[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 44 (Thursday, April 14, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E651]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CELEBRATING 90 YEARS OF PEACEMAKING

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 14, 2005

  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in honor of 
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, (WILPF) who on 
April 9, 2005, celebrated their ninetieth anniversary marking their 
work for peace for justice.
  We commend Phyllis S. Yingling and the Joint Planning Committee ofthe 
Baltimore/Catonsville area for their hard work on behalf of women and 
world peace.
  WILPF, located in 36 nations, was formed in 1915 during World War I. 
WILPF works to achieve through peaceful means world disarmament, full 
rights for women, racial and economic justice, an end to all forms of 
violence and to establish those political, social, and psychological 
conditions which can assure peace, freedom and justice for all.
  Out of a meeting planned amongst western European and N. American 
suffragists grew WILPF. The meeting was supposed to be in Berlin. The 
war prevented the women from going to Berlin, so the women went to The 
Hague. Over 1200 women attended. At that meeting the women decided that 
ending the killing and the violence of war was even more important than 
suffrage for women.
  WILPF's first International President was Jane Addams, founder of 
Hull House in Chicago and the first U.S. woman to win the Nobel Peace 
Prize.
  The United States Section of WILPF maintains a presence in 
Washington, D.C. providing support and organizing connections for the 
grassroots activities of WILPF's members located in 80 branches across 
the United States. They work in coalition with other disarmament, 
women's human rights, and racial and economic justice organizations to 
translate women's experience and vision into policies to promote peace 
and justice
  For the last nine decades, WILPF has had a vision of peaceful and 
non-violent solutions to conflicts around the world.
  We salute WILPF for their remarkable vision that we respect and that 
which still guides us today as we face the human security challenges of 
tomorrow.

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