Peace and Planet & Jacqueline Cabasso, Joseph Gerson and Kevin Martin / Truthout – 2015-04-11 00:34:55
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Global Action for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on April 24-26
Peace and Planet
(April 8, 2015) — On April 26, the Peace & Planet Mobilization for a Nuclear-Free, Peaceful, Just, & Sustainable World will culminate with a Peace Festival in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza across the street from the United Nations. There we will deliver your signature, along with millions of others from Japan and around the world, to NPT and UN officials, calling on all governments to enter immediate negotiations to ban and eliminate nuclear weapons.
Survivors of nuclear blasts — from Hiroshima, Nagasaki, the Marshall Islands, Korea, and the Southwest United States — tell us that nuclear weapons inflict scenes of “hell on Earth,” and that “humanity cannot live alongside nuclear weapons.”
And while most nations support the abolition of nuclear weapons, the nuclear-armed States Parties to the NPT (US, Russia, UK, France and China) have utterly failed to implement the NPT’s Article VI obligation to negotiate in good faith the elimination of nuclear weapons.
Counting the nuclear-armed States outside the NPT (India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea), the nine nuclear-armed States are spending $300 million every day on their nuclear arsenals, and the dangers of nuclear war are growing.
Thank you for adding your name to the Peace & Planet petition as a step towards ridding the world of these weapons whose effects on humanity are indiscriminate and incomprehensible.
ACTION ALERT: Preparing for No Nukes Actions Worldwide on April 24-26
Peace and Planet: A Mobilization for a
Nuclear-Free, Peaceful, Just, and Sustainable World
(April 1, 2015) — Later this month, just before most of the world’s governments meet at the United Nations for the month-long Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, thousands of people from around the world will mobilize to demand the total elimination of nuclear weapons, and to connect and strengthen the movements for peace and environmental, economic, and racial justice.
ACTION:Please sign our petition to abolish nuclear weapons!
On April 26, the Peace & Planet Mobilization for a Nuclear-Free, Peaceful, Just, & Sustainable World will culminate with a Peace Festival in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza across the street from the United Nations. There we will deliver your signature — along with millions of others from Japan and around the world — to NPT and UN officials, calling on all governments to use the 2015 Review Conference to immediately, without delay, develop a timetable to ban and eliminate all nuclear weapons.
Survivors of nuclear blasts — from Hiroshima, Nagasaki, the Marshall Islands, Korea, and the Southwest United States — tell us that nuclear weapons inflict scenes of “hell on Earth,” and that “humanity cannot live alongside nuclear weapons.”
And while most nations support the abolition of nuclear weapons, the nuclear-armed States Parties to the NPT (the US, Russia, UK, France and China) have utterly failed to implement the NPT’s Article VI obligation to negotiate in good faith for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
Counting the nuclear-armed States outside the NPT (India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea), the nine nuclear-armed States are spending $300 million every day on their nuclear arsenals, and the dangers of nuclear war are growing.
We are at a crucial juncture, a time when the unresolved tensions of a deeply inequitable society, great power ambitions, and the destructive effects of an unsustainable economic system are exploding into overlapping crises.
Sign the petition. Say Yes to a Nuclear-Free World! Yes to Nonviolence! Yes to Economic Justice and Environmental Sustainability! Yes to Peace!!
Find out how you can get involved in the Peace & Planet Mobilization, April 24 – 26 in New York City and around the world: www.peaceandplanet.org.
Petition for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
Peace & Planet
ACTION: SIGN THE PETITION
2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the United States atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It also marks 45 years since the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entered into force, obligating all States parties to undertake good faith negotiations for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
Instead, the world’s nuclear-armed nations are spending over $100 billion per year to maintain and modernize their nuclear arsenals. The danger of wars among nuclear-armed States is growing, and with it the threat of unimaginable death and suffering.
From April 27 – May 22, 2015 representatives of the 189 members of the NPT, including the original nuclear-armed States (the US, Russia, the U.K, France, and China) will come together at the United Nations in New York City to review the Treaty’s operation.
The recent Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons set up the potential for a direct challenge to the nuclear-armed States: States not possessing nuclear weapons will be demanding a new diplomatic process to achieve nuclear disarmament. It is long past time for the world’s governments to implement the global obligation to achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world.
In a demonstration of their determination to build a fair, democratic, ecologically sustainable, and peaceful future, people will gather in New York City and around the world for international days of action April 24 – 26, 2015.
We call upon the parties to the NPT to use the 2015 Review Conference to immediately, without delay, develop a timetable to ban and eliminate all nuclear weapons.
We call upon the four states outside the Treaty that have nuclear arms, India, Israel, North Korea, and Pakistan, to join this process, immediately and without delay.
