EarthAction

Peace is not everything, but everything is nothing without peace. No to war, militarism, and violence

The Doomsday Clock has moved for the first time in history to just 100 seconds to midnight. The
Nobel prize winners “The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" justify this move by citing the
dangers of atomic war and the consequences of climate change. The dangers of a great
cataclysmic war have increased in view of the rivalries of the great powers, as have the quantity
and quality of regional conflicts and wars over resources and as consequences of climate
change. Wars are inseparable components of the "new normal."

Peace is not only the absence of war; it covers all dimensions of human existence and the
existence of nature. Peace means global justice and always includes climate justice. This is the
struggle for peace that the World Social Forum has waged since its conception, particularly
related to US interventionism. It is also a struggle against military confrontations wherever they
exist.

For these reasons we are planning on the one hand several public online discussions on the
ongoing military conflicts in West Asia (Yemen, Syria and Palestine) as well as on the
involvement of NATO in Eastern European countries like Ukraine, Armenia and Azerbaijan. On
the other hand, we are going to deal with the militarization of internal political conflicts,
especially in countries where the pandemic has led to an extreme polarization between
authoritarian regimes and its peoples. Some further notes:

1. Anti-militarism today is a rejection of and pressure against the biggest military alliance in
   the world: NATO and its ∼1000 military bases.
2. Special attention should be given to the economic and ecological reasons as well as the
   humanitarian consequences of the ongoing militarization processes in regards to
   repression, human rights violations, and the forced migration of millions of people.
3. Central to militarism is the gross excess of spending on military arms. 2 trillion US dollars
   per year cause deaths on a daily basis are partly responsible for poverty and hunger
   around the world. Disarmament is a central challenge for peace engagement and just
   shaping of the future.
4. Militaristic structures in individual countries and internationally also destroy democracy
   and participation; anti-militarism is therefore always also a struggle for democracy.
5. Small arms are the "weapons of mass destruction" of the 21st century. The daily killing
   and murdering with such weapons demand peace-based political and social responses
   and an international ban.

In all these panel discussions, the audience should be given the opportunity to deliberate the
strategies and mobilizations which not only engage the traditional peace movement, but also
activists, experts, and opinion leaders from other thematic areas like global justice, cultural
diversity, and climate change.

The 24th of January should reflect the diversity of these issues and the central challenge for
peace and global justice.

Reiner Braun, International Peace Bureau; Leo Gabriel, Prague Spring 2, network against far-
right extremism and populism; Kristine Karch, International network ‘No to war - No-to-NATO’.

Read more here

2020 EarthAction Report

2020 EarthAction Report

A Brief Overview of EarthAction’s Projects & Campaigns

2020 Action

Every month, 2020 Action and the 2020 Action Education Fund, both projects of EarthAction, educate and mobilize thousands of US citizens encouraging them to communicate with US policymakers on critically important peace and environmental issues. Each month, 2020 produces a timely Action Alert with meaningful actions for citizens to take to protect our environment and security—usually to contact a policymaker facing a critical decision. For details, read 2020’s 2020 Action Report at 2020Action.org. This is 2020 Action’s 35^th year!

Support for Indigenous Peoples—Save Our Spirits Fund

In 2020, we expanded our collaboration with the Save Our Spirits (SOS) Fund to provide increased support for indigenous and ancestral communities around the world to help them preserve, strengthen, and pass on the spiritual practices and ceremonies and the wisdom of their elders.

This year, EarthAction made SOS grants to support the work of the following groups:

The Elders Project (TEP) in Colombia: We continued to work with and provide assistance to the traditional authorities (Mamos) of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta (SNSM) in Colombia. Rick Harlow, the Project Director, made trips to Colombia to work directly with the traditional authorities to help strengthen their spiritual and traditional practices.

Indigenous Peoples Healing Fire at Assonet in Massachusetts was held on Saturday, November 28^th. It was organized by members of the Wampanoag Tribe. We hope this will help to lay the foundation for a permanent Indigenous Healing Ceremony Circle in the greater Boston area.

The Lalakea Foundation for their Nā Wāhine ʻĀpapalani, Hawaiian women cultural practitioners who have been conducting ritual and ceremony on Maunakea for many years and who are dedicated to honoring the sacred Piko O Wākea through prayer, chant and ceremony that acknowledge Nā Kānaka o ka Mauna, Deities of the Mountain, and form connectivity with the sacred through space and time. This project will extend into 2021.

