Social Justice Tag: Women

April 2025

Articles from Mercy:

• The cultural battle advances (Ana Siufi, RSM; Institute Justice Team)
• Critical Considerations: What’s going on with tariffs? (Karen Donahue, RSM)
• Water extractivism in Palestine (Marianne Comfort; Institute Justice Team)

Local Justice News & Upcoming Mercy Events:

Justice Resources & Links

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The cultural battle advances

Ana Siufi, RSM; Institute Justice Team

Argentina has a far-right president who presents himself as a defender of “freedom” and follows leaders like Trump, Musk, and Netanyahu, making political decisions marked by violence, authoritarianism, and cruelty. Some youth and other social sectors, disappointed with traditional parties, feel represented by Milei and continue to support him.

For 15 months, he has misruled by controlling the legislative and judicial powers, dismantling essential state institutions and agencies, increasing the unpayable foreign debt with the IMF, destroying the national industry, favoring dubious business deals for the wealthy, handing over territories to extractive corporations like never before, depriving the working class of food, medicine, and other rights, and impoverishing the middle class while fiercely repressing their peaceful protests. All of this is justified by the major disinformation media, which tout the wonders achieved while concealing the socio-economic devastation, as they are funded by the plutocracy that wields power.

Everything is serious, but I want to reflect on what some analysts point out: the cultural revolution plan is an attempt to alter people’s worldview, instill humanist values, and reshape our deepest identity into disvalues that fracture the social fabric, undermine the ability to think independently, and diminish the feeling of being an inclusive and supportive community.

We describe it as a cultural battle because, through their speeches, propaganda, and actions, they assault and attempt to replace: solidarity with cruelty and hatred towards the poor; an attitude of openness to foreigners with discrimination and border closures; respect for life with the idolization of the Market; a sense of community with egocentrism and patriarchal hierarchization; awareness of the common good and shared resources with the absolutization of private property; love and inclusion with hatred for the different and the discarding of minorities; reflection and creativity with mindlessness and the repetition of slogans; awareness of labor rights with newly legalized slavery; faith in work with an immoral pursuit of profit; the valuation of human rights with their validity only for privileged sectors, excluding others deemed subhuman; and the search for memory, truth, and justice with the destruction of monuments or organizations and the false narrative of the military dictatorship.

It gives us hope to know that popular support for this policy is drastically decreasing and that the numerous peaceful mobilizations in the streets throughout the country are driven by a sense of community, democracy, and ethics as expressed in slogans such as: ALL IN DEFENSE OF THE RETIREES; THE HOMELAND IS NOT FOR SALE; THIS GOVERNMENT SHAMES US; DIGNITY IS NOT NEGOTIABLE…

The government responds with slander, violent repression, and the judicialization of protest. It thus demonstrates both its weakness and the impossibility of subjugating, with impunity, those motivated by non-negotiable values. I hope this ethic influences the opposition politicians! It is up to the Mercy community to stand by this struggle in the streets, raise awareness, educate in the communities, and encourage an eco-spirituality that defends life, freedom, equality, and peace.

May the Spirit continue to illuminate our path as a people and grant us the courage to fight, the unity to organize, love for nonviolent resistance, and honest leaders to restore independence and democracy.

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Critical Considerations

What’s going on with tariffs?

Karen Donahue, RSM

On April 2, 2025, Liberation Day, Donald Trump announced his sweeping tariffs plan and sent the global economy into a tailspin. Markets fluctuated wildly as governments, businesses and consumers struggled to make sense of the president’s response to what he sees as the exploitation of the U.S. by the rest of the world. Two recent articles, one posted on the Foreign Policy in Focus website and the other on Common Dreams, put the tariffs question into a broader context and provide some helpful insights on how to respond.

Geostrategic analyst Imran Khalid notes that Trump sees trade as a zero-sum game, one country’s gain is another’s loss. He does not understand the complexity and interdependence of the modern global economy. For example, vehicles manufactured in the U.S. contain many imported components which will be subject to tariffs. These increased costs will be passed on to consumers, significantly raising the sticker price of a new car.

