AIW 1 — Scope: Continental
Support Tibet and the Dalai Lama
Final Version

On April 26, 2000, the exiled Tibetan government issued a report on Environment and Development Issues since the invasion of Tibet by China in 1949, documenting widespread environmental damage from mining, deforestation, colonization, development, permanent military and nuclear installations, and hazardous disposal of nuclear waste, which is increasing at an alarming rate. Unchecked hydro-power development and pollution threaten rivers in ten neighboring countries. The local religion and culture have been suppressed and sacred places have been desecrated and destroyed. Tibetans are an indigenous people with their own unique religion, culture, language, and writing. They have protected the environment of their homeland for two thousand years.

On May 24, 2000, the United States House of Representatives granted China permanent most-favored-nation status, and a bill is pending in the Senate. China's admission to the World Trade Organization will inevitably follow, increasing pressures on the Tibetan environment and natural resources to further China's economic growth.

The Unitarian Universalist Association has long been an advocate of recognizing The People's Republic of China as a full participant in the United Nations and in world affairs, but it is critical that such recognition require certain responsible actions by China as a world leader.

Prosperity and reforms can result from China's expanded trading status, but the resulting tensions from the continued presence of China in Tibet will make it difficult to fully realize the potentials of existing and pending free trade agreements with the United States and other countries.

The 2000 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association acknowledges the rights of the native people of Tibet to independently guide their own destiny with full autonomy; and we support the efforts of the Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues appointed by the United States Secretary of State to promote negotiations between the Dalai Lama and China.

We call for immediate confirmation of the well-being of the eleven-year-old Panchen Lama and his release.

We request immediate withdrawal of all nuclear weapons and installations from Tibet and immediate cessation of dumping of nuclear waste there.

We request that the World Bank stop plans to fund Chinese resettlement projects in Tibet.

We call for a return to the pre-1949 relationship of an independent neutral Tibet and an independent People's Republic of China with full withdrawal by China from Tibet and full management of Tibet's ecological resources and development returned to the indigenous people and their freely acknowledged leaders.

We affirm that such a relationship will enable Tibet and China to co-exist peacefully and prosper and is in the best interests of the world community.

We ask our member societies in the United States and Canada to work with local Tibetan refugee support, and we ask independence groups to ease the pressures on the refugees and help preserve their culture.

AIW 2 — Scope: US
Protest Against Racial Profiling
Final Version

Whereas the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. to aid in the fight against legal segregation, has proposed a "Redeem the Dream" rally to oppose racial profiling;

Whereas racial profiling, harassing, arresting, and discriminating against people because of their race or color violates our Principles;

Whereas the Unitarian Universalist Association has endorsed the concept of anti-racism as a primary focus for the Association's work and as a chief expression of its moral, ethical, and theological activities;

Whereas Unitarians and Universalists, such as Bayard Rustin, Whitney Young, James Reeb, and countless others, supported or took part in the 1963 march; and

Whereas this march will be an expression of multiracial unity that underpins our commitment to anti-racism;

Therefore the 2000 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association, which affirms the inherent worth and dignity of all peoples, calls for an end to racial profiling by all law enforcement agencies in the United States; and it calls upon Unitarian Universalist congregations to encourage participation in the rally to be held at noon on Saturday, August 26, 2000, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.

AIW 3 — Scope: US
Handgun Legislation
Final Version

Because Unitarian Universalists believe in the worth and dignity of everyone and have respect for all life;

Whereas General Assemblies of the Unitarian Universalist Association have proposed national handgun legislation in past years (1972, 1976, 1991);

Whereas handguns are too easily available in the United States through gun shows and second-party purchases;

Whereas the number of deaths and injuries in the United States as a result of handguns, whether intentional or unintentional, is many times greater than in any other industrialized nation in the world;

Whereas the number of suicides by handguns in the United States exceeds the number of other deaths involving handguns; and

Whereas handgun owners need to be held responsible for the possession of handguns and consequences of their use, which process will be facilitated by handgun registration;

Therefore the 2000 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association urges its member congregations to demand federal legislation requiring registration and licensing of handguns and to urge the passing of legislation applicable to handguns such as H.R. 4066, a bill currently under consideration in the United States House of Representatives, the passing of which would result in improved oversight of current gun laws.

AIW 4 — Scope: US
End the Death Penalty
Final Version

As the 39th Annual General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association held its Opening Ceremony the evening of June 22, 2000, Gary Graham was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas, the 222nd person to be executed in Texas since that state reinstated the death penalty eighteen years ago, and the 135th person to be executed in that state in the past five years. Gary Graham, an African American, was convicted of murder nineteen years ago, as a teenager, on the testimony of a single witness. Multiple appeals were filed on his behalf at state and federal levels. They were repeatedly denied. Graham did not go gently to his death. Claiming innocence to the end, he fought legally, physically, spiritedly. Malcolm X was the inspiration for his final words: "There'll be one hundred more years of lynching unless we do something fast and by any means necessary." The State of Tennessee, on April 19, 2000, carried out the death penalty for the first time in forty years. There is reason to fear that, having broken this precedent, Tennessee will move forward rapidly in capital punishment cases.

Since the death penalty was declared constitutional by the United States Supreme Court in 1976, the number of states exercising the death penalty and the number of prisoners executed have increased yearly. A similarly increasing number of religious and secular organizations, as well as public officials, have questioned the fairness of the death penalty.

