Peace & Planet | July 30 Conference
Friends,
Thank you for your interest in what should be our informative and challenging Peace & Planet conference on the eve of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference and midst this period of acute and extremely dangerous great power confrontation. Even as we face numerous challenges within our respective countries, the need to lay foundations and build our movements for peace, nuclear weapons abolition, justice and the climate couldn’t be greater.
This form is no longer accepting responses. If you wish to participate via Zoom, please register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qxYysFHLScqK0Kv5ph9zeg
>> If you wish to join us IN-PERSON <<
Please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/WoJscv33xxN64Rmg8
The conference will be held at the All Souls Church at 1157 Lexington Ave. in Manhattan. That’s between 79th & 80th streets.
Masks will be required.
LUNCH BREAK
With a grant from the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, we can provide sandwiches and drinks in the lunch period, but we don’t want to order more than will be needed. If you wish to have a sandwich, please use this form to indicate if you want lunch, and if you are a vegetarian or vegan: https://forms.gle/WzFXvwRGNw4ZJ4ot6
>> BREAKOUT SESSION | 2:35-3:30 PM ET <<
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY
You will be able to choose between joining one of three hybrid WORKSHOPS or take part in FACILITATED BREAKOUT SESSIONS in which you and other conference participants can process and build on what you heard in the first two panels.
If you wish to participate in one of the workshops, please fill out this form –BY THE END OF THE DAY WEDNESDAY– indicating which one you want to join and you will receive a link to join the session:
https://forms.gle/M3evRzyPCrawRY5n9
::: WORKSHOPS :::
a. The Ukraine War and the Path Ahead for Peace and Disarmament Work
[This workshop will be presented on-line via Zoom. Organized by the Western States Legal Foundation, Oakland, California, USA]
The Russian government’s war of aggression against Ukraine came as a surprise to most analysts, including those working for peace and disarmament. The war itself, in which the Russian government has leveraged its conventional military power with nuclear threats to limit the military assistance provided to Ukraine by other governments, presents profound moral and practical challenges to those working against war and for disarmament. This war and the responses of governments to it also have constituted setbacks for work on the many facets of the civilizational crisis in which it arose: ecological overshoot of which climate change and the pandemic only are symptoms, immense and growing disparities of wealth, and the erosion of democracy amidst the resurgence world-wide of identity-based, authoritarian nationalisms. This session will seek to identify some questions regarding how our analysis of the causes of war have fallen short and might be improved, and to suggest some avenues for organizing in the absence of clear answers and the presence of divisions among those working for peace. We will begin with short presentations to frame the issues, followed by a discussion open to all.
Presenters:
- Jackie Cabasso, Executive Director of the Western States Legal Foundation, based in Oakland, California, since 1984. In 1995 she was a "founding mother" of the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons, and she continues to serve on its Coordinating Committee. Since 2007 she has served as an Executive Advisor to Mayors for Peace. She is a National Co-convener of United for Peace and Justice.
- John Burroughs, Senior Analyst for the New York City-based Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy (LCNP). He has represented LCNP in Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty meetings and negotiations on the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons. His articles and op-eds have appeared in publications including Fordham International Law Journal, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Arms Control Today, Newsweek, and Newsday.
- Andrew Lichterman, policy analyst and lawyer with the Oakland, California-based Western States Legal Foundation. He has represented peace and environmental activists in a variety of settings, and also taught at alternative law schools for many years. He is a member of the United for Peace and Justice Coordinating Committee. His writings on peace and disarmament include
b. Global NATO Expands & Moves into the PACIFIC
The New Strategic Concept & the Largest PACIFIC Naval War Practice RIMPAC with NATO Ships
As tensions between the U.S. and China increase, the six-week massive Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) maritime warfare exercise is underway to demonstrate the U.S. perception that it must dominate and control the Pacific Ocean. And now, with its new Strategic Concept NATO is expanding and increasing its forces across Europe and is moving into the Pacific to contain China. RIMPAC 2022 has 26 countries, including 8 NATO countries, practicing war maneuvers in the waters off Hawai'i from June 30-August 4, 2022 with 38 ships, 4 submarines, 170 aircraft and 25,000 military personnel. Speakers will discuss the dangers from RIMPAC and NATO aggressive war practice.
