May 2025
This is a big, ugly, destructive, deadly bill, and we have to start talking about it in those terms. It's not just about tax cuts to the wealthy.... it is about death-dealing and destruction to the poor and the elderly and the youth of our country, regardless of what their color is.
Bishop William J. Barber II
Concerning Trump's Proposed Budget
All Out for June 14: No Thrones, No Crowns, No Kings!
On June 14, 2025, Donald Trump wants tanks in the streets and a made-for-TV display of military dominance for his birthday. June 14 is also the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army-- a day when Americans first organized to stand up to a king. Trump is hijacking that legacy to celebrate himself. This country doesn't belong to a king, and we won't idly stand by while he throws himself a parade funded by tens of millions of our taxpayer dollars. Trump and his minions have defied the courts, deported citizens, disappeared people off the streets, attacked our civil rights, slashed essential services, and handed billions to their allies. Enough is enough. On June 14, we're gathering nonviolently, nationwide, in every state, from big cities to small towns, to send one clear message: "No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings." Find or host an event near you!
June 14, 2025: Do Not Turn on Us!
We still don't know if Trump will be able to use the Insurrection Act to put U.S. military on the streets to counter peaceful protests. Do Not Turn on Us is a grassroots effort to reach out to military and national guard members, build relationships, and organize for noncompliance with authoritarian orders. Participants leafletting near military bases to alert service members about their right to refuse unconstitutional orders and asking soldiers to remember their oath and protect civilians, have so far received positive responses. On June 14, thousands of active-duty military personnel will be parading in Washington DC. People in DC are encouraged to leaflet at their assembly and dispersal areas. If you're not in DC, consider going to the nearest military or national guard base to leaflet and put up posters in the area. Find resources here.
"A Big, Ugly, Destructive, Deadly Bill" - Bishop William Barber Slams Bill Cutting Medicaid, Medicare
On May 21, Amy Goodman interviewed Bishop William J. Barber II, National Co-Chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, on Democracy Now, regarding Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill." As this bill advances through Congress, we hear from Bishop Barber about how it hurts low-income people. "It is about death-dealing and destruction to the poor and the elderly and the youth of our country," says Barber, citing the bill's cuts to essential social services like Medicaid and paralleling those cuts to the government's funding of defense and deportation initiatives. "We have to start talking about this budget as a form of social and political murder." Barber has been arrested with other faith leaders twice in the past month while protesting cuts, including in the Capitol Rotunda. Read the transcript and watch the recording.
June 2: Moral Monday Witness Against an Immoral Budget - 11 am EDT, in DC and Livestream
Bishop William J. Barber II is calling for a major "Moral Monday" event in Washington, DC. "On June 2, 2025, we gather not merely for another protest, but for a prophetic stand -- a Moral Monday born out of righteous indignation and holy imagination. As the cries of the poor grow louder and the policies of the powerful grow colder, we must rise. Across lines of faith, race, and region, moral witnesses will converge at the very steps where justice has been delayed, where truth has been trampled, and where budgets have become weapons against the vulnerable. We will meet on the east side of the Capitol, not in silence, but in sacred defiance. This is not a political stunt; this is a moral reckoning." Learn more and register to attend in person or virtually. If you're in North Carolina, reserve your seat on a bus to DC here. View the livestream here.
Breaking the Silence: Power Hour #8 – Tuesday, June 3
The U.S. Congress is attempting to make cuts that will hurt poor and directly impacted people first and worst. Join the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival to break the silence and make calls to ensure that our elected leaders hear directly from poor and low-wage communities, faith leaders, and advocates about the issues impacting us most. We demand a moral budget, and not a death-dealing scheme! Somebody's hurting our brothers and sisters, and we can't and won't be silent anymore! On Tuesday, June 3, 2025 at 2pm ET/1pm CT/12pm MT/11am PT join the Poor People's Campaign National Field Team for updates, training, refreshers, and power-building tactics as we coordinate our call-in campaign to our elected leaders in Congress demanding a moral budget. RSVP here.
Abolition 2000 at the NPT PrepCom -- Lighting the Way to Peace!
