With the Hibakusha, let us achieve a nuclear weapon-free, peaceful and just world -- for the future of the humankind and our planet. 2022 Statement of the Japan Council against A & H Bombs (Gensuikyo)
Upon the 77th Anniversary of the U.S. Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
TOMORROW -- Peace & Planet International Conference: The Fierce Urgency of Now July 30, the eve of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference, the Peace & Planet International Network will hold a hybrid conference (in New York and virtual). The Conference is designed to provide a forum for the world's peace movements to share positions and observations on the dynamics of an increasingly dangerous world disorder and organize common strategies for peace, disarmament, and human survival. The conference is structured with three panels and workshops. Speakers from the U.S., Europe -- including Russia and Ukraine-- Japan, China, and the Global South include Jeremy Corbyn, former UK Member of Parliament and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Co-Chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. Click here to register and see the full list of speakers.
August 6 and 9: Make the Unthinkable Impossible! Russia's war on Ukraine, which could eventually draw the militaries of the U.S., its NATO allies and Russia into direct conflict, exacerbated by Russia's repeated threats to use nuclear weapons, has raised the specter of nuclear war to the highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Other festering nuclear flashpoints include Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula and South Asia. Against this backdrop, we are approaching the 77th anniversaries of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6 and 9. Groups across the country and around the world will be commemorating these anniversaries by demanding action by the nuclear-armed states to end their existential threats and eliminate nuclear weapons. Click here for a calendar of events and activities.
Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons Not Giving Up! The global nuclear disarmament movement is alive, active, diverse, and inspiring, judging by the 27th Annual General Meeting on July 23 of the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons, a global civil society network for the elimination of nuclear weapons. Nuclear disarmament activists from around the world came together to share campaigns and discuss nuclear disarmament strategy in the new political environment, in particular, in light of theRussia/Ukraine war. The meeting also served to build further cooperation amongst peace and disarmament organizations, networks and activists. United for Peace & Justice is an affiliated network with Abolition 2000. Click here to read a summary report by UNFOLD ZERO, another affiliated network.
Afghan's Central Bank Assets Remain Frozen as the Anniversary of U.S. Troop Withdrawal Approaches Unfreeze Afghanistan, which works with UFPJ member organizations September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows and CODEPINK, is hosting a webinar, on August 11 at 12 noon Eastern time, to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and reflect on what's still owed to the Afghan people. Afghanistan's Central Bank assets have remained frozen by the Biden administration for months, contributing to widespread food insecurity, increased inflation, and a struggling domestic economy. The Afghan people deserve access to their own money to rebuild and thrive after decades of occupation. The most important thing we can do for them right now is call on the Biden administration to release Afghanistan's assets and bolster international aid pledges after nearly $2.3 trillion in U.S. wartime spending. Register to attend the webinar HERE.
Fusion Organizing in North Carolina In the spirit of moral fusion organizing as promoted by the Poor Peoples Campaign (PPC), North Carolina (NC) Peace Action is joining the NC Medicare For All Coalition and active members of the NC PPC in a new project to promote Medicare for All. NC Medicare For All Coalition(a PPC partner organization) is looking for people across the state interested in meeting with Congressional candidates to talk about why they should support a universal, single-payer Medicare for All healthcare system, which is one of the PPC's priority demands. This action is in line with several of the PPC's 7 steps before the midterms; in particular 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7. NC Peace Action is asking its members across the state to participate in this action. Contact Rebecca Cerese at rcerese(at)gmail.com.
War is Not Green: How Militarism Fuels the Climate Crisis and What You Can Do About It We are living in the midst of a climate and ecological emergency. Instead of responding to this emergency by investing in community needs and transitioning away from fossil fuels, the U.S. government is investing more in militarism to maintain imperial control over a dying planet. Militarism must stop. We cannot allow our government to prioritize power over people any longer. On Saturday, Aug. 6, join us virtually or in person at The People's Forum in New York to learn from and join organizations working to fight militarism and advocate for a just transition to a clean energy economy. Sponsored by Extinction Rebellion Peace, Peace Action NYS, Institute for Policy Studies, World Beyond War, Uptown Progressive Action, Brooklyn for Peace, UFPJ and CODEPINK. Learn more and register here.
Register Now for the 2022 Veterans For Peace Online Convention Veterans For Peace will hold its annual convention online again, from August 25 -- 28, 2022. The theme of this year's convention is From War Making to Peace Seeking. We've had an amazing experience the past two years and we look forward to another successful Convention! We know that many of us will miss being able to greet each other in person, but we also know that each and every one of us wants to make sure all of our members are safe and healthy. Click here to register and to find what's in the works, including workshops and trainings, plenaries, award presentations, the business meeting, and special events!