Speakers:
- Ann Wright is a member of Veterans For Peace and Hawai'i Peace and Justice.
- Reiner Braun is the Executive Director of the International Peace Bureau and co-coordinator of the NO to NATO coalition.
[Other possible speakers from Guahan, South Korea, Philippines]
c. Addressing the Twin Existential Threats of Nuclear Weapons and Climate Change in the Pacific and the Positive Obligations of the TPNW
From 1946 to 1996, the US, UK and France tested more than 300 nuclear weapons in the Pacific region, including the Marshall Islands, French Polynesia/Maohi Nui, Kiribati, Australia, the US territory of Johnston/Kalama Atoll and Amchitka Island, Alaska. Radioactive fallout was dispersed throughout the region and detected in the Cook Islands, New Zealand, Niue, Fiji, Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga and Tuvalu.
Rising sea levels have also been endangering the lives of Pacific Islanders via storm surges and by causing crop failures. Many islands and atolls in the Pacific will vanish in the near future unless action is taken.
But there is hope! On January 22, 2021, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) entered into force. Additionally, in late June 2022, the first meeting of states parties (1MSP) to the TPNW took place in Vienna. The TPNW is the first arms security treaty that has a humanitarian component via robust provisions on victim assistance and environmental remediation as contained in Articles 6 and 7. Significantly, at the conclusion of the 1MSP, states parties agreed to establish an inter-sessional working group on Articles 6 and 7. Kiribati and Kazakhstan will serve as co-chairs of this working group.
Speakers:
- Benetick Kabua Maddison, Director of the Marshallese Educational Initiative and Advisor of Reverse The Trend
- Aneet Kumar, the Deputy Secretary-General of the University of the South Pacific Students’ Association
-Dr. Ivana Nikolic Hughes, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
- Christian N. Ciobanu, the Policy and Advocacy Coordinator of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, where he coordinates Reverse The Trend: Save Our People, Save Our Planet and serves as the TPNW Advisor to the Mission of the Republic of Kiribati.
Thank you for your interest in what should be our informative and challenging Peace & Planet conference on the eve of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference and midst this period of acute and extremely dangerous great power confrontation. Even as we face numerous challenges within our respective countries, the need to lay foundations and build our movements for peace, nuclear weapons abolition, justice and the climate couldn’t be greater.
This form is no longer accepting responses. If you wish to participate via Zoom, please register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qxYysFHLScqK0Kv5ph9zeg
>> If you wish to join us IN-PERSON <<
Please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/WoJscv33xxN64Rmg8
The conference will be held at the All Souls Church at 1157 Lexington Ave. in Manhattan. That’s between 79th & 80th streets.
Masks will be required.
LUNCH BREAK
With a grant from the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, we can provide sandwiches and drinks in the lunch period, but we don’t want to order more than will be needed. If you wish to have a sandwich, please use this form to indicate if you want lunch, and if you are a vegetarian or vegan: https://forms.gle/WzFXvwRGNw4ZJ4ot6
>> BREAKOUT SESSION | 2:35-3:30 PM ET <<
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY
You will be able to choose between joining one of three hybrid WORKSHOPS or take part in FACILITATED BREAKOUT SESSIONS in which you and other conference participants can process and build on what you heard in the first two panels.
If you wish to participate in one of the workshops, please fill out this form –BY THE END OF THE DAY WEDNESDAY– indicating which one you want to join and you will receive a link to join the session:
https://forms.gle/M3evRzyPCrawRY5n9
::: WORKSHOPS :::
a. The Ukraine War and the Path Ahead for Peace and Disarmament Work
[This workshop will be presented on-line via Zoom. Organized by the Western States Legal Foundation, Oakland, California, USA]
The Russian government’s war of aggression against Ukraine came as a surprise to most analysts, including those working for peace and disarmament. The war itself, in which the Russian government has leveraged its conventional military power with nuclear threats to limit the military assistance provided to Ukraine by other governments, presents profound moral and practical challenges to those working against war and for disarmament. This war and the responses of governments to it also have constituted setbacks for work on the many facets of the civilizational crisis in which it arose: ecological overshoot of which climate change and the pandemic only are symptoms, immense and growing disparities of wealth, and the erosion of democracy amidst the resurgence world-wide of identity-based, authoritarian nationalisms. This session will seek to identify some questions regarding how our analysis of the causes of war have fallen short and might be improved, and to suggest some avenues for organizing in the absence of clear answers and the presence of divisions among those working for peace. We will begin with short presentations to frame the issues, followed by a discussion open to all.
