WESPAC connects organizations, people and issues across all divisions, recognizing that we cannot win a better world if we stay divided. WESPAC promotes movement building through regular potlucks that bring people together to share food, knowledge and build relationships. WESPAC has developed a Speakers Bureau that can provide effective speakers on a variety of current social justice issues. WESPAC is an active member of a number of local coalitions including: the Hudson Valley Fair Economy Coalition, the Hudson Valley Community Coalition and the Westchester Coalition for Police Reform.
Nada Khader
Posted in Blogs, Communities & Focus Areas, Director's Blog, Economic and Human Rights, Frontpage, Movement Building, Racial Justice
On December 15, we will launch the Justice Roadmap 2021 to call for bold legislative change to decarcerate jails, prisons and immigrant detention centers and address the harms of the criminal legal and immigration systems.
Join us to demand that New York dismantle systems that criminalize, incarcerate and deport our communities and build a world where all of us can thrive
Nada Khader
Posted in Blogs, Communities & Focus Areas, Director's Blog, Frontpage, Movement Building, Racial Justice
Thank you SO much to all who have already given to sustain WESPAC! In order to meet our budgetary targets, we must raise between $8,000 and $10,000 at this holiday time. A contribution in any amount will help sustain us during these challenging times. You can make a secure donation in less than a minute with any credit or debit card using this link here
Nada Khader
Posted in Blogs, Communities & Focus Areas, Director's Blog, Frontpage, Movement Building, Shop Fair Trade
Nada Khader
Posted in Blogs, Communities & Focus Areas, Criminal Justice, Director's Blog, Movement Building, Racial Justice
RSVP today to receive reminders ahead of each conversation!
Each event will be streamed live on our Facebook and YouTube pages.
Nada Khader
Posted in Blogs, Communities & Focus Areas, Director's Blog, Economic and Human Rights, Militarism and Foreign Policy, Movement Building, Racial Justice
IADL: U.S. sanctions targeting International Criminal Court are an outrage against international justice
See the statement on our website:
https://iadllaw.org/2020/09/
On 2 September 2020, U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo announced the imposition of sanctions on Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and prosecution jurisdiction director for authorizing such an investigation, including war crimes committed by U.S. forces, for which U.S. officials bear responsibility. These sanctions were based on a declaration by U.S. President Trump of a national emergency on this subject in June of 2020.
The International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) rejects as outrageous these sanctions on senior prosecution officials of the International Criminal Court. IADL will be investigating the best ways to challenge these sanctions.
The United States has for some time claimed that it is exempt from the laws which bind the rest of the world, seeking permanent international impunity for itself. The United States openly seeks to evade international accountability for its responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere in the world, not only by refusing to join the Court but by U.S. President Trump declaring that the potential for an ICC investigation into international crimes in the war in Afghanistan is a “national emergency.”
That the International Criminal Court prosecutors are investigating the United States can be declared a “national emergency” makes a mockery of the word “emergency”.
Of course, such an investigation follows the United States’ illegal invasion and military occupation of Iraq after years of devastating sanctions, torture of prisoners, and devastation of the country that led directly and indirectly to the deaths of millions of Iraqis. The United States continues to illegally occupy Afghanistan, having killed and wounded thousands of Afghans over nearly 20 years of ongoing military attacks, while continuing drone strikes, extrajudicial killings and other war crimes and crimes against humanity around the world.
It must further be noted that this also comes in response to the Prosecutor’s approval of an investigation into Israeli war crimes in Palestine, about which the U.S. and Israel have exerted tremendous pressure on both Palestinian and international actors in an effort to uphold permanent impunity for ongoing Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity. It further follows the submission of a complaint by Middlesex University law professor William Schabas against Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump adviser Jared Kushner before the ICC for their support of illegal Israeli colonial settlement activities in the West Bank of occupied Palestine.
The ICC was established in order to prevent serious crimes against civilians and put an end to impunity when domestic law does not or cannot provide a remedy. For years, the bulk of ICC actions were directed at African officials, even in relatively weak cases. The US imposed sanctions are an attempt to prevent the ICC from performing a truly international or universal role, since any such court or judicial project must be able to hold the U.S. and its allies accountable for their crimes.