From April 28 -- May 9, states parties to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) met at the United Nations for the third Preparatory Committee meeting for the 2026 NPT Review Conference. The NPT represents the only binding commitment to the goal of disarmament by the five original nuclear-armed States. The Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons was founded during the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference, with the launch of an appeal to the NPT States Parties calling on them to commence negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention (treaty) and to undertake other measures to end the nuclear arms race, prevent nuclear war, and support the global elimination of nuclear weapons. A lot has changed since 1995, but Abolition 2000 is still here and celebrated its 30th anniversary during the 2025 NPT PrepCom. Read more.
India-Pakistan Nuclear Crisis: Yet Another Far Too Close Call
As disarmament diplomacy was failing to overcome decades of deadlock at the NPT Prepcom meetings in New York, an incident in Kashmir took only days to blow up into a nuclear crisis. India and Pakistan, two of the four nuclear-armed states outside the NPT, spiraled towards full-scale war, exchanging air and missile strikes. The two governments only pulled back from the brink after Indian strikes hit a Pakistani air base close to its nuclear headquarters, prompting diplomatic intervention from the U.S.. As the International Peace Bureau and others pointed out, a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan, despite having arsenals far smaller than those of the U.S. and Russia, could have global impacts, potentially killing billions. This crisis reminds us that as long as nuclear weapons exist, the threat of global catastrophe will remain.
PeaceWorks Kansas City's Persistent Resistance: Stop Escalating Nuclear Weapons Production
Resisters are demanding an end to the escalation of nuclear weapons production at the NNSA plant in Kansas City run by Honeywell. "We understand six whole new programs are starting at the Kansas City National Security Campus, including making the mechanical and electrical parts for new plutonium pits," says Jane Stoever of PeaceWorks KC. New plutonium pits are unnecessary. They will not be used to refurbish or fix existing weapons. They will instead be used for new nuclear weapons designs, which people oppose. Production of more plutonium pits and more nuclear weapons are enormously costly and create nuclear waste. Where will it be stored? This is another deadly assault on our people and environment.
Reverse the Nuclear Arms Race: Tell Your Representative to Co-sponsor H. Res. 317 Today!
On April 10, Rep. Jim McGovern (MA-02) introduced H. Res. 317, Urging the United States to lead the world back from the brink of nuclear war and halt and reverse the nuclear arms race.H. Res. 317 lays out how U.S. nuclear weapons policy can be fundamentally reformed in order to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons. To date there are 17 co-sponsors. Rep. McGovern introduced a similar resolution last congressional session (H. Res. 77) which accumulated 44 co-sponsors. The Back From the Brink Campaign needs your help in substantially increasing that number during the 119th Congress. Let your member of Congress know that we can't keep kicking the can down the road on this existential issue. We must create a safer world-- a world without nuclear weapons-- for us and for generations to come. Take action by contacting your representative today!
Seeding Young Peacekeepers: UFPJ Plans a Second Training
Young people today grew up in a post-9/11 world of endless war. When they question the U.S. culture of violence, racism, and ecological devastation, they may fail to understand how war and militarism are substantial drivers of these problems. Seeding Young Peacekeepers, which UFPJ piloted in 2021, will identify, support, and "train up" 18 young activists, in nine locations, prioritizing those from BIPOC communities. They will become leaders who reject fear, violence, and conflict as normal, and promote equity, justice, and a recognition of the connections we have to one another and the planet. We've worked for months to raise $20,000 and we are excited that the Telemachus Foundation has awarded us HALF that amount. But we need an additional $10,000. Read about the first Seeding Young Peacekeepers project, and please CONTRIBUTE to make another training possible this year.
The Ukraine War goes on, sparking legal and political reflection and resistance: United for Peace and Justice Ukraine War resources
The Council of Europe has launched a process to establish a Special Tribunal on aggression in Ukraine. The Tribunal will "focus on senior political and military leaders who are responsible for planning, preparing, initiating, or executing the crime of aggression against Ukraine," potentially encompassing responsible officials from Belarus and North Korea as well as the Russian Federation. The Ukraine war has sparked reflection by those in post-Soviet states and their diaspora, from Ukraine to indigenous groups in the Russian Federation, on the nature and impact of imperialism and colonialism by successive Russian governments. Find these resources and more in the "International Law and the Ukraine War" and the "Background of the current crisis" sections of the UFPJ Ukraine Resources page.
