CPNN (Culture of Peace News Network) bulletin of December 1, 2022

The Peace Movement: Alive and well

As the war in Ukraine threatens to unleash a new world war, the peace movement is rising to the occasion to provide an alternative.

In this month’s CPNN, we carry articles from the peace movements in the United States, Italy, France, England and Germany, as well as information about the remnants of peace movements in Ukraine and Russia.Continue reading

CPNN (Culture of Peace News Network) bulletin of November 1, 2022

Education for peace

A virtual conference advocating that the United Nations recognize a Global Peace Education Day featured 50 peace educators from around the world. They included Anwarul Chowdhury, Federico Mayor, Nobel Peace Laureate Ouidad Bouchamaoui, Gabriela Ramos from UNESCO, Reiner Braun of the International Peace Bureau, Francisco Rojas of the University of Peace, Tony Jenkins of the Global Campaign for Peace Education, Lisa Huber of the National Peace Academy, David Weinberg of the Global Peace Education Network, Philippe Rio of Mayors for Peace and Tezekiah Gabriel of Pathways to Peace. Videos of their presentations are available for the first five listed.

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CPNN (Culture of Peace News Network) bulletin of September 1, 2022

The struggle for nuclear disarmament

Speaking at the United Nations at the opening of the Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (10th NPT Review), Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that humanity is “just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation.” “The risks of proliferation are growing and guardrails to prevent escalation are weakening.   And crises — with nuclear undertones — are festering, From the Middle East and the Korean Peninsula to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, and to many other factors around the world.” 

A few days later Guterres went to Hiroshima where he spoke at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony, marking the anniversary of the atomic bombing, the most horrendous terrorist act in human history. At his press conference, he stated that the world is in danger of forgetting the lessons forged in this city 77 years ago.  He added that it is unacceptable for states in possession of nuclear weapons to admit the possibility of nuclear war.  He stressed that we must use every avenue of dialogue, diplomacy and negotiation to ease tensions and eliminate the nuclear threat.

Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, speaking at the ceremony, said, “I call on the leaders of the nuclear-weapon states to visit the atomic-bombed cities where they can personally encounter the consequences of using nuclear weapons and strengthen their will to take these steps. I want them to understand that the only sure way to protect the lives and property of their people is to eliminate nuclear weapons.”

Speaking 3 days later at the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Tomihisa Taue, the mayor of that city said: “In January this year, the leaders of the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China released a joint statement affirming that ‘a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.’ However, the very next month Russia invaded Ukraine. Threats of using nuclear weapons have been made, sending shivers throughout the globe. . . . Instead of waging war, mankind should foster “a ‘culture of peace’ that spreads trust, respects others and seeks resolutions through dialogue.”

Mayor Tomihisa Taue then traveled to the United Nations where he addressed the meetings of the 10th NPT Review, recalling “the hibakusha’s long-standing call for the abolition of nuclear weapons—which has resonated throughout the world, raising awareness of their inhumanity. Nevertheless, decades of such effort can be undone if just one nuclear-weapon state decides to use all of its power to tyrannize other states.” He urged the attendees to fulfill the nuclear disarmament obligations as stipulated in Article VI of the NPT, as well as to propose concrete strategies to ensure progress in nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation measures. He also expressed the determination of Mayors for Peace, to continue striving for a world without nuclear weapons. He closed his statement by imparting a message: May Nagasaki be the last wartime atomic bombing site.

The messages from Hiroshima and Nagasaki were echoed around the world. In Winchester, United Kingdom, the mayor presided over an event to commemorate the bombings, saying, “I share the spirit of my fellow Mayor of Nagasaki, who stated, ‘I hereby declare to do the utmost to realise the abolition of nuclear weapons and everlasting world peace’.” And in Nagpur, India, more than 5000 people visited the event No More Hiroshima: No More Nagasaki.

The 10th NPT Review ended at the United Nations in New York without even reaching a joint statement, let alone taking any concrete steps towards nuclear disarmament. However, in reporting the results, the peace organization Unfold Zero, stated that some of the issues mentioned at the conference, such as nuclear risk reduction, non-use of nuclear weapons in armed conflict, the adoption of no-first-use policies and negative security assurances, will be raised in other forums. “We encourage you to stay tuned and engaged in this.”

