Democracy depends on transparency
The National Women’s History Project is excited to announce the theme for Women’s History 2019:
Sunshine Week promotes freedom of information and transparency in government.
This year we honor women who have led efforts to end war, violence, and injustice and pioneered the use of nonviolence to change society.
2019 Honoree, Kathy Kelly (born 1952) is a true American peace activist, pacifist and author. As part of peace team work in several countries, she has traveled to Iraq twenty-six times, notably remaining in combat zones during the early days of both US–Iraq wars. Her recent travel has focused on Afghanistan and Gaza, along with domestic protests against US drone policy. She has been arrested more than sixty times at home and abroad. Her experiences in prison resulted in many of the essays collected in her book Other Lands Have Dreams, published in 2005. “One of the most important ‘Spiritual Directors’ in my life has been the Internal Revenue Service... finding ways to live without owning property, relying on savings, or growing attached to a job... Becoming a war tax refuser was one of the simplest decisions I’ve ever made”. From Baghdad on March 19, 2003 “Nothing can prepare me or anyone else for what we could possibly say to the children who will suffer in the days and nights ahead. What can you say to a child who is traumatized, or maimed, or orphaned, or dying? Perhaps only the words we’ve murmured over and over at the bedsides of dying children in Iraqi hospitals. ‘I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry.’” www.nwhp.org Lynn Watters