[KWPeace-groups] 10 upcoming webinars, articles, petitions & sign on letters. Please spread the word! + Canada's new Arctic Foreign Policy is shameful

[Tamara Lorincz]

Hello KW Peace,

I wanted to share these 10 items with you below, which includes upcoming webinars and articles. Plus please sign and share the petitions and sign-on letters, please scroll down.

I also wanted to let you know that the federal government just released Canada's Arctic Foreign Policy. Read it here:
https://www.international.gc.ca/gac-amc/publications/transparency-transparence/arctic-arctique/arctic-policy-politique-arctique.aspx?lang=eng

*Ottawa's new Arctic Foreign Policy is a plan for greater militarization of the northern territories as I feared. NATO + NORAD mentioned 33 times and most of the funding is for their modernization $38.6 billion (that's BILLION) but only $20 million (that's MILLION) for sustainable development research (that's just RESEARCH)! Climate change mentioned 39 times roughly the same amount as NATO-NORAD. But this Arctic Strategy is about moving fossil fuel powered F-35 fighter jets, destroyers, submarines, attack helicopters up the north that will exacerbate the climate crisis and further warm this vulnerable oceanic ecosystem.

*Canada's new Arctic Foreign Policy does not represent women, peace & security at all. The word "women" is NOT even mentioned once! The word "Youth" mentioned only 5 times and no money for programs for them, that's how little Canada cares. But, "Security" is mentioned 92 times (meaning military) with lots of money attached to it and peace mentioned only 8 times (meaning following international law & using diplomacy) with no new money that I could find. The Indigenous demand for the Arctic to be a "Zone of peace" is not mentioned at all. Canada is transforming the Inuit homeland into a battleground for NATO and NORAD = the US. This is shameful.

Also note, on the issue of the Arctic Council, Canada's new Arctic Foreign Policy states, "Canada has been clear that there will be no business as usual with Russia, at the Arctic Council or elsewhere, since its illegal, full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022." The US and NATO provoked this war and are waging it now.

We now know definitively that this war in Ukraine IS a NATO-proxy war using Ukrainians people to weaken and destabilize Russia, that's exactly what former UK Prime Minister said in an interview with the Telegraph on Nov. 28, "We're morally responsible for their [Ukrainian] predicament. We helped to create this nightmare.... Let's face it, we're waging a proxy war, we're waging a proxy war, but we're not giving our proxies the tools to do their job. For years and years now, we've been allowing them to fight with one hand tied behind their backs. It's been cruel..." Watch the interview with the Telegraph: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01DdfMqP4-g

End the wars in Ukraine and Sudan. End the genocide in Gaza. Peace and goodwill everywhere.

In solidarity for peace, earth and justice!
Tamara

(1)
Webinar: Peacebuilding Next to Russia
Start: Saturday, December 14, 2024 at 12:00 PM ET
https://actionnetwork.org/events/webinar-peacebuilding-next-to-russia?clear_id=true
Finland and Russia not only share a 1,340-kilometer (833 miles) border, but also a long history. There have been many conflicts and disagreements, many of which have been resolved without violence and war. Now, as tensions build, it is important to hear from advocates for peace, nonviolent resolution to conflicts, and ways to reduce the tension.
Featuring:

  *   Claus Montonen, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) - ICAN and nuclear disarmament
  *   Ulla Klötzer, Women for Peace, Finland - International Statement from the Peace Conference in St. Petersburg
  *   Liisa Taskinen, Peace WG of CP of Finland and European Left - Defense Cooperation Agreement between Finland and the U.S.
  *   Ahti Tolvanen, Friends Society (Quakers) of Finland - Pacifism, Alternatives to War, and 50th Anniversary of the Helsinki Conference in 2025
  *   Anna Gartagani from Justice Not Arms / Sumud - End Arms Trade with Israel

