Photo courtesy of Daniel Morrison

This election season sure has been an interesting one. Between having the first African American presidential candidate, our nation being at war, and the current crisis in the money markets, it would be hard for anyone not to realize the importance of November 4, 2008.

Although I know there is the will and the desire for people to get involved in the election and make our voices be heard, this can be a scary proposition for anyone who is employed by, or works with, a nonprofit organization with 501(c)(3) status, like UUSC.

There are many laws that control how these organizations and their staff conduct themselves during an election cycle. But I would argue that it is a moral imperative that we get involved in all the ways that can this election season.

Although 501(c)(3) staff CAN NOT tell people who to vote for, we can talk about the issues that we care about. Working for a nonprofit organization and knowing many people on a personal basis means we have a good idea of what community members care about and what is affecting them on a day-to-day basis.

There are national issues such as the war in Iraq, the inadequate attention paid to Gulf Coast recovery, and the genocide in Darfur.

These are issues that can galvanize people to make their voices heard.

In addition, there are many local ballot initiatives that 501(c)(3) staff can lobby the public on. For instance, I live in Massachusetts, born and bred, and we are in the midst of a fight of a lifetime on Ballot Question 1. This is a move to repeal the state income tax, which provides 40 percent of the Massachusetts state budget.

When I think of all the people I have worked with in the social service sector and how many organizations would be crippled by the passage of Ballot Question 1, I am frightened about what might happen.

Similarly, many states have ballot initiatives promoting “the protection of marriage,” a movement to limit the rights of gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual citizens.

Make no mistake, people are being galvanized on both sides of these issues.0 (They call them “wedge issues” for a reason!)

As employees and volunteers in the nonprofit sector who have dedicated our time and passion to the issues and people we care about, we have a responsibility to help our constituents make their voices heard.

DON’T name a candidate of your liking.

DO make sure your elderly neighbor can get to the polls.

DO take voter registration forms to your local homeless shelter.

DO organize members of your congregation to register voters.

A lot is at stake on November 4, no matter what your political affiliation. Voting is one of our rights. For those of us committed to human rights, it is our responsibility to help make voting possible for all the people we work for.

For more information about the Dos and Don’ts of 501(c)(3) organizations, in particular churches, read the UUA’s The Real Rules: Congregations and the IRS Guidelines On Advocacy, Lobbying, and Elections.

While in the United States we are in high gear for one of the most important elections of our history and strapping in for an economic roller coaster ride, in other parts of the Americas, elections are being held and won on issues that affect the lives of each and every person - like the human right to water.

Can you imagine being able to vote on whether everyone will have water to brush their teeth, wash their clothes, cook, and clean, and be able to take a bath? Not to mention being able to use a toilet?

On Sunday, September 28, people in Ecuador went to the polls to adopt a new constitution. Winning with a clear majority of 60 percent, Ecuadorians affirmed, among other things, that each person has a right to access safe, sufficient, affordable water for daily human needs. And they affirmed that there are some services, like water, that should not be subject to chaotic market forces.

Since Sunday, privatization of water services is unconstitutional in Ecuador. Still, Ecuadorians didn't stop there. Now each Ecuadorian has a right to a safe, healthy environment. And nature has rights, too!

We all know that winning the election is the first step, making the human right to water a reality for each person is a ways off. But the door in Ecuador is open to those who have been locked out, and it is shut to those who have been on the irresponsible insider's trading track, holding all the keys for too long.

Take the Bechtel subsidiary InterAgua, the water and sanitation business in Guayaquil that shut off water to 40,000 households after raising its rates, but did not provide the services it was charging residents for.

The Ecuadorian courts caught up with InterAgua, fining the corporation $1.5 million for noncompliance with its contractual obligations. Now Bechtel has to ship its business elsewhere.

UUSC partner El Movimiento Mi Cometa / Observatorios Publicos worked hard to hold InterAgua accountable and get the human right to water in the constitution. Why? Because their families and many others were served water poisoned with disease and toxics from InterAgua's taps -- and even their poor water service was shut off when the rates were raised too high for average people to pay.

