[KWPeace-groups] 7 Upcoming events and 5 Resources for Peace, Justice & Disarmament - Please share widely

[Tamara Lorincz]

Hello everyone,

Hope you are having a good summer.

Please find below 7 upcoming events and 5 resources. Feel free to circulate.

Yesterday, August 9 was Nagasaki Day, International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples and International Peacekeepers Day.

Canada is not signing the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons because of our membership in NATO. At the NATO summit in Madrid in June, allies re-affirmed that nuclear weapons are the supreme guarantee of their "security": https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/2022/6/pdf/290622-strategic-concept.pdf

Canada is currently ranked #71 with only 54 soldiers wearing the UN blue helmet and of that only 18 are women despite the Elsie Initiative: https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/troop-and-police-contributors

By contrast, Canada increased troops in Latvia to over 700 and has special forces operating in Ukraine.
The Canadian Foreign Policy Institute is having an important webinar on peacekeeping tonight - see below to register.

Tomorrow, WILPF Canada is having an excellent webinar with Afghan women on the situation in the country and since the 1-year take over of the Taliban. Registration details below.

WILPF Canada and VOW have written to Minister Joly about our concerns with Canada arming Ukraine, military spending, nuclear weapons etc... You can read our letter here: https://wilpfcanada.ca/index.php/2022/08/04/wilpf-canada-and-the-canadian-voice-of-women-for-peace-send-joint-letter-to-foreign-affairs-minister-melanie-joly-to-stop-arms-exports-to-ukraine-and-to-help-end-the-war/

In solidarity for peace, earth and justice,
Tamara

(1)
WEBINAR: Understanding Canadian Peacekeeping
Aug 10, 2022 at 07:00 PM ET
Organized by the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute (CFPI)
Register: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UtGY_9KCTZq8MOPeouxdfA
While few Canadian troops have been devoted to UN missions in recent years, Ottawa just pushed to extend an 18-year-old UN mission in Haiti and Canadian forces are patrolling near China under cover of the United Nations Command originally set up to fight the Korean War. In another important piece of Canadian UN peacekeeping history, Belgium recently returned the tooth of Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba who was killed during a UN mission.  "Understanding Canadian peacekeeping" will discuss whether peacekeeping has been an alternative to NATO or a means to advance Washington's objectives. Join Professor Jemima Pierre, journalist Mitchell Thompson, Professor Walter Dorn, author Yves Engler and Dr Peter Langille at this free public webinar.

(2)
WEBINAR: WOMEN AND PEACE IN AFGHANISTAN: WHAT CANADIANS CAN DO NOW
Thursday, August 11, 2022
4 p.m. PT/ 7 p.m. ET
Organized by the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF) Canada
Register in advance for this webinar: https://bit.ly/3Jty42I
On 15 August it will be one year since Kabul fell to the Taliban and life in Afghanistan was profoundly changed.  This webinar will centre the voices of Afghan women presenting their experiences and words from within and without Afghanistan on what this year has brought for women and their families.
While the year has seen less overt war than in the lead up to the US withdrawal, it has been far from peaceful as the Taliban enforces its rule, internal non-state violence continues and the people of Afghanistan face severe restrictions in freedom and extreme economic deprivation.
The legacy of decades of war and current international restrictions have caused WILPF Afghanistan to declare to the UN Human Rights Council, "We Are Not Living, We are Surviving<https://www.wilpf.org/advocacy_documents/we-are-not-living-we-are-surviving/>" and to ask where the international community is in the present crisis for the rights of women and girls and for humanitarian support for Afghans, whether within the country or seeking refuge abroad. The webinar will explore the present and what actions Canada can take now.
SPEAKERS:
Khatira Daryabi is an artist and activist for refugee and women's rights. Born and raised in Afghanistan, she planned weekly biking protests for peace and equality in Kabul and taught many girls to bike and join the mission of women's employment. She encouraged other girls to do the same, despite threats and traumatic experiences due to her activism. At age 14, she came to Canada alone as a refugee and is now a student at the University of British Columbia Sauder in a dual degree with a full scholarship. She continues advocating for women and refugee rights through her art, public speaking, and running projects. Learn about her story by watching her TEDx Talk "Educating girls and breaking barriers is what Afghan women do<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCMwynLizCk>."
Sorya Karimi is a women's rights advocate who organized several demonstrations after the occupation of Kabul by the Taliban. The last demonstration she led was met by violence when the Taliban turned against journalists covering the protest, took them away and tortured them. Photos were taken of her and others who participated in these protests. After the last demonstration, the Taliban sought out her and her family, going to her neighbourhood and asking people if they knew her while holding her photo with her name printed on it. A local leader denied recognizing her and advised her to move for her safety. Sorya Karimi and her family went into hiding. As an organizer of the protests, she was interviewed by a feminist media/newspaper based in the UK. Read her interview "I fought so hard for my rights<https://newint.org/features/2021/09/28/i-fought-so-hard-my-rights-afghanistan>."
Corey Levine is a human rights and peacebuilding advocate, researcher and writer with a specialization in gender. She has spent more than 25 years working in conflict areas, and has worked with both non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations, including UNHCR and Amnesty International. In March 2002, she travelled to Afghanistan in order to determine Canada's peacebuilding support in the aftermath of the fall of the Taliban. This began an almost 20-year engagement with the country. Corey's last posting to Afghanistan was from November 2020 to June 2021, where she worked with women parliamentarians. Corey returned from a brief trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan in June.
Ellen Judd (moderator) is a Canadian anthropologist and a member of WILPF Canada.  She served as chair/co-chair of the Afghanistan Committee of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows for ten years, 2012-2021. She has long worked for nonviolence and social justice, in support of Afghan peace activists and, most recently, for the return of frozen Afghanistan assets to the people of Afghanistan. Read Ellen's letter to the Toronto Star "As a Canadian 9/11 widow, I urge Biden to repatriate Afghan funds<https://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2022/02/17/as-a-canadian-911-widow-i-urge-biden-to-repatriate-afghan-funds.html>."
Organized by the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF) Canada: www.wilpfcanada.ca<http://www.wilpfcanada.ca>

