Create Your Own Petition to Make Change

The fight for the E.R.A. has been a long road, but for the first time in history we are at the finish line and need Biden to push us over. As of 2020, the E.R.A. has met all Constitutional requirements to become an official amendment-- all necessary states have ratified the ERA.​​ As part of finalizing the E.R.A. we need President Biden to publish it now! We are so close to having equal protections enshrined-- We owe it to our feminist ancestors to finish and finally win this fight! ​ We demand equality. We are born equal, it is time our Constitution reflects it. From abortion rights to equal pay and Black maternal health, our communities are on the line. Send a letter to Biden now and tell him to Publish the Equal Rights Amendment

In the spirit of Aloha, we suggest we in Honolulu push our elected officials to give the $25 million in Federal funds allocated for the non-essential Ala Wai bridge to Maui for the reconstruction of Lahaina. The current Ala Wai bridge design is estimated to cost over $60 million and features a culturally insensitive 18-story, lighted, bridge tower with long cables extending across the span destroying the view of Diamond Head. It looks like it belongs in San Francisco instead of Honolulu. And it’s not a critical infrastructure project. Reallocating funds from a non-essential pedestrian/bicycle bridge project to a critical rebuilding project would be a remarkable show of solidarity from Honolulu to Lahina, from Oahu to Maui. We recognize that reprogramming Federal funds is not easy, but Senator Brian Schatz is on the appropriations committee and he and rest of our Congressional delegation have done a good job in getting a large number of members of Congress to visit Lahaina and Kula to see the destruction for themselves. We believe they would be amenable to special legislation for the reprogramming of federal funds, if we in Honolulu are generous enough to recommend this. At the community meeting on the Ala Wai Bridge proposal on Saturday, September 9, 2023, at the Ala Wai Elementary School cafeteria, most in the 100+ audience did not want a pedestrian/bicycle bridge to be built. The most applause in the meeting occurred when the sign “Rebuild Maui, Not the Ala Wai Bridge” was raised. If the Bridge Has to be Built, Build a Modest Bridge BUT, should the decision stand to build another bridge over the Ala Wai with the McCully bridge only 200 yards away and despite the incredible needs of Lahina, the bridge should be modest like the McCully bridge and using as little funds as possible with the caveat that unspent federal funds will be given to Lahaina. Costs over $25 million are to be paid by the Honolulu/Oahu taxpayers, all the more reason to have a modest bridge. If one wanted to add decoration, certainly there are remarkable designs from the Hawaiian culture that could be added and/or painted onto a modest bridge. Even with a modest bridge, we must recognize that the people who use the Ala Wai park and gardens will be deeply affected. The bridge would displace a canoe club which houses a historic koa wood canoe. Public parking for those families who use the soccer, baseball and basketball facilities and the community gardens will be disrupted and probably taken away by the years of bridge construction. The proposed, very expensive “spectacular” 18 story steel cable bridge would be an affront to the culture of Hawai’i. It will block the view of the canal and Diamond Head from as far up the Ala Wai as the Hawaii Convention Center. It will have nighttime lighting on it that will be shining into apartments on both sides of the Ala Wai. It will be a magnet for youth who will figure out ways to make the long steel strands into a zipline challenge. According to City of Honolulu’s description, “The bridge’s asymmetrical design in plan and elevation has elements intended to be an abstraction of local inspirations such as fishing nets, waterfalls, and traditional musical instruments.” But it would take a miracle of imagination to figure out how this description has anything to do with the tower and steel cables. Recognizing the history of construction projects in Hawaii, we know the disruption of life on the Ala Wai will last for many years, much longer than any timeline of project completion that the authorities will publicize. We on Oahu have a unique opportunity to practice Aloha to our neighbor island that is suffering so much. In the spirit of Aloha, we hope a decision to offer the $25 million Ala Wai Bridge project federal funding to Lahaina is considered immediately by our elected officials. Please tweet the Mayor of Honolulu and City Council chair, the Hawaii Congressional delegation and the Governor of Hawaii with a link to this petition. https://diy.rootsaction.org/petitions/give-honolulu-s-25-million-ala-wai-bridge-federal-funds-to-lahina-forrebuilding @MayorRickHNL; @HonoluluGov; @bissenmovement; @GovJoshGreenMD; @SenBrianSchatz; @SenMazieHirono; @RepJillTokuda; @RepEdCase

