ORANGE COUNTY CHAPTER

of the SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA DIVISION P. O. Box 16067 Irvine, CA 92625-6067 714/538-5689 info@una-oc.org www.una-oc.org December 2009 __________________________________________________________________________________________

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: OUR ANNUAL CHAMPAGNE BRUNCH WILL BE JANUARY 24!

The OC chapter always throws a great party for its members in January, and 2010 will be no exception! Longtime UNA member Joyce McFadden is coordinating the event, which will include not only an excellent buffet at the Hacienda Restaurant and an outstanding speaker, but the always-enjoyable silent auction which invariably helps the chapter raise funds to support the coming year’s activities. A very brief meeting for business will include the presentation of a slate of officers for 2010, followed by nominations from the floor, the vote as required by chapter bylaws, and investiture of the 2010 officers of the UNA-USA//OC Board of Directors.

Jane Roberts, known worldwide for her tireless efforts in the field of international family planning, will be the keynote speaker. Roberts, co-founder in 2002 of the grassroots movement, 34 million friends of the United Nations Population Fund, has been the recipient of many awards and was nominated for the Nobel Peace prize in 2005.

Go to http://www.34millionfriends.org to see a short video of Roberts explaining her work.

For an in-depth look at this important issue, UN Population Fund report, The State of World Population 2008, go to http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2008/en/index.html .

The brunch will begin at 11:30 on January 24, 2010 at the unique Hacienda Restaurant, 1725 College Avenue, Santa Ana. This historic early 1900's building invites you to step back in time to a restful, romantic era. The buffet, served in an authentic hacienda courtyard, offers something for every palate.

Reserve your place at the annual brunch now, using the reservation form on p. 6 of this newsletter and the enclosed envelope—and please do bring family and friends! Remember that non-members are always welcome at our annual brunch.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST: do you have something to donate for the silent auction? Just give us a call at (714) 997-6845 and leave a message, and one of our student interns will come by and pick it up at your convenience.

Officer Nominations for 2010 President Geraldine McNenny V/P Programs Gaye Christoffersen V/P Membership Opal Richardson Treasurer Carl Mariz Secretary Virginia Bernal

MEET THE INTERNS

The Orange County chapter welcomes a wonderful group of new interns this year, and we’ll be introducing all of them in upcoming newsletters, starting with Chapman University students Julia Erratt and Angela Koussian.

Julia Erratt Julia is a Peace Studies major with a minor in journalism. After graduation, she hopes to intern with a major newspaper and her eventual goal is to do political writing for a journal such as Time or The Economist. Other interests include theatre and travel—she attended the Orange County High School of the Arts, where she acted in numerous plays and directed a production of My Name Is Rachel Corrie, about an American student who was killed by an Israeli military bulldozer while participating in a protest against the destruction of Palestinian homes in the Gaza strip. Julie has traveled to Vienna, Prague, and Budapest with the Global Youth Leaders Conference.

Angela Koussian Angela is earning a double major in Peace Studies and French. She speaks fluent Armenian and good French, and is working on Spanish and Arabic. After she graduates in 2011, she plans to earn a master’s degree in international relations and a TOEFL certificate, and then teach English abroad for a year. A long-term goal is to create an NGO to aid conflict-stricken communities in the developing world, or to work with UN peacekeeping operations. Angela is already widely traveled, and this summer plans to do volunteer work in the Phillipines.

MESSAGE FROM THE CO-PRESIDENTS by Ken & Barbara Tye

As our two-year term of office draws to an end, we are grateful to have had this chance to serve as co-presidents of the Orange County chapter. We are proud of what the Board has accomplished since January 2008. Working as a team, it has launched a well-received lecture series (the critical issues coffee talks); established a procedure for selecting student interns to work with committee chairs; and kept our members informed about chapter activities through the use of our website, Constant Contact e-mails, a regular newsletter, and occasional postcard mailings. The chapter continues to collaborate with other organizations, such as Soka University, Chapman University, Golden West College,

UNIFEM, Women For’s Great American Write-In, the OC Interfaith Coalition for the Environment, and the OC Peace Coalition. It looks as if the Board for 2010 is going to hit the ground running, with both new and ongoing projects and many interesting events already on the drawing board. The new slate of officers is outstanding, and we look forward to seeing them introduced to you, our members, at the annual brunch on January 24.

WHY JOIN THE UNA-USA? by Ardishir Rashidi, National UNA Board member, Region 9

One of the reasons to join the United Nations Association-USA is that this organization opens a different window to the rest of the world as we normally see it presented by the media and, at times, by our own leaders. A world from the perspective of the UN at times differs from the world presented to us by the mainstream media. This is natural; however, we need to have a more objective organization, like the UNA-USA, to weigh things in balance and inform the public accordingly.

