The videos of this event are now available! On Sunday, November 13th WNPJ hosted its annual Fall Assembly in Milwaukee (and via zoom). Each year we take this time to bring individuals and organizations together, to set the vision for the upcoming year, to honor the efforts of peacemakers and peace builders…and to get into some “Good Trouble”. We were at Marquette University, hosted by MU Peacemaking Center - a WNPJ member group! Video of a Welcome to the Assembly with pt Network Coordinator Judy Miner: https://youtu.be/m-4SybFaH2kas Debra Gillsipie interviews Tynnetta Jackson about what Abolition means to her, before the Meeting begins...https://youtu.be/2Z_0wyiC3PY This year’s theme was Abolition: Addressing the Root Causes of Violence ....with special guest speaker - Angela Harris. To learn more about Angela Harris, check out this conversation with Widening the Circle host, Dena Eakles. And watch the video of Dena Eakle introducing Angela to the WNPJ Assembly on Nov. 13th: https://youtu.be/7KUOAEaeU8E ************************************ Presenting the Peacemaker of the Year Award to Claude Motley Learn more about Milwaukee's Claude Motley of the Emmy award-winning documentary, "When Claude Got shot” . Here's the video of Debra Gillispie and Mary Kay Baum introducing Claude Motly at the Assembly https://youtu.be/MQS7Blmze0k- .....with links to the documentary, "When Claude Got Shot" https://youtu.be/bs0nma7yNTc and https://whenclaudegotshot.org/ ********************************* WNPJ's 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Art Heitzer. Art's activism includes Peace Action Wisconsin, Milwaukee’s End the Wars Committee, Wisconsin Coalition to Normalize Relations with Cuba, the National Lawyers Guild, and the Milwaukee Turners. Art Heitzer received this Award for his lifetime of peacemaker work, from his student activism at Marquette University through his very important and prominent role in our Milwaukee and Wisconsin Peace Community. Here is the video of the event - on Nov. 13th. Art was introduced by Julie Enslow of Peace Action WI, and his Award presented by Tynnetta Jackson and Mary Kay Baum. https://youtu.be/rQC4F7Vht4o Thanks to volunteer Dan Folkman for the editing of these Assembly videos! Learn of previous Lifetime Achiever Awards here... Inspired by the work of many of today’s Abolitionists, it is our hope to share their work and to uplift the narrative. To help us begin to build a shared understanding of abolition, here is an interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUtpuU4mzOM with Derecka Purnell and Trevor Noah on her book Becoming Abolitionists and her understanding and the need for abolition today.

It is my honor to present our Peacemaker of the Year Award to Claude Motley. Mary Kay Baum, 11/13/2022 Forty five years ago I carried my two-day-old daughter into Waupun’s Maximum Security Prison to meet her Menominee father, my first husband. I experienced what it was like to be part of a prisoner’s family. I found Wisconsin’s mass incarceration negatively impacts those incarcerated and their family members. Claude, thank you for bringing your strong and convincing reality to the public. You are like the Great Blue Herons I see in the rookery near my home. You are like the adult herons who protect the newly hatched and the fledgling herons in a rookery. First they act in community by purposely choosing to form their nests close to each other in one common rookery. This allows a couple adult Great Blue Heron to stay behind keeping guard and protecting all the nests of the rookery. Taking turns this allows all the herons in the rookery to fetch fish for themselves and their young ones back in the nest. In fact, If you walk under their rookery you will not miss the guarding ones. You cannot help but hear their very strong and convincing voices as they sweep down toward you. The Great Blue Heron teach their young to fly and fetch food. But, above all, they pass on the ethic of a community protecting its most vulnerable. Claude, you reminded us that right now many adolescents in Wisconsin do not see a future. Many are dying from gunfire, from overdose, or from hanging themselves... be it in our central cities, in our suburbs, on our reservations, or on our suffering farms. We thank you, Claude, for all you do in the heartbreaking role of urging safe, healthy, functioning communities. Thank you for speaking up with your own strong and convincing voice. Thank you for being vulnerable enough to show what can be mixed emotions. Thank you for ultimately accepting restorative justice. Yes, thank you for changing us every time we see a glimpse of your life. May we think of you and the lessons your life teaches us. Most of all, thank you for helping each one of us to work together toward more connected communities. Compiled by Co-Chair Mary Kay Baum marykbaum@gmail.com ****************************** Video of Debra Gillspie introducing Claude Motley to the WNPJ Fall Assembly - and Mary Kay's presentation of the award. Nov. 2022 - https://youtu.be/MQS7Blmze0k

