Here are some of our success stories:
| WNPJ members and member groups and others in the peace and justice movement across the country are winning - often against overwhelming odds. Here are some of our success stories: |
 | Shouting ''The war is immoral! Stop funding the war!'' from the Senate gallery, ten protesters forced the Senate into a temporary recess in the middle of a debate on the federal budget. The protest was organized by the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance. WNPJ member Joy First, of Madison Pledge of Resistance, was among those arrested, and was held in the Washington D.C. jail for more than 30 hours before being released. read more... |
 John LaForge tables for Nukewatch at Midwest Renewable Energy Fair. | Nine peace activists who were kept from making a pre-arranged visit to the offices of U.S. Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN) last September, and who were then arrested and jailed for refusing to leave the doorway of the Duluth Federal Building until they were allowed in, had all trespass charges dismissed at the start of their St. Louis County Court trial Wed., Feb. 6. |
 | Thousands of vets with impaired vision will be seeing an increase in disability benefits due to a change in the law championed by Dr. Jim Allen of Madison Vets for Peace. Allen, a retired ophthalmologist, began to work for a change in the law when a patient of his, a WWII vet with severely impaired vision, was unable to get a full disability payment due to an overly restrictive definition of "blindness" by the Veterans Administration. |
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Vermont High School Students Shut Down Military Recruitment Offices Students from Mount Mansfield Union High School in Williston, Vermont, working with local members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, shut down 2 military recruitment offices, encompassing all 5 branches of the military, on Friday, November 30. Approximately 75 people united under the banner, “Out of Our Schools – Out of Iraq." ... An excerpt of the students' statement: "We're sitting in here today to raise our voices against lies in recruitment, to raise our voices to protest military occupation of our schools and military occupation of Iraq. We're specifically in this recruiting station in order to save the lives of young men and women, some of whom are not even out of high school, who might join the military here because of lies. We are stopping recruiting here by physically impeding it. But even more we want people to see us here, and then question and confront recruiting wherever they are. Even if one young person does not get recruited today based on lies, this will be worth it." Read more... |
 Dane County Votes to End Corporate Jail Profiteering By a vote of 24-11, the Dane County Board voted to end the the practice of overcharging jail inmates and their families for phone, commissary and other services. The county had brought in more than a million dollars last year through the overcharges, which included a $4.25 connection fee and 50-cent per minute rates for calls to or from the jail. The new ordinance requires the County to choose contractors that provide the lowest possible costs to inmates instead of its previous practice of seeking contracts that make the most money for the county. The ordinance represents a victory for a grassroots coalition of advocates for prisoners and their families, including WNPJ member group Madison-Area Urban Ministry, which campaigned strongly for the change. Read WNPJ member Ed Kuharski's letter to the Supervisors here |  Is your county profiting off prisoners and their families? Dane County's "no profiteering" ordinance is the first of its kind in the state, so your county may be profiteering at the expense of the poorest and most vulnerable in our society. Contact County Supervisor Ashok Kumar to find out how you can end prison profiteering in your county. email: kumar@co.dane.wi.us phone: 608/843-0615 |
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A win for Morton High School students and free speech After threatening to expel more than a dozen students who had participated in a nonviolent peace protest at school, the administration of Morton West High School in Berwyn, Illinois has reversed itself, allowing all of the student protesters to return to school this week, with no further disciplinary action taken against them. “All we were trying to do was promote peace and recognize that people are dying every day,” said sophomore Adam Szwarek. “They said it was insubordination.” Read more... School officials had charged 38 students with "gross disobedience and mob activity" for taking part in a sit-in in the school cafeteria. The school's crackdown on free speech had drawn national attention, and a petition in support of the students collected more than 8,000 signatutures. Read the petition here.. |
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"Bring Our Troops Home" ballot initiatives win big in Montana November 7 Following the same democratic process that led to "Troops Home" victories in more than 30 Wisconsin communities, citizens in the Montana cities of Helena and Missoula voted by nearly two-to-one margins for ballot initiatives demanding an "orderly and immediate withdrawal from Iraq." Voters also rejected a counter-initiative that called on Congress to “fund our military forces totally and without conditions in the global war on terror.” Read more about the Helena and Missoula votes. |
 | Immigrant workers win in Chicago Strike at nonunion Cygnus Corp. wins back jobs for immigrant workers |