Several Villages in the Hopi Community for their COVID-19 Emergency Response: Hopi Contact Tracing Project. This project will extend into 2021 and train people within the community to carry out contact tracing in a number of Hopi villages that are being hard-hit by the pandemic.

The Cordillera Peoples Alliance, Philippines to assist them with their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the distribution of food relief consisting of rice, sugar, salt and cooking oil to a total of 500 families of indigenous people among the Ayangan tribe in the province of Ifugao. They also shared information on COVID-19 and held discussions on food security during the relief distribution in communities and conducted psycho-social sessions among vulnerable groups such as farmers, elders, youth, and informal workers.

Grass-Roots Organization for Women (GROW) in Ghana, for support of their project: Community-based Initiatives to Address the Impact of Corona-19 Virus Pandemic in Rural Indigenous and Local Communities. They are strengthening outreach to prevent the spread of infection and addressing emerging public health issues that impact vulnerable populations in rural areas who lack access to essential services.

Kitanglad Integrated NGOs Inc. (KIN), in Philippines for support of their program: Indigenous Womens Relief Against COVID-19 by Nurturing Culture and Nature. From May through August, KIN provided food and other support to community members, especially women, mothers and youths and their families belonging to the Daraghuyan-Bukidnon Tribe of Dalwangan in Malaybalay City, and the Talaandig Tribe of Songco, Lantapan, and Mt. Nebo, Valencia City. These tribal beneficiaries are partners in forest protection, biodiversity conservation and cultural survival of the tribes of Mts. Kitanglad Range Natural Park and the Mt. Kalatungan Range Natural Park.

Samdhana Institute, Philippines to assist with a response to the COVID pandemic to provide food relief to Erumanen ne Menuvu tribe (Manobo) in Southern Bukidnon, Philippines. Four hundred selected Menuvu families received food relief, to help them survive through the difficult period of the pandemic until they are able to plant for their own food.

Other Campaigns

Throughout the year, EarthAction engaged in many global campaigns for peace, justice and protection of the environment through our website and social media. For example, working with others, we helped to end the construction of hundreds of dangerous dams in Bosnia & Herzegovina, thus protecting Europe’s last remaining wild rivers! For details visit: www.earthaction.org.

Thank You

EarthAction thanks all our Partner Organizations, individual members, donors and Board members for their ongoing participation and support. Special thanks to the Thomas D. Hormel Trust, the Stewart R. Mott Foundation, and the Save Our Spirits Fund.

Let's Celebrate the TPNW

 

On January 22^nd, the world will celebrate the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear weapons, supported by over 120 states at the UN in July 2017.

 

On this historic day, we call on members of the IPB family, our friends and all peace lovers to celebrate this historical step, and deliver this great news with noise and fun in your countries all across the globe, as the road to a world free of nuclear weapons is now wide open!

 

We invite you to join us for a virtual IPB Zoom party where we will celebrate this milestone toward nuclear disarmament together.

 

During the celebration, we want to pay tribute to generations of activists that have tirelessly raised awareness about the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons, since the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The victims of these bombings and the survivors, the Hibakusha are in our hearts to celebrate together a new era: nuclear weapons are officially illegal when the TPNW will enter into force.

 

Our party will start at 1 p.m. CET and last approximately until 3 p.m. CET on Friday the 22^nd of January.

 

You can look forward to drinking one (or many) of our delicious signature TPNW cocktails in the company of fellow supporters of peace and disarmament.  We have a couple of surprise virtual guests and activities prepared for you but you will have to come and see by yourself!