Webinar: The U.S. Russia, China & NATO: The Dangerous New Era of Great Power Confrontation & How We Respond August 8, 7 p.m. EDT, with Reiner Braun, International Peace Bureau, and Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies. The Ukraine War crystalized a new era of "blockification" and increasing military, economic, and technological competition. Escalation of the war remains possible. Biden's National Security Policy and NATO's new Strategic Concept name China as a "challenge" to the rules-based order. Provocative naval and air force "exercises" in the East and South China Sea could trigger a U.S.-China nuclear war. Join two leading analysts to make sense of this fluid and dangerous landscape. Co-sponsored by Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security and Massachusetts Peace Action. Click here for more information and to register.
Common Security, Nuclear Risks and the OSCE in the Wake of the Ukraine Conflict This webinar, held on June 27, highlighted the importance of common security mechanisms like the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), especially in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and increased nuclear threats. Little-known to most Americans, the OSCE, with 57 participating States in North America, Europe and Asia -- including the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine, is the world's largest regional security organization. Co-sponsored by Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, this informative webinar featured Alexander Likhothal, advisor to the President of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, from 1989-1991, former European Parliamentarians, a retired French Air Force Commander, and UFPJ Co-convener, Jackie Cabasso. Read more. You can see a recording of the webinar HERE.
The Supreme Court's Dobbs Ruling Is an Attack on Us All At a time when Christian Nationalists are carrying out a plan to subvert our democracy, Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Co-Chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, offers this insightful analysis: "The multi-decade campaign to reverse Roe v. Wade has always been about building a political movement to seize and wield political power. For decades, it's championed a vision of "family values" grounded in the nuclear family and a version of community life meant to tightly control sex and sexuality, while sanctioning attacks on women and LGBTQIA people." This Christian nationalist movement has positioned itself to advance a full-spectrum extremist agenda that is not only patriarchal and sexist, but racist, anti-poor, and anti-democratic." Read the complete article.
Radio show: A Blueprint for Organizing from Young Organizers In the most recent episode of CODEPINK radio, co-director Danaka Katovich interviews Ryley Albright, Grace Sieglman, and Stefi de la Torre, three organizers with the Divest Mike campaign based in Chicago. This campaign aims to get Congressman Mike Quigley to refuse campaign contributions from the top 5 weapons manufacturers. This campaign centers on a key concept: as long as our representatives receive funding from war profiteers, they will keep voting to increase the military budget and to approve arms sales. If we get our representatives to divest their campaigns from these companies, they are much more likely to vote for peace. Through this campaign, local organizers with Divest Mike are using local action to change national policy. Learn more and listen to the episode here.
Coalition to Stop TEPCO's toxic water dump & all nuclear poisoning invites you to join! A growing group of organizers across the US and Globe are building power to stop Japan's plan to allow Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) next spring to begin releasing into the Pacific 1.28 million tons of irradiated water that was used to cool the radioactive core at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The US Government has been silent; they have been doing their own small batch releases from San Onofre, and only giving 24-hour notice to the public. Find more information and a path to join the Stop TEPCO campaign on Activist San Diego's websiteand be sure to sign the petition to President Biden. #StopTEPCO #SaveOurSeafood #DontNukeTheOcean
Free Daniel Hale! Wednesday, 7/27, marks a year since whistleblower Daniel Hale was sentenced to 45 months in prison for exposing the deadly realities of U.S. drone warfare. In a letter before his sentencing, Daniel spoke about his experiences with PTSD and the cruelty of the drone warfare he experienced in Afghanistan. Daniel wrote: "The answer came to me, that to stop the cycle of violence, I ought to sacrifice my own life and not that of another person [...] Forgive me, your honor, for the taking of papers as opposed to the lives of others. I could not, god so help me, have done otherwise." Read more about Daniel's story, and write to Congress urging them to free Daniel.
Pass the Yemen War Powers Resolution Now! During President Biden's fraught trip to Saudi Arabia where he fist-bumped MBS, the architect of the war in Yemen, Senators Sanders, Warren, and Leahy introduced a Yemen War Powers Resolution in the Senate. The Yemen War Powers Resolution, which was originally passed in 2019 but vetoed by President Trump, would end U.S. support for the war on Yemen. The war has killed almost 400,000 Yemenis with the support of U.S. complicity. It has been time to pass the Yemen War Powers Resolution for a long time. Join us and urge your Senator to join the effort HERE.
