June 14th, 2011 WCW Update

 

Greetings friends & allies,

As you may know, it is almost that time of the month again; the time for the World Court of Women on Poverty in the US conference call. The upcoming call will be on June 14, 2011 at 4pm PDT (7pm EST). The first World Court of Women Western organizing conference call took place on May 5th, and there were 12 people present from several organizations on the call from different regions in California and throughout the US. This was a great beginning for our first call, and it was a great lead-in to the in-person/call-in session we had with the second update on May 26, 2011, which was a part of out Teach-In session. We hope you can join us for the upcoming one on Tuesday, June 14th, at 4pm (PDT).   (See below for detailed instructions on connecting for the call).

The importance of holding a World Court of Women in the US is to elevate the struggles of low-income and working class people in their fight to access a living wage, housing, education, health care, etc. More than 40 states across the US have pursued an increase in taxes on working people over that of the rich & corporations; there have also been major cuts to an array of public services - the safety net - and with that also comes a loss of public sector jobs. These billions of dollars worth of cuts to services and jobs have resulted in tearing the safety net to shreds along with the right to collective bargaining. With the widening gap between the rich and the poor, it has become clear that the government is too influenced by corporations, instead of listening and providing care to the people who are struggling everyday.

This is happening through corporations privatizing public (or what should be public) resources that make it so workers have to struggle to find and keep work while also cutting off services that allow them to be be healthy to do so. To get a taste of this struggle, check out “US healthcare: Profits before patients” by Rose Aquilar, the host of Your Call which is a daily call-in radio show on KALW in San Francisco; this piece draws connections between developing nations, where people do not have adequate health care, and the US, where there are amazing medical advancements that a great number of people cannot access.

Because of these kinds of injustices WEAP is dedicated to building a transformative people’s movement to eliminate poverty, and to demand a new social contract based on human rights to replace the one being destroyed by the ravages of globalization.  A successful World Court of Women on Poverty in the US campaign can help bring attention to the lack of care by the government of workers in America.  It is for this reason that WEAP proceeds from the idea that effective mobilizing work must be informed by the local struggles that simultaneously interrelate the new developments of global capitalism and specifically the wealth poverty gap.

 

In each meeting of the planning committees we strengthen our organizing efforts by sharing the histories of the World Court of Women --  with presentaitons, books or portions of DVD’S from previous Courts whose goals is to elevate the plight of women, the poor and workers.  There are multiple purposes for the planning committee of the Courts, among them is to get a sense of what and who has inspired these international courts;  to explore what practices are we drawing from earlier Courts that we can apply here in the US.    An important and recurring theme of the courts is that they are a place for intense and intimate sharing.  Additionally, that they are a place to express why this process is necessary, and to incorporate the lyrical into the logical. This is encouraging us to take into account personal acts of witnessing so as to elevate the conditions created by the wealth-poverty gap, in order to imagine the changes necessary so as to improve our lives.  We attempt to both learn and incorporate the methodologies of the courts.   Our goal is to build and engaging planning committee.

Leaders are beginning to respond.  Organizations throughout the Western region have begun to send in their endorsements for the World Court of Women on Poverty in the US: CA Central Valley Journey for Justice, CHAM Deliverance Ministry, the Women’s Studies Department at University of California Riverside, and California 9 to 5 . These folks as active endorsers (and even sponsors) will be leaders in the fight for a different and better US. WEAP is still looking for more people to help us lead this organizing and the following movement to eliminate poverty through becoming community leaders, by conducting research and out-reach (by securing endorsements), and by fundraising (and securing sponsorships). Also, check out our “How You Can Help” section on the WEAP website, where you can contact us about how you want to be involved.

For those people who think they can make the planning committee meeting call next week, here is a reminder about Skyping/calling in for the meeting:

Each person on a group video (conference call) will need:

●     Send Us your Skype name because I can invite up to 9 people.

●     Skype 5.0 or higher (for Windows/Mac) be sure your software is updated.

●     A high-speed broadband connection.

●     A webcam.

●     A microphone and speakers (built-in or separate headset with microphone).

●     If using Windows, a DirectX 9.0c compatible video card.

Each person on the call will also need to ensure that their system has the most recent (updated) version of Skype, and must make sure that it is compatible with your operating system, so that we can all have a smoother conversation.   We can actually only handle ten folks on the Group Video Conferencing  for Skype.  For group video conferencing WEAP has to invite you.  We can only invite you if you tell us you have the equipment to meet the requirement & you send your contact name on Skype.

The 2nd way to join us is by phone through the PPEHRC conference call number (712-451-6100). If using the PPEHRC line, you also need to use the code (183138) to access the call. As we are experimenting with different forms of communication and media, I hope you all will be patient with us as we work to incorporate these different methods into a seamless practice.

Please contact me if you think you will be joining us for the call, and if it will be via Skype or phone. Also, please feel free to ask any additional questions. Also, there will be an agenda going out by the end of the week, so keep your eyes open.

In solidarity,
Beth Weiman
World Court of Women, Community Liaison

Women’s Economic Agenda Project