Women's Voice and Leadership Crucial for Change: Open Letter to President-Elect Obama

Open Letter to President-Elect Obama

by Eve Ensler, Kavita Ramdas and Zainab Salbi

Posted January 13, 2009

On December 5, 2008, a few days before the 60th anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a group of global and domestic women's organizations gathered in New York to frame a shared agenda for advancing global women's rights. Determined to use their collective strength and expertise to work together to advance a global agenda for women's freedom, safety and agency, they crafted the following open letter to President-elect Obama and committed to working together to see their vision come true in this century.

Dear President-Elect Obama,

As a group of women leaders who have given our lives to the transformation, protection and empowerment of women in the United States and globally, we want to begin by congratulating you. We are honored and proud to have you lead the nation during this historic time. We also welcome your call to action, reminding us of what we have always known -- that as global citizens we cannot solely rely on any one administration's ability to bring about change, but must be steadfast in pushing forward our own vision and agendas.

We represent a historic movement for change: millions of women across the globe with innovative ideas, influential constituencies and collaborative solutions. We are calling on you to ensure that women are equally represented in everything, from your administration's infrastructure to its decision-making and solution building. We are calling on you to exercise leadership in dismantling the structures that perpetuate gender inequality, impede women's full participation in society and thwart real progress for people around the world.

As war rages in Gaza, it is clear that the time has come to dismantle militarism as the dominant ideology in world politics. We must ensure that women take the lead in building lasting peace in the Middle East, ending genocide in Darfur, stopping femicide in the Democratic Republic of Congo, fighting the War on Terror in Afghanistan, and ending the war in Iraq.

Though the select-few women who hold leadership positions in this country's political system inspire us; women represent more than 50% of the population and deserve more than marginal representation. We believe that in order for your vision of change to succeed, women must be in positions of power. While US women gained the right to vote 100 years ago, to date only 14% of the US Congress are women. This must change.

The major economic, security, governance and environmental challenges of our times cannot be solved without the equal participation of women at all levels of society -- from the home to institutions of national and global governance. Women's voices must be central in all major discussions including the economic crisis, overhauling our education system. Long-term investments in women's education, health and leadership development are equally critical. Economic structures continue to marginalize women. Consider this: women represent two-thirds of the world's labor yet we own less than 1% of the world's assets.

In addition, more than 500,000 women die each year because of inadequate medical and reproductive care. Violence against women is a pandemic that determines women's realities, impeding their access to education and economic self-sufficiency. This global epidemic is undermining the future of the world, as women are at the heart of all communities and families; we literally carry the future in our bodies.

Yet these are not "women's issues." In fact, such investments are vital to economic growth and the well-being of all individuals, communities, societies and nations. Consider India's economic transformation of the past 15 years: The World Bank finds that states with the highest percentage of women in the labor force grew the fastest and had the largest reductions in poverty.

As policy makers, activists, researchers, and grant-makers we have spent our lives investing in women and know that these kinds of investments have immeasurable and fundamental impact for the better. Worldwide, women are uniquely positioned to bring innovative insights and creative solutions to global leadership forums. If we hope to improve existing economic, peace and security, and human development frameworks women must not only be included, but must be at the heart of the discussion.

We are calling on you to be the President who ushers in the time of women. Our vision of the future is one in which women and men are equal partners, standing shoulder to shoulder in confronting the world's challenges. We welcome, with hope and anticipation, your shared commitment to this vision.

We represent more than half of the world's human potential. And our time has come.

Sincerely,

Linda Basch, PhD, President, National Council for Research on Women
Mallika Dutt, Executive Director, Breakthrough: Building Human Rights Culture
Eve Ensler, Founder, V-Day
Adrienne Germain, President, International Women's Health Coalition
Sara Gould, CEO, Ms. Foundation
Christine Grumm, CEO, Women's Funding Network
Geeta Rao Gupta, President, International Center for Research on Women
Carolyn Makinson, Executive Director, Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children
Kavita Ramdas, CEO, Global Fund for Women
Zainab Salbi, President, Women for Women International

A Message From the Save Darfur Coalition: Please Be a Voice For Darfur

Just last month, ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo bluntly told the U.N. Security Council: "The genocide continues."