(2)
WEBINAR: "NATO's Escalating War Drive in Ukraine, Palestine & Syria, & the Growing Protest Movement for Canada Out of NATO" Wednesday December 18
4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT /
7pm ET / 8pm AT
>> https://mawovancouver.us16.list-manage.com/track/click?u=303cfead2693f92cbcc750a8b&id=bd2503122d&e=be996055d6
This upcoming webinar follows the recent successful Counter-Summit vs. NATO's 70th Annual Parliamentary Assembly in Montreal, which had a full house in-person and has been viewed over 3500 times online. The Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network is organizing this follow-up webinar to bring people in Canada up to speed on NATO's latest reckless military escalations in Europe and West Asia and what we can do about them. The webinar will feature presentations from a panel of experts from across Canada, plus ample time for a Q&A.
Join for speakers and discussion with:
RICK STERLING
Journalist and Syria Support Movement Steering Committee member
GLENN MICHALCHUK
National President of the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians.
Chair of Peace Alliance Winnipeg
TAMARA LORINCZ
Member of the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom-Canada. Advisory committee member of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, the No to War, No to NATO Network, and the Global Women United for Peace Against NATO (GWUAN).
ALEX TYRRELL
Outspoken anti-war activist and leader of the Green Party of Québec
Moderated by Janine Solanki, chair of Mobilization Against War & Occupation (MAWO) and Coordinating Committee member of the Canada-Wide Peace & Justice Network (CPWJN)
Organized by the Canada Wide Peace and Justice Network (CWPJN)
https://peaceandjusticenetwork.ca

(3)
WEBINAR: Step back from the nuclear brink: Ukraine, NATO and Trump
Date & TimeDec 18, 2024 02:00 PM in
Speakers include: Retired US Colonel, Ann Wright, Sophie Bolt, General Secretary CND, Lindsey German, Convenor Stop the War, Tom Unterrainer, Chair CND.
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ShxOm3yhQkSVP2iqwGpy6A#/registration?link_id=7&can_id=08297aacfa6299b1025e006dffcf983d&source=email-an-era-of-conflict-instability-and-destrution&email_referrer=email_2558042&email_subject=theres-always-money-for-war

(4)
ARTICLE: Jeffrey Sachs: How the US and Israel Destroyed Syria and Called It Peace
Scheer Post, December 12, 2024
https://scheerpost.com/2024/12/12/how-the-us-and-israel-destroyed-syria-and-called-it-peace/

(5)
ARTICLE: Greenwashing NATO: Canada and the new Climate Change and Security Centre of Excellence in Montreal
Tamara Lorincz, Canadian Dimension, December 13, 2024
https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/greenwashing-nato

(6)
ARTICLE: Reaching the NATO 2% GDP target will mean more guns and much less butter
Tamara Lorincz, Rabble.ca
https://rabble.ca/economy/reaching-the-nato-2-gdp-target-will-mean-more-guns-and-much-less-butter/

(7)
PETITION: Please sign & share widely parliamentary e-petition 5129 for Canada to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, attend the Meeting of the Parties on the TPNW and conduct consultations on a study of nuclear disarmament. We're only at 412 now - we need another 90 signatures! https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-5129

(8)
PETITION: Please sign & share the petition to "Tell ScotiaBank to Divest Completely from Elbit Systems!"
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-scotiabank-to-divest-completely-from-elbit-systems-2?source=direct_link&

(9)
SIGN ON LETTER: Take a moment to let the Canada Pension Plan know you demand they divest from companies complicit with war crimes and genocide.
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/canada-pension-plan-ignores-their-16-billion-investment-in-war-crimes-and-potential-genocide?clear_id=true&source=direct_link&link_id=8&can_id=08297aacfa6299b1025e006dffcf983d&email_referrer=email_2558305&email_subject=during-recent-stakeholder-meetings-canada-pension-plan-ignores-its-16-billion-investment-in-war-crimes-and-potential-genocide

(10)
SIGN ON LETTER: Take one minute to send a letter to Canada's Attorney General and demand protection for Hassan Diab, by filling in the fields on the right. Don't extradite him to France. He's an innocent man.
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/canada-must-protect-hassan-diab-from-hate-crimes-and-death-threats?source=direct_link&link_id=15&can_id=08297aacfa6299b1025e006dffcf983d&email_referrer=email_2554024&email_subject=canada-must-protect-hassan-diab-from-hate-crimes-and-death-threats-declare-diabs-innocence-and-refuse-a-second-extradition
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