More than ever, we need a global movement for nuclear disarmament!

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY

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Humanity’s just one misunderstanding away from ‘nuclear annihilation’ warns UN chief

  TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

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Solidarity with the Palestinians and the forces of peace operating in Israel

  WOMEN’S EQUALITY

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Mexico: Curricular Strategy on Gender Equality to be implemented in public schools

 

  FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

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United Nations Secretary-General in Japan, 5–8 August

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

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Nigeria: Reps Push For ‘Silence The Guns’ Implementation

  DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION

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Colombia: Peacebuilding in Viotá, a model that seeks to be replicated throughout the country

  HUMAN RIGHTS

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Honduras: A massive march cries out for peace in Olancho

  EDUCATION FOR PEACE

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Mexico: International Diploma in Development and Culture of Peace at the UAZ

CPNN (Culture of Peace News Network) bulletin of August 1, 2022

Culture of peace in Latin America

The elections of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico, Gabriel Boric in Chile, Jose Pedro Castillo in Peru, and Gustavo Petro in Colombia, as well as the potential for the election of Lula da Silva in Brazil are being considered as a “second progressive wave.”

It is compared to a “first progressive wave” from 2008 to 2016 when Latin leaders included Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Luz Ignacio Lula da Silva in Brazil, Nestor Kirchner in Argentina, Rafael Correa in Ecuador, and Evo Morales in Bolivia.

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CPNN (Culture of Peace News Network) bulletin of June 1, 2022

A GLOBAL YOUTH MOVEMENT? . .

Are we seeing the dawn of a global youth movement for peace and sustainable development?

If Australia is an example, the answer may be positive.

In Australia, the political landscape was changed radically in recent elections that saw young people turn out to vote in record numbers to address the issues they care about most: climate change, housing affordability and the rising cost of living. The electoral “greenslide” was made mostly of wins for seats that have the highest population of young people. 

In other countries around the world, it is the new generation that has taken the lead for social change.

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CPNN (Culture of Peace News Network) bulletin of May 1, 2022

The struggle for truth

As the Culture of War, now led by Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, continues to use the control of information and outright lies as a major weapon in their arsenal, the struggle for truth becomes ever more important for the culture of peace. As Gandhi said, “‘Non-violence and truth are inseparable and presuppose one another.’ He called it Satyagraha.”

This is not safe or easy, as we see in the following recent exampes of those who engage in this struggle.

Julian Assange has been imprisoned for many years now and threatened for extradition to the United States where he could be imprisoned for the rest of his life. In a letter this month to President Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, more than 30 progressive advocates, intellectuals, and former heads of state argued the charges against Assange should be dropped. The charges against Assange stem from his publication of classified material that exposed U.S. war crimes, including video footage of American forces gunning down civilians in Iraq.

According to a report by Yahoo News, the CIA and senior officials of the Trump administration discussed how to assassinate him.

Dmitry Muratov, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his independent journalism criticizing Russian policies, was attacked recently by someone shouting “Here’s to you for our boys” (i.e. Russian soldiers). Perhaps saved by his notariety as a result of the prize, he was not assassinated like several others of his journalist colleagues. Although his journal, Novaya Gazeta, has been shut down by Russian authorities, there are plans to re-open it abroad.

Glenn Greenwald is an American journalist who has been defending freedom of information for almost 20 years now, including defense of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, and publishing investigative reports on corruption in Brazil and elsewhere. In an article this month republished by CPNN, he reviews the extreme censorship now being orchestrated from Washington has greatly limited the possibility to know what is truly happening in the Russian Federation and the Ukraine. He asks, “Why is there so much urgency about silencing the small pockets of dissenting voices about the war in Ukraine?” And he responds, “The answer seems clear,” and he documents the enormous contracts being given to the military-industrial complex to expand the war.