The good news? The next U.S. president can end it. And if confirmed as secretary of state, Sen. Hillary Clinton will be a key leader in efforts to stop the violence.

Presidents act when movements of fearless citizens stand behind them. Over 200,000 activists have already written to President-elect Obama, insisting that he make Darfur a top priority. But it's not enough—we need the loudest and strongest possible show of support for a Darfur peace surge.

Please be a voice for Darfur: http://addyourvoice.org/?utm_campaign=Postcard&utm_source=savedarfur.org&utm_medium=cube

And help us add to this growing chorus of powerful voices for peace in Darfur. An opportunity like this may never come again. Tell five friends about the "Be a Voice" campaign and ask them to send their postcard before Sen. Clinton's hearings start Tuesday.

We have a moral obligation to do everything we can to help bring peace to Darfur. So please, ask your family and friends to join you in calling for Darfur to be a priority from Day One of the next administration.

Forces are converging in a way that makes peace in Darfur a real possibility at last. Now more than ever, our voices must be heard.

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"I believe that to meet the challenges of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for oneself, one's own family or nation, but for the benefit of all humankind. Universal responsibility is the key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace." ~ H. H. the Dalai Lama

What Buddha Might Say...

What Buddha Might Say To George Bush (And Us)

Ed and Deb Shapiro
January 8, 2009

If a bull goes straight when the herd is crossing a road, then they will all go straight because he leads the way. The same among people. If the one who is thought to be the highest lives in goodness, the others do so too. The whole realm lives happily if the ruler lives rightly. -- The Buddha

This advice is exactly what you, George, did not do. Rather, you led your herd into a quagmire. Thankfully it is finally time to say goodbye and it seems it is none too soon: a recent poll found that three out of four Americans are glad to see you go; the former Iraqi Prime Minister has called you a failure; and even shoes have been thrown at you in desperation.

Many people have been in fear at the way you have handled the war in Iraq, Katrina and the economy, and the fact that you ignored the Israeli/Arab conflict until recently. That fear has, at times, turned to anger. And as much as that anger may be fully justified, anger can be like a single match that can burn down an entire forest, or a poison that creates illness in the one who is angry. In other words, it does not help.

When someone believes they are the ultimate power but, as a result, creates immense suffering for others, then it is a form of madness. Their view becomes clouded, their understanding is no longer trustworthy. But in a way it is not their fault, for they do not know they are acting out of ignorance. Their unskillful mind is telling them differently; they believe what they are doing is coming from a higher power when it is actually a delusion of the ego. And being angry at ignorance gets us nowhere.

There is, however, much to learn from the past eight years. For GWB is not entirely to blame. Indirectly we are all responsible for what has happened. Our apathy allowed the corrupt voting machines. We did not protest loud enough when power was blatantly misused. We all bought into the American dream that there was plenty of money for everyone. And we watched from the sidelines as our heritage was spent on a war that has gone nowhere.

So perhaps, in order to find a place of completion and healing, we need to forgive ourselves as much as we need to forgive Bush. Yes, we do need to forgive him! Not for what he did but for the ignorance that led him to act the way he did.

Ed was born Jewish, and on one occasion was dumbstruck when his teacher Swami Satchidananda said, "You even have to forgive Adolph Hitler." But then Satchidananda added, "You don't forgive the act but you forgive the ignorance that perpetrated it. You forgive the being inside and hope they learn and change."

There are such moments of humanity within all of us and Bush is no exception. When former press secretary Scott McClellan wrote a scathing book about Bush's leadership, the president told his senior aides to let it go. "Find a way to forgive, because that's the way to lead your life," White House press secretary Dana Perino remembers Bush advising her.

We also remember years ago our dear friend Ram Dass having a photo of Bob Dole on his altar. He told us it was because the most disliked are the ones who need to be loved the most.

How amazing it would be if we could focus love and compassion on Bush and bring him into our hearts. To offer him forgiveness. What a courageous thing to do. Do you think you could do it?