Our 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Art Heitzer of Milwaukee Art, you are well-known as an outstanding employment and labor attorney. But your additional work with the National Lawyers Guild, ACLU, Milwaukee Turners, immigrant groups, and a myriad of community and worldwide peace and justice groups shows your outstanding contribution to our community. When you see injustice you use all your tools to achieve change, whether through direct action, assisting groups on bests steps in demonstrations, defending travel to Cuba, recognition of an unsung heroine, or gathering groups together to seek community rehabilitation to replace mass incarceration. Your leadership as President of the Milwaukee Turners has helped it to move further from a population of mostly German immigrants to a most welcoming, multi-ethnic place in largely segregated Milwaukee. When I asked you, Art, if there was an animal or plant that you admire or feel a connection with, you were quick to tell me that you especially appreciate the owl. The owl is a bird that many traditions find wise, intelligent and forward leaning. In fact, the owl is a symbol taken by Milwaukee Turners with their theme of Sound Minds in Sound Bodies. This wonderful owl photo was taken by my sister Rosann Baum Milius of a Great Horned Owl who hung out near her Oshkosh home. It is a great photo because owls are seldom seen in daylight. The Great Horned is one of the largest owls – can be two feet tall. And it is the most common owl in Wisconsin. Owls are nocturnal and see objects at night many times better than we humans. Owls see what most of us do not see. For this they are often called wise and “free thinkers”. Art, you are an example of seeing what is truth and what needs to be heard. Also, like an owl not backing off from a wolf who attacks it, you do not back off despite difficult obstacles in the way. You have been arrested, you have been ridiculed, but you hold true to your convictions, despite harassment from naysayers. And you achieve change by working well with other organizations. We thank you for your lifetime of achieving peace and justice and most of all we thank you for bringing people together to achieve such peace and justice. 11/13/2022 Compiled by Co-Chair Mary Kay Baum marykbaum@gmail.com Here is the video of Julie Enslow of Peace Action WI introducing Art Heitzer at the 2022 Fall Assembly, along with Tynnetta Jackson and Mary Kay Baum. https://youtu.be/rQC4F7Vht4o

Winter Newsletter Check out all the articles and action alerts here: https://assets.nationbuilder.com/peaceactionwi/pages/136/attachments/original/1670085478/PeaceAction_WEBLayout.pdf?1670085478 www.peaceactionWI.org www.facebook.com/peaceactionwi/ info@peaceactionwi.org ​ Contact: Pam Richard, Office Manager 414-269-9525 ​1001 E Keefe Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53212

On Thursday Dec. 2, in an 80-15 vote, the Senate passed legislation to block a railroad strike set for December 9. President Biden is expected to sign the bill into law. On Wednesday, the House narrowly passed a bill that would include seven paid sick days for rail workers, but the Senate refused to pass that bill. Biden has promised to address sick leave for all workers and said he was “reluctant” to block the strike, but economics won. *Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said the administration had “two messages: One, this fight over sick days is not over — and, we’re going to figure out how to fight on another front.” Member organizations of WNPJ who would like to draft a letter of support for workers safety and sick leave are invited to do so. Letters of support will be posted here. https://www.wnpj.org/ Send to info@wnpj.org Click here for news on the Senate bill. Click here to see Transportation Workers Union of America blog on worker misclassification. *Click here to see the entire Politico article Photo:Ron Reiring / Wikimedia Commons C.C. 2.0 Generic License

November is Native American Heritage Month. It is a time to celebrate rich and diverse cultures of Native people. It is also a time to rectify harm and to advocate for equity. From 1778 to 1871, the United States government entered into more than 500 treaties with sovereign tribes; these treaties have been violated or broken by the US government. Native Americans and First Nations Peoples still fight for their treaty rights in federal courts and in the UN. Current court cases include: U.S. Supreme Court expands state power over Native American tribes. Article from Reuters. There are challenges to the 43 year-old Indian Child Welfare Act. Article from Native American Rights Fund Check out the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change. And a statement of reconciliation from member group Madison Friends Meeting (Quakers).