What Might Biden Have Achieved in His Recent Trip Before President Biden's recent trip to the Middle East Peace Action President Kevin Martin wrote what could be seen as a hopeful projection for the visit. Kevin writes, "the president should make history by going to Iran, not just to clinch the deal for a re-entry into the Iran anti-nuclear agreement (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA), disastrously abrogated by Trump, but to reset relations with Iran, including re-establishing embassies and normal diplomatic relations between our two countries." Read his Common Dreams articleand find out what could have been.
AMLO Is Trying to Free Mexico and Latin America From the US's Imperial Grip CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin has written an article exploring the popularity of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), who recently had a viral interaction with his supporters in DC where he blew kisses, caught flowers, and shouted praise out of his hotel window. Besides being a popular, people-oriented president, Medea argues that AMLO is significant as a progressive leader in the Americas challenging the Western imperialist status quo. Medea quotes AMLO in the article: "'We are not a protectorate, a colony, or anyone's backyard,' he declared in a groundbreaking July 2021 speech. 'We say "adios" to the impositions, interference, sanctions, exclusion, and blockades.'"Read more here.
DC Demands Justice for Jayland Walker CODEPINK campaigner Tim Biondo writes about a recent vigil outside of the Department of Justice in Washington, DC in response to the police murder of Jayland Walker in Akron, Ohio. The vigil was convened by the DC Chapter of the Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and several other organizations focused on justice. Tim writes: "The struggle against US state violence is an international struggle. The same resources being used to terrorize Black communities in the US are those being used to dominate and repress the people of Africa, Latin America, Asia, and even Europe."Read more here.
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July 30, the eve of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference, the Peace & Planet International Network will hold a hybrid conference (in New York and virtual). The Conference is designed to provide a forum for the world's peace movements to share positions and observations on the dynamics of an increasingly dangerous world disorder and organize common strategies for peace, disarmament, and human survival. The conference is structured with three panels and workshops. Speakers from the U.S., Europe -- including Russia and Ukraine-- Japan, China, and the Global South include Jeremy Corbyn, former UK Member of Parliament and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Co-Chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. 
Russia's war on Ukraine, which could eventually draw the militaries of the U.S., its NATO allies and Russia into direct conflict, exacerbated by Russia's repeated threats to use nuclear weapons, has raised the specter of nuclear war to the highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Other festering nuclear flashpoints include Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula and South Asia. Against this backdrop, we are approaching the 77th anniversaries of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6 and 9. Groups across the country and around the world will be commemorating these anniversaries by demanding action by the nuclear-armed states to end their existential threats and eliminate nuclear weapons. 
The global nuclear disarmament movement is alive, active, diverse, and inspiring, judging by the 27th Annual General Meeting on July 23 of the 
On June 18, United for Peace & Justice joined tens of thousands of people from all walks of life and all 50 states in Washington, DC for the 
Unfreeze Afghanistan, which works with UFPJ member organizations September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows and CODEPINK, is hosting a webinar, on August 11 at 12 noon Eastern time, to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and reflect on what's still owed to the Afghan people. Afghanistan's Central Bank assets have remained frozen by the Biden administration for months, contributing to 
In the spirit of moral fusion organizing as promoted by the Poor Peoples Campaign (PPC), North Carolina (NC) Peace Action is joining the NC Medicare For All Coalition and active members of the NC PPC in a new project to promote Medicare for All. 
We are living in the midst of a climate and ecological emergency. Instead of responding to this emergency by investing in community needs and transitioning away from fossil fuels, the U.S. government is investing more in militarism to maintain imperial control over a dying planet. Militarism must stop. We cannot allow our government to prioritize power over people any longer. On Saturday, Aug. 6, join us virtually or in person at The People's Forum in New York to learn from and join organizations working to fight militarism and advocate for a just transition to a clean energy economy. Sponsored by Extinction Rebellion Peace, Peace Action NYS, Institute for Policy Studies, World Beyond War, Uptown Progressive Action, Brooklyn for Peace, UFPJ and CODEPINK. 
Veterans For Peace will hold its annual convention online again, from August 25 -- 28, 2022. The theme of this year's convention is From War Making to Peace Seeking. We've had an amazing experience the past two years and we look forward to another successful Convention! We know that many of us will miss being able to greet each other in person, but we also know that each and every one of us wants to make sure all of our members are safe and healthy. 
