Democratic congress is going to have to be the ones to fix the mess. ... They have to know that the peace movement is solidly behind them, almost three-quarters of the country are behind them, and that we need a higher minimum wage, we need universal healthcare, we need lower interest rates on college loans.

And that will help my family. Everybody in my family will benefit from the Democrats' social plan, but where are they coming up with the money? Our country is spending $10 million an hour in Iraq. We can't afford to borrow any more money from China. We can't afford it. My great-grandchildren will be paying this debt off.

Amen, sister.

Merry Xmas: War Isn't Over

2006-12-24T12:54:00.000-06:00

From Editor & Publisher, published December 22, 2006:

Five more American troops have died from combat wounds in western Iraq and Baghdad, the military said Friday, pushing the U.S. death toll since the war began closer to the number who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

In December, 76 American troops have been killed. At the current rate, the number of U.S. combat deaths this month could meet or exceed the previous monthly record for 2006.

At least 2,964 American troops have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003 -- or just nine less than the commonly accepted U.S. death toll on Sept. 11, 2001.

At the current rate this month, the 9/11 figure could be eclipsed before Christmas Day.

Thirty-two journalists have been killed in Iraq this year, the high for any country in recent years.

An estimated 100,000 to more than half a million Iraqis have perished since the war began.

Shop for Peace This Holiday Season

2006-12-10T16:35:00.000-06:00

The ever-helpful Madison Activist Calendar (see here for the online version and instructions on how to subscribe to the email version) has some great resources for people wanting to align their holiday shopping with their political values.

First off, buy local! Through December 16, you can take part in Wisconsin Partners for SustainAbility's online Holiday Auction. The auction includes a range of products, from coffee to hotel stays to flowers to food and gift certificates, all from green and local businesses. Go to www.wiscpsa.org to find out more.

Another great online resource is the Dane County Buy Local Initiative, at www.danebuylocal.com.

Support family farmers and delight even the most apolitical of friends or family members with delicious Family Farm Defender holiday giftboxes! Wisconsin cheeses, sausage, popcorn, wild rice, fair trade chocolate and coffee, and other goodies fill the classic Grazers Choice, Cream Puff Special, Organic Delight, Breakfast Brunch, and Something Wild giftboxes.

New this year is a Katrina solidarity box, featuring smoked andouille sausage, mayhaw jelly, hot sauce, wild rice, jalapeno pepperjack cheese, and fair trade French Roast coffee. Proceeds from the Katrina solidarity box benefit the New Orleans Food Farm Network; proceeds from all boxes benefit family farmers! You can download order forms from www.familyfarmdefenders.org, call 608-260-0900, or stop by the Family Farm Defenders office at 1019 Williamson Street (the Nature's Bakery building).

If you prefer gifts from farther afield, how about products made in Argentina's worker-occupied factories? The Working World website, at market.theworkingworld.org offers shirts, shoes, glassware and other fine products.

By getting rid of corporate management, big marketing budgets, and middlemen, the workers themselves receive the vast majority of the sales price. If you saw the documentary film "The Take," by Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein, you know that distribution systems and sale volume are among the biggest challenges faced by the worker-run factories. So support this exciting fair trade alternative!

Is Afghanistan Lost (Too)?

2006-12-03T21:48:00.000-06:00

"After a month traveling around Afghanistan this autumn, I was forced to a grim conclusion," author and Nation commentator Christian Parenti wrote recently. "This project is lost, and nothing very good will likely replace it." The reasons Parenti gives for his pessimism are numerous:

First, there are the immediate blunders of the occupiers who, despite extensive European involvement, are led by the Americans. Next are deeper historical dynamics dating back to the U.S. role in the anti-Soviet jihad. And finally there are much older cultural, political and economic facts about Afghanistan that have long made this a wild, lawless place, impervious to conquest and even resistant to the modernizing efforts of its urban middle classes.

While the "wild, lawless" language sounds to me like exoticizing a war-weary country on the receiving end of decades of U.S. aggression and/or indifference (Parenti also writes, "Perhaps history doomed this project from the start"), the conditions prompting the prose are indeed dire:

Half of Afghanistan is under effective insurgent control; scores of international troops have been killed this year. Between January and Oct. 8 of this year, there were 78 suicide bombings, killing nearly 200 people. Last year saw only 17 suicide attacks. In the last six months, several previously stable provinces have slipped into chaos. A few dissident British soldiers have accused NATO and U.S. forces of bombing and strafing villages. Despite, or more likely because of this firepower, the situation in key southern provinces like Helmand and Kandahar has deteriorated badly. The British were recently forced to negotiate a withdrawal from one of their southern bases in Masa Qala, essentially surrendering the area to the Taliban.

