Women's International League for Peace and Freedom: a kind of overview

United States WILPF Principles

The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom was founded in 1915 during World War I with Jane Addams as its first president. WILPF works to achieve through peaceful means world disarmament; full rights for women; racial and economic justice; an end to all forms of violence; and to establish those political, social, and psychological conditions which can assure peace, freedom, and justice for all.

Peace is more than the absence of war or the maintenance of order through force. Peace requires the dedication to nonviolent means for the resolution of conflict and the building of institutions for world development and world community. WILPF believes that to achieve freedom and justice in our own country and peaceful relations with other countries, we must build a non-exploitive society.

As our Third International Congress of 1921 stated, we must “transform the economic system in the direction of social justice.” Peace and freedom are indivisible. Freedom means equal rights and responsibilities for all under a system of law based on justice. It includes the right to a government responsive to the will and the needs of the people, and freedom from political or economic subjugation. Freedom requires safeguarding minority rights and the right of dissent.

For more on U.S. WILPF go to http://wilpf.org/.

International WILPF Aims and Principles

Bring together women of different political beliefs and philosophies who are united in their determination to study, make known and help abolish the causes and the legitimization of war

World peace with total and universal disarmament

Abolition of violence and coercion in the settlement of conflict and their substitution in every case of negotiation and conciliation

Strengthening of the United Nations system

Continuous development and implementation of international law

Political and social equality and economic equity

Co-operation among all people

Environmentally sustainable development

Believing that under systems of exploitation these aims cannot be attained and a real and lasting peace and true freedom cannot exist, WILPF makes it one of its missions to further by non- violent means the social and economic transformation of the international community.

This would enable the establishment of economic and social systems in which political equality and social justice for all can be attained, without discrimination on the basis of sex, race, religion, or any other grounds whatsoever.

WILPF sees as its ultimate goal the establishment of an international economic order founded on the principles of meeting the needs of all people and not on those of profit and privilege.

WILPF works on issues of peace, human rights and disarmament at the local, national and international levels, participating in the ongoing international debates on peace and security issues, conflict prevention and resolution, on the elimination of all forms of discrimination, and the promotion and protection of human rights.

(WILPF) contributes to analysis of these issues, and through its many activities, educates, informs and mobilizes women for action everywhere.

WILPF has consultative status (category B) with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and has special relations with the International Labour Office (ILO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other organisations and agencies.

WILPF holds a triennial Congress for members and in interim years an International Executive Board meeting is convened. The 2004 Congress was held in Gothenburg, Sweden. The 2007 Congress was held in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. In 2011, the Congress will be held in Costa Rica.

For more on International WILPF, go to http://www.wilpfinternational.org/


Linda's Hearth note: I have been hoping for years to become involved with WILPF, it is an organization I admire on so many levels and fronts. But so far there hasn't been a single month my budget has afforded me the small membership cost. Finally today it occurs to me I can be a more explicit supporter of WILPF anyway. So here's a page from their handsome local website and my first intentional step in this direction.

Ellie Foster Memorial Service Saturday May 28th 3 pm at the Santa Cruz Quaker Meeting @ 225 Rooney St, S.C., Potluck Follows

In loving memory of Eleanor “Ellie” Speer Foster

Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 10:32pm

In loving memory of Eleanor “Ellie” Speer Foster who died of congestive heart failure on April 27, 2011 in Santa Cruz, California. An activist, humanitarian, and dedicated advocate for peace and justice, Ellie was known and loved by many in and beyond the Santa Cruz community.

Ellie was born in 1926 in Milwaukee to Eleanor Garton and Rolo Clayton Speer. She received a B.A. from Redlands College in 1949, and completed an M.A. in Psychology in the 1980s. Following graduation from Redlands, she and her husband, Herb Foster, began a long and inspired life together as social activists. In 1949, Herb and Ellie moved to Vienna, Austria, to work with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) helping WWII refugees. In 1952, they moved to Chicago where they served as directors of the Interns-In-Industry Program of Saul Alinsky’s Back of the Yards Movement.

After three years in Stockton, CA, they finally arrived in Santa Cruz in 1958. Devoted to improving the lives of children and youth, Ellie became the founding director of the Santa Cruz County Head Start Program and later served as director of the Santa Cruz YWCA. In the 1980s, she worked with UCSC’s Peer Counseling Center, and as a Marriage and Family Counselor.

Ellie was a lifelong Quaker, pacifist, and peace activist. In the early 1960s, Herb and Ellie started the Santa Cruz Friends Meeting, which first met in their living room on Miles Street. In the 1980s, Ellie was the local director of Witness for Peace, and she was involved in direct nonviolent action in Nicaragua.

She participated in many other nonviolent activist movements, including serving as co-founder and member of the Santa Cruz Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and as a member of the Salt and Pepper Shakers Affinity Group during the Lawrence Livermore anti-nuclear action in 1983. Most recently Ellie participated with the Raging Grannies, an international peace organization.

Surviving Ellie Foster is her beloved family, including her husband of 62 years, Herb Foster, sons Ken and David Foster, daughter-in-law Margo McBane, grandchildren Monica Foster, Onawa Foster-Tannheimer, Bard Foster, and Etta Foster, and great grand-children, Leticia and Kobe Allen. Ellie was preceded in death by her daughter, Joan Foster, in 1973.

