On February 8, 2012, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA) introduced a bill called the SANE Act, or the Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures Act of 2012. This bill would save $100 billion over ten years in federal spending by cutting wasteful spending on a “bloated” nuclear weapons budget. See Rep. Markey’s press release for specific cuts and savings. Thanks to the 34 co-sponsors of this legislation, including New York’s own Rep. Slaughter, Rep. Nadler, Rep. Maloney, and Rep. Bishop. If your Representative is not on this list, please email or call themtoday and ask them to become a co-sponsor! Below is a video of Rep. Markey introducing the SANE Act on the House floor.
This past weekend our Student Organizers were invited to attend Democracy Matter’s Annual Student Summit in Albany, NY! The Summit was a huge success, bringing together over 100 students from across the U.S. to develop strategies for advocacy campaigns, improve their campus organizing skills, and explore issues of peace, war, and democratic practices.
Our Field Organizer and Program Assistant, Katie Rahill, gave an informative presentation entitled, Connecting the Dots: War, Money and Politics, which explained the federal budget process, military spending, and its effect on human needs. Please email Katie if you would like a copy of this presentation.
Our thanks go out to the staff and crew of Democracy Matters for allowing us to partake in such an exciting and mobilizing event. We look forward to future collaborations toward promoting peace and democracy during this exciting time of student and youth activism! Democracy Matters is a campus-based non-partisan organizations that works with students nationwide to promote democracy and advocate for public financing in political elections.
Thank you to all who attended and donated at our PAFNYS benefit concert with Judy Gorman this past Saturday, January 14!
The night was full of great entertainment – delicious food from COLORS restaurant, moving lyrics and vocals from Judy Gorman, and the inspirational jazz sounds of Radio Noir. We deeply appreciate the generosity of all those who came to show their support and we’d like to give special thanks to Judy Gorman and COLORS for being such wonderful hosts!
For those of you who’d like to more about what we do and stay informed about upcoming events, become a member of Peace Action New York State, or simply join our mailing list! You can go through our website, or send us an email at info@panys.org and reference “BenefitConcert” in your subject line!
Please help Peace Action Staten Island reach their goal of 1,000 online signatures for their petition to install a peace pole in the Staten Island Ferry terminal! Just click this link- it takes less than a minute! If installed, the Peace Pole will be seen by millions of visitors who must pass through the terminal to ride the world famous ferry.
PASI has been working with partner organization Building Bridges to install the peace pole inside the ferry terminal since last August. Together they are petitioning the Mayor and Department of Transportation Commissioner to approve this initiative.
The Israeli Army has triple blockaded the main road leading into the Hebron area farming community of Al-Bweira for ten years. The objective of the Open the Al-Bweira Road Campaign is to persuade the Israeli military and government to remove the gate and both boulder blockades from the Al-Bweira Road so that: farm families in Al-Bweira can enter and leave without having to drive over miles of rough, rutted, time consuming and costly detours; ambulances and other emergency vehicles are no longer delayed by these same detours; and the eyes of Hebron can see the neighborhood more easily and prevent settler harassment and the theft of Palestinian farm land. Read more→