Presenters:
- Jackie Cabasso, Executive Director of the Western States Legal Foundation, based in Oakland, California, since 1984. In 1995 she was a "founding mother" of the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons, and she continues to serve on its Coordinating Committee. Since 2007 she has served as an Executive Advisor to Mayors for Peace. She is a National Co-convener of United for Peace and Justice.
- John Burroughs, Senior Analyst for the New York City-based Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy (LCNP). He has represented LCNP in Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty meetings and negotiations on the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons. His articles and op-eds have appeared in publications including Fordham International Law Journal, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Arms Control Today, Newsweek, and Newsday.
- Andrew Lichterman, policy analyst and lawyer with the Oakland, California-based Western States Legal Foundation. He has represented peace and environmental activists in a variety of settings, and also taught at alternative law schools for many years. He is a member of the United for Peace and Justice Coordinating Committee. His writings on peace and disarmament include
b. Global NATO Expands & Moves into the PACIFIC
The New Strategic Concept & the Largest PACIFIC Naval War Practice RIMPAC with NATO Ships
As tensions between the U.S. and China increase, the six-week massive Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) maritime warfare exercise is underway to demonstrate the U.S. perception that it must dominate and control the Pacific Ocean. And now, with its new Strategic Concept NATO is expanding and increasing its forces across Europe and is moving into the Pacific to contain China. RIMPAC 2022 has 26 countries, including 8 NATO countries, practicing war maneuvers in the waters off Hawai'i from June 30-August 4, 2022 with 38 ships, 4 submarines, 170 aircraft and 25,000 military personnel. Speakers will discuss the dangers from RIMPAC and NATO aggressive war practice.
Speakers:
- Ann Wright is a member of Veterans For Peace and Hawai'i Peace and Justice.
- Reiner Braun is the Executive Director of the International Peace Bureau and co-coordinator of the NO to NATO coalition.
[Other possible speakers from Guahan, South Korea, Philippines]
c. Addressing the Twin Existential Threats of Nuclear Weapons and Climate Change in the Pacific and the Positive Obligations of the TPNW
From 1946 to 1996, the US, UK and France tested more than 300 nuclear weapons in the Pacific region, including the Marshall Islands, French Polynesia/Maohi Nui, Kiribati, Australia, the US territory of Johnston/Kalama Atoll and Amchitka Island, Alaska. Radioactive fallout was dispersed throughout the region and detected in the Cook Islands, New Zealand, Niue, Fiji, Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga and Tuvalu.
Rising sea levels have also been endangering the lives of Pacific Islanders via storm surges and by causing crop failures. Many islands and atolls in the Pacific will vanish in the near future unless action is taken.
But there is hope! On January 22, 2021, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) entered into force. Additionally, in late June 2022, the first meeting of states parties (1MSP) to the TPNW took place in Vienna. The TPNW is the first arms security treaty that has a humanitarian component via robust provisions on victim assistance and environmental remediation as contained in Articles 6 and 7. Significantly, at the conclusion of the 1MSP, states parties agreed to establish an inter-sessional working group on Articles 6 and 7. Kiribati and Kazakhstan will serve as co-chairs of this working group.
Speakers:
- Benetick Kabua Maddison, Director of the Marshallese Educational Initiative and Advisor of Reverse The Trend
- Aneet Kumar, the Deputy Secretary-General of the University of the South Pacific Students’ Association
-Dr. Ivana Nikolic Hughes, President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
- Christian N. Ciobanu, the Policy and Advocacy Coordinator of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, where he coordinates Reverse The Trend: Save Our People, Save Our Planet and serves as the TPNW Advisor to the Mission of the Republic of Kiribati.
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