Peace & Justice Weekly Updates

Join Dominican Sisters of Peace as we strive to bring PEACE and justice to our world in this post-truth era. Each week, our Justice Promoter will share important information (including action alerts, prayer opportunities and much more) that will help you to spread peace in your own local community and our world at large.

 

Peace and Justice Updates: August 5, 2020

Stop COVID Around the World
News reports indicate that the Senate plans to release an additional coronavirus relief package proposal in the next two weeks. Among the urgent priorities for this relief package is the provision of emergency international aid for countries struggling to manage the coronavirus. Experts in international assistance are calling for the U.S. to provide a minimum of $12 billion dollars in emergency international aid.

Tell Congress today: Provide emergency international assistance in the next relief bill to protect our vulnerable neighbors and to promote global resilience from this crisis.

Click here to sign the petition.

Stop Nuclear Destruction
August 6 marks the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. This horrible event destroyed more than 80,000 lives and marked the beginning of the nuclear age.

The production and testing of nuclear weapons in the United States and internationally continues to harm the health, environment, and cultures of communities around the world. The United States is poised to spend well over a trillion dollars over the next 30 years rebuilding its entire nuclear arsenal of bombs, missiles, bombers, and submarines, all while abandoning arms control treaties and stoking tensions between nuclear-armed states.

Make your voice heard for the elimination of nuclear weapons. Sign the Hibakusha Appeal here. 

Stop Gun Violence
This week marks one year since more than 30 people were gunned down in El Paso and Dayton, OH. Since that time, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to allow a vote on the bipartisan universal background check legislation that passed the House of Representatives last year. And in the year since El Paso, the Senate has not passed other major gun safety legislation either — even as coronavirus quarantines put many abuse victims in lockdown with their abusers and domestic abuse advocates urged immediate action.

For tips on how you can work for safer gun laws, visit the Newtown Action Alliance by clicking here. 

Posted in News, Peace & Justice Weekly Updates

Peace and Justice Updates 7.29.2020

World Day Against Trafficking in Persons – July 30
Sign the Petition
Join U.S. Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking in our letter to Attorney General William Barr to protect children and prevent online trafficking and exploitation by funding and enforcing the Protect Our Children Act of 2008. You can read more in this short backgrounder and also mail in your own customized letter on your letterhead by downloading a word doc version of this letter.

Learn More
Please join USCCB and USCSAHT for World Day Against Trafficking Webinar – July 30th at 1pm EDT. You can learn about what local, national, and international groups are doing to combat human trafficking for labor and sexual slavery domestically and abroad.

Please click here to register.

Honoring the Legacy of John Lewis
Our nation just said goodbye to Congressman John Lewis, a man who dedicated his life to the fight for voting rights and equality.

John Lewis almost died in 1965 during the fight to pass the VRA — which was gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013. The decision gave states the power to close polling locations, institute their own voter ID laws, change district lines, and restrict early voting.

If you’re ready to stand up for voting rights and honor the late champion John Lewis, sign this petition to Congress calling for a full restoration of the Voting Rights Act — renamed in John’s honor — today.

 

Posted in Peace & Justice Weekly Updates

Peace and Justice Updates, 7.22.2020

Nevada Desert Experience
The Nevada Desert Experience has educated thousands of people about the related issues of nuclear testing. Members gather at the Nevada Test Site for vigil, religious services, and nonviolent civil disobedience. NDE’s organizing seeks to honor all of God’s creation and the Beloved Community as we bear witness to sixty years of nuclear destruction. To read their newsletter, click here.

Tell Congress to Support Refugees During COVID-19
The social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are devastating, and vulnerable communities are experiencing the worst of the virus. You can help support refugees and others on the move living in crowded settlements with little access to clean water and soap, space to social distance, and other basic needs.

Urge your members of Congress to provide at least $12 billion in funding for the international response to prevent, prepare and respond to COVID-19 around the world.