Joining the UNA-USA also matters because it stretches our political and philosophical belief system beyond the forces of nationalism and into the realm of universal humanism and global connectivity to

other cultures, peoples, and economies. It is through realization of these purposes that the United Nations itself will be able to establish peace, prosperity, security, and sustainability. I recommend that UNA-USA members visit the following website occasionally to get wider views on global issues as they occur around the world: www.thebigproject.com/news

LOOKING AHEAD: OUTSTANDING SPEAKERS SET LookingAhead:CriticalIssuesSpeakersforFebruaryandMarch

February 10: The Khmer Rouge Tribunal—A first-person perspective

The 2010 critical issues speaker series will kick off on February 10 at 7:00 p.m. at Soka University with Chapman Law Professor John Hall as the speaker. A native of England, Dr. Hall earned a PhD in Modern History at Oxford before coming to the United States, where he was a professor and department chair at Albion College, in Michigan. After hitchhiking around Southeast Asia, Iran, and the Middle East in the early to mid 1990s, Dr. Hall quit his tenured position and enrolled at Stanford Law School, determined to become a human rights attorney. Since completing his JD in 2000, he has done extensive human rights fieldwork in Cambodia and is currently working on behalf of 10,000 farmers facing forced relocation in the Philippines.

March 9: Women’s rights in Islamic societies

Cal State Northridge Professor of Gender & Women’s Studies Dr. Nayereh Tohidi will join us on March 9 at 7 p.m. at Soka University, in recognition of International Women’s Day. Dr. Tohidi earned her PhD at the University of Illinois and has won numerous awards and honors in her busy academic career so far. She has been a consultant for the United Nations on projects concerning gender and development, and women and civil society building in the Middle East and post-Soviet Eurasia; and made presentations at the World Conferences on Women in Nairobi (1985) and Beijing (1995). Prof. Tohidi has integrated her human rights activism and community organizing with her teaching and scholarship. She is frequently consulted by the media and is a much sought-after speaker at national and international conferences.

Place: Soka University, Aliso Viejo (both events) Time: 7:00 p.m. (Come early and enjoy a meal in the Student Bistro cafeteria. $10) Events free and open to members, interested public, and students. Directions coming from North: From Interstate 5 (if start on 405, it will have become 5 at this point), take Oso Pkwy exit, turn right and Oso becomes Pacific Park Dr. Travel about 5 miles to Wood Canyon Dr. Turn left 1 mile, then right on University. From 73 Toll road, take Glenwood Exit (right;); Glenwood Dr. changes name to Pacific Park – stay on it to Wood Canyon Dr., Turn right and right again on University.

OC CHAPTER PLANS OUTREACH TO LOCAL MODEL U.N. by Gerri McNenny

What could be more natural for Orange County high school students active in the Model UN to continue that affiliation in college? There is no better way to understand how the United Nations works and the services it offers to its member states than to select a country, research an issue, and represent that country on that issue in a mock UN General Assembly session. Local, state, national, and international MUN conventions are held every year, and they are also a great way for young people to travel, and to meet their counterparts from other parts of the United States and from other countries.

And then, having spent high school and college years involved in MUN, what could be more natural than to join the local UNA-USA chapter after graduating from college? It just makes sense to continue working for global understanding at the local level, and UNA is the organization most closely connected to MUN. The Orange County chapter of UNA plans to devote a good deal of energy in the coming year to building bridges to local high school and college MUN groups. Not only can the UNA-USA provide speakers for those groups, but UNA-USA internships are available and there is also the possibility that a YPIC group (Young Professionals for International Cooperation) will be started in the coming year. Watch for updates in future newsletters and on our website: www.una-oc.org.

Make your voice heard an advocacy column by Briana Carlson Time for U.S. to sign the Convention on the Rights of the Child!

In the United States, the Bill of Rights defines the basic rights of every American citizen. Similarly, one of the founding documents of the United Nations was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Both offer an

outline of basic human rights that should be granted to all. What neither document spells out adequately are the rights of children. In 1989, the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child was held to rectify this situation. It held that children occupy a special place in society and that it is the responsibility of both their parents and their country to ensure that their rights are not infringed upon. The Convention also held that every nation should uphold these rights in their legislation. The Treaty took effect in 1990 and has been ratified by 193 nations; only Somalia and the United States have yet to do so. President Obama has promised to reconsider our stance and may send the treaty to the Senate for ratification early in the new year. If you agree, send word to your Senators that you expect their support when the vote is taken. And let them know that you, and many others, will be watching.

Thank you Thank you

Thanks are long overdue to the Sisters of St. Joseph, who have provided our chapter with office space in the Mother House since we lost our offices in the gift shop, which closed two and a half years ago. We

also are allowed to use a classroom in another building for our monthly Board meetings. Without this assistance, it would be infinitely more difficult to continue with the work of the UNA in Orange County; and we are very grateful. Many thanks also to the following supporters for recent donations to our chapter: Virginia and Juan Bernal, Dan Carter, Christie Cuwan, Betty Garcia, David Hartmann, Neal Hartsough, Artih Kamal, Carl & Levonn Mariz, Gerri McNenny, Kathy O’Neil, and Rocky Parker.

