DOCSLIB.ORG

Peace&Freedom

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Peace&Freedom Peace Freedom MAGAZINE OF THE WOMEN’S &INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM Winter 2009 www.wilpf.org • Vol. 69 • No. 1 Take Back the Planet INSIDE: • STOPPING CHEMICAL TRESPASS • IRAQ, RWANDA & MEXICO REPORTS • A NUCLEAR FREE FUTURE • STANDING UP FOR GAY RIGHTS The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) has been working since 1915 to unite women worldwide who oppose oppression and exploitation. WILPF stands for equality of all people in a world free of racism, Branch Out — Host the National Board In October the Cape Cod branch hosted the National sexism, and homophobia; the WILPF Board meeting. Hosting these meetings not only building of a constructive peace helps support WILPF, but is a great way to get to know through world disarmament; and board members and WILPF’s work. Please let us know if your branch would like to host a National Board meeting. the changing of government priorities Above: Celebrating at the end of the to meet human needs. board meeting are Laura Roskos, Tura Campanella Cook, Paij Wadley Bailey, Ann Chalmers Pendell and Monika Kinkel. WILPF has sections in 37 countries At right, left to right: Y-WILPFer Monica coordinated by an international office Kinkel (Des Moines) with Margo Kochruthe (Wellfleet--Cape Cod). in Geneva. U.S. WILPF carries out its Inside This Issue work through grassroots organizing by WILPF branches. WILPF supports the Healthy Bodies, Healthy Planet . .3 work of the United Nations and Human Dynamos vs. Nuclear Weapons . .4 has NGO (non-governmental Crisis in Iraqi Medical Care . .6 WILPF at the U.N. .7 organization) status. Join WILPF’s DISARM Team . .8 A WILPF Section in Mexico? . .9 Rwanda: Paradox and Paradise . .10 U.S. Section WILPF: 565 Boylston Street, Second People Against Chemical Trespass . .12 Floor, Boston, MA 02116; phone: (617) 266-0999; fax (617) 266-1688; e-mail: [email protected] WILPF Mini Grants . .14 website: www.wilpf.org Peace Education: Jane Addams Children’s Books . .16 Co-Presidents: Nancy Munger, Laura Roskos International WILPF . .18 Treasurer: Barbara Nielsen Membership Council for WILPF . .19 O Jane Addams: WILPF Commitment to Gay Rights . .20 Jane Addams Peace Association (JAPA): 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017 Branch Action News . .22, 23 phone: (212) 682-8830. JAPA is WILPF’s educational fund. For more information on the Ava Helen Pauling Tribute on page 4, President: Ann Chalmers Pendell see http://library.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections/ and search Executive Director: Linda Belle for “Linus Pauling and the International Peace Movement.” International WILPF: 1 rue de Varembé, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland; phone: 41-22-919-7080; fax: 41-22-919-7081; e-mail: [email protected] Cover Design: Nick Pomé (nick [email protected]) Co-Presidents: Kirsten Greback Annelise Ebbe Peace and Freedom is published by the Women’s International League for Secretary General: Susi Snyder Peace and Freedom (WILPF), U.S. Section. Submissions welcome; please query first. To contact the editor, e mail [email protected]. O O Copyright © WILPF 2009, except where Editor: Theta Pavis otherwise noted. Reprint permission is available Typesetting: Judy Mathe Foley by calling (617) 266-0999. Editorial Assistance: Laura Roskos, J.M.C. 2 Winter 2009 Peace & Freedom Healthy Bodies, Healthy Planet By Nancy Munger and Laura Roskos, Co Presidents t WILPF’s 2005 National Congress in San energy policy, in our country’s stance on nuclear weapons. Francisco, we celebrated the cohort of WILPF How can we respond effectively to exploit this political Atwins present and still active with WILPF on their moment? How can we turn opportunity toward the more 90th birthdays. As Mary Bricker Jenkins and Lois Fiedler peaceful world we envision? How can WILPF “add value” playfully encouraged individuals to purchase Life to the currents of popular opinion driving these reforms? Memberships, the slogan “join WILPF, live forever” began In her keynote address to WILPF’s International to circulate among attendees. Seminar “1325 Billion Arguments for Human Security,” And, it’s actually true that WILPF women tend to live held in Geneva this past November, Cynthia Cockburn chal- long lives, although not at all true that these lives are lenged us to overcome our inhibitions and better integrate always or even most often lived in the best of health. In our implicit feminist analysis