NATIONAL COMMITTEE ELECTIONS
The National Committee (NC), WRL’s highest decision-making body, is charged with shaping the league’s policy and direction and setting its budget. It consists of 28 members, all signatories to WRL pledge to resist all war: 20 appointed by various WRL committees and task forces and eight elected by the WRL membership as at-large members — four each representing geographic quadrants of the United States, and four representing communities historically and currently underrepresented in WRL’s leadership.
Pursuant to the election held by mail ballot in the fall, the new and re-elected (asterisked) at-large NC members are:
Representing Underrepresented Communities
Ivan Broida, of the Puerto Rico-based counter-recruitment Proyecto Caribeno de Justicia y Paz (Caribbean Project for Justice and Peace)
*Oskar Pierre Castro, coordinator of the National Youth and Militarism Program of the American Friends Service Committee based in Philadelphia.
*Carla Dawson, of the Des Moines Catholic Worker Community
Christopher E. Knestrick, yough and Columbia program coordinator of the Interreligious Task Force on Central America in Cleveland.
Representing Geographic Areas
*Clare Bayard (Northwest), an organizer and trainer with the Catalyst Project in San Francisco
Jo Comerford (Northeast) of Williamsburg, MA, director of programs at the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and a local “Activist of the Year” awardee
Isabell Moore (Southeast), an economic and racial justice activist in Greensboro, NC
The NC is currently missing a Southwest representative. The new NC members will take their seats at the National Committee meeting in New York, February 15 - 18.
AND THE RAFFLE PRIZES GO TO…
In the exciting climax to the 19th Annual Raffle for Resistance, WRL staff and Administrative Coordinating Committee members took turns November 26 pulling tickets out of a barrel. The winners (with their prizes) are:
13th Prize:
Edward E. Ferrer, Venice, CA: The Marriage of Anansewa, a film by Efua Sutherland (on VHS)
12th Prize:
Donna Barkman, Ossining, NY: three CDs of peace music and testimony
11th Prize:
Joel Plinsky, Encino, CA: WRL’s “Not Your Soldier” and broken-rifle antiwar T-shirts
10th Prize:
San Rosen, Santa Fe, NM: The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time, by Antonia Juhasz, signed by the author
9th Prize:
Morris Kornbluth, Brooklyn, NY: The Luminous Years - Collected Photographs of Karl Bissinger
8th Prize:
Suzanne Baker, Oakland, CA: Timeless Places: Paris, by Judith Mahoney Pasternak
7th Prize:
Janis Pulbello, Cambridge, MA: To Whom It May Concern, painting by David Gregory
6th Prize:
Milton Andrews, San Luis Obispo, CA: Green Black White, framed photograph by Rene Theberge
5th Prize:
Suzu Kawamoto, Beacon, NY: Stop the Killing Now, painting by Erica Weihs
4th Prize:
Leah Karpen, Asheville, NC: Peace Now, painting by Erica Weihs
3rd Prize:
Margaret and Arnold Matline, Linwood, NY: hand-woven tais textile from East Timor
2nd Prize:
Anne Alach, Quincy, MA: Pawleys Island rope hammock
Two Grant/First Prizes:
Liz Fairchild, Riverview, FL: weekend on Shelter Island, NY and
Fenwisk Anderston, Takoma Park, MD: four nights on Cape Cod
Congratulations, winners!
MINNESOTA WRL ACTIVISTS CHALLENGE THE ‘NEW McCARTHYISMM ON CAMPUS
As embattled Middle East Studies professors who dare to present criticisms of Israelli policies continue to face repression of their academic freedom and threats to their careers, WRL activists are standing up for the truth on campus. The Twin Cities chapter - named in honor of irrepressible fighter for global peace and justice, the late Sister Rita Steinhagen - has been part of an important front in this struggle at the University of St. Thomas.
In the spring of 2007, former United Democratic Front leader Archbishop Desmond Tutu, like other Nobel Peace laureates before him, was booked to speak at the 2008 Peace Jam to be held on campus. University officialy later decided to block the scheduled appearance, citing their consultation with “the Jewish community” who, they claimed, found Tutu’s statements “against Israeli policy” anti-Semitic and hurtful. The Zionist Organization of America has helmed a campaign to pressure U.S. colleges to blacklist him — Tutu compares the current Palestinian struggle against Israeli apartheid to the historic South African anti-apartheid cause, and advocates a similar global dvestment strategy. In August, Dr. Cris Toffolo, chair of the university’s Justice and Peace Studies program, was fired from her position in reprisal for writing a supportive letter to Tutu.
WRL’er Marv Davidov, a veteran anti-racist activist who teaches in Justice and Peace Studies, asserting that “stifling debate and dissent and criticism of Israel is a disservice to all,” rallied local colleagues and supporters nationally to defend Tutu and Toffolo. Thousands of emails from Jews and others supporting Tutu poured in; the weekly City Pages and the Twin Cities’ major dailies covered the story closely and editorialized sympathetically; scores of St. Thomas faculty members have demanded Toffolo’s reinstatement.
The university was soon on the defensive from the local organizing, the statewide media coverage, and the national (and international) support. In October — after receiving the Anti-Defamation League’s go-ahead approval to do so — university president Dennis Dease reversed his decision, re-inviting Tutu to the campus. PeaceJam had already found another, more hospitable venue by then, and Tutu insisted he would only appear at St. Thomas if Toffolo was reinstated. In a November interview with City Pages, the archbishop remarked on attempts to vilify him, “I think I’m consistent in my own positions. I oppose injustice adn oppression everywhere.”
Toffolo told Inside Higher Ed: “This case is interesting becasue there are so many faculty members running afoul because of their views on Israeli policy in the occupied territories or U.S. foreign policy in terms of Israel. We need to be able to have serious discussions of these issues.” For their part, Davidov and other Twin Cities activists vow to continue the campaign to reinstate Toffolo and make sure that voices of peace and justice are heard.
DELLINGER LECTURE
The second annual Dave Dellinger Lecture on Nonviolence took place on October 25 at Judson Memorial Church in New York City. Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence and Hiba Dawood, and Iraqi journalist and winner of a 2007 Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation, both spoke on the theme of “Nonviolent Action in the Middle East.” Can Baskent also spoke about Turkish conscientious objectors and resistance, and David Smith-Ferri, author of Battlefield Without Borders, read his poetry.
The event highlighted a region that Dellinger was intensely involved in and was tied to WRL’s similarly themed 2008 Peace Calendar. In addition to WRL and Judson, the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute sponsored the event. For more information or to help organize the 2008 lecture, call the WRL office or email dellinger[at]att.net.