(3)
WEBINAR: 'Should the West Push for a Negotiated Solution with Russia in the Ukraine War?'
Debate between Dr. Barry Posen and Dr. Andrew Michta. The virtual debate will be held on Thursday, August 11 from:
3:00 PM - 4:15 PM ET
Organized by the Institute for Peace & Diplomacy.
Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_islewAgeQJy8_uHjQbmPNA

(4)
WEBINAR: NICARAGUA - ANNIVERSARY OF A REVOLUTION
This webinar had been postpone and is now rescheduled for Tuesday, August 16 as indicated below
Join the UNAC webinar
Tuesday, August 16, 5 PM Eastern US and Canada
Click here or the image below to register: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_boxf9EvpTemBZdGc6GfeHA

(5)
ONLINE PUBLIC EVENT : #BLOCKBLACKROCK
Aug 16, 2022 09:00 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join this online public event on Tuesday 16 August to highlight why UN Women needs to rescind its partnership with BlackRock and set standards for its private sector partnerships. Interpretation in French, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Organized by the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF): wilpf.org
Link to register: http://ow.ly/fmp950KgUOb

(6)
WEBINAR: Meet Susi Snyder from ICAN and Don't Bank on the Bomb
Start: Wednesday, August 31, 2022*10:00 AM * Pacific Daylight Time (US & Canada) (GMT-07:00)
Susi Snyder coordinates the Don't Bank on the Bomb project and works with Nobel-Prize winner ICAN to engage the financial sector in moving us away from nuclear war.
She contributed to the books A World Free from Nuclear Weapons (2020),  Sleepwalking to Armageddon: The Threat of Nuclear Annihilation (2017) and War and Environment Reader (2018).
She is a 2016 Nuclear Free Future Award Laureate and has worked in PAX's humanitarian disarmament team, coordinating nuclear disarmament efforts.
Susi previously served as the Secretary General of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom at their Geneva secretariat.
Register: https://bit.ly/3Qsl1RB

(7)
ONLINE WORKSHOP: A PROJECT PLOUGHSHARES WORKSHOP: CANADA AND THE ABOLITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Sep 15, 2022 10:30 AM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Organized by Project Ploughshares.
Register: https://ploughshares-ca.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEvf-GvrD8oGNP1APMRt3TWNXfrHEWCPY3y

RESOURCES:
(1)
LATEST SPACE ALERT: Includes articles about the militarization of the Pacific, Canada and NORAD etc.
http://space4peace.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Space-Alert-42.pdf

(2)
6-Part Video Series "Truth to the Powerless: An Investigation into Canadian Foreign Policy".
Watch it here for free: https://www.truthtothepowerless.com/

(3)
WILPF Canada member Satoko Oka Norimatsu co-writes 3-part series with Dr. John Price "Canada joins U.S. in militarizing the Pacific" published in the Georgia Straight. Read it here: https://wilpfcanada.ca/index.php/2022/07/16/wilpf-canada-member-satoko-oka-norimatsu-dr-john-price-canada-joins-u-s-in-militarizing-the-pacific-first-of-a-three-part-series/

(4)
VOW and WILPF member Tamara publishes article in Toronto Star "NATO's new Strategic Concept dangerous plan to preserve Western power through global militarism": https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/07/17/natos-new-strategic-concept-is-a-dangerous-plan-to-preserve-western-power-through-global-militarism.html

(5)
Excellent article by journalist John Pilger "Another Hiroshima is coming - unless we stop it now"
https://popularresistance.org/john-pilger-another-hiroshima-is-coming-unless-we-stop-it-now/



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://kwpeace.ca/pipermail/groups_kwpeace.ca/attachments/20220810/8b885931/attachment.htm>