What have the last eight years meant for you? What would you like to say to George Bush? If your feelings are negative, then can you turn them around? What do you need in order to feel healed?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ed-and-deb-shapiro/what-buddha-might-say-to_b_155115.html

A Very Funny Year-End Review of the News

Thanks to Wendy and Barb for this great laugh! :-)

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Here it is, a nice wrapup of the year's news, by Uncle Jay.
http://www.unclejayexplains.com/media/UJ%2012-22-08.wmv

Inspiration & Resources For Growing In Peace - Within Ourselves, Our Communities, Our Nation, & The World

Prayer For Peace. The prayer for peace in more than forty languages is said each day wherever it is noon around the world. You are invited to join in: http://peaceprayer.gn.apc.org/

World Peace Prayer Society. Voices of children heard from around the world: http://www.worldpeace.org/

Peace Action. We have choices. For what the US has spent so far on the War in Iraq, either 48,801,253 children could have attended a year of Head Start, or we could have built 3,317,543 additional housing units for low-income people, or hired 6,385,283 additional public school teachers for one year, or provided 17,861,650 students four-year scholarships at public universities (according to the National Priorities Project). We believe that these are priorities that should come before war: http://www.peace-action.org/abt/issues.htm

Peace.org. It is the obligation of thinking people on this planet to weigh the implications of a future without co-existence, to ponder the underlying causes of today's conflicts, to encourage efforts aimed at addressing these complexities and to promote similar thoughtful consideration by others: http://www.peace.org/

What is Tolerance? Tolerance is the appreciation of diversity and the ability to live and let others live. It is the ability to exercise a fair and objective attitude towards those whose opinions, practices, religion, nationality and so on differ from one's own.[1] As William Ury notes, "tolerance is not just agreeing with one another or remaining indifferent in the face of injustice, but rather showing respect for the essential humanity in every person. http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/tolerance/

Southern Poverty Law Center: http://www.splcenter.org/index.jsp

Learn about hate groups in your area on our Hate Map: http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp

Learn to respond to everyday bigotry and speak out against hate through our Speak Up! and 10 Ways to Fight Hate publications: http://www.tolerance.org/speakup/index.htmlhttp://www.tolerance.org/10_ways/index.html

Tell your friends to stand strong against hate: http://www.StandStrongAgainstHate.org

Why Not Peace. Peace soldier provides a microphone for young American combat veterans, helping ensure their voices are heard loudly and considered frankly as we form our individual opinions and collective actions today and in the years to come: http://www.whynotpeace.com/

United For Peace and Justice. http://www.unitedforpeace.org/

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If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality. - Desmond Tutu

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it. - Chief Joseph

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace. - Buddha

Blessed are the peacemakers. - Jesus

Be the change that you want to see in the world. - Mohandas Gandhi

The Truth About Muslims in America

by Jeanna Bryner

Barack Obama is a Christian, not a Muslim, but if he were of the latter faith, more than half of all Americans would have no idea what that affiliation meant beyond stereotypes, a new study finds.

Like nearly all social groups, Muslim Americans are a diverse group both politically and socially.

While some have tried to clarify Obama's religious affiliation, others have gone further and condemned the negative use of the label Muslim to elicit prejudice and fear.

Most recently, former Secretary of State Colin Powell rebuked the claims that Obama is a Muslim and said, "What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is 'No. That's not America.'"

The new results based partly on national surveys suggest Americans think the Islamic religion is associated with violence and religious extremism, and perhaps even terrorism. Along with these negative views, which have spurred a general fear of Muslims, seven in 10 Americans admit they know very little about the Islamic religion.

"Clearly, many Americans are convinced Muslim Americans pose some kind of threat to American society," Duke University sociologist Jen'nan Ghazal Read writes in the fall issue of Contexts magazine, published by the American Sociological Association. "Two widespread assumptions fuel these fears. First, that there's only one kind of Islam and one kind of Muslim, both characterized by violence and anti-democratic tendencies. Second, that being a Muslim is the most salient identity for Muslim Americans."