Sixty-seven member countries of the ICC have issued a joint statement expressing their support for the Court as an independent and impartial judicial institution, and 10 members of the UN Security Council have done the same. It is incumbent upon all States Parties to the Rome Statute act to defend the Court and address these latest threats to the international rule of law by the United States. We further call on the UN General Assembly to condemn these U.S. actions.
It must be noted as well that these sanctions come amid the ongoing use of unilateral coercive measures, in violation of international law and the United Nations charter, by the U.S. government; for example, against Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Syria, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Zimbabwe. These unilateral coercive measures are a form of economic warfare and an attempt to impose regime change upon any country that rejects the dictates of the United States, and the sanctions on individual ICC prosecutors fit precisely into this framework.
The IADL rejects the US attempt to suppress international justice and any form of accountability for U.S. and Israeli officials through direct economic attack and the threat of criminal prosecution against victims and their advocates simply for pursuing justice.
We affirm that this announcement will not chill our efforts to hold U.S. officials and their allies, including Israeli officials, accountable and to support our members and colleagues working to do so in a variety of forums and venues, especially the International Criminal Court.
9 September 2020
Nada Khader
Posted in Blogs, Communities & Focus Areas, Director's Blog, Environmental and Food Justice, Frontpage, Movement Building
This was a fabulous presentation today by Evan Pritchards and very well attended:
White Plains, formerly known as Quarropus, was once well known as a fossil-free transportation hub; the meeting place of three important watersheds connecting the mid-Hudson with the East River and Long Island Sound. White Plains and its neighbors today span seven strategically located waterways, and the portage routes where the Siwanoy and Weckquaesgeek peoples once carried their canoes from one to the other are still in place. By making and marking new trails, supporting local canoers with information and supplies, and a few other inexpensive and potentially lucrative changes, White Plains could add a new layer to its infrastructure that would make it the DIY “Venice of New York,” boosting business and recreational traffic in a way that makes a bold statement about America’s future. All we have to do is GET OUT THE BOAT!
EVAN PRITCHARD, guest on The History and Discovery channels, ABC and CNN, is a Mi’kmaq descendant, an award-winning historian, author of over seventy books, environmental activist, guest educator on Sloop Clearwater, founder of a Center for Algonquin Culture, and former professor of Native American Studies at Vassar, Pace, and Marist. This talk is based on his newest book Mapping Manahatoauc. (currently self published):
https://www.facebook.com/WESPACFOUNDATION/videos/218938262894364/
Nada Khader
Posted in Blogs, Director's Blog, Economic and Human Rights, Movement Building, Racial Justice
“Children in Detention, an introduction to the No Way to Treat a Child Campaign” was originally recorded on June 16, 2020.
58 minutes
https://www.classwars.org/
Panelists: Kwame Holmes, PhD, Scholar in Residence, Human Rights Program, Bard College, AND Shaina Low, U.S. Advocacy Officer at Defense for Children International, Palestine.
Permission to air this program has been granted by the four sponsoring groups, Jewish Voice For Peace – Hudson Valley, Mideast Crisis Response, Veterans For Peace, and Women in Black – New Paltz.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
| EVENT DETAILS |
|
Event Name |
Honoring Black Lives Lost Rally |
|
Date |
Friday, July 10, 2020 |
|
Time |
6PM – 8PM |
|
Location |
Westchester County Courthouse, 111 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. White Plains, NY |
|
Chief Sponsor |
Westchester Coalition for Police Reform (WCPR) |
| PRESS CONTACTS |
Nada Khader
Lui Villa
[email protected] | 914-439-4571
| INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES |
Kenneth Chamberlain Jr.
[email protected]
GATHER WITH FAMILIES TO HONOR LIVES LOST TO POLICE VIOLENCE
Building a Community Through Solidarity
July 1, 2020 – White Plains, NY – On Friday, July 10th at 6PM, please join the Westchester Coalition for Police Reform at the Westchester County Courthouse to honor the lives impacted by police violence and to bring awareness to the need for police reform. Led by Kenneth Chamberlain Jr., impacted families will come together to share their experiences for an evening of communal solidarity. The event, emceed by Sunitha Malieckal of the Westchester Coalition for Police Reform, will feature speakers from the community consisting of leaders, advocates, and political officials committed to social justice, action, and reform. As voiced by Mr. Chamberlain Jr., “We will not rest until every human being is afforded true safety in every corner of Westchester County.” In this time, let us gather, let us listen, so we may “plan, strategize, organize and mobilize” to build a better community together.