Global response to Trump’s tariff plan has been critical. Some countries are already contemplating retaliatory tariffs that could be devastating, especially to U.S. agriculture and put additional pressure on already struggling rural communities.

Iza Camarillo, Research Director for Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, places the tariff controversy within the larger context of corporate globalization. She says that trade agreements such as NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and its successor USMCA (US Mexico Canada) prioritize corporate interests “that made offshoring easier, gutted environmental protections, and prioritized investor rights over worker rights.”

These agreements also hindered the capacity of governments to support domestic industries, raise labor standards or enforce environmental protections as these measures were seen as impediments to free trade. The result has been stagnant wages, shuttered factory towns and rising income inequality leading to widespread pain and frustration among U.S. workers. She warned that “trade justice requires more than poorly designed tariffs. It demands systemic reform: binding labor rights, climate protections, resilient supply chains, and democratic accountability. Trump offers none of that.”

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Water extractivism in Palestine

Marianne Comfort; Institute Justice Team

Lina Fattom recently spoke with Mercy Global Action and the rest of the UN Extractivism Working Group regarding women’s struggles in Palestine, especially as they relate to water access and extractivism. The video can be viewed by clicking here.

Lina Fattom is a Palestinian human rights lawyer who trained in the U.S. and specializes in public and private international law and corporate litigation, as well as cross-border arbitration and negotiations. She recently served as director of the Innovative Private Sector Development Project, formerly served as a legal advisor to the Palestinian negotiating team, and previously worked as a human rights attorney with Amnesty International, an advisor with Al-Haq to the Norwegian Refugee Council and Oxfam, and manager of the Diaconia IHL Center in Jerusalem. She currently serves as a director on the board of PALTEL and directs projects to develop enterprises in Gaza and the West Bank.

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Article Archive

2025

April

The cultural battle advances

Critical Considerations:

What’s going on with tariffs?

Water extractivism in Palestine

March

Hope for Panama in truth

Deportation stigma in Jamaica

Critical Considerations:

Who benefits from tax cuts? Who pays?

April is SWANA Heritage Month

NETWORK webinar on U.S. federal policy

February

National declaration of emergency in Bajo Aguán

Critical Considerations:

Has the United States declared war on immigrants?

What energy emergency?

January

If you make a mess, clean it up! (Advocacy success in NY)

Youth claim climate victory in Montana court

Critical Considerations:

Was January 1, 2025 a wake-up call?

(click years to expand)

2024

December

Gender and climate justice

Critical Considerations:

Is the United States becoming a plutocracy?

Making nuclear weapons taboo

November

Critical Considerations:

What happened on November 5, 2024?

The Ecological Debt

October

Overturning the Chevron deference

Critical Considerations:

Who are the Israeli settlers and what motivates them?

Assassination of Honduran water protector deeply grieves Sisters of Mercy

September

God walks with his people: National Migration Week September 23–29

Critical Considerations:

What does CEO compensation say about corporate priorities?

Anxiety – election season can heighten it!

August

Critical Considerations:

What is Project 2025 all about?

Working to stop weapon exports to Haiti

Beyond Voting:

Participating in Elections, part 2

July

Critical Considerations:

Is there a better way to spend $91 billion?

Education, Agriculture, & Emigration in the Philippines

Beyond Voting:

Participating in Elections, part 1

June

Critical Considerations:

Are we creating a prison-industrial complex?

Conscience

Mercy student videos address the Critical Concerns

May

Critical Considerations:

Degrowth is the only sane survival plan

Argentina and the government of hate

Listening to a chorus of voices

April

Critical Considerations:

An Israeli Jesuit reflects on war in the Holy Land

Advocacy Success! Expanded Background Checks for Gun Sales

March

Military spending and national (in)security

February

The challenge Gaza war presents for American Jews

January

Gaza war threatens credibility of West’s commitment to human rights and the rule of law

2023

December

Climate Summit fails to adequately respond to gravity of climate crisis

November

Critical Considerations:

The dangers of conflating Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism

Red flag laws in jeopardy: faith voices speak to save them

October

Jewish and Palestinian perspectives on Gaza crisis

September

U.S. China tensions impact efforts to address climate change

August

When Good Economic Policy Isn’t Enough

July

States Move to Weaken Protections for Child Workers

June

Corporate Lobbyists at Climate Talks

May

Electric Vehicle Transition Challenges

April

Repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery

March

Misrepresenting War

February

The Rise of Christian Nationalism

January

How the News is Reported Affects What We Know

2022

December

How Corporations Took Over the Government

November

The Independent State Legislature Theory Explained

October

The Next Phase in the Voting Wars

Local Justice News & Upcoming Events

Check back soon!