Overall, Muslim Americans are, well, American. They have similar levels of career and educational attainment as the general American public; their political beliefs are just as varied as the general public; and their typical level of religious devotion is on par with that of many other religious groups, the research shows.

Fear of the unknown

The results come from interviews with more than 3,600 Muslim Americans in 2001 and 2004 by the Georgetown University Muslims in the American Public Square (MAPS) project and with 1,050 Muslim Americans in 2007 by the Pew Research Center. Information was also harvested from the General Social Survey run by the University of Chicago. And Read has conducted research for the past 10 years on the economic, political and cultural integration of Muslim and Arab Americans.

Some of the findings include:

- Four in 10 Americans have an unfavorable view of Islam.
- Five in 10 believe Islam is more likely than other religions to encourage violence.
- Six in 10 believe Islam is very different from their own religion.

These views stem from misperceptions and just not knowing the facts, said Read, who volunteered that she is not Muslim.

More: http://www.livescience.com/culture/081030-muslim-americans.html

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Religions of the World: http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/religion/
More about Islam: http://islam.about.com/od/jihad/f/jihad.htm

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Post-9.11 hate crimes against hundreds of Arab Americans, Muslim Americans and Sikhs are not "isolated incidents." They are eruptions of a nation's intolerance. - from Teaching Tolerance website

Johann Hari: The true story behind this war is not the one Israel is telling

The world isn't just watching the Israeli government commit a crime in Gaza; we are watching it self-harm. This morning, and tomorrow morning, and every morning until this punishment beating ends, the young people of the Gaza Strip are going to be more filled with hate, and more determined to fight back, with stones or suicide vests or rockets. Israeli leaders have convinced themselves that the harder you beat the Palestinians, the softer they will become. But when this is over, the rage against Israelis will have hardened, and the same old compromises will still be waiting by the roadside of history, untended and unmade.

To understand how frightening it is to be a Gazan this morning, you need to have stood in that small slab of concrete by the Mediterranean and smelled the claustrophobia. The Gaza Strip is smaller than the Isle of Wight but it is crammed with 1.5 million people who can never leave. They live out their lives on top of each other, jobless and hungry, in vast, sagging tower blocks. From the top floor, you can often see the borders of their world: the Mediterranean, and Israeli barbed wire. When bombs begin to fall – as they are doing now with more deadly force than at any time since 1967 – there is nowhere to hide.

There will now be a war over the story of this war. The Israeli government says, "We withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and in return we got Hamas and Qassam rockets being rained on our cities. Sixteen civilians have been murdered. How many more are we supposed to sacrifice?" It is a plausible narrative, and there are shards of truth in it, but it is also filled with holes. If we want to understand the reality and really stop the rockets, we need to rewind a few years and view the run-up to this war dispassionately.

More: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-the-true-story-behind-this-war-is-not-the-one-israel-is-telling-1214981.html

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"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,

nothing is going to get better. It's not."

- Dr. Seuss

A Hopi Elder Speaks

"You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour, now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour. And there are things to be considered . . .

Where are you living?

What are you doing?

What are your relationships?

Are you in right relation?

Where is your water?

Know your garden.

It is time to speak your Truth.

Create your community.

Be good to each other.

And do not look outside yourself for the leader."

Then he clasped his hands together, smiled, and said, "This could be a good time!"

"There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are torn apart and will suffer greatly.

"Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above water. And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, Least of all ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.

"The time for the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word struggle from you attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

"We are the ones we've been waiting for."
-- attributed to an unnamed Hopi elder
Hopi Nation
Oraibi, Arizona

http://www.communityworks.info/hopi.htm

10 Reasons to be Hopeful about 2009, and 3 Reasons to be Terrified

Published on Friday, January 2, 2009 by YES! Magazine

by Sarah van Gelder

We’re entering a new year at a time unlike any other in recent memory. Here are 10 reasons I’m filled with hope as I look ahead at 2009—and three reasons I’m terrified.

1. Young people are stepping up. They know that they formed the backbone of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and that their work infused the country with the “Yes, we can” spirit. Now that these young people know what success feels like, many will be in it for the long haul.