We are at a crucial juncture, a time when the unresolved tensions of a deeply inequitable society, great power ambitions, and the destructive effects of an unsustainable economic system are exploding into overlapping crises.
Yes to a Nuclear-Free World! Yes to Nonviolence! Yes to Economic Justice and Environmental Sustainability! Yes to Peace!!
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http://www.PeaceAndPlanet.org
info@peaceandplanet.org
International Peace & Planet Conference in New York City
Joseph Gerson / Peace and the Planet
In just three weeks, the International Peace & Planet Conference will open on Friday, April 24 at Cooper Union with a ceremony honoring Daniel Ellsberg (the whistleblower who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971) and Taniguchi Sumiteru and Setsuko Thurlow (A-Bomb survivors nominated for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize).
That evening, Professor Zia Mian (Princeton University), Walden Bello (Focus on the Global South; University of the Philippines), Jo Comerford (MoveOn), Manuel Pino (Indigenous Environmental Network), and Rev. Osagyefo Sekou (Fellowship of Reconciliation, based in Ferguson, MO) will discuss the urgent political climate that shapes our gathering together for a weekend of Mobilization. Information about all of the Conference speakers is available here.
Register Today!
Day 2 of the Conference will begin with a conversation between govermental leaders including Tony de Brum (Foreign Minister, Marshall Islands), Kira Yoshiko (Member of the Japanese Diet), Inge Hoeger (Member of the German Bundestag), and Thore Vestby (Mayor of Frogn, Norway and Deputy Member of Parliament for the Akershus region).
We will then have two sessions of workshops (with over 40 to choose from!!), and close the Conference with an exploration of the ways forward for our interconnected movements between Thomas de Toledo (Cebrapaz, Brazil), Reiner Braun (International Peace Bureau, Germany), Nishikawa Kyoko (New Japan Women’s Association), and Sofia Wolman (American Friends Service Committee).
Once you’ve registered, encourage your Twitter networks to do the same! Here are some sample tweets:
Will you be at the @PeaceAndPlanet Conference 4/24-25 in NYC? bit.ly/1Fb1OLQ #ConnectingTheStruggles #NoNukes #70Years #NPTRevCon
40+ workshops at the @PeaceAndPlanet Conference 4/24-25, NYC bit.ly/1ELVcom #ConnectingTheStruggles #NoNukes #70Years #NPTRevCon
#ConnectingTheStruggles for #NoNukes, @RevSekou @DanielEllsberg join @PeaceAndPlanet Conf 4/24 bit.ly/1xcZWLz #70Years #NPTRevCon
If you can only participate in the Mobilization in NYC for one day, join us on Sunday, April 26!
Many of our Conference speakers, as well as other leaders, will be addressing the Rally for a Nuclear-Free, Peaceful, Just, & Sustainable World at Union Square, and we will then March together, alongside over 50 Hibakusha, to commemorate 70 years since the US A-Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to amplify our many demands.
The March will arrive at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza at 3 that afternoon, where we will close the Mobilization with a performances (the line-up is in the making!) and plenty of time to connect with one another over conversation and common struggles.
On April 27, world leaders will convene the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference at the U.N in New York City. This Mobilization — endorsed by over 250 organizations, from The Nation Magazine to Brooklyn Movement Center, the International Peace Bureau to Shinfujin (the New Japan Women’s Association) — will provide unique and important opportunities for us to build towards nuclear abolition and better integrate the growing movements we need to prevail in our existential peace, justice and environmental struggles.
We’re only three weeks from the Conference and more than half-way to standing room only at Cooper Union. Register today, join us in New York April 24-26 for this historic weekend, and please spread the word!
For those of you wondering where to stay in New York, please check our website for a listing of relatively inexpensive hotels and other housing services.
In solidarity and peace,
Joseph Gerson, Co-Convener, Peace & Planet
Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter!
http://www.PeaceAndPlanet.org
info@peaceandplanet.org
Following in the Footsteps of MLK
On April 4, 1967, exactly one year before he was assassinated, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told a packed house at Riverside Church:
“A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, “This way of settling differences is not just.” … A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
— Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence
It’s with this revolution of values in mind that we look towards the Peace & Planet Mobilization as a time to gather in solidarity with one another, to engage deeply with the challenges and realities we face, and to build and strengthen the ties between our movements for nuclear abolition, racial, environmental, and economic justice, and peace.
We’re very excited to announce that on Saturday, April 25, 43 workshops will be presented during the International Conference which will add wonderful discussions to the program which will begin on Friday evening. Let your networks know you’ll be at the Conference by Tweeting about it!
