Global Wave 2015 & The World Peace Council – 2015-04-22 00:35:49
http://www.globalwave2015.org/
Global Action to Wave Goodbye to Nukes!
Governments will meet at the United Nations over four weeks in April-May 2015 for the five-yearly review of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Civil society is calling on governments to end the threat of nuclear weapons by negotiating for their complete prohibition and elimination – a requirement of the NPT.
The Global Wave will involve a simple public action in cities around the world in a timed fashion over 24 hours just before the 2015 NPT Review Conference in New York. Starting at a major peace rally in New York on April 26, and then proceeding westward through each time zone every hour, humanity will ‘Wave Goodbye to Nuclear Weapons’ through symbolic Wave events.
The action will engage parliamentarians, mayors, religious leaders, youth, environmentalists, human rights activists, sports clubs, celebrities and other representatives of civil society. The action in some places will be small and symbolic – in other places it will be larger and more celebratory.
Global Wave 2015 is part of Peace and Planet: Mobilisation for a Nuclear Free, Just and Sustainable World. To get involved in this exciting global action, please email Globalwave2015 or visit www.facebook.com/globalwave2015
Global Wave is facilitated by the Basel Peace Office and the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons
Florida Kids Swat 16,000
Tennis Balls for a Nuclear-free World
Dear peace and nuclear abolition campaigners
In an inspiring event in Gainesville, Florida on April 16, a group of young people (5 years and up) hit tennis balls 16,000 times to ‘hit away’ all the nuclear weapons in the world (see Hit away the nukes!). After the 16,000 hits, the youth ‘waved goodbye to nuclear weapons’ with their tennis racquets.
The event was organised by Gainesville Area Community Tennis Association (GACTA), River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding (RPCP) and Eli Meyer Studios as part of Global Wave 2015 — a series of events around the world calling on the governments meeting at the 2015 NPT review Conference to abolish nuclear weapons.
The event also commemorated the International Day of Sport for Peace and Development and highlighted the positive role that sport can play to empower youth, build bridges between conflicting communities and promote fair-play, respect and the rule of law.
A number of other Global Wave 2015 events have also linked Peace and Sport Day with nuclear abolition, including:
* Laos Global Wave 2015: Run away the bombs! In which Red Cross worker Lisa Seidel ran 16,000 meters (one meter for each nuclear weapon) to the Plain of Jars in Laos (the most heavily bombed part of Laos in the Vietnam War) and then ‘Waved goodbye to nuclear weapons and war’ [See more on Lisa’s story below];
* Prague: 1800 steps to a nuclear-weapon-free world, a run up the Prague steps nine times (once for every nuclear armed States) a total of 1,800 steps (about the number of nuclear weapons on high alert) and then a ‘Wave goodbye to nuclear weapons’ at Hradcany square on the anniversary of President Obama’s historic speech there putting forward the vision for a nuclear-weapon-free world.
* Bike away the bomb, in which Tore Tore Nærland (co-founder of Bike for Peace) and Thore Vestby (Vice President Mayors for Peace) are riding from Washington DC to New York just before the NPT doing Global Wave actions along the way.
On April 26-27, Global Wave 2015 will sweep around the world with events in over 70 locations (See world map of Global Wave 2015 events.
Join Us in ‘Waving Goodbye to Nuclear Weapons’
Organise a simple Global Wave action in your town/city. It could be yourself with just a few friends, or it could be larger with your workmates or school/university friends, or sports club, or church/mosque/synagogue/temple. (See How to organise your wave event).
Or you could do a more formal wave with your mayor at city hall. (See Mayors for Peace Executive Member encourages cities to Wave goodbye to nuclear weapons, and Italian mayors celebrate Liberation Day with Global Wave actions).
Stockholm Appeal 65th Anniversary
Marking the 65th Anniversary
Of the Stockholm Appeal
To Abolish All Nuclear Weapons
World Peace Council
“We demand the outlawing of atomic weapons as instruments of intimidation and mass murder of peoples. We demand strict international control to enforce this measure.