Justice Resources & Links

Mercy Justice Resource Pages

• Resources for Immigrants
• Advocacy Amplified! (Mercy Justice Videos on advocacy tools)
• Mercy Walks with Migrants (interviews with Mercy sisters on immigration work)
• Mercy Tips to Care for the Earth

Peace & Justice Calendars

These are some of the ways in which the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas will more fully live Laudato Si’ in 2025. To see the third year action plan click here.

Responding to the Cry of the Earth

The climate sustainability director will:

• Estimate initial annual carbon emissions from utilities (e.g., electricity, gas, and water) and vehicle usage throughout the Institute;
• Work with the solar installation company to implement agreed-upon solar and battery design for the Belmont, NC, solar array project; and 
• Work with a contractor to stabilize the shoreline at Mercy by the Sea Spiritual Retreat and Conference Center to prevent future erosion from coastal storms and sea-level rise.

Responding to the Cry of the Poor

The Justice Team will deepen education and advocacy about the harms of extractivism to communities and the environment through: 

• Engaging communities beyond the Sisters of Mercy in small groups using our Awakening to a New Consciousness on Extractivism resources;
• Accompanying communities most harmed by extractivism, including through local extractivism immersion experiences; and 
• Giving special attention to water injustices experienced by communities on the front lines of extractive industries, in partnership with Mercy Global Action’s water justice initiative. 

• The Justice Team will organize immersion experiences at the U.S.-Mexico border to expand the number of sisters, associates, companions and co-workers who are educated about immigration policy and the reality at the border and connections between immigration and environmental and climate justice.  

• Mercy Investment Services will expand and deepen the integration of environmental, social and governance investment strategies by:
  • Actively allocating capital to address diversity gaps amongst decision-makers and financial access within the Inclusive Opportunities Fund;  
  • Continuing expanding the emerging managers program supporting firms owned or products managed by people with diverse or underrepresented backgrounds; and  
  • Deepening Mercy Partnership Fund’s continued dedication to racial and gender equity as well as those that emphasize international opportunities.

Ecological Economics

Mercy Investment Services will:

• Continue to ground our investment actions in seeking prophetic change in climate action and solutions;
• Partner with other investors to engage corporations on water stewardship, greenhouse gas emissions, plastics use, biodiversity and other important issues; and  
• Use our position as a faith-based investor to defend the rights of investors to choose investments that care for the Earth.

Sustainable Lifestyles

• The Director of Climate and Sustainability will develop and update flyers to create awareness of and provide practical sustainable lifestyle tips related to meetings and events, office supplies and electronics, health and wellness, emergency management and sustainability on a tight budget. 
• The Justice Team and Climate and Sustainability Director will continue the monthly Mercy Tips to Care for Earth. 

Ecological Education

• Mercy Education System of the Americas plans to:
  • Revamp the environmental science course in its Mercy Learning Online program, specifically the water lesson, to incorporate resources from Mercy Global Action; 
  • Launch a monthly column in its weekly newsletter highlighting sustainability initiatives across Mercy schools;
  • Enhance sustainability efforts at meetings and events by being mindful of supplies ordered and encouraging participants to bring reusable water bottles; and 
  • Promote active participation in Laudato Si pilgrimages across the schools.
• A Mercy associate in Guyana will socialize her guidebook and set of advocacy tools for communities to understand the risks of the growing oil and gas industry in her country, and that will become a template for similar education elsewhere.
• The Climate and Sustainability Director will visit the sisters and staff to discuss concerns related to climate and sustainability as well as ongoing projects, and also serve as a resource for Mercy ministries and other religious congregations.
• The Justice Team will invite Mercy high school, college and university students to submit short videos on reducing consumption to better care for earth and on the positive impact that women have in the world. The winning videos will be showcased on our website.
•  The Justice Team will plan a blog series to highlight the ways in which sisters, associates, companions and co-workers are hearing the cry of Earth and the cry of people who are poor.