into all of our protests and pol- many cases, the bodies of our members have been dam- icy advocacy work. Her talk includes a powerful rendition aged by years of living in poverty, or by abusive personal of the feminist analysis we bring to issues of war and envi- relationships, making them more fragile as they age. And ronmental destruction. Dr. Cockburn identifies patriarchy as many members are suffering the long-term consequences a “root cause” of armed conflict, operating at the cultural of police beatings, imprisonment or participation in protest level of social relations to produce both visceral and imme- actions involving exposure to high levels of radioactivity diate eruptions of violence as well as the more hidden, struc- or subfreezing temperatures. turally pervasive violence that permeate everyday life. (See What is equally observable, though, is the way in www.wilpf.int.ch/events/2008IB/cockburn_speech.html which WILPF itself constitutes a caring community for us for the full text of her talk.) when our bodies give out. In part, it is our structure of We want to suggest that by becoming clearer and more local branch organizing, when it works well, that facilitates vocal about WILPF’s feminist analysis, we can add some- members’ ability to build caring relationships of mutual thing different and important to the broader discussions assistance and support. But the impulse to help kicks in shaping the Obama administration’s priorities. But how do across great distances as well, generating new correspon- we gain this clarity? dences and reigniting established friendships. This issue of Peace & Freedom begins with Linda Unfortunately, our ability to create a caring community Richard’s recollection of Ava Helen Pauling, a WILPF that can sustain our good health is often thwarted by the leader who framed her position on disarmament through very systems that we oppose politically: by chemical tres- the lens of her maternal body. A mother of four, she was pass perpetuated by corporate greed; by state oppression of alarmed by the link between nuclear testing and the dis- dissent and acceptance of violence against women; by pri- covery of Strontium 90, a radioactive element causing vatized for-profit delivery of health care; by a militarized bone cancer and leukemia, in the teeth of babies. This link economy that leaches creativity from the social fabric and between nuclear weapons testing and children’s health impoverishes our galvanized thou- communities. sands of new With a new women activists, president in the creating Women White House, Strike for Peace WILPF mem- and swelling the bers in the U.S. membership of have an opening WILPF. The to create real and issue ends with a lasting change. call to honor the Every indicator non-maternal, suggests that the lesbian body of Obama adminis- Jane Addams, tration will enact WILPF’s first sweeping policy international changes in inter- Jane Addams Day at Hull House in Chicago. Rose Daitsman, Lea Zeldin, Laura Roskos and national trade Nancy Munger celebrate with author Louise Knight (third from left) and AAUW-IL Continued on agreements, in President Linda Henning Cohen (far right). page 14 ® Peace & Freedom Winter 2009 3 A Tribute to Ava Helen Pauling and WILPF’s Disarmament Work Human Dynamos vs. Nuclear Weapons by Linda Richards va Helen Pauling (1903 -1981) had a lifelong interest in the health of Athe earth and its people. She joined WILPF during World War II and was a longtime member of the Palo Alto Branch. After the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, she convinced her husband, scientist Linus Pauling, that his dedicated and brilliant research for physical and men- tal health would be meaningless if the world were destroyed by nuclear war. Radioactivity and its effects on the envi- ronment were unknown to most Americans until the tangible fallout of the 1954 “Castle Bravo” thermonuclear blast on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. Ava Helen Pauling publicized Ava Helen Pauling participating in the “Marathon to Athens Peace March,” the issue of radioactivity and its health Greece, May 1964. effects using petitions, symposiums, Courtesy Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers, Oregon State University Libraries Special Collections. speeches and marches to confront the inaccurate science efforts had helped convince many leaders of the need for of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). The AEC, a global nuclear test ban treaty: an idea that seemed along with politicians and the