“We believe that any government which first uses atomic weapons against any other country whatsoever will be committing a crime against humanity and should be dealt with as a war criminal.
“We call on all men and women of good will throughout the world to sign this appeal.”
— March 1950
(March 20, 2015) — In March 1950, the international movement of defenders of Peace, following the end of World War II, founded the World Peace Council and, in view of the threat of a repetition of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki horror, launched an Appeal to ban nuclear weapons under strict international control, denouncing its intimidating and mass murder nature.
But 65 years later, five nuclear powers possess declared nuclear arsenals, and five other countries also possess them, but without signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty reached in 1968.
Today, as then, we fear that any State aggressor can anticipate the launch of a nuclear weapon against some other State, aiming to gain military advantage, which would be a crime committed against humanity, and treated as a war crime. We know, however, that the size of the arsenals and their worldwide impact would make the trial of such a crime impossible. It would be the end of Justice, since it would be the end of Civilisation.
Hence, all of us, organisations and people who sign this document:
* Remember and salute the example of the activists and personalities who acted for the abolition of nuclear weapons and wrote this Stockholm Appeal, as well as the millions of men and women, grandparents and parents of the present generation, who signed it worldwide,
As well as those who, both in the Peace movement and in the international institutions, have since then been fighting tirelessly for its propagation, its cause and necessary application.
* We appeal to the conscience of all to gather their wills around the action for this cause which remains up to date –to disarm the strategy of tension and deceptive military superiority that would lead to a nuclear genocide.
* We declare the urgent need to end nuclear weapons of mass murder of peoples, of foreign military bases, as well as the need for general and controlled disarmament.
* We demand the compliance with the principles of the United Nations Charter, in accordance with international law and the sovereignty of the States and the equal rights of the peoples.
Lisa’s 16-Kilometer Run against the Bombs
April combines two special events: the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace on April 6th and the campaign to Wave Goodbye to Nuclear Weapons.
Lisa Seidel, a Kiwi (New Zealander) currently working for the Lao Red Cross, has decided to honour these two initiatives with a Wave goodbye to nuclear weapons and war, which includes a 16-kilometer run. The event relates to disarmament and development issues in Laos. Why?
Laos is the most heavily bombed country per capita in the world. During the Vietnam War in 1964-1973, the United States dropped more than half a ton of bombs for every man, woman and child in Laos. 30% of the ordinance dropped did not explode, posing a continuing threat to everyday life in Laos.
‘We all know that cluster bombs (most of the bombs dropped on Laos) are less dangerous than nuclear weapons,’ says Lisa. ‘Yet these still affect people’s everyday lives over 40 years since the bombing missions ended. If the bombing missions were nuclear, nobody here would live to tell the tale.’
The most heavily bombed area in Laos is the Plain of Jars.
On April 6th, Lisa will run to the Plain of Jars, where she will Wave goodbye to nuclear weapons and war and take a photo of the wave in front of the bomb craters.
There are currently about 16,000 nuclear weapons in the world. ‘I run 16,000 metres, one meter for each nuclear weapon, to run away the nukes’ says Lisa. ‘It’s time we send a message to each other and to global leaders that these threats are not something we want to live with.’
Holding the run on April 6 will reinforce the aims of the International Day of Sport for Peace and Development. These include the use of sport to bridge conflicts, re-build communities in post-conflict situations and promote the intrinsic values of sport, such as teamwork, fairness, discipline, respect for the opponent and the importance of rules applicable without discrimination. It will also link with actions and events of Sport and Peace to commemorate the day.
Lisa’s run and wave will also feed into Global Wave 2015, a campaign empowering people all over the world to support the call for nuclear abolition — and the re-direction of the $100 billion global nuclear weapons budget to instead fund development. The campaign calls on governments meeting at the United Nations from April 27-May 22, 2015 to start a diplomatic process to prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons globally.
