By Ellen Thomas
Co-chair, Disarm Committee

August 2020

There are now three 75^th Anniversary Timeline webinars available on the new WILPF US Disarm Committee YouTube channel:  

On May 17Martha Hennessey of the Kings Bay Plowshares, her attorney Bill Quigley, and John LaForge of Nukewatch, discussed the history of the “Necessity Defense.” 

On June 28Phyllis Bennis and Blanche Wiesen Cook spoke about the founding of the United Nations and the uphill battle to democratize it.  

On July 13Tina Cordova and Joni Arends spoke about the July 16, 1945, Trinity nuclear bomb testthe unsuccessful struggle of New Mexico downwinders to get relief under the RECA Actand about the current radioactive waste issues in New Mexico.

Each of these webinars can also be found under the relevant date on the Timeline.

There are also four other videos on this channel so far: 1) a discussion of the WILPF US 75^th Anniversary Timeline to be broadcast globally during the August 6 and 9 continuous livestream events launched by HiroshimaNagasaki75.org; 2) a “Zoom for Organizers” for WILPF, by Steven Staples; 3) an interview of Bruce Gagnon of Global Network to Keep Space for Peace; and 4) an historic video about DC Initiative 37 of 1993, which led to Eleanor Holmes Norton’s “Nuclear Disarmament and Economic Conversion Act of 1994,” the first rendition of what is now HR-2419.

Upcoming 75^th Anniversary Timeline Webinars:

On Sunday, August 9, 2020 – 5:55 pm* EDT – Atomic bomb survivor Dr. Hideko Tamura Sniderauthor of “One Sunny Day” and founder of One Sunny Day Initiativeswill speak of her childhood experience of the Hiroshima bombingand life before and after. We’re excited that the first half hour of this webinar will be broadcast internationally by the #HiroshimaNagasaki75 coalition during August 6 and 9 streaming of recorded and live videos from activists around the country and the world. (*PLEASE JOIN OUR ZOOM WEBINAR AT 5:55pmso we can have the audience in place by the time the livestream starts at 6pm EDT.*)

On Sunday, September 20 – 6:00 pm EDT – Alice Slater will speak about “Obstacles to Nuclear Abolition: Telling the Truth About the Relationship between the US and Russia.” Alice serves on the Board of World BEYOND Warand is a UN NGO Representative of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. She is on the Board of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, the Global Council of Abolition 2000, and on the Advisory Board of Nuclear Ban US, supporting the mission of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. She’s also a member of WILPF US who consistently provides vital information about nuclear weapons to WILPF members. (Photo by David Field:  June 17, 2017, Ray Acheson celebrates the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons outside the UN)

On Thursday, October 22 – 5:00 pm EDT – Ray Acheson, Director of Reaching Critical Willwill speak about her experiences and insights as WILPF International’s amazing NGO Representative to the United Nations, working for human rights, peace, and disarmament.  

Be sure to check out these webinars, past and future! Come back often! And let everyone know they can find the recordings on YouTube at WILPF US Disarm Committee channel!

To learn more, contact disarmchair@wilpfus.org