Ecological Spirituality

• The Justice Team, along with partner Catholic organizations in the U.S., will promote and provide support to sisters, associates, companions and ministries organizing Laudato Si pilgrimages to celebrate the encyclical’s 10^th anniversary. 
• The Justice Team will promote Laudato Si Animator trainings to equip sisters, associates and co-workers to shift consciousness of their communities around environmental and climate justice. 

Community Participation and Empowerment

• The Justice Team will engage in advocacy and education leading up to COP 30 in Brazil with partners from ecclesial networks (REPAM, REMAM and REGCHAG) and the Churches and Mining Network. 
• The Justice Team will lead U.S. advocacy among congregations of women religious and interfaith partners to stem deforestation, address the harms of mining in the energy transition, and support environmental protections and climate policies.  

Purpose

For this year’s contest we are seeking short, PSA style videos (30 to 90 seconds) that are suitable for sharing on social media platforms such as TikTok or Reels. Video entries must focus on one of these topics:

Who Can Enter

Any student or group of students, high school age or older, enrolled in Mercy high schools, colleges/universities, or involved in a Mercy-affiliated ministry.

Use this tip-sheet to help you as you begin the process of creating your video.

Format

Read the complete rules

Length: 30 to 90 seconds

Language: English or Spanish

Other Requirements

1. Title. Each video must have a title. The title must be indicated on the submission form. The title does not need to be included in the video itself.

2. Credits. Credits must include the name of those involved in the creation of the video. The credits must also include citations for any images, audio, or text used in the video that is not original. The credits do not need to be included in the video itself, but must be included in the submission form.

The Sisters of Mercy may delete title and credit screens before posting videos on social media.

Entrants are strongly encouraged to use original footage and graphics as much as possible.

Important Note on Rules: In order to honor copyright protections, rules regarding use of images and music were updated for the 2022 contest and remain in effect for 2025. See the complete rules for details.

Deadline

All entries must be received by April 1, 2025.

Prizes

A panel of judges will use these criteria to select the winning video. Individual winners will receive financial awards. The Grand Prize Winner receives $500.

Winning entries may be featured on the Sisters of Mercy Institute web site and social media channels. Winners and their winning institution will be formally announced.

Interested?

If you think you might be interested in entering this contest, fill out this form to receive contest information and updates.

Past Winners

Click here to view all of our past winners.

These are some of the ways in which the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas will more fully live Laudato Si’ in 2024. To see the second year action plan click here.

Responding to the Cry of the Earth

• The climate sustainability director will:
  • Collect utility usage data for smaller residences (i.e., apartments and houses) located throughout the United States. 
  • Expand community solar subscriptions to many of our houses and apartments for which such programs are available. 
  • Continue the electric vehicle (EV) pilot project at Merion, PA, with the purchase of an additional vehicle and the installation of additional EV chargers.  One other location will be selected to house an EV. Official guidance regarding the use, maintenance, and charging of EVs, along with concerns regarding metal mining, will be developed and implemented. 
  • Finalize guidance regarding the use of various sustainable and compostable alternatives to single-use plastic products.  A pilot location will be selected to test the overall process for implementing various parts of the guidance and determining what is needed (in addition to the installation of water-filling stations) in order to make the elimination of certain plastic products practical.  Complete the pilot solar project on the Belmont, NC, campus by the end of 2024.
• Mercy Focus on Haiti aims to support the construction of 10 cisterns per month in the Gros Marne region, for the collection of rain water, using locally available materials. Cistern beneficiaries will receive training in the fundamentals of vegetable gardening, tree planting and reforestation, supporting both food production and the opportunity to sell surplus at market.