The good news is that the tide is changing, and not just in Ecuador. Other people are using the ballot box to get access to water. In Colombia, over 2 million voters recently signed a referendum petition to put a constitutional human right to water to the vote next year. Uruguay passed a similar constitution in 2004, and Bolivia is debating a new constitution right now.

Being able to turn on your tap by putting a vote in the ballot box won't just happen in the Global South. Pundits in California say that although Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's bond issue for water infrastructure was pulled from the November ballot, it will likely go to a special election next March.

California's $9 billion water bond raises some of the same questions as the recent, now failed, bailout package deal and subsequent fiasco: what about poor and working people? Who is really going to benefit from these big transfers of wealth and water? Will people in the rural areas of the Central Valley, who can't drink the contaminated water they have to pay for, get access to safe, affordable water after the bond issue passes?

People in Barnstead, N.H., passed a law to stop a water bottler from taking all of their well water. And residents in Maine and California are diving into water justice politics for people and the environment by blocking water bottlers until the environmental impacts of bottling can be truly studied.

Maybe there are more lessons from the Americas on how to make sure every person has access to water: democratic tidal waves that are changing the face of our earth and the lives of all of our families.

Catch or make a water justice wave in your home town and ride - all the way to the ballot box!

To read more about UUSC's work to promote the human right to water, download UUSC's Environmental Justice Fact Sheet here.

Today, September 17, 2008, is Constitution Day in the United States. It is the day when we celebrate and remember our founders signing the U.S. Constitution in 1787!

Today, we can be proud that our Constitution was the first written and codified constitution in history. It is a contract between the American people and the U.S. government.

Today is also a time when we can meditate on the many struggles facing our country. As a nation, we find ourselves in two wars, our economy is in a downward spiral, and U.S. citizens and residents face unbridled assaults on our basic civil liberties, including the right to privacy and due process of law, voting rights, and the right to be free from torture.

I ask you to take a moment to reflect on the challenges that our forebears overcame to provide us with a viable democracy that allows us to amend the Constitution and improve the quality of life for future generations.

Even as we consider this year's election, arguably the most important election of our generation, let us remember the true meaning and legacy of our democracy. With our Constitution and its subsequent amendments, let us remember that we, as a people, have overcome slavery, although we must still eliminate its evil legacy; that we have legislated the equality of women, but we still have a long, long way to go; and that we must restore civil liberties for everyone!

Many years ago, in another time of great turmoil and doubt about the strength of our democracy, during the struggle for civil rights for African Americans, women's rights, and an end to the Vietnam War, I swore to uphold and defend the Constitution. For me, like you and millions of other Americans, the Constitution was not an abstract concept, but the promise, indeed the contract, that binds us as a free people with the guarantee that all men and women are created equal.

Although saddened by the loss of civil liberties and the current misadventures of our nation, we must not surrender and we must keep faith that we, as a people, will one day restore civil liberties and the rule of law. If we recommit ourselves to strengthen our nation, one day, once again, we will see the United States as a land of true democracy and equality, with justice for all.

Today, I ask you to recommit yourself as a defender of our Constitution and our democracy by joining UUSC and its work in defense of civil liberties and human rights! Today is worth remembering.

www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.overview.html

Last December, during UUSC's D.C. Days of Action, Rev. Bill Schulz, UUSC's board chair, gave a talk on a trip he made to Kalma camp in Darfur. I was particularly touched by a story he told about seeing a woman in tattered rags wearing a beautiful piece of glass around her neck as a piece of jewelry. When Schulz asked her what it was, she replied, "It is me." It is me....

The story shows that no matter what squalor and degradation people are subjected to, they find ways to overcome their circumstances and bring some form of hope and beauty into their lives. This is what makes us human. This woman in Darfur, no doubt having been subjected to violence and destruction that most of us cannot imagine, still holds onto what is beautiful, her sense of identity, herself.

As the Olympics came to a close and we saw the athletes standing on pedestals wearing gold, silver, and bronze medals, I thought of this woman wearing the glass around her neck and all the other women who are struggling in Darfur.