GEORGE WILSON HONORED AT ANNUAL TRIBUTE LUNCHEON by Ken Tye

In September the Board of Directors of the Orange County chapter selected Dr. George Wilson as the recipient of this year’s tribute for long and distinguished service to the UNA-USA. George, his wife Jean, and chapter members Therese Lynn, Virginia and Juan Bernal, Carl Mariz and Rani Aggarwal attended the annual SoCal Division tribute luncheon held on November 7 in Pasadena. The tribute program included photographs and descriptions of the work of the honorees of the different chapters in the Division. Some excerpts from that article follow: The Orange County Chapter of UNA-USA is proud to pay tribute to Dr. George Wilson, who has a long tenure with the chapter and who has served as Treasurer and co-Treasurer. In addition, he volunteered for several years in the Orange County chapter’s gift shop in Santa Ana.

Music has always been an important part of George’s life. He received his BA and PhD degrees in music at Ohio State University and his Master of Music degree at the University of Michigan. He was an instrumental music teacher for six years in public schools, and then a professor of music education and woodwind instruments at Ohio State University (1953-1969). He then moved to a professorship at the prestigious Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University, where he eventually ended his academic career as Dean of the College in 1984.

George has performed as principal bassoonist with the Columbus, Ohio Symphony and bassoonist with the Ohio State Wind Quartet. He has also served as President of the Central Division of the Music Educators National Conference the Ohio Music Education Association as well as the Michigan Education Association. George and his wife, Jean, have three children. It comes as no surprise that they are all, in their own rights, outstanding musicians. George’s grandson performed on the cello at our last Annual Brunch.

In summing up the essence of this gentle, talented and committed man, we should know that he says, “I am totally impressed with the goals and activities of the United Nations and have found it an honor to be of service.”

by Susan Eaton

The Orange County chapter of UNA-USA joined with the OC Interfaith Coalition for the Environment, the OC chapter of the Sierra Club, Earth Resource Foundation, and the Outdoor Education Center on UN Day. It was an informative and enjoyable day of environmental observance of the International Day of Climate Action in coordination with the 350.org campaign to encourage

world leaders to work toward achieving a 350 parts per mission of carbon as deemed necessary for the survival of the planet.

Co-President Barbara Tye addressed the audience of about the UNA-USA., the significance of UN Day, and the shared concern for the environment with it being one of UNA-USA’s 8 Millennium Development Goals. USAUSA/OC Started off the day with a 5K. Many tables had environmental displays.

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UNA-USA/OC Table Interns helped at table Co-President Tye 350 made with the event participants

EYES ON DENMARK: UN CLIMATE CONFERENCE DECEMBER 7-18 As of this writing, hopes are fading for a strong U.S. position at the Copenhagen Conference. Congress has been consumed by the health care legislation and economic issues, and the climate change bill has been put on the back burner. Even so, this conference comes at a critical moment. An international conference comes at a critical moment. An international agreement to take measures to reduce carbon emissions is essential. Follow the conference every day at http://en.cop15.dk/

Two Other Orange County Organizations Held Events on United Nations Day

The Concerned Citizens of Laguna Woods held their celebration of UN Day at their community clubhouse with a showing of the film, Rethink Afghanistan. The UNAUSA/OC chapter provided written information about the UNAUSA , UN Day and an article about an involvement of the UN in Afghanistan.

The OC Unifem Chapter showed the film, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, about the women’s movement in Liberia, at the Chapman University Film School. UNA-OC co-President Barbara Tye spoke about UN Day.

UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION-USA NON-PROFIT ORG Orange County Chapter US POSTAGE P.O. Box 16067 P A I D Irvine, CA 92623-6067 SANTA ANA CA 714/638-5689 PERMIT NO. 33 www.una-oc.org info@una-oc.org We’re on

Make your reservations NOW For Annual Meeting/ Brunch/Silent Auction January 24th at 11:30 a.m.

Check out the non-profit jewelry site of our Art Director, April Virk, www.etsy.com/shop/humankindness

Happy Holidays from the UNA-USA Orange County Chapter Board

Hope to see you January 24th at 11:30 a.m. at our Annual Meeting/Champagne Brunch

Please Reserve ____ seats @$30.00 ea

Regrets, but please accept my donation of $__________

Name(s): ____________________________________________________________________

email or phone contact: _________________________________________________________

Please complete, add your check, and send to: UNA-USA/OC, P.O. Box 16067, Irvine CA 92623-

You may also join or renew your membership at the same time: $25 Introductory or Limited Income; $40 Regular or Family; $10 Student; $100 Sponsor

**Thank you to all who have joined or renewed your membership recently! **

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