Hello friend of Madison War Abolition Walks! Since April, we have held 22 walks in Madison to call for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, and for war abolition. We are moving to an email platform called Action Network. Please join if you want to get notices of our events in Madison. Of course, you can unsubscribe at any time. Join here! How do you want to act here in Madison to oppose war and militarism? We are planning to continue our war abolition walks this winter. We’re planning for walks downtown with a focus on visiting elected officials. We’ll be asking our Congressional representatives to stop showering the military with money, vote no to the proposed $37 billion more for the war in Ukraine, and push for negotiations to end the war. And we’ll ask city and state officials to halt F-35 warplanes coming to Truax. Our October 14 action at Mark Pocan's office. Photo by Paul McMahon We have become a chapter of the amazing international anti-war group World BEYOND War. Please check out World BEYOND War’s website to learn about this global movement to end all wars. We love their huge wealth of trainings, actions and resources. We’ve learned so much from web meetings with their board member Yurii Sheliazhenko, a brave Kyiv-based pacifist. In September, World BEYOND War awarded a War Abolisher Award to two Italian dock workers unions, Collettivo Autonomo Lavoratori Portuali (CALP) and Unione Sindacale di Base Lavoro Privato (USB), in recognition of their blocking of weapons shipments to a number of wars in recent years. Can you join us, with World BEYOND War, to be part of a public presence here in Madison for war abolition? Click here to join the email list. madisonpeacewalk@gmail.com War Abolition Walks Madison for a World BEYOND War

WNPJ Board member, Dena Eakles of Echo Valley Hope in SW Wisconsin has a weekly blog post: Check it out. dena.eakles@gmail.com Stop Doing Harm Nov 17 The Climate Summit is underway. The gathering is supposed to allow all countries equal footing to negotiate the perils of climate change. Once again the fossil fuel industry is driving the agenda to continue the abusive use of coal, gas and oil. And once again governments, who are the greatest emitters of greenhouse gasses, are refusing to wind down. Climate justice groups are given little space to talk about the need to stop harmful polluting, while fossil fuel industries set up elaborate booths to sell their products. It’s more than a conflict of interest; it’s death by greed. The request for financial help to repair the damage caused by large polluters is being sidestepped. The request to “stop doing harm” is going unheard. The summit is called COP 27. That means for the past 27 years this spin has continued while our overuse of fossil fuels impacts the climate and adversely affects our health. So when I learned about our school district receiving grants and loans to do a makeover, I looked to see if there were plans to use renewable energy. There were none. The plans are for larger spaces that will require more energy. And energy costs are rising and will continue to. Taxpayers will foot the bill for the construction AND for the operational costs. That figure was left out the planning as well. The Inflation Reduction Act is ready and waiting for makeovers like this one. Switching to renewables in this moment makes total sense. I can’t be at COP 27, but I can make my voice heard and I did. I will not be voting to approve the plans for the school makeover unless renewable energy is used. It’s time to stop doing harm. We can. Photo from an article Misconceptions about solar energy. Thanks to Edward Kimmel via Wikipedia Commons for the image of the sign from the 2017 Climate March in Washington, DC. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Why do we keep allowing the fossil fuel industry to call the shots? VANESSA NAKATE to Democracy Now: Well, apparently, we have more than 600 fossil fuel lobbyists at this COP, and yet so many communities and activists from the frontlines of the climate crisis weren’t able to make it here. There is a quote that I read recently that said, “If you’re going to discuss about malaria, do not invite the mosquitoes.” So, for me, it’s a worry that we have over 600 fossil fuel lobbyists in this place. It’s a worry for our future. It’s a worry for our planet. It’s a worry for the people.