By late summer, the military crisis in southern Afghanistan was so bad that NATO's top U.S. commander, Gen. James Jones, was begging for 2,500 extra troops to join the fight in Afghanistan's deep south. Few extra soldiers were forthcoming. France was asked to move the 2,000 NATO troops under its command in Kabul south but refused, claiming they were needed in the capital.

The resurgent Taliban now control districts just outside Kabul, in Lowgar and Wardak provinces, and are even launching attacks on NATO troops in and around Kabul. In September, Mullah Dadullah, head of the Taliban forces, claimed he had 12,000 fighters, including 500 suicide bombers, and promised escalating violence next spring. Cut those numbers in half or more and the Taliban are still a formidable force.

Parenti interviewed some Taliban fighters:

They talked about U.S. torture and arrests, criticized the government as corrupt and said they wanted a "truly Islamic government." When pressed on what that was, they ducked any specific description. They claimed that they burned schools only because they opposed the mixing of boys and girls. The fighters were local southern Pashtuns. They laid out a clear critique of President Hamid Karzai and his NATO backers. But their alternative was a rather conservative and underdeveloped ideology, long on fatalism and moralism, short on specifics.

Parenti writes about some of the shameful history of U.S. intervention in Afghanistan, but he fails to include a more recent -- and especially devastating -- example: When the U.S. manipulated Afghanistan's post-invasion political process to ensure Hamid Karzai became president, shutting out more moderate candidates that were willing to challenge the warlords who are destabilizing the country. The perversion of the process used to establish Afghanistan's current government is detailed in the excellent new book, "Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence."

Women as Agents of Change

2006-11-26T13:49:00.000-06:00

The U.S. mid-term elections were good news for progressive women, writes Ellen Goodman. Not because of greater representation at the national level, though:

Alas, this was not The Year of the Women Redux, although Speaker-elect Pelosi has broken the "marble ceiling" and has the bruises to show for it. Yes, there will be more women in Congress than ever before, but so far the percentage has only gone up from 15.4 to 16.4485981. Hold the applause.

According to pollsters and a post-election survey done by Ms. Magazine and the Women Donors Network:

[A] majority of women listed rebuilding after Katrina as a top priority for the next Congress. Katrina was a turning point for women who saw the government's reaction as cold indifference. Katrina also became a stand-in for the issues of poverty and division. ...

[F]or many [women voters], the biggest concern still is healthcare. As Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, one of the new breed of young moms in Congress, says, "I don't want the next generation of moms hand-wringing over how to deal with the sniffles and waiting until it turns into pneumonia." It's past time to make healthcare available to all kids.

On a broader level, a panel seeking to make the United Nations more effective has suggested forming a single women's agency with increased stature and involvement in decisions, reports Bojana Stoparic.

International policy-making for women is currently handled at the U.N. by the Division for the Advancement of Women and the Office of the Special Advisor on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women. Among other things, they organize world conferences on women and monitor governments' compliance with the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, known as CEDAW.

Representatives of current U.N. women's programs, professional women's rights advocates and human rights groups such as the Center for Women's Global Leadership and London-based Amnesty International, have endorsed the idea of a single agency.

"A strong women's presence on the country level would allow us to ensure that whatever commitments are made at the inter-governmental level get translated on the ground," Noeleen Heyzer, executive director of UNIFEM said in an interview earlier this month. "Work on gender equality at the U.N. is fragmented and does not have enough status or resources to achieve a world that is free of violence and poverty for women."

I tried to find the U.S. government's reaction to this exciting proposal, but to no avail. One Associated Press story quotes Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who co-chaired the UN panel, as saying, "We very much believe the recommendations will be implemented. ... We have never seen this kind of broad support." However, the article makes no mention of the U.S. stance on the panel's proposals.

The website for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations also does not mention the panel's proposal for a unified women's agency -- at least not anywhere that I could find. Ditto for the White House and State Department websites. Perhaps this is another reason to oppose John Bolton as U.S. Representative to the United Nations?