August 8, 7 p.m. EDT, with Reiner Braun, International Peace Bureau, and Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies. The Ukraine War crystalized a new era of "blockification" and increasing military, economic, and technological competition. Escalation of the war remains possible. Biden's National Security Policy and NATO's new Strategic Concept name China as a "challenge" to the rules-based order. Provocative naval and air force "exercises" in the East and South China Sea could trigger a U.S.-China nuclear war. Join two leading analysts to make sense of this fluid and dangerous landscape. Co-sponsored by Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security and Massachusetts Peace Action. 
UFPJ continues to collect resources on our 
This webinar, held on June 27, highlighted the importance of common security mechanisms like the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), especially in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and increased nuclear threats. Little-known to most Americans, the OSCE, with 57 participating States in North America, Europe and Asia -- including the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine, is the world's largest regional security organization. Co-sponsored by Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, this informative webinar featured Alexander Likhothal, advisor to the President of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, from 1989-1991, former European Parliamentarians, a retired French Air Force Commander, and UFPJ Co-convener, Jackie Cabasso. 
At a time when Christian Nationalists are carrying out a plan to subvert our democracy, Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Co-Chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, offers this insightful analysis: "The multi-decade campaign to reverse Roe v. Wade has always been about building a political movement to seize and wield political power. For decades, it's championed a vision of "family values" grounded in the nuclear family and a version of community life meant to tightly control sex and sexuality, while sanctioning attacks on women and LGBTQIA people." This Christian nationalist movement has positioned itself to advance a full-spectrum extremist agenda that is not only patriarchal and sexist, but racist, anti-poor, and anti-democratic." 
In the most recent episode of CODEPINK radio, co-director Danaka Katovich interviews Ryley Albright, Grace Sieglman, and Stefi de la Torre, three organizers with the Divest Mike campaign based in Chicago. This campaign aims to get Congressman Mike Quigley to refuse campaign contributions from the top 5 weapons manufacturers. This campaign centers on a key concept: as long as our representatives receive funding from war profiteers, they will keep voting to increase the military budget and to approve arms sales. If we get our representatives to divest their campaigns from these companies, they are much more likely to vote for peace. Through this campaign, local organizers with Divest Mike are using local action to change national policy. 
A growing group of organizers across the US and Globe are building power to stop Japan's plan to allow Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) next spring to begin releasing into the Pacific 1.28 million tons of irradiated water that was used to cool the radioactive core at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The US Government has been silent; they have been doing their own small batch releases from San Onofre, and only giving 24-hour notice to the public. Find more information and a path to join the Stop TEPCO campaign on 
Wednesday, 7/27, marks a year since whistleblower Daniel Hale was sentenced to 45 months in prison for exposing the deadly realities of U.S. drone warfare. In a letter before his sentencing, Daniel spoke about his experiences with PTSD and the cruelty of the drone warfare he experienced in Afghanistan. Daniel wrote: "The answer came to me, that to stop the cycle of violence, I ought to sacrifice my own life and not that of another person [...] Forgive me, your honor, for the taking of papers as opposed to the lives of others. I could not, god so help me, have done otherwise." 
During President Biden's fraught trip to Saudi Arabia where he fist-bumped MBS, the architect of the war in Yemen, Senators Sanders, Warren, and Leahy introduced a Yemen War Powers Resolution in the Senate. The Yemen War Powers Resolution, which was originally passed in 2019 but vetoed by President Trump, would end U.S. support for the war on Yemen. The war has killed almost 400,000 Yemenis with the support of U.S. complicity. It has been time to pass the Yemen War Powers Resolution for a long time. Join us and urge your Senator to join the effort 
Before President Biden's recent trip to the Middle East Peace Action President Kevin Martin wrote what could be seen as a hopeful projection for the visit. Kevin writes, "the president should make history by going to Iran, not just to clinch the deal for a re-entry into the 
CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin has written an article exploring the popularity of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), who recently had a viral interaction with his supporters in DC where he blew kisses, caught flowers, and shouted praise out of his hotel window. Besides being a popular, people-oriented president, Medea argues that AMLO is significant as a progressive leader in the Americas challenging the Western imperialist status quo. Medea quotes AMLO in the article: "'We are not a protectorate, a colony, or anyone's backyard,' he declared in a groundbreaking July 2021 speech. 'We say "adios" to the impositions, interference, sanctions, exclusion, and blockades.'"
CODEPINK campaigner Tim Biondo writes about a recent vigil outside of the Department of Justice in Washington, DC in response to the police murder of Jayland Walker in Akron, Ohio. The vigil was convened by the DC Chapter of the Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and several other organizations focused on justice. Tim writes: "The struggle against US state violence is an international struggle. The same resources being used to terrorize Black communities in the US are those being used to dominate and repress the people of Africa, Latin America, Asia, and even Europe."