Founded in 1987, Domestic Violence Awareness Month is a chance to bring together people around the world to join in the common cause of ending violence against women and their children.

The 2012 Day of Unity was celebrated Monday, October 1, and was commemorated with events across the country. Here are a few of our favorite events, activities, and thoughts about DVAM:

• Hungry for Justice: Food Security and Violence Against Women. Author Sarah Kalloch eloquently discusses the disturbing correlations between world hunger and domestic violence. (Note: World Food Day is tomorrow, October 16th; read this essay to see how you can participate.)
• In Tonawanda, NY, the local YWCA is lit up with purple spotlights to increase awareness of domestic violence and women’s support services.
• Bliss Tree made a list of 8 ways to spot domestic abuse.
• If you’re interested in creating an event of your own, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence has a list of resources and activity ideas.
• And last but not least:  President Obama’s DVAM 2012 Proclamation.

How have you celebrated Domestic Violence Awareness Month?  Leave us a comment sharing your stories.

With Love,
The PeaceKeeper Team
www.iamapeacekeeper.com

PeaceKeeper Cause-Metics is the first cosmetic line to give donations to urgent human rights issues globally.
Want to become a PeaceKeeper too? Take a peek at our products and check out the causes we support.

This week, we’re shouting out to NYC’s hottest new approach to sustainable technology – The Lowline!

Inspired by the success of the High Line (an NYC elevated freight line converted into a stunning public park) a group called The Delancey Underground Project aims to create an underground green space using an abandoned trolley terminal beneath Delancey Street, on New York’s Lower East Side. The designers are planning to use cutting-edge green technology to enable a functional below-ground ecosystem; sunlight, reflected underground, would save electricity while allowing plants, trees, and grass to thrive.

It looks like their dreams may become a reality very soon; The Delancey Underground Project recently had a successful Kickstarter run back in April, and they are hosting events through the month of September to increase community interest in the project. Ultimately, the creators of the Lowline hope to “provide tremendous opportunities for creative expression, while challenging assumptions of the way humans work, live, commute, and interact”; this includes community programs such as art exhibits, farmers’ markets, and educational series. “This space will be more than a space,” says the project’s website. “It will generate community, and it will inspire in the way beautiful environments can inspire.”

We at PeaceKeeper are super excited to have a new park in NYC, especially one that’s using cutting-edge sustainable technology to make the world a greener place! To find out more, you can visit thelowline.org or check out their old Kickstarter campaign.

Image courtesy Delancey Underground Kickstarter.

With Love,
The PeaceKeeper Team
www.iamapeacekeeper.com

PeaceKeeper Cause-Metics is the only cosmetics company to give donations to urgent human rights issues around the world.
Want to become a PeaceKeeper too? Check out our products and the causes we support!

Since its inception in 2006, Twitter has exploded from a simple microblog to a hotbed of political struggle. Users all over the world – politicians, celebrities, ordinary citizens – have taken advantage of the site’s to put forth their political views in concise bursts of 140 characters or less.

This past week incited a Twitter firestorm on two accounts:

- In response to complaints about the lack of racial diversity in HBO’s new sitcom Girls, writer Lesley Arfin tweeted: “What really bothered me most about Precious was that there was no representation of ME.”

This afternoon, Fox News analyst Monica Crowley reacted to the announcement of Sandra Fluke’s engagement with the following tweet: “To a man?” When attacked as a bigot, a homophobe, and a terrible person, she claimed it was a joke, tweeting “I love exposing the Left’s total lack of a sense of humor.”

Couple these inciting incidents with the growing use of Twitter to chronicle political movements in real time (Occupy Wall Street, the protest of Facebook’s all-male board of directors), and it’s clear that Twitter is a huge part of the growing movement to make social media political too.

Now, we at PeaceKeeper love our Twitter account (@PeaceKeeperCaus) and so should you, but if you’re a novice Tweeter looking to get your voice heard, here are a few advantages and disadvantages of using your Twitter as your political platform:

1. Connected. With hashtags, you can add your name to the conversation about any current political issue. This not only ensures that your voice will be heard and responded to; it also allows you to listen and respond to like-minded people!
Additionally, the ability to tweet (or re-tweet) at important figures in the conversation (a celebrity, the President) you have the chance to express your thoughts directly to the people who can make the biggest impact.

2. Concise. Tweeting is a quick and easy way to get your thoughts across, but with its 140-character limit, it forces you to get rid of the B.S. and say what you really mean.

3. Easy to Use. A tweet is basically a combination of a petition signature and a Facebook status! Like a petition signature, it lets you show your support to a larger audience than just your friends or family, and it receives attention from the most important people in the political movement. Like a Facebook status, it gives you the chance to express your own opinions alongside the opinions of like-minded people, thus allowing for a new voice to be heard in the conversation.