Responding to the Cry of the Poor

• The Justice Team will deepen education and advocacy about the harms of extractivism to communities and the environment through: 
  • Mapping of extractivism near locations where the Institute has a significant presence; 
  • Educating the wider Mercy community about the experiences of communities most harmed by extractivism; 
  • Sharing more widely the statement on extractivism distributed among Chapter participants; 
  • Expanding our knowledge of extractivism to include practices such as agribusiness extracting nutrients from the land and the tourism industry dredging ports for cruise ships; and  
  • Solidarity and accompaniment of communities most harmed by extractivism

• Sisters will continue participating in ecclesial networks (ie, in Meso-America and the regions of El Gran Chaco y el Acuífero Guaraní in South America) and will educate the rest of the congregation about how the Church is accompanying communities in these critical eco-systems.   
• The Justice Team will participate in the “we are going to change the history of the climate and the planet!” campaign with the peoples of the Amazon in advance of international climate talks (COP30) in Belem, Brazil, in 2025.
• Mercy Volunteer Corps has placed a volunteer yet again at Sanctuary Farm in Philadelphia and will offer short-term volunteer experiences at Mercy Ecological Center in Vermont.

• Mercy Investment Services will expand and deepen the integration of environmental, social and governance investment strategies by:
  • Actively allocating capital to address diversity gaps amongst decision-makers and financial access within the Inclusive Opportunities Fund;  
  • Expanding the emerging managers program supporting firms owned or products managed by people with diverse or underrepresented backgrounds;  
  • Deepening Mercy Partnership Fund’s continued dedication to racial and gender equity as well as those that emphasize international opportunities; and  
  • Using our shareholder voice to explicitly call on companies to mitigate their impacts on people of color and to increase equity for disadvantaged communities.
• Mercy Focus on Haiti will complete the fourth cohort of its poverty eradication program for women, and raise funds and set the stage for the fifth cohort. Participants from the first cohort will be able to create Village Savings and Loan Associations, which was offered to later cohorts as safe places to save money and access small loans. The first cohort participants also will be offered a tablet-based training program to develop the basics of finance and business skills.   Mercy Focus on Haiti will arrange for a physician member from the U.S. to make virtual visits with residents and walk-throughs of Bon Maison Samaritain, a house for persons who are elderly and infirm or mentally ill. Deteriorating conditions in Haiti have prevented in-person visits from the U.S.

Ecological Economics

• Mercy Investment Services will:
  • Participate in learning opportunities to deepen our understanding of Catholic investing through documents such as Mensuram Bonam and Laudate Deum; 
  • Increase funding of mission-based environmental, social and governance investment managers and thematic managers in the equity fund;  
  • Originate additional commitments to impact managers in the Environmental Solutions Fund, which invests in renewable energy, energy and water efficiency, materials recycling, green buildings and sustainable agriculture;  
  • Commit additional investments to projects whose primary thematic area is environmental sustainability, impacts from the extractive sector or migration, or that address a just transition to a low‐carbon future in the Mercy Partnership Fund;  
  • Partner with other investors to engage corporations on water stewardship, greenhouse gas emissions, plastics use, biodiversity and other important issues; and  engage with other like-minded impact investors through the Catholic Impact Investing Collaborative, which is led by Francesco Collaborative, and through continued leadership within the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. 

Sustainable Lifestyles

• The Justice Team and Climate and Sustainability Director will start exploring possibilities for working with other congregations of women religious to influence practices of dining service companies who serve our convents, retirement centers and other facilities. 
• The Justice Team and Climate and Sustainability Director will continue the  Mercy Tips to Care for Earth as a monthly feature on the website. 

Ecological Education

• Mercy Education has planned several activities for 2024:
  • “Generation Mercy,” an online meeting for students who are involved in Earth initiatives/clubs at their school, in the first half of the year; 
  • A commitment to highlight Earth in their newsletter at least 1 issue per month; 
  • Promote Mercy Meatless Mondays for the Lenten season; and 
  • Share some suggestions for Earth challenges for schools (i.e. zero waste meetings) to try to implement before Earth Day in April, then share about these in the newsletter/social media.
• The Justice Team will organize an immersion trip to a region of western Pennsylvania experiencing an expansion of fracking and petrochemical facilities. 
• The Justice Team will organize three immersion experiences at the U.S.-Mexico border to expand the number of sisters, associates, companions and co-workers who are educated about immigration policy and the reality at the border. One of these experiences will be solely for staff and board members of Mercy Investment Services.  
• A Mercy associate in Guyana will develop a guidebook and set of advocacy tools for communities to understand the risks of the growing oil and gas industry in her country, and that will become a template for similar education elsewhere.  

