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Past Events and Photo Highlights
80th Anniversary
The Triangle Branch of WILPF celebrated our 80th Anniversary and International WILPF’s 100 Anniversary on November 6th. More than 70 WIILPF members, friends, and allies attended the event. Because of the critical nature of the times we live in, we decided not to have a keynote speaker. Instead we asked our allies to be the keynoters for the event, sharing the work that they are engaged in and suggesting ways that others can strengthen collaborations and provide support and solidarity. Remarks were shared by community activists in organizations including the Chapel Hill-Carrboro and state NAACP, Rogers Road Community Center, A Phillip Randolph Institute, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Balance and Accuracy in Journalism, Jewish Voices for Peace, Black Workers for Justice, Frack Free NC, and Abrahamic Initiative on Middle East (AIME).
These presentations were preceded by brief remarks from Lucy Lewis, Triangle WILPF Steering Committee, outlining key highlights of WILPF and local branch herstory. Triangle WILPF was founded in 1935 by Charlotte Adams, and has a long history in our community both for independently organized vigils, protests, and advocacy but also as catalysts for other organizations and activities.
Following dinner, Ruth Zalph and Peggy Misch were honored as WILPF Wise Women Elders for their decades of work for peace, freedom and justice. Ruth most recently walked across the state of North Carolina this fall with the NAACP’s Journey for Justice, a march from Selma to DC for "our jobs, our schools, our votes and our lives." Peggy was honored in absentia, as she was in Palestine, the oldest member of a Code Pink delegation harvesting olives; she received the award at WILPF’s December 12 meeting.
The Raging Grannies began and ended the evening’s events with songs written for the occasion, and everyone present joined them in a finale of "We Shall Not Be Moved."
Click on an image to enlarge
Triangle WILPF was one of the endorsers and participants on May Day in Raleigh, and calling for: good jobs for all; strong unions and collective bargaining rights; justice for immigrants and citizenship for all; a people’s budget; stop the attacks on LGBTQ and women; an end to police brutality, raids, mass incarceration, and deportation.
The Peaceful Means Film Series, a project of Durham Peace Action, in collaboration with Triangle WILPF, Veterans for Peace (Eisenhower Chapter) and Witness for Peace Southeast, presented a bi-weekly film series on Sunday afternoons February – May 2013 at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham about ordinary people making a world of difference through peaceful means. Films included: Pray the Devil Back to Hell, The Good Soldier, Run Granny! Run!; Bringing Pedro Home; Bringing Down a Dictator; Sir! No Sir!; The Take; and We Women Warriors. Thanks to WILPF member Dick Paddock for all his work with the technical projection for the series.
The Orange County Peace Coalition (WILPF is a member) convened a town hall meeting to “Bring Our War Dollars Home” on April 6, 2013, at the United Church of Chapel Hill. After 5 months of planning, the OCPC brought US Representative David Price together with NC State Senator Ellie Kinnaird, NC State Representative Verla Insko, Orange Commissioner Renee Price, Carrboro Alderman Sammy Slade, and Board of Education member Mia Burroughs, to hear the voices of citizens, including Veterans For Peace President Patrick McCann,UNC Student Power rep Zania Alsous, Interfaith Council Director Chris Moran, Affordable Housing advocate Robert Dowling, and NC Peace Action Director John Heuer testify to the deficit in Orange County community services, while the county was billed $36.6 million in 2012, just for the war in Afghanistan. Chapel Hill’s Mayor for Peace Mark Kleinschmidt moderated the public forum before 75 attendees.
August 2012 - WILPF members Peggy Misch and Ann Powers join Steve Dear, People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, at Hiroshima commemoration at Peace and Justice Plaza.
September 2012 – WILPF members Lib Hutchby and John Wagner join the FrackDown protest in front of the NC General Assembly building in Raleigh as part of national protests against fracking.
UNC Housekeepers Struggle
WILPF members joined UNC housekeepers and allies, including Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP, Student Alliance with Workers, UE 150 and SEANC in protesting a hostile work environment, the “no-sitting down policy”, threatening and abusive language by supervisors and a long-standing history and culture of racist management at a Labor Day rally and march to South Building on September 8, where UNC housekeepers presented worker grievances to representatives of Chancellor Thorp.
Following weeks of worker and allies meetings, many worker grievances, meetings with Vice-Chancellors and the UNC Employee Forum, and the Labor Day rally and march, UNC rescinded some of the most egregious aspects of the no-sitting down policy. But the struggle for policies, and supervisors and administrators at all levels, that treat UNC housekeepers with dignity and respect, fair pay and safe working conditions continues. For more information go to: http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/unc-housekeepers-demand-a-break/Content?oid=1667562.
