Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice

NRCAT PROGRAMS, EVENTS, RESOURCES AND ACTIVITIES – Winter 2012

Speakers Bureau Press Release final Jan 15 

NRCAT has four primary program areas

• Calling for a Commission of Inquiry intoU.S.government-sanctioned abuse and torture
• Countering anti-Muslim sentiment in theU.S.
• Ending extended isolation inU.S.prisons – anything more than 15 days
• Calling for the President to sign and the Senate to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture

Suggested Resources and Actions by Program area:

Ending Extended Isolation in US prisons

Federal Legislation – NRCAT is currently working to pass the National Criminal Justice Commission Act (NCJCA). NCJCA would create a commission tasked with conducting a comprehensive review of all aspects of our national criminal justice system. There has not been a comprehensive review of our national criminal justice system in over 40 years, and it is well past time.

• Contact your members of Congress to pass the NCJCA. 

Resource:  Special Rapporteur Juan Mendez presented a report about the use of solitary confinement in prisons across the world to the United Nations General Assembly on October 18, 2011. The report contains an overview of the history and effects of solitary confinement. The report also provides conclusions about when solitary confinement amounts to torture and offers recommendations to limit and reform its use. This report, General Assembly report A/66/268, is available in six languages on the UN website. Select “E” for English.

• Check the NRCAT website for a list of states where reform is taking place. A new DVD will be available by January 2012.  Schedule a showing for 2012 on the subject. 

Countering Anti-Muslim Sentiment in the U.S

Resource: DVD Hawo’s Dinner Party. Go to http://www.shelbyvillemultimedia.org/modules/hdp/ for a complete guide to using this DVD to foster discussion. View the trailer or the complete video. NRCAT has a limited supply of DVDs to share. WRRCAT has one copy available for use.

• Schedule a showing of the DVD and facilitate discussion using the guide provided.

Calling for a Commission of Inquiry

Resources: DVD “Repairing the Brokenness”, downloadable resources online at the NRCAT website. Download the petition style form of the call for a Commission of Inquiry into abuses approved by our government. 

• Ask your congregation members and body to sign the call for a Commission of Inquiry.

Urging the President to sign the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture

Resource: DVD Preventing Torture Everywhere. Petition style form for groups to sign on to urge the President to sign OPCAT and for the Senate to ratify. Use the following link: http://nrcat.nonprofitsoapbox.com/storage/nrcat/documents/opcat_statement_petition_version.pdf

• Show the DVD
• Print the petition and invite individuals and the congregational body to sig

General Education for Congregations on What Torture is – and is not:Torture is a Moral Issue

• Download the petition style Statement of Conscience and ask individuals and congregations to sign – online or on the hard copy petition. 

http://nrcat.nonprofitsoapbox.com/storage/nrcat/documents/petition_style_form_1_5_08.doc

• Go to the NRCAT Home Page to the Action Center and then to the Online Store and purchase a banner that states “Torture is Wrong”  or “Torture is a Moral Issue” and display it prominently.

  Some congregations keep the banner up all year; others display it during June, Torture Awareness Month. 

• Use the NRCAT DVD “Ending Torture Forever” as an education piece for congregations to stimulate discussion about what torture is – and what it is not. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT WRRCAT CHAIRWOMAN SUZANNE O’HATNICK AT     wrrcat2012(at)gmail.com

There has been a change in our programming for next Saturday’s UUSJ program on immigration.  The ICE officer originally doing a plenary session is not able to come.   We thank Gaudencio Fernandez who will now be leading a plenary.  Please see the updated schedule  on the attached flyer. Immigration Program flyer
 

Saturday, January 28 9:30am – 3:30pm

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax

2709 Hunter Mill Rd. Oakton, VA 22124-1614

Confused about the facts on immigration? No matter where you stand on immigration, much of what you believe may be wrong and almost certainly is incomplete. Unitarian-Unitarians for Social Justice presents an all day workshop on Immigration Issues

Deadline Tuesday, January 31
Youth art work requested

Illustrate what life would be like if citizens worked together so that there is enough for everyone.

July 22–29

fromAtlanta,Ga., toBirmingham,Montgomery, andSelma,Ala

for ages 15-20

This trip UUSC’s 2012 Civil Rights Journey is specially tailored to young people, ages 15–20. July 22–29, 2012, participants will travel by bus from Atlanta, Ga., to Birmingham, Montgomery, and Selma, Ala. In addition to visiting historic sites, participants will meet some of the courageous people who worked to desegregate schools, register new voters, and bring an end to racial discrimination in the United States. The cost for the trip is $600 per person for youth ages 15–20 and $900 for a limited number of adults able to serve as chaperones. The trip will be led by Rev. Hope Johnson of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Central Nassau, in Garden City, N.Y., and UUSC staff member Sam Jones. Along the way, participants will also learn about the progressive, nonviolent organizing techniques used by civil-rights activists and how those techniques are still being used today — to advance rights for workers, immigrants, and LGBTQ people; to work toward economic justice through the Occupy movement; and more.   Interested applicants can visit our website for more details about the trip or fill out an online application form today! Participants on past UUSC Civil Rights Journeys have described the experience as inspiring and transformational

February 6 7:00pm webinar on curriculum

UU Ministry for Earth has developed a new Environmental Justice curriculum.  Our Place in the Web of Life employs  ‘transformative learning’ methods that provide a highly experiential process to stimulate greater appreciation of our interdependence with all of life, ethical and spiritual discernment, personal behavioral change, and collective congregational advocacy.