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In a remarkable victory for Chicago's immigrant and labor communities, striking workers at South Chicago’s Cygnus Corp., a nonunion soap factory, forced company management to back down on its threats to terminate any worker whose immigration status couldn’t be verified. The strike's success was a product of strong community support backed by local unions, and provides a model for how organized labor and the immigrant-rights movement can come together. Read more... Update: From New York City to Long Beach, undocumented immigrant workers are organizing, winning respect and better wages. "We have been going under the assumption that because we have no papers, we were powerless -- but we were wrong," said Ke, a 35-year-old Chinese immigrant and former Saigon Grill bicycle deliveryman. Read more... Here in Wisconsin:WNPJ member group Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice defends the rights of immigrant workers. Read more... |
| Puerto Rico's antiwar movement cuts military recruiting in half |
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57 percent of Puerto Rico's 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders, or their parents, have signed forms over the past year withholding contact information from the Pentagon -- effectively barring U.S. recruiters from reaching out to an estimated 65,000 high school students. Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy, acknowledged that the counter-recruiting campaigns are having an impact. "We're drawing less than the national average" in Puerto Rico, he said. Read more... Update: Puerto Rico Governor receives standing ovation from National Guard with call for troop withdrawal Read more... Here in Wisconsin:Truth and Alternatives to Militarism in Education organizes counter-recruitment efforts in Wisconsin schools Read more... |
| Dane County Board calls for impeachment of Bush and Cheney |
 | August 16: By a vote of 20-3, the Dane County Board voted to approve a resolution calling on Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush and Vice President Cheney. WNPJ member Joy First reports on the vote. read more... Read the text of the resolution... Update: Rep. Tammy Baldwin signs on to Kucinich bill calling for impeachment of Cheney Read more... |
| New Haven, Connecticut offers "City ID" to undocumented residents |
 Photo: South Central Federation of Labor | By a city council vote of 25-1, New Haven Connecticut became the first city in the U.S. to issue ID cards to residents irrespective of their immigration status. “City ID” provides a way of bringing undocumented residents out of the shadows, by making it possible for residents to open bank accounts, access city services, and identify themselves to health-care providers, schools and landlords without disclosing their immigration status. "It's an opportunity we have to take to be a part of normal life in the community," said Maria, an undocumented New Haven resident, noting that undocumented immigrants are targeted by muggers, who know they carry cash because they can't get a bank account without an ID. Read more here and here... |
From Des Moines to D.C., juries uphold protesters free-speech rights 7/18/04 Update: Joy First reports on the trial: Four days in court in Washington, DC – Found NOT GUILTY Read more... I was tried (and acquitted) for protesting the Iraq war Read more... Joy First, Monona resident and WNPJ member, was one of seven peace activists who were acquitted by a Washington D.C. jury on charges of unlawful conduct. The protesters, who participated in a nonviolent protest at the Senate office building, soon after the Senate voted to approve $95 billion for the war in Iraq, faced up to six months in prison and a $500 fine. Their acquittal follows a similar verdict by a Des Moines, Iowa jury, which voted to acquit protesters who were arrested at a nonviolent protest at the office of Iowa Senator Charles Grassley. “I think it meant that the jury actually understands that people have a right to be heard by their representatives," said Sally Frank, the Des Moines attorney who represented the protesters on behalf of the National Lawyers’ Guild Mass Defense Committee. Do acquittals signal new openness to war protest?Read more... |
| Wisconsin Democracy Campaign celebrates state Senate passage of three election reform bills - all in one afternoon! May 9: The state Senate this afternoon passed three reform bills supported by Wisconsin Democracy Campaign including Senate Bill 77, truth-in-campaigning legislation requiring full disclosure of special interest electioneering, which passed by a vote of 26-7. The Senate also passed Senate Bill 23, which addresses the revolving door between lawmaking and lobbying by requiring a one-year cooling off period before state lawmakers who leave the Legislature may start working as lobbyists at the Capitol, passed on a 30-3 vote. A third WDC-backed bill, Senate Bill 170, known as the Judicial Right to Know bill, was passed this afternoon on a 19-14 vote. |
| WDNR Agrees to Demand for Safe Water Guidelines Years of arms manufacturing at the now-closed Badger Army Ammunition Plant have contaminated area groundwater with a carcinogenic chemical, DNT. WNPJ member group Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger has succeeded in winning new safeguards to protect neighboring communities. read more.... |
 | Wisconsin Environmental Group Wins Full Cleanup of Toxic Waste The Army has removed more than 60,000 cubic feet of sediment contaminated with heavy metals from Gruber's Grove Bay on Lake Wisconsin, thanks to grassroots activism by Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger and others read more... |
 | A Madison-area grassroots campaign stood up to media giant Clear Channel Communications - and won! read more... |
| Coast Guard Guns Silenced Coast Guard cancels plans for live fire exercises on Great Lakes after being "swamped" by public comments read more... |
 | Peace Breaks Out in Pagosa Springs Colorado town rallies to support "peace wreath" couple After their suburban homeowners association threatened fines for their pro-peace holiday display, Lisa Jensen and Bill Trimarco became the center of a national "peace wreath" movement read more... |