How has COVID-19 affected BIPOC and Mental Health?

How has COVID-19 affected BIPOC and Mental Health?

-Moirha Smith, PJC Intern This article is about the effects of COVID-19 on students of color and their mental health. Two students are first-generation college students. The pandemic has increased the vulnerability of minorities who are already marginalized. Interviews were conducted by a Black identifying student.   Interview #1 How has the pandemic affected you?…

Ben & Jerry’s:  Buying Almonds is Sooo Not Enough

Ben & Jerry’s: Buying Almonds is Sooo Not Enough

-The BDS Committee, Vermonters for Justice in Palestine In 2013, VTJP launched an international campaign calling on Ben & Jerry’s to end its Israeli franchise’s complicity with Israel’s illegal settlement regime in Occupied Palestine. While a great deal has happened since then, B&J’s “peace & love” ice cream, manufactured in Israel, is still being stocked…

Leaving the Peace & Justice Center

Leaving the Peace & Justice Center

-Rachel Siegel, PJC Executive Director My class and race privilege limit my ability to do this work with the expertise and authenticity that this organization deserves.  I came to this solid understanding after participating in the Anne Braden Anti-Racist Organizer Training Program for white social justice activists last year. As a nonprofit, like most nonprofits, we do not…

Free Trade vs. Fair Trade

Free Trade vs. Fair Trade

-Hannah Stumpf, PJC Intern As technology advances, it becomes easier and easier for people and companies to interact on a worldwide scale. This concept is called globalization, and it has allowed for the creation of Free Trade Agreements. Free Trade Agreements are treaties between two or more countries to facilitate trade and eliminate trade barriers….

Spring 2020 Interns!

Spring 2020 Interns!

Every semester the Peace & Justice Center brings on interns to be a part of our work. Our interns are a crucial part of our work, and contribute so much, both on a day-to-day basis and in a long term manner. The work interns did many years ago is still a part of the work…

The (True) Story of Thanksgiving

The (True) Story of Thanksgiving

-Garrett Donnelly, PJC Volunteer In 1863, President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a congenial national holiday. But the first harvest fest in 1621 would have been solely Pilgrims if not for their shooting-for-sport which spurred Osamequin, the Massasoit (monarch of the Wampanoag) to arrive with 90 or so troops on obligations to a mutual defense contract with…

Amazon, ICE, and Global Trade

Amazon, ICE, and Global Trade

-Kason Hudman, PJC Volunteer & Facilitator For people interested in resisting large corporations, the many sins of Amazon are discussed so often that it has almost become cliché. However, due to its unusually broad influence on the marketplace and our lifestyle, a constant reminder of the real human cost that comes with supporting Amazon is…

Does the Peace & Justice Center do Climate Justice Work?

Does the Peace & Justice Center do Climate Justice Work?

-Rachel Siegel, PJC Executive Director Because there have been so many powerful, global climate justice actions1 recently, we have been asked at the Peace & Justice Center on more than a few occasions if environmental justice is part of our mission. My answer has usually been that we support the amazing work that other groups…

International Law and the Rights of Palestinian People

International Law and the Rights of Palestinian People

-Ian Stokes, Vermonters for Justice in Palestine   International law is “a body of rules established by custom or treaty and recognized by nations as binding in their relations with one another” – a major aim is preventing war or at least regulating its conduct.  After Armistice Day in 1918 people thought WW1 (the Great…