TAKE ACTION!
1. Emergency Water is a Human Right Act (H.R. 616)
Introduced into the House by Rep. Rashida Tlaib on Jan. 28, 2021. It currently has 85 co-sponsors, including in Massachusetts Reps. Clark, Lynch, Pressley, Trahan and McGovern.
See this press release about the bill’s introduction.
Rep. Tlaib and Rep. Dingell have also called on President Biden to include the Emergency Water is a Human Right Act in the forthcoming infrastructure package.
What does this bill do?
During the Covid-19 pandemic some states and municipalities banned water shut offs because of non payment of bills, but many of these bans have since expired. Now 183 million Americans live in jurisdictions without shut off protections. This bill would assure federal protection. It creates a grant program, administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, to provide funds to states and Indian tribes to assist low-income households that pay a high proportion of household income for drinking water and wastewater services. Further, any entity receiving financial assistance under this grant program must ensure that no home energy service or public water system service is or remains disconnected or interrupted during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Please urge your Member of Congress to support the Emergency Water is a Human Right Act (H.R. 616). If you are not sure who your Member is, you can find out by entering your zip code here.
2. The Water Affordability Pledge
The Water Affordability Pledge, created by We the People of Detroit and other organizations in Michigan, is a set of goals and principles informed by experiences of communities fighting for equitable and affordable water access. They are asking candidates for elected office to sign it.
See https://www.wethepeopleofdetroit.com/water-affordability-pledge
If you live in Michigan, you can work with these organizations to encourage candidates to take the Pledge. This Pledge can also serve as a model for water affordability work in other states.
3. MA Indigenous Legislative Agenda and Related Campaigns
If you live in Massachusetts, please act to support these 5 legislative priorities:
• Remove Racist Mascots • Honor Indigenous People's Day • Celebrate and Teach Native American Culture & History • Protect Native American Heritage, and • Support the Education and Futures of Native Youth.
You can find out more about these priorities and take action to advance them here. You can watch a livestream of the 50th anniversary of the National Day of Mourning and find out more about Indigenous campaigns here.
4. Stop the Toxic Line 3 Pipeline
Water Protectors from around the country are gathering to support the six-year struggle of the Annishanaabe Nation to stop Enbridge Corp. from building their Line 3 pipeline that is slated to be filled with filthy tar sands extracted oil and travel through many lakes, rivers and the precious wild rice beds of northern Minnesota.
Watch this video: ‘The next Keystone XL fight is here in Minnesota.’ Learn more and see here the digital and other actions you can take to aid their struggle.
5. Join the Call to #FreeThemAll
The AFSC among many other organizations is working to get people out of prisons, jails and detention centers during the pandemic, and for a future without incarceration. See the actions you can take here.
See the Building Up People not Prisons Week of Action here.
6. Urge your Members of Congress to Condition Aid to Israel on its Human Rights Record
"The Israeli regime enacts in all the territory it controls (Israeli sovereign territory, East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip) an apartheid regime. One organizing principle lies at the base of a wide array of Israeli policies: advancing and perpetuating the supremacy of one group – Jews – over another – Palestinians.”
This is the conclusion reached by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem in a devastating report it released in January 2021. Without the $3.8 billion given Israel every year by American taxpayers, and the weapons and diplomatic protection given by the US government, this apartheid regime could not be sustained.
How could that $3.8 billion be used to address urgent needs at home? Why should we demand that aid to Israel be conditioned on its human rights record? See this 3 minute video.
In a September 2019 Data for Progress poll, 64% of Democratic Party voters favored reducing aid to Israel because of its human rights violations.
Tell your elected representatives that Palestinians deserve freedom, justice and equality, and the uncritical support of Israel given by the US government must be brought to an end.
Find out about the ‘Justice for All’ campaign of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights here.
7. Support this year’s Walk for Water for Palestinian Refugees
The Walk for Water 5K is an annual fundraising event held by 1for3 and its supporters. This year it will take place on Saturday 22 May. Due to the pandemic the walk will be conducted virtually through individuals.
Signing up here is the first step, and its easy! Together, we can meet refugee communities as they solve problems with water, food, health, and education. Find out more here.
Let’s work together to bring about a more just world and to make water a universal human right!