 

You can attend by signing up to the event here: https://bit.ly/ipbprt

Nuclear Ban Treaty Becomes Law in 90 Days

October 24, 2020: Honduras today became the 50th country to ratify the historic United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). It was an appropriate way to mark the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, whose first goal at its founding on this day in 1945 was to address the nuclear threat to the world. On January 22, 2021, 90 days after the 50th ratification, the treaty will enter into force as international law. More countries are expected to ratify in the coming months. While ratification is the last step, 122 countries have already adopted the treaty, and 84 have signed it. The nine nuclear-armed nations (U.S., Russia, China, U.K., France, Israel, India, Pakistan, North Korea) have so far boycotted the TPNW. But 26 companies build and maintain nuclear weapons, and many of those have operations, contracts, suppliers and investors in countries that have already joined the TPNW. They could soon be breaking the law in those countries. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which includes 590 organizations in 103 countries, facilitated the treaty at the United Nations. ICAN then won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize “for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons.” The treaty forbids everything to do with nuclear weapons, including developing, testing, producing, manufacturing, otherwise acquiring, possessing, stockpiling, transferring, using or threatening to use nuclear weapons. Already, the treaty has led to significant divestment by institutions around the world that decline to finance nuclear weapons, for moral or fiduciary reasons. There will soon be strong legal reasons for doing so as well. Unlike previous nuclear treaties, created (and many subsequently abrogated) by the nuclear-armed nations, this one comes from the rest of the world, since all countries are at risk from nuclear weapons use, production, and testing. On October 21, 2020, as the 50th ratification neared, the Associated Press reported that several ratifying countries had received letters from the Trump administration, asking them to withdraw from the treaty they had just joined. Such interference in a United Nations disarmament treaty is unprecedented. The letter claimed that the TPNW interferes with the 50-year-old Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). However, according to ICAN executive director Beatrice Fihn, “there’s no way you can undermine the Nonproliferation Treaty by banning nuclear weapons. It’s the end goal of the Nonproliferation Treaty.” The NPT entered into force in 1970, when there were only five nuclear-armed nations. Article 6 of the NPT commits the nuclear armed states to negotiate the elimination of their nuclear arsenals “in good faith” and “at an early date.” Fifty years later, there are nine nuclear armed states. In Northampton, Massachusetts, Dr. Timmon Wallis found news of the Trump administration’s letter unsurprising. Wallis was involved in the treaty negotiations, and co-founded ICAN partner NuclearBan.US to promote the treaty in the United States. He said, “The U.S. government has been trying to stop this treaty from the very beginning. Of course, this just proves how powerful and important this treaty actually is in terms of undermining the trillion-dollar US nuclear weapons industry. These companies are suddenly going to find themselves on the wrong side of the law in more and more countries around the world. It’s only a matter of time before they decide to get out of this business. The US government will then have no choice but to join the rest of the world in eliminating these weapons once and for all.” NuclearBan.US co-founder Vicki Elson added, “Well, it’s nice that the nuclear nations all have something in common. They all love their weapons of mass extinction. But the world has spoken, the time has come, and nuclear weapons are going to be eliminated. Hopefully before they eliminate civilization, or life on earth.” As the news of Honduras’ ratification broke, ICAN members worldwide held a spontaneous Zoom celebration. They speculated about which nuclear-armed nation would be the first to “be on the right side of history” and join the TPNW. They also acknowledged the campaigners who have been working toward nuclear abolition since nuclear bombs were first used in 1945. One of those is Setsuko Thurlow, 88, who survived the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima when she was 13. Thurlow said she “cried tears of joy” as the TPNW reached this milestone. She acknowledged that she will probably not live long enough to see the last nuclear weapon dismantled, but she reiterated her vow to continue campaigning “to my dying breath.” Press Release from ICAN: https://www.icanw.org/historic_milestone_un_treaty_on_the_prohibition_of_nuclear_weapons_reaches_50_ratifications_needed_for_entry_into_force And as covered by the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/25/world/americas/nuclear-weapons-prohibition-treaty.html Plus new 90-second video to share!   The post Nuclear Ban Treaty Becomes Law in 90 Days appeared first on Treaty Compliance Campaign.

ISSUE: STOP CONSTRUCTION OF DEADLY & ILLEGAL DAMS IN THE BALKANS

River Neretva, Bosnia and Herzegovina ©Dinno Kasalo

While Europe is in lockdown over the Corona virus, investors are increasingly taking advantage of the unusual situation to build illegal dams in the Balkans. South of the capital Sarajevo in Bosnia, the construction of five dams has now begun or is being pushed to begin—in three cases without any permits. Local citizens are protesting the construction of these dams which will destroy their rivers, extinguish aquatic species, and forever change the surrounding land and ecosystems. A key driver behind the widespread river ecocide in the Balkans is the EU/European Commission-backed hydropower subsidies. Local communities need the assistance of global pressure to end these subsidies and stop these deadly dams.