Weaving a Net of Accountability: Taking on extraordinary rendition at the state and regional level, sponsored by Duke Human Rights Center, NC Stop Torture Now, UNC School of Law Immigration & Human Rights Policy Clinic, and International Human Rights Law Society at Duke Law School, April 8-10. http://accountabilityfortorturenc.org. Triangle WILPF endorsed this important event.
The Supreme Court Decision: A Disaster for Democracy! - Forum to address what you can do about corporate money buying our democracy. Speakers: Gene Nichol and Chase Foster, 4 PM, Sun, Apr 11, Carrboro Century Center, Carrboro. Triangle WILPF was a co-sponsor.
Vigil Against Afghanistan Escalation - On Wednesday, December 2, 2010 WILPF and the Raging Grannies, Elders for Peace, the Orange County Peace Coalition and others protested the Afghanistan surge and called for healthcare and jobs, not warfare at Peace and Justice Plaza in Chapel Hill.
Vigil Commemorating Iraq Invasion and Occupation - On Wednesday, March 17, 2010, WILPF and other organizations protested the 8th anniversary of the invasion and continuing occupation of Iraq, and the occupation of Afghanistan at Peace and Justice Plaza in Chapel Hill.
Long-time WILPF member Jerry Markatos was chosen to receive the International Human Rights Award by the Human Rights Coalition of North Carolina in December 2009 especially for his human rights work for Latin America and the Middle East, and as co-founder and chair of Balance and Accuracy in Journalism (BAJ).
Yonni Chapman, tireless fighter for social justice and equality and a long-time WILPF member, died on October 23, 2009. We will remember Yonni and miss him. A fund in Yonni’s memory has been created to support local high school students in documenting the history of their communities. Contributions can be made to: Triangle Community Foundation with Freedom Legacy Project in the notes section and mailed to Triangle Community Foundation, 324 Blackwell Street, Suite 1220, Durham, NC 27701. For more info about Yonni, his life and legacy, visit: http://freedomlegacyproject.blogspot.com
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Triangle WILPF is a proud partner of the statewide HKonJ (Historic Thousands on Jones Street) Coalition and a member of the Orange County Local HKonJ People’s Assembly. The fourth HKonJ rally will be held Saturday, February 9, 2010 in Raleigh, organizing for a People’s Legislative Agenda. Go to http://www.hkonj.com for Coalition updates, including a sidebar for the Orange County Group. We are committed to the struggle to build a People’s Movement based on the 14- Point Program.
WILPF Spearheads Community Solidarity for Moncure IAM Strikers’ Victory
Moncure Plywood has now seen an end to an 8-month strike. The 110 workers and their families lasted one day longer than the employers, who had thought they could profit by pushing a unionized skilled workforce out of the plant, replacing them with unskilled and cheap labor. The union won gain sharing for the first time, and beat back the mandatory 60-hour work week and 300-400% health insurance premium increase that management tried to force on them. IAM Local Lodge W369 workers kept their security, union, and dignity. They also won Labor management teams that will supervise plant production and safety. WILPF members spearheaded local strike support efforts since August, helping to organize the Labor, Community and Faith coalition that stood on picket lines every week, bringing food and financial support, organizing rallies, promoting media coverage, and helping to bring local and congressional leaders into the campaign for justice. However, the toxic management environment is continuing to create major problems for the workers, and WILPF will continue our support in the legislature, in the electoral arena and if necessary, in the streets.
Peggy Misch- 2008 International Human Rights Award Recipient
Long-time WILPF member Peggy Misch was chosen to receive the International Human Rights Award by the Human Rights Coalition of North Carolina. Peggy was honored December 9th at the NC State University Club for her many accomplishments and her tireless commitment to social justice for all, especially her work with the Orange County Bill of Rights Defense Committee, North Carolina Stop Torture Now, and the Coalition for Peace and Justice. Congratulations, Peggy, and many many thanks for all you do. For more info on Peggy’s work, go to http://www.hrcnc.org/HRCNC/Human_Rights_Award.html
WILPF was one of the sponsors of three events during Dr. Jeff Halper's recent tour in the Triangle. Dr. Halper is an Israeli-American peace activist, professor of anthropology, distinguished author, and internationally acclaimed speaker. In 2006 he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by the American Friends Service Committee. He is the author of Obstacles to Peace: A Reframing of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, a widely used resource manual of articles and maps. His new book, An Israeli in Palestine: Resisting Dispossession, Redeeming Israel, has just been published by Pluto Press. For more information, visit www.peace-with-justice.org and www.icahdusa.org
WILPF members mobilized with thousands of other North Carolinians in support of a 14-point People’s Agenda for the second annual HKonJ -- Historic Thousands on Jones Street in Raleigh – on February 9, 2008 in Raleigh. Stay tuned for more information about the formation of local People’s Assemblies to work on the agenda, or visit www.hjonj.com
WILPF organized a vigil to protest the threats of a military attack on Iran in September, 2007, at Chapel Hill’s Peace and Freedom Plaza (old Chapel Hill Court House), gathering dozens of signatures on petitions opposing any such action.
