Interview with Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary

Image: Reiner Braun (second from the left) and Sharan Burrow (third from the right) at the Seán MacBride Peace Prize Ceremony for Jeremy Corbyn.

Sharan Burrow is the General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). During her time at the head of ITUC, she has helped to foster relations between trade unions and the peace movement – bringing together themes of peace, justice, conversion, and the need for a peace dividend. IPB Executive Director Reiner Braun sat down for an interview with Sharan to discuss the interconnections between the trade union and peace movements.

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Nawal El Sadaawi – In Memory.

NAWAL EL SADAAWI – in memory.

The world has sadly lost a feminist pillar, a free spirit and a huge inspiration.  The Egyptian writer, activist, physician and psychiatrist, Nawal El Sadaawi has passed away at the age of 89. The loss will not only be felt in the Middle East, where she lived most of her life, but worldwide.  Her intellectual and creative capacities, her courage, stamina and energy seemed endless, and indeed have marked generations and will, for generations to come. Her books will be read, her feminist and socialist work against patriarchy and capitalism is historic and she will continue to be a revolutionary role model for the oppressed and for women fighting for their rights, for equality, justice and a more peaceful world.

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Statement: IPB Condemns UK Decision to Increase Warheads by 40%

IPB CONDEMNS UK DECISION TO INCREASE WARHEADS BY 40%

17 March 2021

 

IPB shares the widespread international denunciation of the announcement by Prime Minister Boris Johnson that Britain will increase the cap on the number of its nuclear warheads to 260. Previously. Britain had been committed to reducing its stockpile to no more than 180 Trident warheads by the mid-2020s. However, the integrated review of security, defence, development and foreign policy published yesterday included this 40% increase in the stockpile.

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Seán MacBride Peace Prize Ceremony 2020/21

On March, 17th 2021, the Séan MacBride Peace Prize has formally been awarded to Terumi Tanaka, Convenor of the Promotion Committee of the 2020 award-recipient ‘International Signature Campaign in Support of the Appeal of the Hibakusha’. During this first online award ceremony featuring a warm welcome from IPB Co-President Lisa Clark and Rieko Asato from the IPB Board/Gensuikyo, moderation by IPB Ex. Director Reiner Braun and an expressive and extremely timely Laudation by IPB CO-President Philip Jennings, Terumi Tanaka and the Signature Campaign’s Leader Mitsuhiro Hayashi vividly illustrated the central importance the struggle against nuclear weapons still occupies in our world today – for the Hibakusha, for the Japanese people and for every world citizen.

Find out more about the Ceremony here.

MacBride Award 2020 for the ‘International Signature Campaign in Support of the Appeal of the Hibakusha’

The International Signature Campaign in Support of the Appeal of the
Hibakusha was launched in April 2016 in the name of prominent Hibakusha of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since its launch, the signature campaign has been supported by a broad range of prominent individuals and organizations, enjoying great support from people across the world. The collected signatures, total 11,843,549 (as of March 31, 2020,) making it one of the largest signature campaigns ever carried out in the world and a powerful popular force manifesting global demands for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. The signatures have been submitted and
acknowledged by the U.N. and NPT PrepCom Chairs.

In addition to worldwide efforts, across Japan signature promotion committees have been established in each of Japan’s 47 prefectures, leading to the endorsement of the Appeal by 1263 mayors and governors. On the August 6-9 the 75th anniversary commemorations for the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the “Peace Wave” of international joint actions by grassroots organizations will circle the globe with activities to press for the elimination of nuclear weapons with the Hibakusha Appeal signature campaign serving as the Peace Wave’s common action.