What is at stake now, according to scientists, is 11,000 kilometers of rivers in pristine or near pristine state. These are some of the last unspoiled natural rivers remaining in all of Europe.

https://www.patagonia.com/stories/save-blue-heart-europe-balkan-rivers-story/story-28991.html

Please help us save these last wild rivers in Europe. Between Slovenia and Greece about 3,000 new hydropower projects are planned (436 in Bosnia alone!), more than 1,000 of them inside protected areas such as national parks or nature reserves. If these are built, close to 50 fish species will become extinct or pushed close to extinction, or about 10% of all European freshwater fish species (according to the Eco-Masterplan for Balkan rivers).  The scientific research[1] provides ample evidence that Balkan rivers are the most important hotspot for threatened freshwater biodiversity in Europe.

The main reason so many dams are now being built in this relatively pristine region is that hydro-developers are using what was intended as a positive renewable energy policy, Feed-in Tarrifs (FITS), to very negative ends.

Under FIT policies, investors receive government subsidies (financed through the electricity bills of consumers) for the electricity produced from the hydropower plants connected to each dam. Under this policy, the investor receives up to 3 times the amount of the actual market price of selling the electricity! This money machine together with corruption and nepotism are the key drivers behind the dam boom. The subsidies essentially pay developers for damming and destroying precious rivers. All dam construction should be stopped until new policies can be put in place that will protect these rivers and their ecosystems.

TAKE ACTION:

Send a message to the President, Vice President, key Commissioners of the European Commission, and Director of the Energy Community (see below for their emails). Urge them to immediately:

• End subsidies to hydropower projects
• Take action with national leaders of the Western Balkan countries to initiate a moratorium on new hydropower plants in the region to ensure that the most vivid rivers of Europe will not be destroyed.

SEND A MESSAGE TO THE FOLLOWING EUROPEAN AUTHORITIES:

Mrs. von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, [email protected]

Frans Timmermans, Vice President of the European Commission, [email protected]

Olivér Várhelyi, DGNEAR Commissioner, [email protected]

Virginijus Sinkevičius, DG ENVI Commissioner, [email protected]

Janez Kopac, Director of the Energy Community, [email protected]

Additional resources and links:

The main driver of the destructive small hydropower boom in the Balkans is the availability of public financial support in the form of feed-in tariffs. In 2018, 70% of EU renewable energy financial support in the Western Balkans was invested in highly destructive small hydropower, while the huge PV potential was largely ignored. In 2018, only 3.6% of electricity in the Western Balkans was generated by hydropower plants under 10 MW, at a massive environmental cost.  What this means is that the Balkan rivers are being destroyed for very little electricity as a result of EU subsidies on hydropower.  Instead of river-destroying excess hydropower, the region should focus on energy efficiency and building of truly clean renewable energy like solar and wind.

• Recent press release from the Blue Heart of Europe coalition: https://balkanrivers.net/en/news/increasing-destruction-na5%20rijeka%20ture-times-pandemic
• https://www.balkanrivers.net/en/campaign

• Blue Heart Eco-Masterplan scientifically assessing more than 80,000 kilometers of Balkan rivers and streams
• https://bankwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/who-pays-who-profits.pdf

EarthAction.org     [email protected]

[1] https://balkanrivers.net/sites/default/files/Fish_Study_web.pdf

Deadline to submit nominations for the Children’s Peace Prize extended!

We would like to thank everyone who has nominated an outstanding child for the International Children’s Peace Prize 2020! We greatly appreciate your time and effort taken to submit the nominations.

After receiving several requests, we are extending the nomination period with one week until March 15th of 2020. 

Fighting for Children's Rights
The International Children’s Peace Prize is awarded annually to a child, whose courageous or otherwise extraordinary efforts have made an impact on behalf of the Rights of the Child.

Do you know a child in with a drive, passion and a history in standing up against violations to children's rights? Nominate him or her now via our website! 

Winning the Prize
The winner of the International Children's Peace Prize is offered a global platform to promote his or her ideals and future works, reaching and helping children worldwide. The winner receives a study-grant and the Nkosi statue. 

Climate Change Education

In many countries, the effort to combat climate change is hampered by the lack of effective climate education programs. For Global Spotlight Report #23, we asked our Country Managers in leading greenhouse gas emitting countries to describe and comment on the status of their country’s climate education programs.