2. Election protection is working. Grassroots vigilance, successful lawsuits, and media exposure are making voter suppression efforts less successful. More remains to be done, but the trends are in the right direction. (One terrifying note, though, is the death in a December 19 plane crash of GOP IT expert Michael Connell, who many believe was poised to reveal secrets related to vote stealing.)

3. There is now overwhelming support for universal health care. This grassroots commitment coupled with Obama’s leadership could make this the year when we finally overcome the roadblocks big insurance and drug corporations have placed in the way of progress. A majority of Americans favor a tax-supported single-payer system like Canada’s. The Obama plan, while it’s not single-payer, is nonetheless a good plan—as long as it retains the option for all Americans to join a public health insurance plan.

4. Corporate power is on the wane. Barack Obama ran for office without relying on corporate donations in a campaign that saw candidates competing to establish their tough-on-corporate-power bonafides. Even before the Wall Street meltdown, a majority of Americans thought corporations had too much power. The economic collapse is further eroding goodwill towards corporations and big finance, showing instead how both were instrumental in concentrating wealth, creating unsustainable bubbles, and putting our way of life at risk. After the trillions of taxpayer money paid out in corporate bailouts, the American people are looking for more fair and sustainable alternatives.

5. The failing economy is giving us lots of reasons to be terrified (see below) but also reasons to be hopeful. That rip-roaring economy we’re all supposed to be trying to bring back was tearing through the world’s rainforests, mountaintops, aquifers, fisheries, soils, and other resources, driving thousands of species toward extinction, changing the climate, and leaving billions behind in the rush for “economic growth.” So, painful as it might be, this downturn represents a chance to build a different sort of economy—one that offers dignity, livelihoods, and a future for our children.

6. We’re finally getting real about the urgency and scope of the climate challenge. The incoming Obama administration takes science seriously, which means taking climate change seriously, too. The nay-sayers have quit denying the existence of global warming, and have resorted to random delay tactics. Many now see the conversion to a climate-friendly economy as a major opportunity, with new jobs and investment needed to weatherize buildings, re-tool factories, develop renewal sources of energy, and rebuild transportation infrastructure (see below for the terrifying flip side).

More: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/02-4

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"So which will it be? Are you hopeful or terrified by the coming year and by what we face in the coming decades? What I keep coming back to is this: we humans have the free will to make choices that assure our collective survival, or to do otherwise. We do have the creativity, compassion, and intelligence to build on the best possibilities while averting the worst. This historic moment will test everything we have built and everything our ancestors have passed down to us. The answers are readily available, embedded in all the world’s spiritual traditions, in all the mothers and fathers who have sacrificed to make a good life for their children, and in all the peacemakers who have worked to build a better world for everyone. Will we make the choices for a just and sustainable world? We know, as Obama says, that, indeed, Yes! we can. But will we?" ~ Sarah van Gelder

"Barack Obama will soon take the reins of the most powerful nation on Earth, promising change. But it will now take the actions of those millions, heeding these echoes of the past and transforming them into their own voices, to effect real change." ~ Amy Goodman

Deepak Chopra | Nine Steps to Peace

Nine Steps to Peace for Obama in the New Year

Thursday 01 January 2009
by: Deepak Chopra, AlterNet

Steps the incoming president can take to build a

peace-based economy.

The following is a memo to Barack Obama from Deepak Chopra.

You have been elected by the first anti-war constituency since 1952, when Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected after promising to end the Korean War. But ending a war isn't the same as bringing peace. America has been on a war footing since the day after Pearl Harbor, 67 years ago. We spend more on our military than the next 16 countries combined. If you have a vision of change that goes to the heart of this country's deep problems, ending our dependence on war is far more important than ending our dependency on foreign oil.

More: http://www.truthout.org/010109A

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If you and I are having a single thought of violence or hatred against anyone in the world at this moment, we are contributing to the wounding of the world.

The reality you experience is a mirror image of your expectations.

When you blame and criticize others, you are avoiding some

truth about yourself.

Negativity is born in the gap where love has been excluded.

If you create any open space within yourself, love will fill it.

Love is the beginning of the journey, its end, and the journey itself.

-- Deepak Chopra