Although the situation in Darfur is dangerous for all, women and girls are especially vulnerable to violence. In some camps, women make up 80 percent of the population. They show pure determination to survive in conditions of dignity. They work together to protect themselves, leaving their camps together, trying to find safety in numbers. They share their food and water with each other. They work together to form women centers and to speak to leaders about their needs.

Women and girls in Darfur are heroes without medals. Their stories may not be broadcast on NBC, but they can be shared in line at the grocery store, at your next town hall meeting, or over dinner with a friend.

As UUSC works with partners to weave a web of protection for women and girls in Darfur, we need concerned citizens to raise awareness and build solidarity in cities and town around the United States. One way to do this is to order free UUSC Drumbeat for Darfur materials to use in your community.

Click here to order free UUSC tent cards that your community can use to urge the Senate human rights subcommittee to oversee the UNAMID mandate to protect Darfurian women and girls from violence.

We need to demand that our legislators take action to protect women and girls in Darfur. We need to make their struggle as visible as the gold medals around the necks of the athletes at the Bejing Olympics. We need to remember the woman with the glass around her neck who is determined to survive, and do our part to bring hope and beauty back into their lives.

A storm is brewing as Tropical Storm Gustav barrels into the Gulf of Mexico. Three years after Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast, the people of South Mississippi are bracing themselves again by loading up on emergency supplies and tuning in to storm advisories.

But another emergency already hit Mississippi earlier this week - this time it was the force of the I.C.E., not wind and rain. On Monday, August 25, hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided the Howard Industries plant in Laurel, Miss. Almost 600 workers were detained, including a dozen minors and several pregnant women. It's reported that about 186 children were not picked up from school on Monday because their parents were in detention. Hundreds of small children have been left without their mothers.

As one of the only community-based workers' rights institutions in the state of Mississippi, UUSC Economic Justice partner MPOWER is on the scene, supporting families to connect with their loved ones in detention, helping make arrangements to ensure children are cared for, and working with local organizations and churches to address the humanitarian needs.

MPOWER (Mississippi Poultry Workers for Equality and Respect), based in Morton, Miss., is focused on building the capacity of poultry-processing workers to combat abusive labor practices in the industry, with particular attention to building solidarity between Latino immigrant and African American workers. As a "worker center," MPOWER also provides labor rights education to workers in other industries all over Mississippi, and through advocacy and organizing, responds to urgent needs faced by workers as they arise. This week, the staff of MPOWER has been actively providing assistance and support to the workers and families who have been most affected by the raid.

So much uncertainty looms on the horizon, as workers and their families affected by the raid also await the impending tropical storm, the path and strength of which is, naturally, unpredictable. MPOWER reports that Mississippi workers' minds are brimming over — a swirl of memories awakened by the anniversaries of Katrina and Rita, anticipation of the equally unpredictable ICE — first Postville, now Laurel, and "where will they go next?"

Just last month, I was in Mississippi to provide technical support to MPOWER. During the course of the days that we were working together on long-term planning, developing their board of directors, and connecting with other UUSC partners, we were called to action as we learned of an arrest of a poultry worker at the Koch Foods chicken plant, just a block from the MPOWER office. The worker who was arrested was a young, single mother of a two-year-old girl. MPOWER helped to find a temporary guardian for the little girl while her mother awaits trial, but you can only imagine the ripple effect of this same trauma happening to hundreds of children.

"For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome."

Fortunately, the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance (MIRA) — a partner of the Rights in Humanitarian Crises program that was supported by UUSC to work with immigrants in Mississippi to claim and defend their rights in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita — is working to provide legal representation for the detained workers. But I can't help but wonder if the workers will truly have access to the due process that is promised by this country. Will they be sufficiently informed of their legal rights? Will they be provided meaningful access to legal representation? The connections between workers' rights, civil liberties, rights in humanitarian crises, and immigration in this country are inextricable.

As we celebrate Labor Day this weekend — and as we strive every day to uphold the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and to promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations — let us remember the workers and their families in Mississippi who are weathering the storms.