With all this in mind, here are a few things to think about when engaging in political Tweeting:
1. Remember that everything you post is going to be there forever. Lesley Arfin deleted her tweet and posted an apology, but not before it was screencapped and published on all the major news websites. Think very carefully about what you tweet, especially if it could be radical or offensive.

2. Stay on topic. It’s very hard to say everything you want in 140 characters or less (especially if you include a link), but try to state your opinion clearly and succinctly without straying from the main point. When everyone is using the same hashtag to talk about wildly different things, the conversation gets lost and it’s harder to effect change.

Do you use Twitter? Do you think it’s effective? How would you use it to get involved in political change? Leave a comment below!

With Love,
The PeaceKeeper Team

Last week, following a massive protest march through Madrid, 400 protesters camped out in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol Square as part of the Democracia Real Ya (Real Democracy Now) grassroots movement. Despite numerous police attempts to chase the protesters away, thousands of people started migrating to the square out of solidarity. Now, over a week later, the protesters number 25,000 strong per day alone, 3,000 of which have been sleeping in the square every night.

What makes this such an extraordinary event? The demonstration had been organized via text messages, Facebook and Twitter–yet another illustration of the power of mankind to achieve great things, even with something so simple as a computer or a phone.

Democracia Real Ya, formed by “18 or 20 deadbeats with a budget of a thousand euros”, is fighting for the Spanish government to own up to its responsibility for the country’s economic crash and staggering unemployment rates. The movement’s motto, “We are not goods in the hands of politicians and bankers”, is a direct response to the inability of Spain’s government to rein in the economy from its steady downward slide–and the protest itself is putting even more pressure on the country’s upcoming elections.

Though Spain’s government has issued several ultimatums to the protesters to leave the square, a decisive showdown on Wednesday May 18th–in which the police, despite ordering the protesters to evacuate by midnight, ultimately did nothing–has left them powerless against the sheer numbers and conviction of their people. According to an interview with Madrid teacher Sam Robson, 70 percent of people polled on television were in favor of the camp, and firefighters have refused to take down protest banners that cover commercial advertisements.

We at PeaceKeeper definitely wish we were in Spain right now to see history in the making! All 25,000 (per day!!) are in our thoughts and we hope that Spain’s government receives the justice it deserves.

To learn more about the protest, you can check out this interview with Sam Robson (mentioned above) or this article from El Pais.

With Love,
The PeaceKeeper Team

(Writer:  Jessica Smith.  Picture courtesy Shawsblog.

For more information about PeaceKeeper Cause-Metics, visit www.iamapeacekeeper.com.)

In 1963 Congress passed the Equal Pay Act so that women and men were ensured the same pay rate for the same work; however, almost 50 years later, women are still making 76 cents to every dollar made by a man. The Paycheck Fairness Act was introduced in January 2009 by then-Senator Hillary Clinton and Representative Rosa Delauro to eliminate loopholes in the Equal Pay Act—and to eliminate the wage gap between genders.

 In January 2009, the Paycheck Fairness Act passed in the House of Representatives,  but not through the Senate.  On Wednesday, November 17, the Senate will vote again on this historic bill.

              We at PeaceKeeper are asking you to join us in telling the Senate to “Vote YES!” on the Paycheck Fairness Act.  Because of the pay gap, working women can lose up to one million dollars of hard-earned wages.  The average working woman in America loses $500,000-$1,000,000 over her entire lifetime;  that’s money that could feed an entire family for years, all lost because of wage discrimination.  In the new economy, the woman’s income has become as important as the man’s; without that extra money, entire families are suffering.

With the Fairness Act, corporate pay loopholes will disappear and businesses will need a legitimate reason for paying women less than men. The act will also stop employers from intimidating their employees into staying silent about their wages, so that female workers will understand how their pay corresponds to their fellow employees without fear of losing their jobs.

Here’s what YOU can do to support the Paycheck Fairness Act:

–Sign this petition to tell Congress to make the Paycheck Fairness Act a law!

–You can research more about equal pay advocacy by using this handy Equal Pay Toolkit.

–In support of the Paycheck Fairness Act, Peacekeeper has launched a light golden “Fairness Gloss,” which is perfect for all skin types.  Your purchase is donated to groups for equal pay advocacy!

–Since the Act will take effect 6 months after it passes, you can act now to start your workplace moving in the right direction!  Visit PeaceKeeper’s Paycheck Fairness Act page to find out more about the Act, how to research your fair wage, and more!

              What are some of your experiences with the wage gap?  Have you been a victim of pay discrimination?  Let PeaceKeeper know in the comments section below!

With Love,

The PeaceKeeper Team

(Writer:  Renee Estey.  Editor:  Jessica Smith. 

For more information about PeaceKeeper Cause-Metics, visit www.iamapeacekeeper.com.)

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