A moratorium on executions in Illinois was recently issued by the Governor of that state. Too many capital convictions had been overturned to permit his conscience to stay clear if one more person took that long walk.

Holding capital punishment as inconsistent with human life on account of its retributive, discriminatory, and non-deterrent character, General Assemblies of the Unitarian Universalist Association have opposed capital punishment restoration or continuance in any form (1961, 1966, 1974, and 1979).

How much longer will we, as a nation aspiring to democracy and fair play, condone capital punishment? How much longer will we, as a nation aspiring to liberty and justice for all, condone the ultimate loss of liberty for so many, whose numbers include a disproportionate percentage of persons of color?

As a community of faith promoting justice, equity, and compassion in human relations, we call for an end to the death penalty. The 2000 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association urges

• the Governor of the State of Tennessee to commute all existing death sentences;
• governors of all other states to similarly commute death sentences and to prevent the restoration or continuance of capital punishment in any form; and
• its member congregations to engage actively in efforts to eliminate the death penalty, to work with other organizations in this effort, and to increase efforts to persuade governors to forego capital punishment.

AIW 5 — Scope: US
Campaign Finance Reform
Final Version

The health and integrity of the American democracy at the national, state, and local levels depends, in large measure, on fair and open elections that command public confidence and encourage full citizen participation.

Currently, the costs of campaigns for public office and the system of financing these campaigns give disproportionate influence to wealthy individuals and narrowly focused interest groups. Average citizens are so disadvantaged in this process that the resulting cynicism and alienation have led to severely diminished levels of voter participation and confidence in governmental institutions.

Unless the current system for financing political campaigns is significantly reformed, the future of American democracy is in severe jeopardy. Access to political power will increasingly be concentrated in the hands of fewer people, and government will lose the support of the majority of its citizens.

The more that access to elected officials is linked to wealth, the greater the likelihood that the civil rights of the poor and minorities will be eroded. Without major campaign finance reforms (i.e., clean money reforms that provide public financing of elections), the prospects for future public policies that support social and economic justice are extremely limited.

Four states (Arizona, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts) have already passed campaign finance reform laws that provide for voluntary public financing of state and local elections. Immediate support is needed to pass similar laws that will be on the ballots this fall in Oregon and Missouri. This state-by-state strategy may be the single best hope for stimulating meaningful change at both the state and federal levels.

At the federal level little progress has been made to date. However, two bills entitled "Clean Money, Clean Elections" are being sponsored in the United States Senate by Senators Paul Wellstone and John Kerry and in the United States House of Representatives by Congressman John Tierney. These bills would, among other things, provide for voluntary public financing of national election campaigns much like the provisions of the state laws.

Because the use of the democratic process is a cherished fundamental of Unitarian Universalism, the 2000 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association urges

1. individual Unitarian Universalists in the United States to inform their representatives and senators of their strong support for the "Clean Money, Clean Elections" bills (S. 982 in the Senate and H.R. 1739 in the House);
2. individual Unitarian Universalists in Oregon and Missouri to support voluntary financing of state and local elections and individuals in other states to promote similar reforms;
3. the Unitarian Universalist Washington Office for Faith in Action to support and encourage those working for clean money campaign finance reform at both the state and federal levels and, in particular, to seek free television and radio time for candidates on the ballot; and
4. Unitarian Universalist congregations in the United States to encourage, support, and facilitate such actions by their individual members.

AIW 6 — Scope: Continental
National Missile Defense System
Final Version

Because we as Unitarian Universalists strongly affirm the high ideal of a peaceful world community, recognizing the crucial interdependence of all peoples as well as of all creation;

Whereas the U.S. Department of Defense is working on a National Missile Defense system for North America, following in the tradition of the Strategic Defense Initiatives ("Star Wars") which to date has cost $60 billion by Center of Defense Information estimates; and

Whereas President Clinton will be making his decision on whether or not to approve this project this fall;

Whereas the United States government is pressuring the Canadian government, as an ally of the United States, to participate in a National Missile Defense system;

Whereas this system undermines forty years of nuclear arms control, especially the U.S.-Russian Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972, and is likely to provoke Russia and China to reject the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and to engage in a renewed nuclear arms race;

Whereas, in response to the proposed National Missile Defense system, nuclear weapons states (such as India, Pakistan, and Israel), as well as many non-nuclear weapons states, are likely to refuse to ratify the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and, in fact, the National Missile Defense System would further promote proliferation of nuclear weapons among nuclear and non-nuclear weapons states;

Whereas NATO allies, particularly France, insist that any ballistic threat must be considered in the context of a broader concern for the international community;

Whereas the U.S. Department of Defense has claimed that the National Missile Defense system is designed to protect against rogue states (such as North Korea, Iran, and Iraq) yet has planned to position missiles on the Russian border in Alaska and Norway; and

Whereas the non-military scientific community has pointed out that this system will be ineffective and easily made inoperable, making this project a waste of money;

Therefore, we, the 2000 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association, strongly urge:

• the United States government to abandon any National Missile Defense system and cease its pressure on the Canadian government to become involved;
• members of Unitarian Universalist congregations to write to President Clinton and Prime Minister Chrétien to persuade them not to approve this system; and
• the Canadian government to reject the United States' pressures to become involved in the system.

Formatted for the web by Kasey Melski