Join Three Important Peace Conferences in April & May!

Puppets from the Bread and Puppet Theater (Glover, VT) joined our rally – Guardians for Peace and Planet – in front of the Burlington International Airport last summer, to prepare for the onslaught of twenty F-35 nuclear-capable jet bombers said to arrive by June 2020. Photo: Robin Lloyd. View more photos from the demonstration.

By Robin Lloyd
Co-chair, Disarm/End Wars Issue Committee

February 2020

WILPF Disarm invites all WILPF members and friends to join us at three important peace conferences taking place on the East Coast this spring, leading up to the 75^th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki this August. With the peace and climate movements joining hands, WILPF’s holistic analysis bringing together the environment, human rights, and corporate responsibility needs to be heard at these events.

At each conference we will not only do tabling and leafleting, but we will plan a CoffeeKlatch for WILPFers to gather and conspire together. After all, we won’t be having one of our Triennial Congresses until the summer of 2021. We are also seeking funding for transportation and lodging to enable more members to take part in these conferences.

We welcome the resources and insights of other issue committees and will keep the rest of our WILPF community informed. In our outreach we will stress four goals: building support for the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty and ICAN; the Norton bill and its connection to the Green New Deal; building a network to cancel the F35 nuclear bombers in our communities; and raising awareness and participation in events commemorating the 75^th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August.

The Three Events
 
1. April 23-25, Riverside Church, NYC: World Conference 2020 to Abolish Nuclear Weapons | Resist and Reverse Climate Change | For Social and Economic Justice. The conference call to action states: The Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Treaty, expected to come into force in 2020, is a beacon of hope, and has become a priority for many of the world’s non-nuclear nations. [This conference, held] on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings -- at a time of increasing nuclear danger and the threats of wars -- will serve as one of the last and greatest opportunities to put the experiences of the Hibakusha at the center of international attention. It will be a critical time to highlight their continuing warnings that “human beings and nuclear weapons cannot coexist.”

Planning to attend (so far) are: Dianne Blais (Virginia), Odile Hugonot Haber (Ann Arbor, MI), Cherrill Spencer (Palo Alto), Marge Van Cleef (Philadelphia), and Robin Lloyd (VT). Three WILPF members, Nuri Ronaghy, Alan Shorb (both from Ojai CA), and Ellen Thomas (NC), attended the A and H bomb conference in Japan last August, and will be attending this conference.

In addition, we will take part in the march to the UN and will contribute our many signatures gathered during the last few years to the millions collected by the Japanese peace movement to give to the UN at the opening of the NPT conference. (We’re still gathering signatures, so send us your filled up petition papers!)

2. May 22-25, Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREPA) in Maryville, Tennessee: “The New Nuclear Arms Race: An International Conference Sponsored by Nukewatch, the Nuclear Resister, and OREPA” which aims “to build collaborative relationships with people around the globe working to abolish nuclear weapons.” Register here. OREPA’s main focus is stopping nuclear weapons production at the Y12 Nuclear Weapons Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Trump administration has chosen to expand plutonium pit production at this weapons complex in violation of many environmental laws. WILPF members who have attended sessions of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) know of the huge piles of nuclear waste contaminating communities around the country. We urge WILPF members to attend this conference to strengthen our connections to groups working on health concerns of radioactive contamination. (Also, ANA is holding its DC Days in Washington DC right before the OREPA conference: a great opportunity to do lobbying with seasoned anti-nuclear activists.)

3. May 26-31, Ottawa, Canada: World Beyonod War's NoWar 2020 Conference in Ottawa, “#NOWAR2020: Divest, Disarm, Demilitarize,” is being held in proximity to CANSEC 2020, a huge North American military trade show. Canadian Voice of Women for Peace are a big part of this conference. We plan to build connections to the Canadian women’s peace movement and expand our network of communities opposed to the F35 nuclear bomber. We especially hope that members of Tucson and Madison WILPF will be able to attend this conference. If the stars align, we will announce the North American Network Opposed to the F35 at this event. Robin and Burlington WILPF will be the coordinators of our participation in this conference.

We’ll keep our eye on the prize: Abolish nuclear weapons – so puppets can live in peace!