The Golden Rule sailing ship, built by Quakers in the 1940’s and supported now by Veterans for Peace, is committed to peace and nuclear non-proliferation. The ship and crew is making an educational loop around the US this fall, sailing down the Mississippi River, a detour then made onto the Ohio River due to low waters in the Mississippi - and now headed toward the East Coast. Follow the trip here: http://www.vfpgoldenruleproject.org/ Special note: the Golden Rule is going to Cuba in January! Veterans For Peace and the Golden Rule Project are pleased to announce: THE GOLDEN RULE PEACE BOAT WILL SAIL TO CUBA and participate in a special Arts & Culture program there from January 2-8, 2023! VFP members, Golden Rule supporters, and friends of Cuba are invited to fly to Cuba and join us! The purpose of this voyage is several fold: 1. To participate in an educational Arts & Culture program and People-to-People exchanges. 2. To remind the world how close we came to nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, and to make the parallel connections to the US-Russia standoff in Ukraine today. 3. To express our solidarity with the Cuban people, who are suffering greatly from the recent hurricane that destroyed thousands of homes in Pinar del Rio province. We will deliver humanitarian aid to Pinar del Rio. 4. To call for an end to the US blockade of Cuba (an official VFP position), or at least for a temporary suspension of the blockade, as some Cuba solidarity groups are calling for, in order to facilitate the rebuilding after the hurricane. 5. To gain national and international attention for the nuclear disarmament mission of VFP's Golden Rule peace boat. We will travel to Cuba under a General License that permits travel for educational and people-to-people purposes. This license requires that we participate in an organized schedule of daily activities that meet these criteria. We are merging our Cuba visit with the wonderful Arts & Culture itinerary being organized by Proximity Cuba. For the itinerary, please see: https://www.proximitycuba.com/internati.../arts-culture-2023 Cost to participants: $1500 program for Jan 2 - 8. This will include a room in a Cuban home (double occupancy; single occupancy is $1650), most meals, transportation to all events, translation and coordination. $80/day for days before Jan 2 and after Jan 8 (the Golden Rule will be in Cuba several days before and after the Jan. 2-8 program). Airfare to Miami and to Cuba (currently about $350 roundtrip from Miami). Cuban visa ($50-$100) Those traveling by plane should plan to arrive in Havana Dec 30 and Jan 2. Only a few people will be sailing to Cuba on the Golden Rule. INTERESTED IN JOINING US? Please contact Golden Rule project manager Helen Jaccard at helen.jaccard@gmail.com or call her at 206-992-6364. JOIN A SPECIAL ZOOM MEETING ON TUESDAY, NOV. 22 at 9 pm Eastern, 6 pm Pacific, with Proximity Cuba's Rodrigo Gonzalez and Sharen Wrobel. See Zoom information below. If you cannot come, but would like to support the voyage: The VFP Golden Rule Project will incur various expenses related to sailing to Cuba. We will also bring humanitarian aid for the victims of Hurricane Ian. We would like to raise $5,000 to cover voyage expenses and another $5,000 (or more) for humanitarian aid. Please donate. Any amount will help! • vfpgoldenrule.org and click Donate • send a check to: VFP Golden Rule Project PO Box 87 Samoa, CA 95564 • phone Helen Jaccard at 206-992-6364 and make a donation by credit card Sailing for a Nuclear-Free World and a Peaceful, Sustainable Future! Helen Jaccard, Project Manager Gerry Condon, President Golden Rule Project VETERANS FOR PEACE www.vfpgoldenrule.org 206-992-6364 And after Cuba! The ship will travel from the East Coast weest through the Great Lakes next summer, with plans to arrive in Milwaukee in Septermber, 2023. The Veterans for Peace Chapter chapter #102 is already planning for the arrival of The Golden Rule in the harbor of Milwaukee. To get involved with that event, contact: www.facebook.com/MilwaukeeVetsforPeace/ vfpchapter102@gmail.com Join the crew to organize around peace and nuclear non-proliferation issues. Check out the schedule to see where she puts into a port near you! They’re looking for volunteers along the route. http://www.vfpgoldenruleproject.org/ Learn more about the ship’s history here in this 10-minute vimeo: https://vimeo.com/259060401 Contact: vfpsoaw@yahoo.com