Memorial services for Ellie Foster will be held Saturday May 28th 3 pm at the Santa Cruz Quaker Meeting (225 Rooney St, Santa Cruz). A potluck will follow. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Resource Center for Non-Violence: RCNV Donations, 515 Broadway, Santa Cruz, CA 95060; or American Friends Service Committee, 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia, PA 19102(or online as gift in honor of a loved one: http://afsc.org/).

Linda's Hearth note: for folks not familiar with streets in City of Santa Cruz, Rooney St is off of Morrisey Blvd, DeLaveaga neighborhood.

Memorial Service for Ellie Foster is Saturday May 28th, 3 pm, Quaker Meetring House

In loving memory of Eleanor “Ellie” Speer Foster

Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at 10:32pm

In loving memory of Eleanor “Ellie” Speer Foster who died of congestive heart failure on April 27, 2011 in Santa Cruz, California. An activist, humanitarian, and dedicated advocate for peace and justice, Ellie was known and loved by many in and beyond the Santa Cruz community.

Ellie was born in 1926 in Milwaukee to Eleanor Garton and Rolo Clayton Speer. She received a B.A. from Redlands College in 1949, and completed an M.A. in Psychology in the 1980s. Following graduation from Redlands, she and her husband, Herb Foster, began a long and inspired life together as social activists. In 1949, Herb and Ellie moved to Vienna, Austria, to work with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) helping WWII refugees. In 1952, they moved to Chicago where they served as directors of the Interns-In-Industry Program of Saul Alinsky’s Back of the Yards Movement.

After three years in Stockton, CA, they finally arrived in Santa Cruz in 1958. Devoted to improving the lives of children and youth, Ellie became the founding director of the Santa Cruz County Head Start Program and later served as director of the Santa Cruz YWCA. In the 1980s, she worked with UCSC’s Peer Counseling Center, and as a Marriage and Family Counselor.

Ellie was a lifelong Quaker, pacifist, and peace activist. In the early 1960s, Herb and Ellie started the Santa Cruz Friends Meeting, which first met in their living room on Miles Street. In the 1980s, Ellie was the local director of Witness for Peace, and she was involved in direct nonviolent action in Nicaragua.

She participated in many other nonviolent activist movements, including serving as co-founder and member of the Santa Cruz Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and as a member of the Salt and Pepper Shakers Affinity Group during the Lawrence Livermore anti-nuclear action in 1983. Most recently Ellie participated with the Raging Grannies, an international peace organization.

Surviving Ellie is her beloved family, including her husband of 62 years, Herb Foster, sons Ken and David Foster, daughter-in-law Margo McBane, grandchildren Monica Foster, Onawa Foster-Tannheimer, Bard Foster, and Etta Foster, and great grand-children, Leticia and Kobe Allen. Ellie was preceded in death by her daughter, Joan Foster, in 1973.

Memorial services for Ellie Foster will be held Saturday May 28th 3 pm at the Santa Cruz Quaker Meeting (225 Rooney St, Santa Cruz). A potluck will follow. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Resource Center for Non-Violence: RCNV Donations, 515 Broadway, Santa Cruz, CA 95060; or American Friends Service Committee, 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia, PA 19102(or online as gift in honor of a loved one: http://afsc.org/).

Linda's Hearth note: for folks not familiar with streets in City of Santa Cruz, Rooney St is off of Morrisey Blvd, DeLaveaga neighborhood. for exact directions see our website: http://santacruzquakers.org

Peter Camejo's Legacy

Peter Camejo, pictured here with Donna Warren, who also furthered California's Green Party by campaigning for a state office. I met these two remarkable people in Santa Cruz CA, at Louden Nelson Center.


by Linda Lemaster
September 15, 2009

Last Chance Road, CA -- I'm surprised to realize it's been a year already since Peter Camejo passed on. I was fortunate to attend his Memorial in Berkeley, after getting to know him through collaborations within California's Green Party. He was -- and is -- a tremendous inspiration and influence, not just on my 'political' persona and social self: his example and his counsel informs my whole being.



Peter was born in Venezuela. He was a renown leader and excellent organizer for Socialists in his 20's, including the Berkeley free speech student struggles, and came to the Green Party where his integrity and influence helped grow that Party. I understand Camajo was a founding member of California's Greens?

I am one of the many California Greens who got to know the man through our shared work and visions of a vital, real, democratic people. By this I mean, effectively, "One {wo}man, one vote." And taking responsibility for one's own adequate education. Later, he ran for Vice President with Ralph Nader. I saw such a noble potential in that ticket.

Despite the jaded indifference of commercial (aka "mass") media, which seemed to me to exclude all political partisans except registered Democrats and registered Republicans from getting any glimpse of honest press, Nader-Camejo garnered many first-time voters and provoked discourse about electoral anomalies across the nation.

Camejo helped me better understand the political wrangling I found all around me when I was lost. He was humble, genuine, enthusiastic, and an excellent communicator, with such a significant impact as leader and as political servant. He is the first (and so far only) political candidate who assured me he never ran an electoral campaign "in the red," and his book on progressive financing, The SRI Advantage: Why Socially Responsible Investing Has Outperformed Financially gives us all a blueprint about executing such an 'impossible' campaign ourselves.

Peter Camejo shared his experience widely and inspired us. I can never forget what he has given us, including his modeling for greater equity and inclusion, an agenda for demanding corporate accountability, an adamant plea for diversity as the way to greater social and community building, and his insistence that democracy is a real and achievable goal for people everywhere.

Peter Camejo, I miss you. I offer my deepest compassion and sympathy to Peter's family and friends.