As negotiations continue on the next COVID-19 emergency aid package, your voice is needed so your members of Congress hear from their voters. Click here to send your letter through the USCCB website.

Posted in Peace & Justice Weekly Updates

Peace and Justice Updates – 7.7.2020

Speak Out Against the Death Penalty

Billy Wardlow committed a robbery and murder in 1993, when he was just 18. He has always expressed remorse, and he maintains that there was never a plan to kill anyone, but that during the robbery Mr. Cole resisted and the gun went off.

Mr. Wardlow is scheduled to die for that crime today. Please Click here to read Wardlow’s petition asking the US Supreme Court to take his case, and call Texas Governor Abbott at 512-463-2000 to ask for mercy for Billy Wardlow.

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As we shared in last week’s Justice Updates, there are three Federal Executions scheduled next week. Please use this link to sign a petition supporting a ban on federal executions, click here to sign a letter to the Administration, and click here to send a petition to the Administration and the Justice Department asking for an end to the death penalty. 

Click here to learn more about the death penalty in America.

“Assault Weapons Ban in the Americas” Webinar

Our weak gun laws are killing our children, our friends, our families, and our neighbors.

Please join Dr. Stephen Hargarten from the Office of Global Health, Medical College of Wisconsin & Network for the Prevention of Gun Violence in the Americas, Kyleanne Hunter from Brady, Po Murray from Newtown Action Alliance, Eve Levenson from March For Our Lives, Manuel Oliver from Change the Ref, Phillip Alpers from Sydney School of Public Health, & Eugenio Weigend from Center for American Progress to discuss the efforts to #BanWeaponsOfWar.

July 9, 2020 1:00-2:30PM EST

Register in advance for this webinar: https://bit.ly/AWBWebinar

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

 

Posted in News, Peace & Justice Weekly Updates

Peace and Justice Updates 7/1/2020

Protest the Death Penalty
Earlier this week, the US Supreme Court failed to act with mercy, which may mean the first federal executions in 17 years on July 13, 15 & 17 in Terre Haute, Indiana. Death Penalty Action will be there.

Please click here to find actions that you might take to protest these executions, including petitions, witness opportunities, and more.

The 27th Annual Fast & Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty at the US Supreme Court is well under way. ALL PROGRAMS ARE BEING STREAMED LIVE on the Starvin’ for Justice Facebook Page at 11am, 1:30pm, 4pm and 7pm today and Thursday.

You do not need a Facebook account to watch, or to see the archive of programs already completed. The full schedule is here. Please note that the opening and closing events require registration, which is here.

Monsanto Pays Up
Bayer, following its 2018 acquisition of Monsanto, will pay up to $10.9 billion to settle nearly 100,000 individual lawsuits alleging that exposure to the glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup causes cancer.

This $10.9 billion settlement is yet another landmark moment that signals a turning tide against agrichemical giants like Bayer. For decades, Monsanto assured farmers, farmworkers, pesticide applicators, and homeowners that glyphosate was harmless, even with prolonged exposure. For too long, mega-corporations have profited from toxic pesticides, obscured the risks associated with them, and avoided taking responsibility for the damages they have caused. Following the three previous verdicts, Bayer sees the writing on the wall and is seeking to mitigate its losses by settling and paying up now.

No More Genetically-Engineered Seeds!
For years now, pesticide industry giants have been peddling their genetically engineered (GE) technology kits: modified seeds and the herbicides that go with them. Clear evidence shows this system is dangerous, brittle and failing, yet these corporations are now doubling down. Right now, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is considering a request from Monsanto (recently acquired by Bayer) to approve a new GE corn seed engineered for use with five different herbicides.

The “creation” of a corn seed that can survive five different herbicides is likely to increase the use of those herbicides, putting the environment and wildlife in those areas at risk.

Click here to tell the USDA to prevent Monsanto’s use of genetically-engineered corn seeds.

Posted in Peace & Justice Weekly Updates