AUGUST 2023
We must turn a year of burning heat into a year of burning ambition.
And accelerate climate action -- now.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres
UFPJ Joins Over 300 Organizations Supporting the March to End Fossil Fuels, New York City, September 17
The United Nations is calling on world leaders to take real steps to lead us off fossil fuels to protect people and the planet. Join the March to End Fossil Fuels in NYC on September 17, just days before the UN Climate Ambition Summit will gather world leaders to commit to phasing out fossil fuels. Gather at 1PM at Broadway and 56th Street and join the thousands who will take to the streets to demand President Biden take bold action to end fossil fuels. Find more information here. Add your organization's endorsement here. Learn how to get involved. As part of the March, CODEPINK is co-leading an Anti-Militarism Hub to demand reporting of military greenhouse gas emissions, cuts in the Pentagon's budget, and shifting of the savings to the Green New Deal. Learn more about the Anti-Militarism Hub.
United Nations International Day of Peace, September 21, 2003
Each year, the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on September 21. The United Nations General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has declared, "Peace is needed today more than ever. War and conflict are unleashing devastation, poverty, and hunger, and driving tens of millions of people from their homes. Climate chaos is all around. And even peaceful countries are gripped by gaping inequalities and political polarization." While not widely known in the U.S., the International Day of Peace is celebrated as an important occasion in many places around the world. Learn more.
Make a "Splash of Peace" on the International Day of Peace
Four days after the March to End Fossil Fuels. CODEPINK plans to mark the International Day of Peace on September 21 and make a "Splash of Peace" across NYC with events and a march capping off its Summer of Peace. Meet up at 11:30AM at Broadway and 56th Street; march begins at 1PM. This event is an opportunity to join together with song, art, and community. The day will end with a celebration at The People's Forum beginning at 5PM. Find more information and RSVP here. Share with your networks and reach out to olivia@codepink.org with any questions! As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told us, "Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal."
International Lawyers Statement on Illegality of Cluster Munitions Use and Transfer
The International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA) has issued a statement titled "The Illegality of U.S. Cluster Munitions Delivery to Ukraine under International Law -- and the Positive Obligation of the U.S. to Avoid or Minimize the Humanitarian Suffering Caused by These Weapons." The statement notes that both the Russian and Ukrainian militaries have used cluster munitions in the course of the war, and argues that although the United States, Russia, and Ukraine are not parties to the Cluster Munitions Convention, the use of cluster munitions likely is illegal under general principles of humanitarian and human rights law. UFPJ member groups Western States Legal Foundation and Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy are IALANA affiliates. Read the statement here.
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Urge Your Local Elected Officials to Mark the 10th anniversary of the United Nations International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
September 26, 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the United Nations International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons -- a terrific opportunity to engage your community and local elected officials to speak out and join a growing movement for global nuclear weapons abolition. The Back from the Brink coalition and Mayors for Peace (USA) are spearheading an effort in September to help local activists secure proclamations and public statements of support for the International Day from mayors, city councils, and other municipal officials/bodies. A sample proclamation can be found here. Anyone wanting to get involved or needing more information is encouraged to contact Sean Meyer or Jackie Cabasso.
Save the Date(s): Poor People's Campaign Gears up for Nationally Coordinated Actions in 2024
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Coming out of its June Moral Poverty Action Congress, the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is revving up for a big election year. In February 2024, the Poor People's Campaign is calling for a National Day of Action with 3,000 -- 5,000 people rallying in each State Capital, followed by a June Mass Assembly in Washington, DC. These actions will precede a massive phone and text-banking effort to turn out poor and low-income voters who typically don't vote. The Poor People's Campaign has picked up Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s unfinished work, weaving the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, systemic poverty, environmental devastation, militarism and the war economy and a distorted moral narrative that blames people for their own poverty, into one "moral fusion" campaign. Join your State's Poor People's Campaign.
Help Mayors for Peace reach its goal of 10,000 member cities! Can we recruit 50 new U.S. members this year?
Mayors for Peace, founded in 1982 and led by the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is working for a world without nuclear weapons, safe and resilient cities, and a culture of peace, in which peace is a priority for every individual. As of August 1, 2023, Mayors for Peace has grown to 8,271 cities in 166 countries and regions, representing in total over one billion people, with 225 U.S. members. Mayors for Peace's next membership goal is to reach 10,000 member cities as quickly as possible. Is your mayor a member? Learn more about this dynamic international organization and how you can help your mayor get involved by checking out the updated Mayors for Peace Action Tool Kit.
Dismantle the Doomsday Machine: New Video featuring Daniel Ellsberg
Each August nuclear abolitionists gather at the Livermore Lab in northern California to commemorate the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to protest the development of new nuclear weapons. Livermore Lab is one of two Labs that design every bomb and warhead in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. This year's event was dedicated to disarmament champion Daniel Ellsberg, who passed away in June. Dan is best known as the whistleblower who released "The Pentagon Papers" to hasten an end to the war in Vietnam. His acclaimed autobiography is titled, "Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner." A 90-minute video compilation of excerpts from six of Dan's many talks at Lab protests over the years was released on August 4, 2023, with a special showing at Livermore Lab's main gate. Watch this inspiring video compilation here.
Abolition 2000 at the NPT PrepCom
The first Preparatory Committee meeting for the 2026 Review Conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) took place from July 31 -- August 11 in Vienna, Austria. The NPT, which became law in 1970, includes the only binding commitment in a multilateral treaty to the goal of disarmament by the five original nuclear-armed States (U.S., UK, USSR/Russia, France, and China). After two weeks of bickering over the lack of progress on nuclear disarmament, the governments meeting in Vienna were unable to reach agreement on even a Chair's "factual summary" of the proceedings. But while the governments remained deadlocked, non-governmental organizations, including the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons, offered a range of solutions and marked the Hiroshima/Nagasaki anniversaries with a dramatic 3D missile display.