Our Place in the Web of Life curriculum is now available for download on the UU Ministry for Earth website.

To help insure your success with the curriculum, a Facilitation Coaching Webinar is being offered with the curriculum developers Pamela Sparr and Mark Hicks.   The webinars will have a limited number of participates to facilitate discussion and questions, so register soon for one of the coaching sessions.

Visit the Our Place in the Web of Life web page to:

Watch the Overview Video with curriculum developers Pam Sparr and Mark Hicks.

Register and download Our Place in the Web of Life. 

Tuesday, January 24 3:00pm  (please note change of date from original post)

The demonstration with folks dressed as referees will start on Capitol Hill,

and then head to the headquarters of the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s #1 lobby.

Demonstration to stop the Keystone Pipeline and climate change.  On January 24, the day Congress returns to business, be there at 3 in the afternoon, ready to blow the whistle on their corruption. The demonstration with folks dressed as referee will start on Capitol Hill, and then head to the headquarters of the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s #1 lobby. We’re going to call penalties—forget face masking, this is vote-buying. Forget unsportsmanlike conduct—this is undemocratic conduct.   We hope to make a media stir that will be a counterbalance to the flood of ads and propaganda unleashed by the industry over the past two weeks.  Sponsored by 350.org

Saturday, February 4 8:30am-12:30pm

Mount Vernon Unitarian Church

1909 Windmill Lane

Alexandria, VA
program flyer

Featured speakers include Kevin Zeese of the Occupy movement, Aquene Freechild of Public Citizen, Adam Wasserman and Terry Steichen of the UU Congregation of Fairfax.
The Occupy Movement has given a fresh voice to these long-standing and worsening problems and calls UUs to respond. Income inequality has produced wealthy beneficiaries who use that wealth to create political influence. The political influence of wealthy individuals is magnified by equally powerful (and closely related) corporate interests to so distort our political system that it routinely produces outcomes favoring these wealthy and corporate interests (the 1%) rather than the public interest. There is less and less available for the rest of us (the 99%), resulting in deprivation and growing social injustice, particularly among the most vulnerable. This process represents a vicious cycle that keeps expanding the inequality and the problems it causes.

Thanks to a new Montgomery County website there is now one place residents can go to get all the information they need to green their lifestyles and save money: MyGreenMontgomery.org! This site directs users to County, State, Federal and utility programs and incentives that make “going green” a no-brainer. Additional resources and information from local organizations and community groups is interesting and relevant to Montgomery County residents. Through www.myGreenMontgomery.org  anyone can create a personalized Green Plan, add an event to the Calendar, comment or ask question about specific Green Projects, or share their own success story. This site not only directs users to accurate information and resources, it also serves as a platform for residents to engage in green topics

The Citizens United decision is just the latest and most blatant example that corporations have hijacked our government. The ruling has opened the floodgates for corporate money in political campaigns to drown out the voices of natural persons – we the people – in our democracy. WHAT: Public forum and action meeting to discuss the need for a constitutional amendment to reverse the Citizens United decision and remedy the pernicious influence of money in politics. Discuss what we can do as a community, and learn about the Occupy the Courts and Occupy the Corporations events to be held on the two year anniversary of Citizens United. WHEN: Saturday, January 14, 2012, from 2PM to 4PM. WHERE: Shirlington Public Library, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington, VA 22206. Sponsored by Northern Virginians for Peace and Justice, in solidarity with the coalition comprising Public Citizen, Free Speech For People, Move To Amend, People For The American Way, and Common Cause calling for a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United and abolishing the false doctrine of corporate personhood. Help Build the Movement to Reclaim Democracy from Corporate Influence Join with MoveToAmend to Occupy the Courts on Friday, January 20th. Occupy the Courts will be a one day occupation of Federal courthouses across the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, DC, U.S. Supreme Court Bldg., One 1st St NE, Washington, DC 20543. Visit www.movetoamend.org/occupythecourts  for more information. Join with Public Citizen on Saturday, January 21st to Occupy the Corporations. As part of our Nationwide Day of Action to overturn Citizens United and end corporate rule, Public Citizen is working with local activists to “apprehend” corporate impostors posing as “people” with the same constitutional rights as the rest of us. Visit www.citizen.org/occupy-the-corporations  for more information.