READ THE REPORT

Sadly, many countries do not prioritize climate education at either the primary or secondary school levels. At best, it is taught as a component of environmental or sustainable development education programs. Occasionally, it is found as part of science education courses. But rarely do you encounter a program that addresses the role that humans play in global warming and the steps that we can take to address climate change in our own lifestyles and as citizen advocates, or programs that emphasize how to be resilient and respond to extreme weather events and other climate related emergencies.

 

View the latest report for detailed Country Activity Reports and Action Alert Messages.

 

Climate change is real, and what governments do matters.

 

2020 Country Climate Commitments

 

View monthly updates of the short and long-term climate goals of leading greenhouse emissions countries. Learn More

 

DONATE TODAY!

Every donation helps our work.

Our global, grassroots organization relies on the support of other committed individuals. Learn More

 

UN Disarmament Week: Over $500 Billion of Nuke Money Counted - and Shifted to SDGs

From October 24-30 (UN Disarmament Week), a team of volunteers in New York City counted out $542 billion – the approximate global nuclear weapons budget for the next five years – and symbolically reallocated this to climate protection, poverty alleviation and the Sustainable Development Goals. The money was counted in 542,000 mock notes each of value $1million.

The event was part of a global campaign to cut nuclear weapons budgets, end investments in the nuclear weapons industry and re-direct these budgets and investments to peace, disarmament, climate protection and sustainable development.

'Most people have no idea how much is $1 billion, let alone $500 billion, says Holger Gūssefeld, World Future Council adviser and conceiver of the money counting project. 'By counting this note-by-note we come to realise the absolute insanity of investing so much money in devices designed to bring unimaginable misery into the world instead of using these precious resources to solve the global social, humanitarian and environmental problems.’

‘We had hoped to count 1 million notes to make up $1 trillion, the nuclear weapons budget for the next ten years’ said Susanna Choe, Co-founder of Peace Accelerators and one of the main money counters. ‘But this amount of money is so vast, that even counting with notes of $1million and with many volunteers counting, it was too much.’

We filled basket after basket with billions of dollars,’ said Bill Kidd, Member of the Scottish Parliament and another of the main money counters. ‘This money could protect the climate, end poverty, ensure universal health care, support peace and help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals if it were not wasted on nuclear weapons.’

Susanna Choe, Bill Kidd and Vanda Proskova counting nuclear weapons money. Behind them is the graphic which depicts what the money could fund if it was not invested in nuclear weapons.

Money Counting from the United Nations to the City

The money counting started at the United Nations (click here for video of UN launch) and then continued at various locations around the city including:

• With Students Strike 4 Climate (Fridays for Future) in front of the United Nations;
• Outside Jacobs Engineering, a nuclear weapons contractor, during which a letter was delivered to the company informing them of the divestment campaign against them;
• In front of New York City Hall, to support initiatives for the City Council to end investments by NYC pension funds in nuclear weapons companies, and to establish a public committee to advance NYC’s role as a nuclear-weapon-free zone;
• At Strawberry Fields in Central Park (a location honoring John Lennon), Washington Square Park (wth New York University students) and at the Gandhi statue in Union Square;
• The Hub in the Chelsea neighourhood of New York City, where most of the money was counted and re-allocated to baskets representing the 17 SDGs.

Volunteers help count the nuclear weapons money at the Hub.

Move the Nuclear Weapons Money and the SANE Act

The money counting action was part of Move the Nuclear Weapons Money, a global campaign to cut nuclear weapons, end investments in the nuclear weapons industry and re-direct these budgets and investments to peace and sustainable development. (See New anti-nuclear campaign to stop funding of nuclear weapons, Associated Press).

“The nuclear weapons industry is powerful and wealthy, and has a stranglehold on the political process in most of the nuclear armed states,” said Alyn Ware, Co-founder of the Move the Nuclear Weapons Money campaign. “But we can take back this power by supporting legislative efforts to cut nuclear weapons budgets, and by ending investments by our cities, universities, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and banks in the nuclear weapons industry.” 

U.S. Senator Markey, an endorser of Move the Nuclear Weapons Money, used the opportunity of the money counting week to introduce an updated version of the Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditure (SANE) Act. The Act, which was introduced also into the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressman Blumenauer, aims to improve national security and budgetary sanity by cutting redundant and destabilizing nuclear weapons programs.