military, insisted the test- inconceivable just two years earlier. Paying tribute to ing was required for national security and was safer than WILPF in 1959, Ava Helen said: “Something has made a “being Red.” But, strontium-90 had been detected by difference in the past few years, and the League has scientists in wheat and milk, and as a mother of four, played no mean part in that.” Ava was concerned. Her perspective on health was Yet, after several moratoriums on testing and some shared by mothers around the world. She argued that in negotiations for a permanent test ban, progress toward addition to the direct health effects of nuclear weapons an agreement was halted by the 1961 Berlin crisis. testing, the diversion of resources to weaponry sacrificed Public polls reflect the hopelessness of the era at this human needs. Ava Helen served on the National Board of WILPF and as national WILPF vice president for three terms Disarm! Dismantle the War Economy Committee has launched an 18-month and spoke in 39 countries.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Copyright by Paul Harold Rubinson 2008
    Copyright by Paul Harold Rubinson 2008 The Dissertation Committee for Paul Harold Rubinson certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Containing Science: The U.S. National Security State and Scientists’ Challenge to Nuclear Weapons during the Cold War Committee: —————————————————— Mark A. Lawrence, Supervisor —————————————————— Francis J. Gavin —————————————————— Bruce J. Hunt —————————————————— David M. Oshinsky —————————————————— Michael B. Stoff Containing Science: The U.S. National Security State and Scientists’ Challenge to Nuclear Weapons during the Cold War by Paul Harold Rubinson, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin August 2008 Acknowledgements Thanks first and foremost to Mark Lawrence for his guidance, support, and enthusiasm throughout this project. It would be impossible to overstate how essential his insight and mentoring have been to this dissertation and my career in general. Just as important has been his camaraderie, which made the researching and writing of this dissertation infinitely more rewarding. Thanks as well to Bruce Hunt for his support. Especially helpful was his incisive feedback, which both encouraged me to think through my ideas more thoroughly, and reined me in when my writing overshot my argument. I offer my sincerest gratitude to the Smith Richardson Foundation and Yale University International Security Studies for the Predoctoral Fellowship that allowed me to do the bulk of the writing of this dissertation. Thanks also to the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy at Yale University, and John Gaddis and the incomparable Ann Carter-Drier at ISS.
    [Show full text]
  • Dear President Obama
    OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA FROM U.S. ORGANIZATIONS Mr. President: It’s time to move from talk to action on nuclear disarmament. April 28, 2014 Dear President Obama, During the closing session of the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague on March 25, 2014, you cited a number of concrete measures to secure highly-enriched uranium and plutonium and strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime that have been implemented as a result of the three Nuclear Security Summits, concluding: “So what’s been valuable about this summit is that it has not just been talk, it’s been action.” Would that you would apply the same standard to nuclear disarmament! On April 5, 2009 in Prague, you gave millions of people around the world new hope when you declared: “So today, I state clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.” Bolstered by that hope, over the past three years, there has been a new round of nuclear disarmament initiatives by governments not possessing nuclear weapons, both within and outside the United Nations. Yet the United States has been notably “missing in action” at best, and dismissive or obstructive at worst. This conflict may come to a head at the 2015 Review of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). We write now, on the eve of the third Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) meeting for the 2015 Review Conference of the NPT, which will take place at UN headquarters in New York April 28 – May 9, 2014, to underscore our plea that your administration shed its negative attitude and participate constructively in deliberations and negotiations regarding the creation of a multilateral process to achieve a nuclear weapons free world.