WILPF delegation rallied and lobbied in DC to end 40 years of Israeli Occupation
Jean Chapman, Triangle WILPF, and fellow pilgrims at the 2007 Sacred Peace Walk in Nevada to raise awareness about the dangers of nuclear war.
WILPF member Peggy Misch reported on her recent trip to Palestine with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions at our January 12 meeting. Here Peggy is in Bethlehem, next to the wall that Israel is building within Palestine land as Israel increases its territory.
Photo: WAT gallery | Reuters gallery
National WILPF was one of dozens of endorsers of the Shut Down Guantanamo protest on January 11, the fifth anniversary of the arrival of the first detainees at Guantanamo. Triangle WILPF member Jean Chapman joined hundreds who marched through the streets of D.C., winding a path from the Capitol to the Supreme Court and ending at the U.S. Federal District Court House. Throughout the morning other activists entered the court house to file Habeas Corpus petitions and await the presentation of the prisoners. More than 90 protestors were arrested, but later released.
The War in Lebanon and Its Aftermath. On January 3, Rania and Rifaat Masri spoke to members of the Triangle Community. Rania joined the faculty of Science as an Assistant Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Balamand in Lebanon in 2005, at which time she left her position as the Director of the Southern Peace Research Center at the Institute for Southern Studies in Durham. Her father, Rifaat, an independent businessman , traveled to Lebanon in the summer, a week before the Israeli war on Lebanon and remained in Lebanon during the war. Rania is co-founder of the Campaign of Civil Resistance (CCR), a civilian, nonviolent group working to offer support to displaced persons, foster Lebanese unity, and work on political/legal issues. The event was cosponsored by Triangle WILPF, Balance and Accuracy in Journalism (BAJ), and the Coalition for Peace with Justice (CPWJ).
WILPF’s Raging Granny members Kay Mercereau, Ann Powers, Jane Hare, Marguerite Coyle, Lori Hoyt and Ruth Zweidinger add their voices to the Hiroshima Commemoration on August 6.
On May 13, WILPF members Joan Walsh, Lucy Lewis, Lori Hoyt and Peggy Misch joined the monthly anti-torture vigil in Smithfield. The women are also members of the Orange and Durham Bill of Rights Defense Committees.
Stephanie Eriksen, Peggy Misch (WILPF), and Linda Barnes at Kinston protest. The 'Leaning Lady Liberty' created by Roger Ehrlich and Joe McTaggart, is one of several "Monuments for Peace" (photo by Roger Ehrlich). Go to www.publicassembly.net for more info about Monuments for Peace, and www.stoptorturenow.org for more info about the Stop Torture/Aero Contractors campaign.
“On June 4, WILPF was one of the sponsors of William Powers’ talk about his latest book, “Whispering in the Giant’s Ear: Chronicle from Bolivia’s War on Globalization”. Powers, an aid worker in Bolivia, has just published this very timely book about Bolivia’s struggle against corporate globalization. For more information, go to www,williampowersbooks.com . Balance and Accuracy In Journalism and the Carolina Interfaith Task Force on Central America were also program sponsors.
WILPF members Peggy Misch and Joan Walsh (also members of the Orange and Durham Bill of Rights Defense Committees) were among protestors demonstrating on May 1 in Kinston at the annual meeting of the Board of Directors Global Transpark. Global Transpark has a contract with Aero Contractors, which has been reported to have been used for “rendition” or flying kidnapped suspects out of the US to countries where torture is allowed.
Triangle WILPFers join March 2006 anti-war march in Fayetteville
Triangle WILPF Branch welcomed International WILPF Vice-President Marta Benavides for a visit, including a program at the CH Public Library, in March, 2005. The branch is creating a "sister" relationship with the WILPF (LIMPAL) Section in El Salvador.
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Steering Committee - Margaret Herring, Emily Keel, Mary Jenne.
Email contact: Lucy Lewis at llewis2001@earthlink.net
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