Listen to an interview of John Peck, Director of Family Farm Defenders - from Dec. 8th - on community radio wdrt 91.1 fm with Dena Eakles: https://www.wdrt.org/?post_type=post&p=7921 Learn about the Farm Bill - food sovereignty - agribusinnes - good food - and so much more! And here's more on the Farm Bill.... Family Farm Defenders helped draft this statement and is among the 50 organizations that signed it, along with the National Family Farm Coalition and many others allies. ************************* November 16, 2022 The next Farm Bill can only be “climate-smart” if it reduces agricultural reliance on pesticides, says diverse coalition 50 organizations send public letter to congressional committees drafting 2023 Farm Bill FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press Contact: Deidre Nelms, dnelms@comingcleaninc.org, 802-251-0203 ext. 711 Today, 50 organizations sent a public letter to the House Agriculture Committee and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, calling for a transformative 2023 Farm Bill. They urged the legislators to incentivize reductions in pesticide use, include provisions to protect farmworker health, and increase funding and research for organic and regenerative farming, representing fenceline communities, food system workers and farmworkers, family farmers, businesses, scientists, and environmental health and justice organizations. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that global agriculture contributes 34% of the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change, but the Farm Bill has not explicitly addressed climate change since 1990. An estimated 1 billion pounds of pesticides, manufactured from fossil fuel feedstocks, are used on United States farms each year. The next Farm Bill could decrease agricultural carbon emissions by incentivizing farmers to reduce reliance on pesticides, in favor of regenerative, climate-resilient practices such as certified organic farming, the letter states. “As we prepare for the 118th Congress and the negotiation of the 2023 Farm Bill,” the letter reads, “U.S. agricultural policy must create an agricultural system that values human life today and for generations to come. To do that, we will need to shift investments away from ineffective, misguided, and unproven solutions – peddled by industry lobbyists under the guise of being ‘climate smart’ – and towards solutions that we know actually work: Transitioning to chemical-free agriculture, focusing on methods that promote soil health, supporting community-based farming and food marketing systems, and redirecting federal incentives away from industrialized producers towards farmers utilizing regenerative and agroecological methods.” The letter goes on to offer actionable recommendations that Congress should include in next year’s Farm Bill that could accomplish these goals, including: Amending the Farm Bill’s Conservation Title to protect human health in addition to soil health; Redirect funding currently provided through crop insurance and commodity programs that incentivize the crops, farms, and farming methods that drive demand for chemicals; Increasing funding for the Rural Development Title to improve housing for farmworkers; Incentivizing retiring farmers to pass farmland onto Indigenous people and beginning farmers with historical or modern ties to that land; Increased funding/enforcement of antitrust regulations in agriculture to ensure fair prices for consumers and fair wages for farmworkers; Eliminating support for industrial-scale livestock operations. The House Agriculture Committee and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry will begin drafting the next Farm Bill this year. It is expected to be authorized by September 2023. # # # Coming Clean is a nonprofit environmental health collaborative working to transform the chemical industry so it is no longer a source of harm, and to secure systemic changes that allow a safe chemical and clean energy economy to flourish. Our members are organizations and technical experts — including grassroots activists, community leaders, scientists, health professionals, business leaders, lawyers, and farmworker advocates — committed to principled collaboration to advance a nontoxic, sustainable, and just world for all. Sent to WNPJ by John E. Peck Executive Director Family Farm Defenders, P.O. Box 1772, Madison, WI 53701 tel./fax. 608-260-0900 www.familyfarmdefenders.org

Let Cuba Live! Ask President Biden to reverse the Trump administration’s last minute, unjustified listing of Cuba as a state supporter of terrorism. This scares off foreign banks from handling any trade between Cuba and other nations, even for food and medicine. It also threatens European travelers from visiting Cuba, as they will generally then not be able to enter the U.S. in the future. PLEASE TAKE ACTION by signing the petition sponsored by Code Pink, asking Biden to remove Cuba from this list, thus returning to the U.S. position before 2021. Action Alert sent to WNPJ by Wisconsin Coalition to Normalize Relations with Cuba Contact: Art Heitzer Mailing address: PO Box 1848, Milwaukee, WI 53201 Phone: 414 628-2547 E-mail: wicubacoalition@gmail.com Website: https://wicuba.org/

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.