    [Show full text]
  • May 24 Statement Version 1
    Human security for public health, peace and sustainable development A global women’s appeal to commemorate International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament (May 24, 2020) and the 75th anniversary year of the United Nations ENDORSERS Parliamentarians Senator Byrganym Aitimova Isabelle Chevalley MP Marian Hobbs Kazakhstan Switzerland Aotearoa-New Zealand Member, Foreign Affairs Committee. Founder of the Swiss Liberal Ecology Former Cabinet Minister for Former Kazakhstan Ambassador to the Movement Disarmament and Arms Control United Nations Edith DesMarais Rep Carol Ammons Gabriela Heinrich MdB USA USA Germany Member, New Hampshire State Member, Illinois State Assembly. Deputy Chairwoman of the SPD Legislature. Recipient, President's Member, Women Legislators’ Lobby parliamentary group Volunteer Service Award Mindy Domb Steinunn Þóra Árnadóttir MP Amineh Kakabaveh MP USA Iceland Sweden Member, Massachusetts House of Member of the Icelandic Delegation to Independent Member of the Swedish Representatives. Former Executive the Nordic Council Parliament. Director, Amherst Survival Center Mary Ann Dunwell Sadet Karabulut MP Ibtissame Azzaoui MP USA Netherlands Morocco Montana State Representative Member, Netherlands Parliament Member, Foreign Affairs Committee Member Human Services Committee delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly; Asa Eriksson MP Margareta Kiener Nellen Senator Gabriela Cuevas Barron Sweden Switzerland Mexico Deputy, Foreign Affairs Committee. Peace Women Across the World. President, Inter-Parliamentary Union Former Junior World Curling Champion Former Chair, OSCE PA Committee for & Sweden Handball Player of the Year democracy, human rights and humanitarian questions Petra Bayr Cathy Kipp Ute Finckh-Krämer Austria USA Germany Vice-President, European Parliamentary Colorado State Representative Former Member, Bundestag. Forum for Sexual & Reproductive Member, Energy & Environment PNND Council member Rights.
    [Show full text]
  • The Man Who Thought of Everything Algis Valiunas
    Algis Valiunas DAVE CHENG • [email protected] DAVE 60 ~ The New Atlantis Copyright 2015. All rights reserved. See www.TheNewAtlantis.com for more information. The Man Who Thought of Everything Algis Valiunas There are no scientists any more. Of course there are more persons than ever before who practice one scientific discipline or another, but they do not call themselves scientists plain and simple. To do so would offend against the clannish pride in expertise that is so often a hallmark of mod- ern intellectual endeavor in just about any field you can name. Specialties and sub-specialties are abundant and scrupulously differentiated. One does not expect a cosmologist to have as much as a passing acquaintance with paleobotany. For that matter, a particle physicist adept in string theory might have difficulty making conversation with an acolyte of eter- nal recurrence; after their common undergraduate immersion in intro- ductory physics, these experts pursued divergent professional paths and now speed ever faster and farther away from each other, as the universe of knowledge, and especially of the most abstruse theories, expands at an ever increasing rate. For Plato the most sublime form of eros was philosophical friends’ sharing the same exquisite thought at the same moment; for today’s sci- entist, the most glorious proof of his wizardry is that when he is at the top of his game almost no one else in the world has any idea of what he is talking about. This rarefied collegiality might be considered the modern incarnation of Platonic friendship; it is in fact something very different.
    [Show full text]
  • 16 Questions on the Assassination
    A MESSAGE TO AMERICANS FROM PROFESSOR ARNOLD TOYNBEE: 16 QUESTIONS ON THE The Mark Lane brief gives strong reasons for thinking that there is something wrong ASSASSINATION about the way the assassination is being in- By Bertrand Russell vestigated, and I am sure that the right re- A reprint from the September, 1963 action to this is the setting-up, in the United issue of The Minority of One. States, of the Citizens' Committee of Inquiry. The Minority of One is an independ- ent monthly published at 77 Penning- The Citizens' Committee of Inquiry has, ton Avenue, Passaic, N. J. 07055. since its inception in March 1964, sent teams of investigators to Dallas, arranged meetings New York Office: 154 Nassau Street, discussing the assassination at scores of cam- puses across the U.S., and assembled and New York, N. Y. 10038. Tel. CO 7-1740. made available to the people of the U.S. and the world the facts in the case. The sixteen BOARD OF SPONSORS: questions raised in this pamphlet by Bertrand Russell have answers, but those answers are obscured by false statements, contradictions Dr. Gunther Anders and official suppression of the evidence. Prof. Daniel M. Berman The Citizens' Committee of Inquiry has Dr. Jerome Davis over two hundred leads that have not yet been followed tip and many capable investi- W. H. Ferry gators willing to go to the Dallas area. Lack of funds is the only obstacle to intensifying the Prof. D. F. Fleming investigation already under way. If you be- Rev. Stephen H. Fritchman lieve that the answers to the questions must be secured, then we invite your participation Maxwell Geismar in this historic effort.
