Volvieron! They Returned!

by Augusta Girard, Promoting Enduring Peace

For decades the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO)/Pastors for Peace has been working for an alternative people-to-people foreign policy. PEP has supported the work of IFCO for many years, having given their 1993 Gandhi Peace Award to Reverend Lucius Walker, Jr., founder of IFCO, and recently having had Gail Walker, Director of IFCO, in New Haven deliver a lecture on “Why the World Needs Cuba.” Embracing this long overdue victory we will continue our support and work to end the Cuban blockade once and for all.

From IFCO:

Today, we join the Cuban people in celebrating a successful step toward new diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba!

We applaud President Obama for acting on the desire of the vast majority of people in the US – and Cuba – who want normal relations between our two countries.

 

While this is a step toward what we’ve been working for, there’s still much to be worked out and analyzed. We know that the right-wing won’t go down without a fight. Our Work Continues!

 

Although we commend President Obama’s action in releasing the remaining members of the Cuban Five and taking steps to normalize relations with Cuba, we know that there will be ‘blowback’ from the right-wing who need Cuba as an enemy.

The National Network on Cuba, which PEP has been a member of for over 20 years, released a statement in part saying:

“The recent focus on Cuba including today’s release of the Five, the upcoming Summit of the Americas, exposure of USAID’s nefarious efforts to subvert Cuban society, and the Cuban medical missions fighting Ebola, present an opportunity for all of us committed to Cuban solidarity. We must now increase the demands that all aspects of the blockade be lifted, that Cuba be removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, and that the Cuban right to self-determination and sovereignty be respected.”

Please call the White House or email President Obama and say “Thank You.”

Email your senators and members of Congress! Let them know you support normalization of relations and a repeal of the Helms-Burton and Torricelli legislation against Cuba.

Pastors for Peace: Why the World Needs Cuba

by Augusta Girard, Program Director, PEP

At 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 3 the annual Mark Shafer Lecture, sponsored by Promoting Enduring Peace, will feature Gail Walker, Director of Pastors for Peace and the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization. Held at the Yale Divinity School, 409 Prospect Street, Niebuhr Hall N12, parking is available and the event is free and open to the public.

Ms. Walker has staffed more than 15 caravans of humanitarian aid to Cuba and Central America and worked extensively with marginalized communities including the Garifuna in Honduras and Nicaragua. She is an award-winning radio producer, on-air host and journalist and holds an MA in Media Studies from the New School.

Gail Walker is interviewed by a television crew.

Gail Walker is interviewed by a television crew.

She is the daughter of Rev. Lucius Walker, the recipient of the 1993 Gandhi Peace Award. It is especially meaningful for PEP to have the daughter of a Gandhi Peace Award recipient as our featured speaker. To be able to carry on the work of such a noble and peace-loving man as her father is very rewarding for us to see. Read more