Amidst the Collapse of International Law, Some Lawyers and States Challenge the Israeli Government's Push Towards Ethnic Cleansing
The Israeli government's goal of displacing the entire Palestinian population from Gaza has grown increasingly clear. Prime Minister Netanyahu has stated that "We will see to the general security in the Gaza Strip and will allow the realization of the Trump plan for voluntary migration. This is the plan." The means deployed by Israel's government to induce "voluntary" migration include causing mass starvation by blockading humanitarian aid and destroying infrastructure and a campaign of bombing, shelling, and bulldozing intended to render much of Gaza uninhabitable. Amidst the general collapse of international law, some lawyers and states keep working to document the Israeli government's human rights violations and to challenge them in international tribunals. Find more resources at the UFPJ Gaza War resource page.
Image: Rousseau Diderot, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Webinar Recording: Palestinian Religious Voices Calling for an End to War, May 19 2025
The International Fellowship of Reconciliation and World BEYOND War, as part of the Global Solidarity for Peace in Palestine Coalition, co-hosted this event. Moderated by Hania Bitar of the Palestinian Youth Association for Leadership and Rights Activation, the webinar featured Catholic Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah; Evangelical Lutheran Bishop Dr. Munib Younan; Imam Dr. Majed Saqr; and Greek Orthodox Bishop Atallah Hannah, who called on people of faith to reclaim Christianity and Judaism from the violent and heretical ideologies of Christian Nationalism and Zionism, and to end the genocide against the Palestinian people, which began with the Nakba of 1947-48. They called on Palestinians to join together in unity to supersede political parties in a call for justice, peace, democracy and self-determination. See the webinar here.
Webinar Recording: "The Russo-Ukraine War, Diplomacy, and the Peace Movement"
Presented just after President Trump failed to win an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, Professor Richard Sakwa of Kent University in Britain offered a comprehensive history of the conflict, missed opportunities and the need for diplomacy. He provided searing descriptions of the on-going war, the incompatible and maximalist demands of both Kyiv and Moscow, U.S. and E.U. opposition to the 2022 Istanbul near-agreement, and how the war, European militarism, Trump shocks, and China's rise have "the West" on a path to "suicide." Sakwa insisted on the continued importance of the besieged U.N. Charter order and the related models of ASEAN and Global South comity and mutual respect as alternatives that can provide peace, security, and hope. Presented by UFPJ member organizations, CPDCS and MAPA; watch the webinar HERE.
Webinar Recording: "Canada Responds to Trumpism -- Arms, Trade, and Alliances"
Steven Staples, founder of the Rideau Institute, an independent research, consulting and left-leaning Canadian advocacy organization provided insights into Canadians' shock and anger, as well as the larger ramifications of Trump attempting to bring Canada to its knees and accept annexation. The webinar, organized by UFPJ member, the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security, detailed how the new Canadian government is now focused on what tariffs may mean for up to a million Canadian workers. In response Canada is deepening economic and military ties with Europe. At the same time, the U.S. must confront the brain drain as some of our best and brightest flee Trump/MAGA repression and move north for thieir freedom. Watch the webinar HERE.
The Power of the Pen
United for Peace & Justice (UFPJ) is proud to be among 898 Palestinian civil society, humanitarian, and human rights organizations around the word, who this month issued a "United Call to Confront Famine in Gaza," declaring: "The manufactured famine in Gaza must be halted. The international community must act decisively, immediately, and with full moral and legal responsibility." UFPJ was among 234 groups, led by the Center for Biological Diversity, who signed a letter to leaders of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees, asking that Congress "zero out funding for all fossil fuel extraction on public lands and offshore waters," and calling for funds to be "shifted towards renewable energy, ecological restoration, and protection of wildlife habitat to address the millions of acres that have been degraded by fossil fuel extraction."
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