Saturday, February 4th is a national day of action against a war with Iran, with events scheduled in more than 40 U.S. cities, including three in Wisconsin: Madison, Milwaukee and Racine. ....and Voices for Creative Nonviolence is part of the rally in Chicago at noon today. Organizers recall the campaign of government-sanctioned lies that led up to the war on Iraq, and see parallels in the escalating rhetoric being used to build support for a military strike on Iran. Even though Defense Secretary Leon Panetta admitted as recently as January 8th that Iran is not developing a nuclear weapon, the U.S. is escalating economic sanctions and military threats. In his State of the Union address, President Obama said that "No option is off the table" with regard to Iran, a phrase widely understood to be a threat of military attack. On January 12th, an Iranian nuclear scientist was killed in a car bomb attack, the fifth such attack in the past two years. Photos from Sue Ruggles of Milwaukee event here "No war on Iran -- we demand diplomacy, not another war..."
sruggles@local212.org

Action Alert 1: Feb 4th: No War on Iran actions in Wisconsin
Action Alert 2: Lobby day to stop mining bill in Senate
Action Alert 3: Urge DNR to register stream as mine-damaged
Action Alert 4 - Madison: Wisconsin uprising alive and well after one year
Action Alert 5: Help provide clean water to children in Gaza

Action Alert 1: Feb. 4th: Say NO to war on Iran
Action Alert 2: Push for proper cleanup at Badger
Action Alert 3: Save Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Action Alert 4: Stop plan to gut campaign-finance laws

"Are we going to eat a polluted fish? Are our deer going to be polluted? Our trees are going to be cut down. All these other animals, all the ones down under mother earth,” Morris said. Attorney Glenn Stoddard, who represents the tribe, says, "The proposed mine in the Penokee Hills is at the head of the watershed. It would essentially send all the pollutants downstream right into the reservation.” Read more...

The host committee for the G8/NATO summit in Chicago in May has unveiled a new slogan for the event, “The Global Crossroads.”  The mood of the organizers is upbeat and positive.  

Chicago in May is also a crossroads in that it is a critical place and time for us all to take stock of where we have been and where we are going. We are at a crossroads- do we continue on the road of war and economic exploitation of the planet that NATO and the G8 are committed to, or do we abandon that road

  Cassandra Dixon, WNPJ member and contact for Mary House of Wisconsin Dells, is returning to the West Bank to volunteer again with Christian Peacemaker Teams, this time for two months in the city of AlKhalil, also known as Hebron. In past years Cassandra has been in Tuwani, one of the villages south of AlKhalil, where Palestinians face violence, and the threat of violence, from both Israeli settlers and from the military as they seek to remain on their land.  The situation for Palestinians living in AlKhalil in the old city area and surrounding rural neighborhoods is much the same.  CPT’s work in AlKhalil began in 1995 in response to harassment suffered by Palestinian schoolchildren  as they walk near Israeli settlements on their way to school in the old city neighborhood.  CPT’s hope is that the presence of internationals and the documentation of harassment, violence, and human rights abuses will accomplish a lessening of violence. WNPJ will post updates of her work in Hebron. This photo (above) is of homes demolished 1/25 by Israeli bulldozers near Hebron. Read more below.....with links on how to contact Cassandra directly.

WNPJ member group Solidarity Sing-Along continues its daily protest of mass singing at the Capitol, every weekday at noon. The group will soon celebrate its 300th performance, and its songbook has grown to 28 songs, many with Wisconsin-themed lyrics. When other events are scheduled for the Capitol rotunda at noon, the Sing-Along moves outside, to the Capitol's State Street corner. Above, Sing-Along participants huddle around a songbook on Friday, January 20th, when the temperature was in the teens and Madison received more than six inches of snow.

On January 12th, the Portland City Council voted unanimously to adopt a "Bring Our War Dollars Home" resolution that "praises United States troops and their families, applauds the end of the Iraq War and supports the further drawdown of troops in Afghanistan with funds being redirected to domestic priorities." Before the vote, the Council heard from members of the community who pointed to urgent unmet needs in the city of Portland. Chani Geigle-Teller from  Sisters Of The Road spoke about cuts to funding for housing causing the loss of hundreds of thousands of affordable housing units, while Toby Green of the Laborers 483 Public Employee Union spoke about one-half billion dollars in deferred maintenance that needs to be done in Portland alone.

In a protest organized by WNPJ member group South-Central Wisconsin Move to Amend, more than 60 people braved subzero temperatures and heavy snow to rally outside Madison's Federal courthouse on the second anniversary of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, which gave corporations the right to engage in unlimited spending on political campaigns. Participants included Madison's Raging Grannies (above) and state representatives Mark Pocan and Kelda Helen Roys. "I'm here because when corporations are granted human rights, the rights of human beings are diminished," said SCWMTA member Mindy Preston.  Read and comment here...

Studying Nonviolence:
The Occupy Movements, the Wisconsin Uprising, Arab Spring and more
Mondays from 7pm to 9pm, January 23^rd to March 5^th, Many Ways of Peace, 217 S. Main St., Eagle River
The inspiration for the series comes from the rise in nonviolent movements the past year, in Wisconsin and the United States, as well as around the world.  Learning about nonviolent theory and its practitioners provides us with greater insight into current movements and a deeper understanding of the skills nonviolent action requires.

Not About Bombs opens February 3, 2012, 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. at Intermedia Arts, 2822 Lyndale Avenue South, Minneapolis. Given the Western obsession with gender issues in Middle Eastern societies, it is no surprise that women have taken center stage in the rhetoric of Western media. This has been fueled even more by the role women are playing in the tumultuous Arab Spring uprisings. Unfortunately, not much has shifted in the controlled and contrived representation of Iraqi women by Western media. WNPJ contact: Kathy McKay, Executive Director kathy@reconciliationproject.org

2/19 Sunday - 4:30 to 7:30 pm
Goodman Community Center, 149 Waubesa St, Madison

Join us to break bread, meet new people and plan for spring gardens, while growing the movement for peace and justice.  We invite you to bring a dish to share, vegetable or flower seeds to exchange, and/or information about an issue that moves you.

Learn more about 2012 summer peace and justice camps for youth!

Interested in planning, promoting or being part of the camps this summer? 

Echo Vally Hope Summer Camp, near Ontario -www.echovalleyhope.org - Contact: denaeakles@earthlink.net 

Wisconsin Peacemakers Adventure Camp, near New London -  Aug. 19th - 25th.  Contact Clif Morton at - morton@hughes.net

Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice is proud to join the national Bring Our War $ Home campaign, and will be working to make the connection between lavish war spending overseas and austerity budgets at home. Key goals and strategies for the Wisconsin campaign are outlined here.

Working with WNPJ member group Weekly Vigil for Peace, we've developed a new half-sheet flyer with key facts about military spending.  Click here to download a .pdf copy, click here to download an MS Word copy.

WNPJ's first User's Manual is designed to help WNPJ member groups and individual members make greater use of the services we offer, including: statewide lobby days, event publicity, weekly action alerts, WNPJ work groups, meetings and awards and website features like In the News and Success Stories. Printed copies of the WNPJ Users Manual are free to member groups and individual members, or read the full Users Manual online here...

On Saturday, October 8th, Senator Fred Risser was presented a "Lifetime Peacemaker" award by the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice. "From sponsoring one of the first lesbian and gay rights bills in the country back in 1982, to taking a stand for workers' rights as one of the 'Fighting 14' earlier this year, Senator Risser has long fought the good fight," said Diane Farsetta, WNPJ Executive Director.