Speakers:
Sorraya Sampson, President & CEO, Urban League of Westchester County, Inc.
Nada Khader, Executive Director, WESPAC Foundation
Damon Jones, New York Representative, Blacks in Law Enforcement of America
Mayo Bartlett, Civil Rights Attorney
Cynthia Turnquest Jones, Delta Sigma Theta Westchester Alumnae Chapter
Mondaire Jones, Candidate for US Congress (CD-17)
Mimi Rocah, Candidate for Westchester County District Attorney
Patrick Schelle, ARA
William Wagstaff Civil Rights Attorney
Jeffery Deskovic, Deskovic Foundation
Nate Graves, Youth Activist
Event Co-sponsors
Westchester Martin Luther King, Jr. Institute for Nonviolence
New York Civil Liberties Union – Lower Hudson Valley Chapter
WESPAC Foundation
Westchester Blacks in Law Enforcement of America
AntiRacist Alliance
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. – Westchester Alumnae Chapter
Ethical Culture Society of Westchester
VOCAL-NY Westchester Chapter
Black Westchester Magazine
Westchester Black Political Conference
Urban League of Westchester County, Inc.
Indivisible White Plains
Indivisible Westchester
Indivisible New Rochelle
Tha B.U.M.P. The Brown Urban Mother Partnership
Progressive Women of Pelham
Progressive Women of NY
Westchester Black Women’s Political Caucus
Kappa Alpha PSI – New Rochelle – White Plains Alumni Chapter
The Westchester Coalition for Police Reform is dedicated to improved police-community relations, police transparency, accountability, and independent oversight of law enforcement.
There were egregious issues during the NY 2020 primary election (from delays of absentee ballots, voter suppression during early voting and 2-, 3- and 4-hour lines to vote on primary day) as evidenced by the deluge of complaints posted on social media and covered by the press. There is widespread outrage, which is more than warranted.
To address these alarming issues, a coalition is being formed under the moniker “Concerned Voters of Westchester,” inviting Westchester-based organizations that represent the diversity of our county to join in the initiative.
The coalition plans to call on elected officials to conduct a robust investigation into all election violations by immediately holding public hearings to ensure an accurate, fair, fully accessible, safe and secure election for November.
If you would like your group to join this coalition and sign onto the letter (attached), please reply to [email protected]
There is now a petition calling for public hearings to mount public pressure and this email account ([email protected]
Please amplify this petition and contact email to your organization’s members to enable them to voice their concerns using all the communication methods you use, e.g., email, social media, meetings, etc.
Concerned Voters of Westchester Coalition Mission:
Elections, a non-partisan issue, are the bedrock of our republic’s democracy. This diverse coalition of citizen voters and organizations are vested in accurate, fair, fully accessible, safe and secure elections. We are dedicated to ensuring that the Westchester County Board of Elections fulfills its obligation to conduct fully compliant, legal elections that provide confidence to the electorate that elections are fair, fully accessible, safe and secure. The mission of this group is to exert extraordinary pressure on, and advocate for action by all elected officials and authorities who are both vested in and responsible for accurate, fair, fully accessible, safe and secure elections in November 2020 and beyond.
Stay tuned! We are organizing additional actions to pressure authorities to address systemic problems with our elections.
Nada Khader
Posted in Blogs, Communities & Focus Areas, Director's Blog, Friends of Turtle Island, Frontpage, Movement Building, Racial Justice
Here is the recording of an important webinar with South Dakota State Senator Red Dawn Foster on the work of Return to the Heart Foundation, an Indigenous-led grantmaking organization that empowers women-led initiatives throughout Indian Country. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=594420184612151 For Native Americans, Covid-19 has hit hard, from the growing number of infections in Navaho and Hopi Nations to the racism that the Lakota continue to face in protecting their borders. South Dakota State Senator Red Dawn goes into detail about how Native nations are staying resilient and how mutual aid can support their efforts.