The use of weaponized aerial drones over the past 21 years has led to killing, maiming, terrorization and/or displacement of millions of people in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Mali, Niger, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Western Sahara, Kurdish regions, Ukraine, Russia, and other countries. Numerous detailed studies and reports regarding casualties resulting from the deployment of weaponized aerial drones indicate that the majority of people killed, maimed, and displaced, or otherwise harmed, have been non-combatants, including women and children. Entire communities and wider populations are terrorized, intimidated and psychologically damaged by the constant flight of weaponized aerial drones over their heads, even when they are not struck by the weapons. The United States, China, Turkey, Pakistan, India, Iran, Israel, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine are manufacturing and/or developing weaponized aerial drones, and a growing number of countries are producing smaller, inexpensive single-use loitering munitions, known as “suicide” or “kamikaze” drones. Some of these countries, including the United States, Israel, China, Turkey and Iran are exporting weaponized aerial drones to an ever-increasing number of countries, while manufacturers in additional countries are exporting parts for weaponized aerial drone production. The use of weaponized aerial drones has included numerous violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law by states and non-state armed groups around the world, including violations of international boundaries, national sovereignty rights and UN agreements. The materials necessary to build and arm rudimentary weaponized aerial drones are neither technologically advanced nor expensive so that their use is proliferating at an alarming rate among militias, mercenaries, insurgencies and individuals. A growing number of non-state actors have conducted armed attacks and assassinations using weaponized aerial drones, including but not limited to: Constellis Group (formerly Blackwater), Wagner Group, Al-Shabab, the Taliban, the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, Libyan rebels, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, Boko Haram, Mexican drug cartels, as well as militias and mercenaries in Venezuela, Colombia, Sudan, Mali, Myanmar, and other countries in the Global South. Weaponized aerial drones are often used to prosecute undeclared and illegal wars. Weaponized aerial drones lower the threshold to armed conflict and can expand and prolong wars, because they enable attack without physical risk to ground and air force personnel of the weaponized drone user. Apart from the Russian-Ukrainian war, most weaponized aerial drone strikes so far have targeted non-Christian people of color in the Global South. Both technologically advanced and rudimentary aerial drones can be weaponized with missiles or bombs carrying chemical weapons or depleted uranium. Advanced and rudimentary weaponized aerial drones pose an existential threat to humanity and the planet because they could be used to target nuclear power plants, of which there are hundreds in 32 countries, primarily in the Global North. Due to the reasons stated above, weaponized aerial drones constitute a tool for violating the integrity of national and international law, thus creating an expanding circle of enmity and increasing the likelihood of internecine conflict, proxy wars, larger wars and escalation to nuclear threats. The use of weaponized aerial drones violates basic human rights as guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976), particularly with respect to the rights to life, privacy and fair trial; and the Geneva Conventions and their Protocols (1949, 1977), particularly with respect to its protection of civilians against indiscriminate, unacceptable levels of harm. Global Campaign to Ban Weaponized Drones war Initiated: May 1, 2023 Initiating Organizers Ban Killer Drones, USA CODEPINK: Women for Peace Drohnen-Kampagne (German Drone Campaign) Drone Wars UK International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) International Peace Bureau (IPB) Veterans for Peace Women for Peace World BEYOND War Global Ban on Weaponized Drones Endorsers, as of May 30, 2023 Ban Killer Drones, USA CODEPINK: Women For Peace Drohnen-Kampagne (German Drone Campaign) Drone Wars UK International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) International Peace Bureau (IPB) Veterans for Peace Women for Peace World BEYOND War West Suburban Peace Coalition World Can’t Wait Westchester Political Action Committee (WESPAC) Action from Ireland Quaker House of Fayetteville, North Carolina Nevada Desert Experience Women Against War ZNetwork Bund für Soziale Verteidigung (Federation of Social Defense) InterReligious Task Force on Central America (IRTF) Disciples Peace Fellowship Ramapo Lunaape Nation Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality – Dr. Daisy Khan International Sanctuary Declaration Campaign Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security The Baltimore Nonviolence Center Westchester Coalition Against Islamophobia (WCAI) Canadian Sanctuary Network Brandywine Peace Community National Council of Elders Beloved Community Center Flowers and Bombs: Stop the Violence of the War Now! Council on American Islamic Relations, New York Chapter (CAIR-NY) Concerned Families of Westchester Shut Down Drone Warfare International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War