    [Show full text]
  • Witness Form Filled
    %"%.$4&'"(& -1",-.&10-,-0-%0& .122-00%%& 34567EE&9AD?& 0A85HJE&(557& 11/30/2020 "5?7A&&&&Terry J. Lodge, Esq. & & & '88D7EEA&&&&316 N. Michigan St., Suite 520 & & & & Toledo, OH 43604-5627 & 07B7CDA67A&&(419) & 205-7084 & & & 1DE564I554A6&.7CD7876546EA&&&&Toledo Coalition for Safe Energy & & & 07854:?46E&A6&"4BB&"H?I7DA&&&&House Bill 104 & & & 07854?A6HA& && 27DI5B& &&xxxxxxxxx 3D45576& && "A5D& & & 07854:?46E&'EA& && -DACA6765& &&xx 1CCA6765& && -657D78578&-5D5H& & & 'D7&HAH&5&.7E4857D78&,AII?485 & && 47E& &&xx "A& & & 0C7L45B&.7CH785EA&&&& & & & & & & & & & & !.(00%&'0%/0(),&3'(/','-./0(1'.%1,.2',&2'),3'/%'-,/0%2',&'03%'43(,' %&,0%4/'2%//(0%' November 29, 2020 To the Members of the Ohio Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee: The undersigned 56 local, regional and national and grassroots antinuclear and safe energy organizations are united in their opposition to Ohio’s “Advanced Nuclear Technology Helping Energize Mankind Act” (“ANTHEM Act”), House Bill 104 (HB 104). The sponsors of HB 104 seek to “break the light-water reactor mold and free the market to realize our energy future.” We believe HB 104 will break the bank and destroy Ohio’s chances for a safe energy future. Our energy future has no room for another generation of nuclear power plants and their bloated overrunning costs, corporate welfare handouts, health experimentation with whole populations and the natural environment, all in the name of nursing a fragile technology that can only aggravate the expense and dangers of climate chaos. At this pivotal moment when humanity must end its carbon fuels addiction, expand genuine renewable energy sources and maximize efficiency and conservation, betting billions of taxpayer dollars on a governmental nuclear chamber of commerce is beyond irresponsible; it is absurd.
    [Show full text]
  • Eye on Iran Accusations of a Clandestine Nuclear by John Steinbach Weapons Program
    FOUNDED IN 1963 Our Fifth Decade WASHINGTON Working for SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Peace & Justice Peace Letter June, 2006 Published by the Washington Peace Center Vol. 42, No. 2 Eye on Iran accusations of a clandestine nuclear By John Steinbach weapons program. Even if Iran were pursuing The current efforts by the nuclear weapons, and there is not Bush administration to demonize one scintilla of evidence Iran have a strong sense of deja vu. supporting this accusation, As with the build-up to the according to the CIA it would take invasion of Iraq, they are engaging Iran ten years to develop nuclear in exaggeration, falsification of weapons. facts, and emotionalism to justify a In addition, even if Iran possible attack on Iran. developed nuclear weapons it would be national suicide were they to be used. (Iran is surrounded by nuclear states, Israel, Pakistan, 25 Years At The White House Gates India, Russia, and the United States in Iraq.) Longest Continuous Vigil Anywhere? See pages 5-8 These accusations of nuclear malfeasance reek of hypocrisy. Iran, a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, unlike India, Israel and Pakistan, has opened up its nuclear facilities to three years of unprecedented international inspections. Unfortunately, this time Bush is The only violations found were being aided and abetted by the issues of transparency. Meanwhile, Democrats, with Senators Clinton the United States, which is in gross and Lieberman, in particular, violation of the NPT for its refusal ratcheting up the pressure. to take steps toward total nuclear Brother Damu, DC Homeless The principal rationalization for disarmament, would never permit the drumbeats for war is Iran’s such inspections of its own nuclear We Miss You! Crisis nuclear research program, and facilities.
