“Thank you for getting in the way for peace” Rep. John Lewis Tells FCNL
November 13, 2007
More than 200 Quakers from 36 states gathered in Washington, DC, in early November to plan strategies for lobbying Congress and making peace an issue in the 2008 elections. The 2007 Annual Meeting of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) included a keynote address by civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis and briefings from congressional staff, FCNL lobbyists, and grassroots lobbyists from around the country. Find out more.
“Some of you have been inspired to get into trouble, to get in the way. I am here tonight to say thank you for getting into trouble for peace,” Rep. John Lewis told the gathering. “Sometimes I feel like the American people are a little too quiet, too silent. It is time for all of us to make a little noise, to get in the way, to bring this madness of the war in Iraq to an end…It is our responsibility to leave this earth a little greener and a little more peaceful than we found it.”
More than 80 people began the weekend with a lobby day in which Friends from more than a dozen states urged their representatives and senators to stop funding the war in Iraq and begin funding new strategies for the peaceful prevention of deadly conflict. The FCNL Annual Meeting is the annual gathering of the Quaker lobby’s General Committee, made up of Quakers appointed by 26 yearly meetings (regional bodies) and several dozen individual Friends chosen because they are particularly active on lobbying issues.
Participants discussed strategies for lobbying Congress and building a grassroots peace movement, including an effort to build relationships and work with people of different faiths to bring about an end to the war in Iraq. A Friend from Philadelphia reminded the gathering of an interfaith delegation that went to the Paris Peace Talks on Vietnam, then returned to lobby members of Congress in each state to end the war.
“We need to organize interfaith delegations in every congressional district to urge Congress to stop funding the war and start funding a new diplomatic strategy to get the U.S. out of Iraq,” Kathy Guthrie urged the gathering at the final session. FCNL is specifically urging local Friends and like minded folk to organize a grassroots, in-district lobbying effort in January 2008 just before Congress is expected to vote on legislation authorizing more money for the war in Iraq.
In addition to offering people from around the country a chance to learn and practice lobbying techniques, FCNL’s Annual Meeting allowed participants to hear inside tips from the staff of members of Congress in the House and Senate. “Members of Congress want to hear from you,” one congressional staffer told the group. “Find out about your representative, be informed, start a dialogue that can help us change policy.”
The group also heard from David Goldstein, Co-director of the Natural Resources Defense Council Energy Program, on the policy changes that will be necessary to effectively save energy and address global climate change. Goldstein argues that the technology exists today that would cut U.S. consumption of non-renewable energy by up to 40 percent. But in some cases government regulation is standing in the way of application of this technology and in other cases government needs to act to provide the proper incentives to make that technology commercially available. FCNL Senior Lobbyist Ned Stowe urged Friends to lobby both chambers of Congress to pass the energy bill before the end of this year.
A record 35 young Friends from eight states plus the District of Columbia attended the meeting. Friends gathered several times during the Annual Meeting to hear FCNL lobbyists discuss the specifics of lobbying on issues ranging from the environment and Native American concerns to banning cluster bombs and controlling nuclear weapons. Friends met to listen to stories from around the country about how the broken immigration system is impacting their communities and to talk about strategies to change federal policy. The FCNL Policy Committee organized a special session to discuss the challenges faced by Friends. Workshops on presenting FCNL in local communities, lobbying, and engaging the media added to this effort.
In another session, General Committee members met with others from neighboring states and communities to identify churches, organizations, and individuals that might encourage a broader network of Friends to participate in the FCNL priorities process in 2008. In late January the FCNL Policy Committee will be contacting every Quaker meeting and church in the country to encourage local Quakers to discuss FCNL’s Legislative Priorities for 2009 and 2010. Reports from these sessions are due in April 2008. The FCNL website will include details on the priorities process in January 2008.
The general committee approved the Nominating Committee’s recommendations for new members to the FCNL General Committee and thanked those who had served who are now rotating off of the committee. At a business session on Sunday, the committee also approved a revised FCNL budget for 2008 and a new budget for 2009. Many of the Friends gathered were eager to express their appreciation for FCNL’s work with concrete donations of time and money. At the meeting, several contributed donations to support an internship in FCNL’s Energy and Environment program, and fifty volunteers signed up to contact former FCNL donors to invite their renewed support. Donate to FCNL.
Excerpts from the speeches, talks, and workshops at the annual meeting will be posted on the FCNL website in the next week.
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The Friends Committee on National Legislation, the oldest registered religious lobby in Washington, is a non-partisan Quaker lobby in the public interest. FCNL works with a nationwide network of tens of thousands of people from every state in the U.S. to advocate for social and economic justice, peace, and good government. For more information: http://www.fcnl.org
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