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Take Action - Current Action

Current Issues of Concern to CEASE

CEASE now has an action arm, a list serve called Act4CEASE which alerts members by e-mail to opportunities for public policy actions to help children (and their parents and teachers) to survive and thrive in a more peaceful, healthier world.  Many of the messages on the list serve relate to children and the media, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the War in Iraq.  At our Summer CEASE Retreat we decided to act collectively on a number of additional issues of this sort, which will be featured on ACT4CEASE.  The list serve messages come when issues require our individual and collective action, maybe 2 or 3 times a month, although this frequency may increase with the new issues. 
To join the list serve, send an e-mail to act4cease-subscribe(at)yahoogroups.com

Action Campaigns
Plenty to do!

1. Stop the wars and protect children (link to CEASE Resolution)
2. Support immigration laws which keep children safe
3. Say no to more nuclear weapons
4. Protect our world from global warming
5. Initiate a media education track at NAEYC
6. Reclaim childhood from commercialization
7. Ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Below are brief descriptions of current actions , and websites which give more detail and resources:

1. Stop the Wars!  CEASE has passed a Resolution (link) urging NAEYC and all early childhood organizations to speak out about the harm war causes to children where ever it is happening, and here in the U.S. as it undermines children’s sense of security and the hope that conflicts can be resolved without violence.  War deprives children of the safety they need and the resources that should be devoted to their healthy development.  CEASE urges the speedy end of the Iraq war, the Afghanistan war and the continued reliance on violence to resolve global conflicts.  And we must all speak out against the threatened attack on Iran.  Only collective action by world leaders and diplomats can safely address the threat posed by nuclear development in Iran and elsewhere.  Passionate advocacy for alternative solutions is needed.  See more at www.peacefultomorrows.org

2.  Addressing Immigration Raids and the Family Disruptions They Cause for Children and Families.  CEASE is speaking out and encouraging others to do the same against immigration raids particularly focused on Latino workers throughout the country. It has been reported that as many as 13,000 people have been arrested nationwide effecting families and especially children of the families. Nearly 600 workers were arrested in a raid in Lauren, Mississippi in August, 400 in Pottsville, Iowa and 300-350 in New Bedford, Mass. These are just a few of many raids on plants and home invasions. One son of a seized person said, "We have kids without dads and pregnant mothers who got their husbands taken away."  Contact your representative to protest these raids and their effects on families and children.
Additional information:  the National Immigration Justice Center at www.immigrantjustice.org

3. Continuing Threat of Nuclear Weapons.  Since its inception in 1979, CEASE has advocated for nuclear disarmament.  Thirty years later, the nuclear danger is still very much with us.  We believe that we have a responsibility to our children, grandchildren and future generations to end the threat that nuclear weapons pose to humanity and all life.  We are alarmed by the Bush Administration’s recent proposal to rebuild the nation’s aging nuclear weapons complex, including restoration of a large-scale bomb manufacturing capacity. The administration’s proposal to gain the capability to build 125 new nuclear bombs per year by 2022 undermines the U.S. policy to stop nuclear proliferation.  According to the LA Times 4/6/06, “the administration is also quickly moving ahead with a new nuclear bomb program known as the ‘reliable replacement warhead,’ which began last year. Originally described as an effort to update existing weapons and make them more reliable, it has been broadened and now includes the potential for new bomb designs. Weapons labs currently are engaged in a design competition.”  Fortunately our Congress said “no” this year, but we remain alert to the possibility that the proposal may be raised again.  Watch for CEASE action alerts on this critical issue.   See www.peace-action.org

4.  Improving the Protection of Our Environment.  CEASE is acutely aware that global warming is the most serious environmental challenge to the health and safety of our children and their children’s children.  In order to ensure a safe environment for future generations, we must act immediately.  We recommend that readers go to www.edf.org  The Environmental Defense Fund  click on Global Warming: What you can do and follow out the many actions we can all take described there to make an immediate positive impact on global warming. 
         CEASE is alert to other threats to our future generations such as the impact of pollution with all of its poisons on the health of our oceans, our water and our air.  We are cognizant of the waste of energy and resources our current lifestyle causes and encourage the use of sustainable practices such as purchasing locally grown food, using less energy in our homes and making wise choices in our use of transportation.  See www.chej.org   The Center for Health, Environment and Justice, which has launched Green Flag Schools, a campaign to help children and families create green schools, and other campaigns for building safe communities. 
        The CEASE Seminar at the 2008 NAEYC Conference presented the voices of young leaders for social change.  “Developing ‘Green’ and Socially Responsible Children: Voices for creating change” was well received.   For more go to our NAEYC page. 

5. Adding Media Education as a Strand for NAEYC Conferences beginning in 2009.  CEASE member, John Surr, recently composed and presented a letter to Mark Ginsberg and the board of NAEYC regarding our concern about the effects of media on young children.  The following is an excerpt from that letter:  “CEASE proposes that NAEYC add to its Annual Conferences a strand or track about media education for young children, their families and their teachers, beginning in 2009.  The PDI [Professional Development Institute in New Orleans] experience reveals the depth of the interest, research, resources, and practices to help NAEYC members cope successfully with the rewards and challenges of 21st Century media.  We know that NAEYC members are seeking to participate much more in the ongoing work in this area.  They want information.  They want guidelines. . . . CEASE hopes that this work will push forward rapidly, and that it will include all aspects, both the rewards and the perils, of electronic media as they affect young children....”           
Let NAEYC know of your interest in having a Media Education Strand beginning at the 2009 Conference.  Relevant information at:  www.commercialfreechildhood.org

6.  Reclaiming Childhood.  Today’s children are being bombarded with media, toys and products that reflect our fast-paced, sexualized commercial culture.  CEASE is working to maintain our children’s healthy development and understanding of their own identity. Two books addressing these concerns are:   “Taking Back Childhood:  Helping Your Kids Thrive in a Fast-Paced, Media-Saturated, Violence-Filled World” by CEASE member Nancy Carlsson-Paige and “So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids” by CEASE member Diane E. Levin and Jean Kilbourne.
 See reviews of these two important books at Resources/Book Reviews

7. Campaign for the Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child:  Only the US and Somalia have failed to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.  193 countries have ratified it.  The US Campaign is working together with 200 groups to move the Convention forward to ratification.  Their website gives information on how to join this effort.  www.childrightscampaign.org
            Children need the special protections offered by this convention.  The US was an active participant in the development of the Convention in 1979, but ten years later, when 193 countries had ratified it and it became international law, the US failed to join.  Now is the time to ensure that US policy makers accept this national and international responsibility to protect children. 

 

 

CEASE is a project of the Survival Education Fund
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