'The United States should fund education, not annihilation; that is our future,' said Senator Markey. 'We need sanity when crafting America’s budget priorities, and more and improved nuclear weapons defies common sense. The SANE Act cuts nuclear weapons and delivery systems that we don’t need so we can invest in the people and programs that will make America safe and prosperous in the future.'

We encourage U.S. citizens to call on your congress members to endorse the SANE Act. 

Senator Ed Markey, Co-President of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament and lead sponsor of the SANE Act. Markey is also co-author with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of the Green New Deal.

Money countings in other cities/countries

There were also countings of smaller amounts of nuclear weapons money in London, New Mexico, Philadelphia and New Zealand.

In London, a counting of £5.2billion in 10,400 notes of £500,000 each was organised by Conscience: Taxes for Peace not War and held on Saturday 26 October outside theMinistry of Defence. See Photos of the London event, London Count the nuclear weapons money action flyer or visit the London event facebook page.

In New Mexico there were counting events at Taos Plaza (Taos), State Capital Roundhouse (Santa Fe), Socorro Plaza Gazebo (Socorro) and outside the Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos).  The events were organised by Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety in cooperation with Youth United for Climate Crisis Action and Taosenos for Peaceful and Sustainable Futures.  See Activists Count ‘Nuclear Weapons Money’ In Los Alamos (Los Alamos Reporter), Photos of the New Mexico countings and the blog $13 billion of public money to be counted for peace at New Mexico nuclear weapons facilities.

In Philadelphia, a counting of $4.5 billion was held on October 24 at City Hall Philadelphia Courtyard organised by the Granny Peace Brigade Philadelphia. The event include songs led by the Grannies such as ‘We are a gaggle of Grannies’. See Photos of the Philadelphia counting and some videos of the counting action.

In New Zealand, a counting event was organised in the New Zealand Parliament co-hosted by PNND Member Louisa Wall MP and the United Nations Association of NZ. New Zealand banned nuclear weapons by legislation adopted in parliament in 1987, and has followed up by ending nuclear weapons investments by government managed funds.  See videos of the New Zealand event.

Money counting with School Strike 4 Peace and Fridays for Future in front of the United Nations.

Counting nuclear weapons money in the rain - in front of the Ministry of Defence in London.

Counting outside Los Alamos National Laboratory (nuclear bomb design and development facility) in New Mexico.

Granny Peace Brigade Philadelphia counting the money and singing cheeky anti-nuclear songs.

Nuclear weapons money event in the New Zealand parliament.

Alyn at the money counting event at Strawberry Fields, imagining what money could support if it wasn't invested in nuclear weapons. Meanwhile a busker sings 'Imagine' in the background.

From Basel Peace Office. Read more here.

Move the money from nuclear weapons to climate protection and SDGs

In less than 10 days, we will start counting out $1 trillion, the nuclear weapons budget for the next 10 years. We will 'reallocate this to climate protection and the sustainable development goals.'

The main counting will be in New York with satellite countings also in London, New Mexico, Philadelphia and Wellington.

This event will highlight the Move the Nuclear Weapons Money campaign and actionspeople can take to cut nuclear weapons budgets, end investments in nuclear weapons corporations and re-direct these budgets and investments to better things.

The campaign is building excitement amongst legislators, religious leaders, peace and disarmament campaigners, climate activists, artists, musicians, athletes, youth and others. Below are inspring words from a few supporters of the campaign. This update we feature:

• Cora Weiss (USA), UN Representative for International Peace Bureau, Co-organiser of the 1 million person anti-nuclear rally in Central Park NY 1982;
  
• Erika Simpson (Canada), President of the Canadian Peace Research Association;
  
  
• Bruno B. Vallelunga (Canada), Song-writer including 'Who will stop the Nuclear Clock?' (IglooSongs2018, Click here for Spotify version);
  
• Nicole Ponce (Philippines), Core team member of the I am Climate Justice movement;
  
  
• Anwarul K. Chowdhury (Bangladesh/USA), Former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Founder of the Global Movement for the Culture of Peace;
  
  
• Mridul Upadhyay (India), Co-founder of Youth for Peace International, Asia Coordinator of UNOY Peacebuilders;
  
• Natasha Shokri (Malaysia/Iran), UNESCO Youth Peace Ambassador;
  
• David C. Hall (USA), Past-President of Physicians for Social Responsibility;
  
• Ravinder Kaur Nijjar (UK), Chair Religions for Peace UK Women of Faith Network, Former Co-Chair Religions for Peace European Women of Faith Network;
  
• Earl Turcotte (Canada), Chair of Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons;
  
• Shazia Rafi (Pakistan/USA), Convener AirQualityAsia, Former Secretary-General of Parliamentarians for Global Action.
  