    [Show full text]
  • Scientists and War 1916-2016 by Dave Webb Leeds Beckett University and Scientists for Global Responsibility
    Scientists and War 1916-2016 By Dave Webb Leeds Beckett University and Scientists for Global Responsibility The quest for understanding and to know how things work – to find out why they are, what they are - has always been a major driving force for scientists. There are, however, other more negative external drivers – such as the pursuit for military superiority, even in times of peace. Science and engineering have unfortunately made killing easier by helping to develop new types of weapons and World War 1 saw more than its fair share of those. The war also saw a mixture of attitudes from scientists and engineers. Many thought it their duty to help develop new weapons technologies. But there were also those who would not participate in the killing. To understand the social pressures on scientists who spoke out against the war, we need to recognise the cultural context at that time. Just before World War 2 an article in Time magazine dated 11 September 1939, entitled Science and War, expressed the opinion that scientists were not to blame for the way in which their discoveries were used by “men of bad will” and misapplied to “the conquest and murder of men”. This also seemed to be the attitude of many scientists in 1914, and perhaps remains so today. Some though were directly involved. At the outbreak of the First World War, men with specialist scientific and technological skills were not prevented from serving at the Front – by Germany or the Allies. Although some were placed into departments of Time Magazine Front Cover, the armed forces where their skills could be used – for example September 11, 1939 Physicists Ernest Rutherford (Professor of Physics at Manchester since 1907 and winner of the 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry) and William Henry Bragg (holder of the Cavendish chair of physics at Leeds since 1909) went to carry out anti-submarine work for the Admiralty.
    [Show full text]
  • 70 Years of and Counting
    Federation of American Scientists 70 years of and counting Alexander DeVolpi Retired, Argonne National Laboratory Freeman Dyson Retired, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University Charles D. Ferguson President, FAS Richard L. Garwin IBM Fellow Emeritus, IBM Thomas J. Watson CHARLES D. FERGUSON Research Center Editor in Chief Frank von Hippel ALLISON FELDMAN Co-Director, Program on Science and Global Managing and Creative Editor Security, Princeton University ___________ Robert S. Norris Senior Fellow for Nuclear Policy, FAS B. Cameron Reed Charles A. Dana Professor of Physics, Alma FAS Public Interest Report College 1725 DeSales Street NW Megan Sethi Suite 600 U.S. Historian and Adjunct Professor, Cal Poly Washington, DC 20036 Pomona and Southern New Hampshire PHONE: 202.546.3300 University FAX: 202.675.1010 Daniel Singer EMAIL: [email protected] Of Counsel, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & The PIR welcomes letters to the editor. Letters Jacobson LLP should not exceed 300 words and may be edited Jeremy J. Stone for length and clarity. Founder, Catalytic Diplomacy ___________ Annual print subscription is $100.00. An archive of FAS Public Interest Reports is available online at: http://fas.org/publications/public-interest- reports/. Cover image: U.S. military observe the explosion during Operation Crossroads Baker, a nuclear test conducted on Bikini Atoll on July 25, 1946. Source: U.S. Department of Defense. PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE: REINVENTION AND RENEWAL Charles D. Ferguson………………………………………………………………………………..1 THE LEGACY OF THE FEDERATION OF AMERICAN SCIENTISTS Megan Sethi………………………………………………………………………………………...5 SCIENTISTS AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS, 1945-2015 Robert S. Norris…………………………………………………………………..…………….....12 GOVERNMENT SECRECY AND CENSORSHIP Alexander DeVolpi……………………………………………………………………………......15 FAS HISTORY, 1961-1963 Freeman Dyson…………………………………………………………………………...………23 FAS IN THE 1960s: FORMATIVE YEARS Daniel Singer………………………………………………………………………………...……26 REVITALIZING AND LEADING FAS: 1970-2000 Jeremy J.