We also hope you’ll join our Thunderclap in order to build awareness about the Mobilization and increase the number of petition signatures that we’ll be handing in to Ambassador Taous Feroukhi and UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Angela Kane during the Festival at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza on Sunday, April 26, calling for nuclear abolition!
Finally, some very talented artists have put together resources that organizers can use to spread the word about the Mobilization. These include downloadable flyers (pin them up in your communities and hand them out at events!) and a button you can put up on your website. We encourage you to use these!
We look forward to seeing you in New York City, or the footage from your Global Event in your local community. And, we’re still looking for volunteers throughout the weekend and marshals during the March! Please sign up here !
In solidarity and peace,
Sofia Wolman, Disarmament Associate, American Friends Service Committee, Cambridge, MA
MLK’s Call to Honor Peace, Justice and
Our Planet Still Challenges Us
Jacqueline Cabasso, Joseph Gerson and Kevin Martin / Truthout | Op-Ed
(April 8, 2015) — April 4 marked the 47th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A tragic anniversary to be sure, but also an occasion to recall and be inspired anew by one of the most ardent champions of nonviolence, social justice and peace the United States has ever known.
Exactly one year before his death, at Riverside Church in New York City, King delivered one of his most important speeches, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence,” a clarion call for an end to war abroad and social and economic justice at home. You can read the speech or listen to the audio recording here.
There are many highlights of the speech, but the following three stand out for us:
King’s accurate depiction of the US government as “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” Unfortunately, this is still true as our government fights endless wars, maintains more than 7,000 nuclear warheads at the core of its national security policy, projects deadly military power from a thousand foreign military bases and remains the world’s No. 1 weapons dealer.
His observation of our country’s skewed priorities: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
With plans to spend more than $1 trillion over the next three decades to “modernize” its entire nuclear weapons establishment, the US military budget represents well over one-third of global military spending.
This annual expenditure of over half a trillion dollars would go a long way to address and reverse global climate change and provide food security for the millions of US children living in poverty.
King’s denunciation of the “giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism,” which continue to plague our society and prevent us from becoming the “beloved community” he envisioned.
Thousands of peace, social justice and environmental activists from around the world will gather in New York City from April 24-26 for the Peace and Planet Mobilization for a Nuclear-Free, Peaceful, Just and Sustainable World to address the challenges and make the connections so prophetically articulated by King.
Peace and Planet convenes just prior to the April 27 to May 22 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference (NPT RevCon) at the United Nations, to bring the voice of civil society to the governmental confab.
The NPT RevCon, held every five years, is crucially important to world peace and security, addressing issues of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, including the absolute refusal by the United States and other nuclear-armed states to pursue nuclear disarmament as required by Article VI of the treaty.
This has prompted lawsuits by the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and demands from the majority of the world’s nations that the nuclear weapon states make meaningful progress on their disarmament obligation.
With the United States and Russia rattling their nuclear sabers over Ukraine, tensions in the region have risen to levels not seen since the Cold War. Peace and Planet calls upon the parties to the NPT to use the 2015 RevCon to immediately, without delay, develop a time-bound framework for negotiating the total ban and elimination of all nuclear arsenals.
A particularly troubling issue facing this year’s RevCon is the failure to convene a conference on a Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction-Free Zone by 2012, which was critical to reaching consensus on the Plan of Action adopted at the 2010 RevCon.
The conference is still not scheduled. With the ongoing P5+1 talks with Iran (a non-nuclear weapons state party to the NPT) over its nuclear program (while Israel, the only nuclear-armed state in the region, remains outside the treaty), chemical weapons use in Syria and escalating wars in the Middle East, a conference to ban nuclear, chemical and biological weapons in the region could hardly be more timely.
The recent historic breakthrough agreement between the P5+1 and Iran, while very promising (assuming hawks in Congress don’t torpedo it before the deal is finalized), does not obviate the need for a Middle East WMD-Free Zone.
US failure to take leadership in convening the conference has placed the outcome of this year’s RevCon in jeopardy, and many of the world’s governments question whether Washington can be trusted. The RevCon should reaffirm this commitment and demand that the conference be convened as soon as possible.
Peace and Planet’s agenda is necessarily broader than that of the NPT RevCon, as, like King, we understand the links between the urgent need for nuclear disarmament, ending wars and overcoming militarism while addressing critical racial, economic and social justice issues, and now, arresting climate change.
Peace and Planet activities will include a conference at the historic Cooper Union in Manhattan, a march, a rally and peace festival near the United Nations, and citizen advocates bringing the pro-peace and justice voice of civil society to the governmental delegates meeting inside the UN. We invite all concerned about peace, justice and our precious earth to join us.
Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.
