by Glen Anderson WWFOR members believe in economic justice and a “living wage” for workers, so for a number of years WWFOR has been raising staff wages without solid plans for how to pay for them.  “Wishful thinking” beyond what our hard-working fundraising efforts could generate is partly responsible for our current financial crisis.  WWFOR’s economic problem has worsened because of the US’s widening economic gap between the rich and the rest of us and the economic crash that occurred in 2008 and will continue long into the future. But WWFOR’s problem is not just a shortage of money.  It is also a shortage of grassroots volunteers and an organizational culture that does not fulfill our lip service to grassroots…

by Ellen Finkelstein, Organizer As I procrastinate writing this column, the Air Force announces that the ICBM Minuteman III nuclear missile test scheduled for March 1 is canceled. An agreement is announced: North Korea will suspend nuclear tests and allow international inspections while the U.S. will send tons of food aid. And Act of Valor, an action film that stars real Navy SEALs “performing astonishing acts of heroism,” is number one at the box office. What do these 3 stories have to do with WWFOR & its sustainability? They are random. Yet, activists exerted pressure to cancel the missile tests. Others advocated for a diplomatic, non-military response to North Korea (and elsewhere!). A hit movie offers an opportunity to discuss…

by Kaeley Pruitt-Hamm This is a ripe revolutionary moment, and if we don’t seize it, it will be gone. This unique period in history has been a long time coming, and now is a crucial window of opportunity for WWFOR’s work. That’s why we have ramped up our efforts in training young people in nonviolent strategy, continued to draw connections between military spending and our deficit that others don’t seem to be making, and continued to stand as a distinct peace and justice community. WWFOR has been intertwined with parts of the Occupy Movement and beyond. It’s been a big year for building community and teamwork among people from all backgrounds – from our work in the state legislature with…

by Bernie Meyers The world and we are in a rapidly changing period. From an individual point of view it may not seem rapid but nature and society may well experience the changes as earthshaking.  The Fellowship of Reconciliation is fast approaching its 100th anniversary. FOR has long been a strong witness for a just and peaceful world. In the context of the industrial revolution,  FOR began at the ascending end of the curve of industrial development which created the intensive resource consuming society we have “benefited from” and which now most of humanity wants to share. However, we have reached the limits of growth and must begin the long descent toward the other end of the curve. While on…

by Ruth Yarrow WWFOR has had a vibrant history, including working on the Freeze Campaign, US-USSR reconciliation, solidarity with Central America, trying to prevent the Gulf War, medical supplies to war victims, the Campaign of Conscience, and more. More recently, WWFOR has been working on opposing the so-called never-ending war on terror and supporting multilateral efforts to gain peace.  At present, WWFOR is co-leading an effort to bring our billions of tax dollars home to provide the education, health care, libraries, public transport, environmental support and more that our state so desperately needs.  We have held Peace Activist Trainee (PAT) programs every July for eleven years.  Many of our members continue to work with other organizations on efforts from health…

by John Repp At a recent meeting of an expanded finance committee of WWFOR someone threw out the question: “What Are We Selling?” The meeting spent little time attempting to answer the question. The only idea proposed was “nonviolence.”     Ideas have power. We all know this, but in our materialist culture it is difficult to explain exactly how such an ethereal thing as an idea can be a powerful force in the real world. But did not the ideas of the think tank Project for a New American Century, which advocated a larger defense budget and “American leadership,” have real consequences with the invasions and occupations in the Middle East? WWFOR did strategic planning several years ago, and at…

by Ellen Finkelstein I first met members of Western Washington FOR in the months leading up to the start of the Iraq War. I joined with them – and others – to form SNOW (Sound Nonviolent Opponents of War). It seems like a lifetime ago. For many, it is. And now, “the war is over.” So do we declare “victory”? Should peace activists declare “Mission accomplished” and turn our sights elsewhere? It seems talking about war – the costs of war, its lasting impact, the effect of militarism – is suddenly out of favor, even with some in the peace and justice movement. It seems people no longer want to contemplate 4,500 American dead and 60,000 wounded, nor the impact…

by Larry Kerschner Most Americans know very little about Korea’s history.  Scarcely anyone in the U.S. knows about more than a century of U.S. military intervention there and the ongoing opposition of much of Korea’s population  to U.S. military occupation.  The Chinese left Korea in 1958 and we still have 25,000 troops there.  Despite U.S. government propaganda maybe North Korea has some reason for their paranoia. The recent death of Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s dictator, with its political uncertainties puts Korea back into people’s attention.  The American people do not know that the Korean War never formally ended, but we are only living with a “cease-fire” that has gone on for more than half a century. For another look at the U.S-Korea relationship you…

by Kaeley Pruitt-Hamm This summer, civil rights activist Dr. Bernard LaFayette told me stories of how he and his friends not only survived but thrived in jail. When they were incarcerated for standing up for their rights as equal citizens, they wouldn’t mope around waiting for bail or even chant angrily. Instead, they sang. They sang and laughed and bonded with the watchman talking about his family. There is just something about music that is magical fuel for a movement, and I wanted to hear and feel more of it in our call to Bring Our Billions Home from war and greed. I wanted to move beyond just Dylan and Lennon covers as recycled bread and butter of protest songs,…

by Larry Kerschner A bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in early December would stop the sale of surveillance technologies by American companies to regimes considered repressive by our regime.  A recent Bloomberg News report showed how western technology suppliers used Tunisia as a testing ground as that government used surveillance technologies to track, mis-inform, interrogate and intrusively try to chill the free flow of political discussion. Maybe we should request a bill that would stop these companies from selling this technology to our government.  The vast majority of computer surveillance involves monitoring various types of communication on the Internet.  Under the U.S. Communications Assistance For Law Enforcement Act (CAFLEA), all phone calls and broadband internet traffic are…