November 14, 2022 Dear Friends, We’re writing to ask your help for young Afghans who face deeply troubling circumstances and may be able to resettle in Portugal in the very near future. In Kabul, they were part of a group which has now disbanded for security reasons and cannot even be named in public documents. The group welcomed internationals to live with them and become part of their efforts for peacemaking. Onlookers watched them pursue remarkable altruism. They agreed to reject all wars, worked hard to share resources, overcame ethnic differences, emphasized equality, and participated eagerly in permaculture courses. For six years, they maintained cooperative projects to assist street kids, refugees within Kabul, single mothers struggling to feed their children, and communities in extreme poverty. Sadly, their voluntary work, coupled with their idealism and the fact that many are from an ethnic and religious minority - Hazara Shi’a - jeopardized their lives after the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan. 18 of the activists from this group (and one child under the age of 2) have looked for safety in Pakistan. Yet they now face precarious conditions there and are at great risk. The Pakistani government, overwhelmed by economic collapse and devastating floods, appears very reluctant to host Afghan refugees. Newly arrived Afghan refugees who are part of the Hazara ethnic group experience severe discrimination in the country. Young women remain indoors. Twelve of the young people living in Quetta, Pakistan were recently evicted by their landlord. They are currently living in a Safe House in Islamabad. They are not allowed to work in Pakistan, and once their visas expire, they cannot receive money from abroad. They live in constant fear of being picked up by Pakistani police and turned over to the ISI intelligence. We’ve recently learned that the Portuguese government says it will most likely be possible to issue visas for 19 Afghans who have sought refuge beyond Afghanistan to resettle in Portugal. Following this good news, we learned that refugee resettlement professionals in Leiria, a city in the Central Region of Portugal, are willing to partner with us. They have already begun to design a resettlement project based on the model developed in Mértola, a small southern Portuguese city which, in March of 2022, welcomed eight young Afghans from the activist group. The Mértola project’s success has made it a model for humane and holistic resettlement efforts. The government of Portugal clarified that our circle of internationals would be responsible for all airfares and for at least one year of funds to support resettlement in Leiria for 19 Afghans. We’ve also learned about a possibility for getting visas to resettle an additional group of young Afghans, possibly as many as 20, in another European country. We are working hard to pursue this possibility. Anyone wishing to make a tax-deductible donation to assist with airfares and resettlement expenses can write checks payable to the Fellowship of Reconciliation, with “Afghan Generations” written in the memo. Checks can be sent to this address: Fellowship of Reconciliation CHICAGO AREA CHAPTER 705 11 th St., #205 Wilmette IL 60091 This message comes from Kathy Kelly and Sarah Ball- on behalf of an ad hoc committee of internationals assisting young Afghans since August, 2021 Ed McManus, Chair, Chicago Chapter, Fellowship of Reconciliation Kathy Kelly is well known to WNPJ members - with a history of speaking at our statewide meetings - and leading walks for peace across Wisconsin over the last ~15 years. Kathy has lived and worked in Afghanistan - providing support for youth - and has brought their stories back to us. Her previous group, Voices for Creative Nonviolence in Chicago was a member group of WNPJ.

Leonard Peltier’s "Walk To Justice" began in the Twin Cities - and now the walkers have reached Washington DC ....over 1,000 miles! They will ask President Biden for clemency for political prisoner, Leonard Peltier. A political prisoner is someone who is out fighting for his or her people's rights and freedom and is imprisoned for that alone. Learn more here: https://www.facebook.com/LeonardPeltierWalkToJustice/ https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/leonard-peltier-imprisoned-native-american-activist-new-message-biden-rcna19731 Let #JoeBiden know that you support granting clemency for #LeonardPeltier Data has shown that an excellent way for Peltier supporters to communicate with the White House is by telephone call the White House comment line at 202-456-1111. If the lines are busy, try the White House switchboard at (202) 456-1414. Ask for the comment line. #FreeLeonardPeltier #PoliticalPrisoner #AmericanIndianMovement #FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners Leonard Peltier still stands strong and defiant against injustice. Send our brother some love and Humility: Leonard Peltier, 89637-132, USP Coleman I, P.O. Box 1033, Coleman FL 33521. White paper and envelope only. leonardpeltierwalktojustice@gmail.com

On Tuesday, July 26, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPA) of 2022 with a strong bipartisan vote of 401-20. The bill reauthorizes the historic Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and provides more than $1 billion over five years to strengthen both the domestic and international response to the second largest criminal enterprise in the world – human trafficking. It now awaits consideration by the Senate. Take Action - Let Your Voice Be Heard! Action Alert sent to WNPJ by Congregation of St. Agnes (CSA) www.csasisters.org www.facebook.com/csasisters tabler@csasisters.org ​ Contact: Tracy Abler 920-907-2315 320 County Road K, Fond du Lac, WI 54937

Last month, the MMSD School Board in Madison voted to give $5/hr raises to educational assistants, clerical staff, security, and food service, but not our 200+ custodial, maintenance, and grounds workers. Excluding these short-staffed, already underpaid employees from such a significant wage increase is unfair. It devalues the dedicated staff who remain in these positions and step up to shoulder the load, knowing that they could leave and be better off working somewhere else, as the district is unable to attract people to fill all of the open positions in our schools. Please sign on to send this letter to the Madison Metropolitan School Board asking to include them in the raise. www.workerjustice.org www.facebook.com/workerjusticewi info@workerjustice.org ​ Contact: Rebecca Meier-Rao 608-255-0376 1602 S. Park St. #116, Madison, WI 53715 ​ We are a non-profit organization that focuses on the education and empowerment of workers and laborers. We help ensure fairness, dignity and equality in the workplace through collective action and education.