Every year, communities around the world commemorate the International Day of Peace on Sept. 21 – a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all countries and peoples.

To mark this occasion, we look at some of the ways that communities are courageously working to address serious problems through nonviolence, with support from AFSC.  

It seems unfathomable that the U.S. would seek to provoke further  wars in the Middle East, but right now the Trump administration is rapidly escalating tensions with Iran.

Take action today: Tell Congress to stop war with Iran! 

Here’s what you need to know and how you can call for lasting peace. 

Alice Rothchild is a physician, author, and filmmaker who has focused her interest in human rights and social justice on the Israel/Palestine conflict since 1997.  She practiced ob-gyn for almost 40 years. Until her retirement she served as Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Harvard Medical School and as a fellow in the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Voting is fundamental to our democracy and is a right that should never be taken away. But in November, as many of us cast the most important votes of our lives, millions of Americans will once again be denied that right. Today nearly 5.2 million Americans are barred from exercising their right to vote because they have felony convictions. Most are Black and living in poverty.   

Felony disenfranchisement remains the longest-standing form of voter suppression in the U.S.—and it’s past time for us to end it once and for all.