Ecological Spirituality

• The Justice Team will promote Laudato Si animators’ trainings and create a network of Mercy animators to work together and support one another. 
• The Institute will participate in the Leadership Conference of Women Religious’ exploration and implementation of transformative justice work. 

Community Participation and Empowerment

• The Justice Team will educate our network on the issues and the importance of voting our values in advance of the 2024 elections in the United States. 
• The Justice Team will participate in a newly forming collaborative of Catholic organizations engaged in environmental and climate justice education, advocacy and practices.  

Purpose

For this year’s contest we are seeking short, PSA style videos (30 to 90 seconds) that are suitable for sharing on social media platforms such as TikTok or Reels. Video entries must focus on one of these topics:

Who Can Enter

Any student or group of students, high school age or older, enrolled in Mercy high schools, colleges/universities, or involved in a Mercy-affiliated ministry.

Use this tip-sheet to help you as you begin the process of creating your video.

Format

Read the complete rules

Length: 30 to 90 seconds

Language: English or Spanish

Other Requirements

1. Title. Each video must have a title. The title must be indicated on the submission form. The title does not need to be included in the video itself.

2. Credits. Credits must include the name of those involved in the creation of the video. The credits must also include citations for any images, audio, or text used in the video that is not original. The credits do not need to be included in the video itself, but must be included in the submission form.

The Sisters of Mercy may delete title and credit screens before posting videos on social media.

Entrants are strongly encouraged to use original footage and graphics as much as possible.

Important Note on Rules: In order to honor copyright protections, rules regarding use of images and music were updated for the 2022 contest and remain in effect for 2024. See the complete rules for details.

Deadline

All entries must be received by April 3, 2024.

Prizes

A panel of judges will use these criteria to select the winning video. Individual winners will receive financial awards. The Grand Prize Winner receives $500.

Winning entries may be featured on the Sisters of Mercy Institute web site and social media channels. Winners and their winning institution will be formally announced.

Interested?

If you think you might be interested in entering this contest, fill out this form to receive contest information and updates.

Past Winners

Click here to view all of our past winners.

Purpose

For this year’s contest we are seeking short, PSA style videos (30 to 90 seconds) that are suitable for sharing on social media platforms such as TikTok or Reels. Video entries must focus on one of these topics:

Who Can Enter

Any student or group of students, high school age or older, enrolled in Mercy high schools, colleges/universities, or involved in a Mercy-affiliated ministry.

Use this tip-sheet to help you as you begin the process of creating your video.

Format

Read the complete rules

Length: 30 to 90 seconds

Language: English or Spanish

Other Requirements

1. Title. Each video must have a title. The title must be indicated on the submission form. The title does not need to be included in the video itself.

2. Credits. Credits must include the name of those involved in the creation of the video. The credits must also include citations for any images, audio, or text used in the video that is not original. The credits do not need to be included in the video itself, but must be included in the submission form.

The Sisters of Mercy may delete title and credit screens before posting videos on social media.

Entrants are strongly encouraged to use original footage and graphics as much as possible.

Important Note on Rules: In order to honor copyright protections, rules regarding use of images and music were updated for the 2022 contest and remain in effect for 2023. See the complete rules for details.

Deadline

All entries must be received by April 1, 2023.

Prizes

A panel of judges will use these criteria to select the winning video. Individual winners will receive financial awards. The Grand Prize Winner receives $500.

Winning entries may be featured on the Sisters of Mercy Institute web site and social media channels. Winners and their winning institution will be formally announced.

Interested?

If you think you might be interested in entering this contest, fill out this form to receive contest information and updates.

Past Winners

Click here to view all of our past winners.