As an example of how censorship limits the possibility of knowing what is happening in Russia, the reader should recall the editor’s note on the CPNN article of January 19 this year, prior to the invasion of Ukraine: “: In recent weeks, Russian President Putin has proposed new peace treaties between Russia and the US and between Russia and NATO. Google lists perhaps a hundred news articles that mention Putin’s proposals but nowhere in any of the articles could I find a reference to the actual text of the proposals or to the historical context that includes American assurances at the end of the Cold War that NATO would not be expanded towards Russia. Instead, the articles listed by google support American and NATO claims that that Putin’s proposals mask a justification for Russian invasion of the Ukraine. Finally, after a rather long and detailed search, I found the following article (not listed by google) that links to the treaty proposals and to the historical context. Here it is.)

Sergey Aleksashenko, a former deputy governor of the Russian central bank, now writes a dissident blog from inside the Russian Federation. As republished in CPNN, he documents the censorship now being conducted by the Russian authorities which is so extreme as to become ridiculous at times. Somehow, despite the Russian censorship, he continues to publish daily blogs about the situation there.

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas Davies, from the American peace organization Codepink, condemn not only the war crimes committed by Russia in the Ukraine, but even more so the long list of war crimes committed by the United States military in recent years, such as those in Raqqa, Syria, and Mosul, Iraq. ” The United States and its allies have waged war in country after country for decades, carving swathes of destruction through cities, towns and villages on a far greater scale than has so far disfigured Ukraine.”

Marina Ovsyannikova is the Russian journalist who dared to interrupt a live news bulletin on Russian state TV Channel One holding a sign reading ‘NO WAR. Stop the war’. CPNN carried a link to the video of the event in which she describes her motivation.  She was immediately arrested and according to a more recent article in Haaretz, “A court fined her the equivalent of about $270, but she still faces charges of violating a law against ‘false news,’ which makes it illegal to refer to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a “war.” If convicted, she could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.”

Oliver Stone, the film-maker who dared to defy the American authorities with his film JFK about the asassination of President Kennedy, has now published a film about the coup d’etat in the Ukraine in 2014 orchestrated by the American government, including Vice-President at the time Joe Biden. This provides key evidence of why the Russians have invaded, including links to the conversation between the US ambassador to the Ukraine and a top State Department authority on how to form the new government in 2014, and a statement from Vladimir Putin, asking what can be done to stop the encroachmen of NATO against his country.

In CPNN in recent weeks we have published statements and petitions from hundreds of thousands of Russians opposed to the war as detailed in last month’s bulletin. And most recently we have published also a call from Ukrainian pacifists who dare to criticize their own country as well as the Russians.

The Ukrainian Pacifist Movement writes, “We condemn military actions on both sides, the hostilities which harm civilians. We insist that all shootings should be stopped, all sides should honor the memory of killed people and, after due grief, calmly and honestly commit to peace talks. . . . War is a crime against humanity. Therefore, we are determined not to support any kind of war and to strive for the removal of all causes of war.”

Finally, we turn to the censorship of China.

As re-published in CPNN, “Chinese professors have been restricted from airing their views and are reluctant to contradict the official Communist Party line on international relations and political events. However, a group of five prominent history professors from top Chinese universities were willing to go against the official narrative in a rare joint letter condemning the invasion of Ukraine.”

“The letter, signed by Nanjing University’s Sun Jiang, Peking University’s Wang Lixin, Hong Kong University’s Xu Guoqi, Tsinghua University’s Zhong Weimin, and Fudan University’s Chen Yan, described the Russian invasion as a “war that began in the dark”, and for an immediate end to the fighting. . . . The letter was immediately removed by censors when it appeared on 26 February on the Chinese social media platform WeChat but not before it had been viewed and commented upon – including attacking the professors on China’s social media with some calling them spies or traitors.”

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

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Russian Nobel Laureate Muratov Doused With Red Paint By Unknown Attacker

  TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

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Chad, Cameroon and Gabon: Youth as Weavers of Peace in the border region

  WOMEN’S EQUALITY

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Gabon Candidate for International Peace Ambassador

  DISARMAMENT & SECURITY

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Statement of The Ukrainian Pacifist Movement Against Perpetuation of War

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

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UN climate report: It’s ‘now or never’ to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees

  DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION

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France : “We, Mayors, want to be architects of Peace!”

  HUMAN RIGHTS

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Glenn Greenwald: The Censorship Campaign Against Western Criticism of NATO’s Ukraine Policy Is Extreme

  EDUCATION FOR PEACE

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Transformative Peace Initiatives through TOCfE Tools