Friday, June 19, 2020

ICUJP Conference "One World" Resources

 

I am proud to have been part of an online conference: "One World: Ending Endless War and Creating a Just, Peaceful, Healthy Planet" on Sunday, June 7.(My role was to put together the "Calls to Action" listed below.) Sponsored by Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace (icujp.org), over 200 people registered and over 100 attended. 

This conference was extremely meaningful, informative, and inspiring. Our keynote speaker was Rev. Jim Lawson, Civil RIghts activist who was Dr. King's colleague and mentor. See this page for a list of presenters: http://www.icujp.org/oneworld-resources#Calls

This entry contains info about session recordings, calls to action, information shared by participants, and links to other resources to help us continue taking the next steps and putting our learning into action. Together, let's confront the challenges we're facing and work to create a peaceful and just world for all.

We encourage you to take the action steps listed, watch the session recordings, and visit the cosponsors and resources listed to continue learning about ways we can help create the better world we all seek!

CALLS TO ACTION


As people of faith committed to ending war and violence,  ICUJP supports:
  • Reducing the military budget and abolishing nuclear weapons
  • Increasing spending on human needs: Healthcare, education, affordable housing, et al
  • Reducing dependence on fossil fuels and supporting alternative energy
  • Fair, humane treatment of immigrants and refugees, with a path to citizenship
  • Ending the prison industrial complex and immigrant detention
  • Ending the death penalty
  • Ending police violence, particularly towards people of color
  • Strong gun control measures
  • Closing Guantanamo and “black sites” that incarcerate people in inhumane conditions
  • Ending torture
  • Funding the World Health Organization, United Nations, and other international peace and justice bodies
  • Promoting global human rights, social justice, and democracy
  • The UN Declaration of Human Rights

CALLS TO ACTION: PEACE WITH JUSTICE

CALLS TO ACTION: ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

  • SUPPORT CARBON PRICING. Carbon pricing is one of many important policy tools Congress should use to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As the latest United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report states, “Explicit carbon prices remain a necessary condition of ambitious climate policies.”​To write your Congressperson, go to https://citizensclimatelobby.org/write-your-representative/#/74/
  • SUPPORT LOCAL INITIATIVES TO CLEAN UP TOXIC SITES. In Los Angeles, poisonous lead contamination has yet to be cleaned up at homes near the closed Exide battery recycling plant. Black, Latino and low-income California residents are especially likely to live near unplugged oil and gas wells that can spew pollution. People of color are more likely than white people to live alongside power plants, oil refineries and landfills.See https://www.naacp.org/issues/environmental-justice/ and https://www.ienearth.org/category/climate-justice/
  • SUPPORT INDIGENOUS PEOPLE WHO ARE PROTECTING WATER AND OTHER NATURAL RESOURCES. See https://www.ienearth.org/

CALLS TO ACTION: RACIAL AND RELIGIOUS JUSTICE

  • SUPPORT BLACK LIVES MATTER AND END POLICE VIOLENCE AND BRUTALITY! ​Go to https://www.blmla.org/
  • ICUJP STANDS WITH BLM IN CALLING FOR DISTRICT ATTORNEY JACKIE LACEY TO HOLD ACCOUNTABLE POLICE WHO ENGAGE IN RACE-BASED VIOLENCE AND BRUTALITY.
  • TELL MAYOR GARCETTI AND CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT NURY MARTINEZ TO “FUND SERVICES, NOT POLICE”: Contact the Mayor at https://www.lamayor.org/contact-us-0
  • NO BAN ON MUSLIMS OR REFUGEES: Trump has used the Covid-19 crisis to expand  an executive order banning travel to the U.S. for nationals from certain Muslim-majority countries and dismantling the refugee resettlement program.Your Congressperson can advance two bills to prohibit this from happening again: 1) The NO BAN Act (H.R. 2214/S. 1123) and 2) the GRACE Act (H.R. 2146/S. 1088). Together, they would immediately end the current bans, set limits so that Congress can stop discriminatory bans from being implemented, and establish a minimum number of annual refugee arrivals.​
Urge your member of Congress to prioritize legislation to ensure no future President has unchecked power to discriminate against Muslims, immigrants, or refugees.

CALLS TO ACTION: ECONOMIC JUSTICE

  • URGE YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO PROVIDE NEEDED ASSISTANCE TO OUR VULNERABLE NEIGHBORS THROUGH THE DURATION OF THIS COVID CRISIS. The pandemic has revealed growing economic and racial disparities in our country, with people of color suffering the greatest impact due to systemic racism and xenophobia. We therefore urge shifting priorities away from the police and military to the following: ​
    • Increasing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for allSNAP households;​
    • Providing aid for states, which will otherwise be forced to lay off teachers and other  workers and cut health care, education, and other key services, exacerbating the economic downturn; and​
    • Extending expanded unemployment assistance, which is scheduled to expire inJuly and at the end of the year.​
  • SUPPORT STATE AND LOCAL HOUSING JUSTICE : Support Project Roomkey, eviction moratoriums, rent subsidies for low-Income renters, increased funding for affordable and homeless housing, etc.
  • Congressional offices are hearing a lot from industry lobbyists. It’s important they hear from you too. Act now.

SESSION RECORDINGS


Keynote Session

[Coming soon] Rev. James Lawson, Pastor Emeritus, Holman United Methodist Church
Video: We Carry the Dream - Jerusalem Prayer Project
Video: Peace Camp 2018 - Sola Community Peace Center


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