Protest Pacific Pollution: The Ocean is not a Radioactive Dumping Ground
Japan has started releasing radioactive wastewater into the Pacific, from the devastating multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear power reactors. The release is opposed by fisherfolk, scientists, civil society groups and individuals, with protests and actions happening now. Sign this petition if you haven't already. The ongoing Fukushima nuclear catastrophe is still contaminating Japan, and the waters and sea life off of its coast, even without this dumping. Further, civil society groups contend that the dumping is antithetical to the right to human health as outlined in numerous United Nations proclamations and instruments. This dumping will likely go on for years, continuing our unforgivable treatment of our planet's oceans. Check here for updates.
Anti-Nuclear Sailboat Nearing End of Epic Year-long Voyage
The Golden Rule anti-nuclear sailboat has been sailing throughout the Great Lakes for several weeks, visiting many ports, including Toronto, Ontario; Buffalo, New York; Sandusky and Toledo, Ohio; and Detroit/Ann Arbor/Lansing. In Traverse City, Michigan, the local Veterans For Peace chapter turned out nearly 300 people for a double-bill film showing -- one about the Golden Rule and the other about its sister ship the Phoenix of Hiroshima. The historic wooden ketch, now owned by Veterans For Peace, is currently in Wisconsin, visiting Sheboygan (and Madison friends), Milwaukee and Racine. Then she will cross Lake Michigan to visit St. Joseph's and Kalamazoo, Michigan. The grand finale of the epic year-long voyage will be in Chicago, September 12-18. Find more information here.
The False Promise of Small Nuclear Reactors
On the Ralph Nader Radio Hour, Professor M.V. Ramana of the University of British Columbia discusses the efforts to promote nuclear power as a way to reduce the contribution of electric power generation to climate change. Despite much-touted new approaches such as "small modular reactors," Ramana argues that nuclear power remains "unneeded, unsafe, uninsurable, uncompetitive, irresponsible, very secretive, and not willing to suffer the verdicts of the marketplace." Professor Ramana is the author of The Power of Promise: Examining Nuclear Energy in India, and is a member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials, the International Nuclear Risk Assessment Group, and the team that produces the annual World Nuclear Industry Status Report. Listen to the recording here.
Defuse Nuclear War Week of Action September 24 - 30
The Defuse Nuclear War Coalition is organizing nationwide protests, vigils, demonstrations, and other actions -- for diplomacy with Russia and Ukraine; disarming ICBMs; and reinstating the ABM, INF and Open Skies treaties €” during the week of September 24 -- 30, 2023. Since last fall, nationwide actions facilitated by Defuse Nuclear War have included grassroots protests that marked the 60th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, called for diplomacy in Ukraine with demonstrations in February, and promoted Daniel Ellsberg Week in late April. Find out what's planned for the September 24 -- 30 week of action and list your event here. Find signs, flyers, and banners available for printing here.
Benjamin and Davies: U.S.-Backed Roll of the Dice Leaves Ukraine in Worse Crisis
President Biden wrote in the New York Times in June 2022 that the United States was arming Ukraine to "fight on the battlefield and be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table." Based on Biden's own definition of U.S. war aims, his policy is failing, and it is hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, not Americans, who are paying the price, with their limbs and their lives. Read Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies' latest analysis of the failures of the war that are inherent to warfare anywhere, making the case for a ceasefire and immediate negotiations now.
Ukraine Resources: The Ukraine War and "Non-alignment"
The Ukraine war has sparked debate about the role of "non-aligned" states. In "Ukraine and the Contested Meaning of Nonalignment," Rohini Hensman writes, "Over 100 countries in the Global South voted three times to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while only four on each occasion -- including severely repressive regimes in Syria, North Korea, and Eritrea -- voted with Russia. Around 35 countries abstained each time, between them accounting for nearly half the world's population, largely due to the contribution of China and India." At the recent BRICS meeting in South Africa, President Putin failed to muster much support from his partner governments; see Putin fails to win support for his Ukraine war narrative from fellow bloc leaders, (Daily Maverick, SA). For more recent Ukraine war analysis, visit the UFPJ Ukraine resource page.
Venezuela Delegation 2023 Recap
15 delegates just returned from Venezuela on a CODEPINK delegation to learn from and collaborate with the Venezuelan socialist communes. The delegation met with groups dedicated to urban ecology and conservationism, sugar cane growing, senior citizen support, popular education, and more. It was an honor to meet with Venezuelan people on their own terms. You can read more about the delegation's experience here. Keep a look out for an upcoming live report back with delegates from recent Venezuela and Cuba brigades to learn how powerful organizer exchanges can be for building international solidarity.
McCarthyism Is Back: Together We Can Stop It
CODEPINK decries the rise of a new McCarthyism that is targeting peace activists, critics of U.S. foreign policy, and Chinese Americans, and is calling on organizations and individuals to sign a declaration of support. "As the U.S. government grapples with a major crisis of legitimacy, it has grown fearful of young people becoming conscious and organized to change the world. We have seen this pattern arise before at the peak of Red Scare McCarthyism, but together we can stop it from slowing another generation's progress. In the face of adversity, CODEPINK says NO to xenophobic witch hunts and YES to peace," the declaration begins. Learn more and add your support here.
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