There was no lack of symbolism in the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, least of all Lopez Lomong, a former Lost Boy of Sudan adopted by a family in Tully, N.Y., being the bearer of the American flag. He was just six years old when his family was attacked by the Janjaweed and he was forced to become a child solider.

Lomong is a long-distance runner. He acquired the stamina for this skill by running the 30-kilometer stretch around his refugee camp every day.

The track-and-field events of the Olympics are always one of the favorites. During the last few weeks, they have been a staple of NBC's prime time schedule.

There are many reasons why people run, but few of them can land you on prime time television. In Darfur, as we watch these events, there are women running for their lives from armed attackers. They are breathing hard and sweating, unable to speak, but we do not hear or see them.

Gadija and her two young sons are running. Before the Janjeweed came to destroy their village and kill her husband, they were very well off. They owned 120 sheep and 3 horses. Now they are living under a collection of rags, held up by four sticks. After the attacks, they ran to the hills, but there was no food or water, so they were forced to enter a camp in South Darfur.

Each day Gadija leaves her small sons to work in the fields near her camp, so that she can earn enough money to buy food. She has been in her camp only a short time. So far, she has not received any food aid. As a result, she is forced to face the hurdles of danger as she leaves her camp to earn money. She is forced to sprint to a safe destination. She has acquired the stamina to survive, although there are no cameras or reporters to capture this feat.

Just as Lomong's determination to compete in the Olympic Games came from seeing the 2000 Summer Games on a black-and-white television in Kenya, I hope that Gadija's story will inspire you to reach out across the world and do what you can to help protect women and girls in Darfur.

One of the crowning glories of the Beijing skyline is the new National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube. Not only is it a sight to behold, it is also an environmental marvel. Its outer "membrane" captures and recycles thousands of gallons of rainwater. Given Beijing's record of drought, this is critical. In fact, over the last 50 years, annual rainfall in Beijing has decreased by 50 percent.

Where there is a will there is a way...

Inside the Water Cube we see athletes "going for the gold" in a deep pool of blue. The average Olympic-sized swimming pool holds 660,625 gallons of water, but the Water Cube's holds over 792,000 gallons. The collection of this water — this precious resource — in one building, for this purpose, is truly a marvel.

Where there is a will there is a way...

Thousands of miles away, in Darfur, many people living in camps must survive on as little as half a gallon of water per day. This is happening even though the World Health Organization has declared that a minimum of 6.6 gallons per person per day is needed to meet basic human needs.

Where there is a will there is a way...

Not only is the amount of water available inside many camps astonishingly low, but the process of collecting the resource is extraordinarily dangerous.

Amina's story is not unlike stories of other women in Darfur. She lives in a camp in north Darfur where water collection is always a dangerous process. There is water in the camp; but of the ten water pumps, only four work with any regularity. This means that many women must go outside their camps to get water for their families, sometimes walking up to two miles.

This is a very dangerous task because women are subject to attack by armed men each time that they leave their camp.

Amina tries to make the water last, but she still needs to leave her camp three times a week to collect it. Because Amina is pregnant, she is worried about losing her baby from the stress and physical toll of making the trek for water. She has a 12-year-old daughter who has offered to go in her place, but Amina is worried about her daughter being attacked and raped when she leaves the camp. Who should go? How should they decide?

Where there is a will there is a way...

Recently, the "discovery" of one of the largest freshwater resources in the world — the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer — in the Darfur region was announced, even though scientists have known about it for years. According to some experts, it encompasses 53 percent of Darfur. It would cost roughly $40,000 per borehole, and well, to connect 20,000 Darfurians to water from the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer.

Where there is a will there is a way...

The amount of water in the National Aquatics Center pool where Michael Phelps won his eight gold medals is equivalent to the minimum amount of water needed for 7,500 women and girls in Darfur for the duration of the Olympic Games.

China spent $200 million to build the Water Cube.

It would cost approximately $4.2 million to provide a reliable source of water for all 2.1 million internally displaced people in Darfur by tapping into the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer.

Where is the will to ensure that those living in camps have access to the water they need to survive?