    [Show full text]
  • Endorsers of the Open Letter to Presidents Biden and Putin
    Endorsers of the Open Letter to Presidents Biden and Putin Political, military and religious leaders, legislators, academics/scientists and other representatives of civil society* POLITICAL LEADERS & INFLUENCERS: Nobuyasu Abe, Japan Dr Irina Ghaplanyan, Armenia. Senior Adviser, Council on Strategic Risks. Former United Senior Advisor on Climate Change to the World Bank Group. Nations Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs; Former Deputy Minister of Environment; Ambassador Edy Korthals Altes, The Netherlands. Dame Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE, United Kingdom Former Ambassador of The Netherlands to Spain and Primatologist, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute. President of the World Conference of Religions for Peace; UN Messenger for Peace. Honorary Member of the World Future Council; Lord (Des) Browne of Ladyton, United Kingdom. Member of UK House of Lords. Former Defence Secretary. Ambassador (ret) Thomas Graham Jr. USA Chair, European Leadership Network; Former Special Representative of the President for Arms Control, Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Ambassador Libran Nuevas Cabactulan, Philippines Former Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the Dr Anatoliy Grytsenko, Ukraine. United Nations in New York. President of the 2010 NPT Former Defense Minister (2005-2007); Head, National Review Conference. Security & Defense Committee of Parliament; Vincenzo Camporini, Italy. Lord David Hannay of Chiswick, United Kingdom. Scientific Advisor at Istituto Affari Internazionali. Crossbench Peer, UK House of Lords. Co-Chair of the UK All Former Minister of Defence. Party Parliamentary Group on Global Security and Non- proliferation. Senior Member, European Leadership Network. Ingvar Carlsson, Sweden. Former Prime Minister of Sweden. Silvia Hernández, México Senior Member, European Leadership Network; Founding Partner of Estrategia Pública Consultores.
    [Show full text]
  • Testimony of Thomas Devine, Government Accountability Project
    TESTIMONY OF THOMAS DEVINE, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT before the SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT OF GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT, THE FEDERAL WPRKFORCE AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, SENATE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE on S. 372 THE WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION ENHANCEMENT ACT June 11, 2009 Thank you for inviting this testimony on legislation to put protection back in the Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA). Until now, the new millennium has been the Dark Ages – unprecedented levels of corruption, sustained by secrecy and enforced through repression. This legislation is necessary to turn on the light just in time. Already this year we have embarked on the largest spending program in government history through the stimulus law. We are on the verge of landmark societal overhauls to prevent medical care disasters for America’s families due to national health insurance, and to prevent environmental disasters for the whole planet from global warming. We have been shamed by torture and widespread domestic surveillance. The President has promised the taxpayers will get their money’s worth, and that never again will America betray the core values of freedom, and humanity. That commitment is a fantasy unless public servants have the freedom to bear witness, whether it is the freedom to warn of disasters before they happen, or to protest abuses of power that betray the public trust. Timely passage of genuine whistleblower rights also would be a signal that new Congressional leadership is serious about three basic taxpayer commitments that require best practices accountability checks and balances —1) getting our money’s worth from unprecedented stimulus spending; 2) locking in checks and balances to keep honest the new markets created by health care and climate change laws; and 3) informed oversight so that the next time abuses of human rights abroad and freedom at home will end while they are the exception, instead of the rule after eight years of secrecy.
    [Show full text]
  • Briefing Paper
    UK & Ireland Mayors , Provosts and Leaders for Peace Chapter 3. Previous Leeds Peace Lecturers BriefingThe lectures officially began early paper in 1987 and have taken place in Leeds Civic Date: 15 th May 2020 No.28 Subject: Covid-19 global lockdown issue and Mayors for Peace activity 1. Introduction This report has been developed by the Chapter Secretary and provides members with a progress report on events and initiatives linked into the Mayors for Peace organisation, many of which have had to be cancelled or postponed due to the unprecedented global lockdown created by the Covid-19 outbreak. The report also looks at the ongoing activity in developing the European Chapter of Mayors for Peace. 2020 is the 75 th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, and August 6 th and 9 th 2020 is also the 75 th anniversary of the atomic weapon attacks on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The report also looks to the future, even though that remains confused, and may remain so until at least the end of the year. Specific issues noted in this report: • Postponement of the UN’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. • Postponement of the 10 th Executive and General Conference of Mayors for Peace. • Commemorating the 75 th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic weapon attacks and the end of the Second World War. • Progress with developing the European Chapter of Mayors for Peace. • Plans to hold a rescheduled UK and Ireland Mayors for Peace Chapter webinar. • An overview of the Stockholm Virtual Forum on Peace and Development, May 2020.
    [Show full text]