U.S. Mayors Call on Presidential Candidates to Make Nuclear Disarmament a Campaign Issue

Mayors for Peace delegation (L-R) Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui; Satoshi Karoki; John Burroughs; North American Coordinator Jackie Cabasso; Director Yasco Suehiro; Secretary-General Yasuyoshi Komizo  

On July 1, at the close of its 87^th Annual Meeting in Honolulu, the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) unanimously adopted a bold new resolution, “Calling on All Presidential Candidates to Make Known Their Positions on Nuclear Weapons and to Pledge U.S. Global Leadership in Preventing Nuclear War, Returning to Diplomacy, and Negotiating the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons”. The resolution calls on “all Presidential candidates of all political parties” to make these “priority issues in the 2020 Presidential campaign”.  

The USCM resolution quotes Renata Dwan, Director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, who “has declared that the risk of nuclear weapons being used again is at its highest since World War II, calling it an ‘urgent’ issue that the world should take more seriously”, and notes that according to the Congressional Budget Office, “U.S. spending for nuclear warheads, delivery systems and supporting infrastructure over the 2019 – 2028 period is projected to cost $494 billion, for an average of nearly $50 billion a year”.  

In remarks to a plenary session of the USCM annual meeting on Sunday, June 30, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, President of Mayors for Peace, declared: “As mayors, you are working every day for the wellbeing of your citizens, but all your efforts could be for naught if nuclear weapons are used again. I would also like to point out that, while every one of the nuclear-armed states is spending billions of dollars to modernize and upgrade their arsenals, that money could be much more productively spent to meet the needs of cities and the people who live in them.”  

Warning that “the U.S. announcement, followed by Russia’s, of their intention to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty effective in August 2019 are signs of deepening crisis among the nuclear-armed states,” the resolution “calls on all Presidential candidates to pledge their support for the joint 1985 declaration by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, that ‘a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,’ as urged by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres”.  

The USCM resolution further “calls on all Presidential candidates to pledge, if elected, to lead a global effort to prevent nuclear war by renouncing the option of using nuclear weapons first and by actively pursuing a verifiable agreement among nuclear-armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals.”  

The resolution observes that despite the fact that “the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), which entered into force in 1970, requires the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China to negotiate “in good faith” the end of the nuclear arms race “at an early date” and the elimination of their nuclear arsenals,” “nuclear-armed states are engaged in nuclear weapons modernization programs.”  

And the USCM “calls on all Presidential candidates to pledge, if elected, to reverse U.S. opposition to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and to embrace its humanitarian values and goals”.  

The resolution was sponsored by Mayors for Peace U.S. Vice-President T.M. Franklin Cownie, Mayor of Des Moines, Iowa and 18 co-sponsors including outgoing USCM President Steve Benjamin, Mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, and USCM International Affairs Committee Chair Nan Whaley, Mayor of Dayton, Ohio.  

The USCM, the nonpartisan association of 1,408 American cities with populations over 30,000, has unanimously adopted Mayors for Peace resolutions for 14 consecutive years. Resolutions adopted at annual meetings become USCM official policy.  

As noted in this year’s resolution, “Mayors for Peace is working for a world without nuclear weapons and safe and resilient cities as essential measures for the achievement of lasting world peace, and has grown to 7,756 cities in 163 countries and regions, with 215 U.S. members.”  

Mayors for Peace, founded in 1982, is led by the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  

Click here to read the full text of the resolution with the list of 19 co-sponsors. And bring it to the attention of your mayor, your Congressional representatives, the Presidential candidates, and the TV networks that will be hosting the Presidential debates.  

For more information contact Mayors for Peace North American Coordinator Jackie Cabasso at [email protected].