Details
Senior Fellow
Focus
Democracy , Peace & Conflict , International Affairs , Security
Article
The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), a nonpartisan Quaker peace lobby, has worked for the past 75 years to build Congressional support for federal policy on peace and justice. For the past year, Senior Fellow Sarah Freeman-Woolpert has worked with FCNL’s grassroots network to build a national movement to curb a US President’s ability to go to war without Congressional approval.
Sarah has traveled cross-country, from Alabama to Alaska, to train and launch grassroots “Advocacy Teams” who work in their local Congressional districts to build relationships with members of Congress and their staff to advance a strategic legislative campaign.
Sarah explains:
“In 2019, our 120+ teams have focused on ending endless war by repealing the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force, which have been used by three presidents to justify an expansion of US military engagement around the world without a Congressional debate or vote.”
“There has been significant movement on this issue in the past year, due in part to the persistent advocacy of Quakers and other peace advocates who have raised this issue in Congressional offices, letters to the editor, Presidential candidate forums and public events. This advocacy has also contributed to ongoing efforts to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen and to prevent a U.S. war with Iran,” Sarah adds.
Sarah and her team’s work will culminate next week when several hundred peace advocates come together in Washington, D.C. for the Quaker Public Policy Institute to lobby Congress together: “We will specifically ask that a repeal of the 2002 Iraq AUMF be included in the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The Iraq war came to a formal end years ago, but the 2002 Iraq AUMF remains on the books, leaving it susceptible to abuse by the president to justify new wars that Congress never authorized.”
If you are interested in getting more involved with Sarah’s grassroots advocacy, you can learn more at www.fcnl.org or send a message to Sarah through their website or through HIA Connect.