On March, 17th 2021, the Séan MacBride Peace Prize has formally been awarded to Terumi Tanaka, Convenor of the Promotion Committee of the Int. Hibakusha Appeal Signature Campaign. During this first online award ceremony featuring a warm welcome from IPB Co-President Lisa Clark and Rieko Asato from the IPB Board/Gensuikyo, moderation by IPB Ex. Director Reiner Braun and an expressive and extremely timely Laudation by IPB CO-President Philip Jennings, Terumi Tanaka and the Signature Campaign’s Leader Mitsuhiro Hayashi vividly illustrated the central importance the struggle against nuclear weapons still occupies in our world today – for the Hibakusha, for the Japanese people, for every world citizen.

They left the guests with the powerful message of pride for their achievements, determination on the steps ahead, but most of all: Hope for the future, a nuke-free future, to come.

Akira Okuma performing ‘Imagine’ in Japanese and as English singalong made this event a truly unique experience, uniting us if not in space but in spirit.

Our deepest thanks to all organizers, speakers, interpreters, technical support and guests from all over the world who made this ceremony special against all contemporary odds.

Have a look at the programme and some images of the Ceremony below, or watch the event on YouTube!

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SéanMBride Prize Programme FINAL

 

Remembering and Shaping the Future – for a Policy of Common Security

Article by IPB Executive Director Reiner Braun and Prof. Peter Brandt for the German Newsletter „abrüsten statt aufrüsten“

More and more people have the feeling that we are living in a time of intensified confrontations and even the possibility of a major war again. Uncertainty is increasingly shaping our daily lives as well. The statement of the scientific Nobel Prize winners: the clock is at 100 seconds to 12, is the concise expression of these dangers threatening us all, above all – in the longer term – the climate disaster, and directly the 14,000 nuclear weapons present on earth.

Is there an alternative to this that is socially and politically – nationally and internationally – capable of winning a majority, that helps to ensure survival and a better life? A strategy that combines historical experience with answers to current challenges? In the nuclear age, the sentence literally applies, as formulated by Willy Brandt, among others: “Peace is not everything, but everything without peace everything is nothing”!

This political concept is the policy of “common security” – it is conservative and revolutionary at the same time.

Conservative because it does not aim at changing the social systems and political orders of individual countries; it accepts socialism and capitalism, or however those in power characterize their system. It is recognized as existing and legitimately changeable only from within the different variants of authoritarian, liberal and welfare-state regulated capitalism as well as a democratic or authoritarian constitution of non-capitalist states. In this way, it creates the prerequisite for a peaceful competition between these systems in the first place.

It is revolutionary because it excludes war as the continuation of politics by other means, because it thus no longer permits this murderous method of conflict resolution, which has cost hundreds of millions of lives over millennia and has called into question the very existence of humanity for over 60 years, or, in other words, raises humanity and the planet to a new level of coexistence that would have elementary humanism as its basis.

The policy of common security can bring us closer to one of the great spaces of humanity: a world without war! How many generations have fought and suffered for it again and again courageously, often in vain and with great sacrifices.

Almost 40 years ago, common security was formulated as a concept by an international group of experts in the Olaf Palme Report “Common Security Blueprint for Survivals”; next year it will be updated with the participation of IPB and ITUC (World Trade Union Confederation).

What are the basic principles of this still current concept?

In the nuclear age, security cannot be created alone or against each other, but only together and in partnership.

War is no longer a means of politics in the nuclear age; all conflicts and controversies must be resolved peacefully, through dialogue and negotiation. Violent changes of borders, appropriation of territories are excluded; state sovereignty and supranational unions remain untouched.

Cooperation is the basis for peaceful coexistence; this must develop in steps and involve the development of trust. Cooperation encompasses all levels: Economy, ecology, science, culture and sport. Consultations at all levels and also joint crisis responses are part of it.

Human rights are respected, and their realization is also repeatedly called for in dialogical discussions – from all sides and in relation to all aspects of human rights. Civil and social. However, human rights are not an instrument for struggle in interstate disputes in order to label the other party as the “bad guy”.

Arms limitation and disarmament are indispensable. This always includes small initial steps of demilitarization, disarmament of troops and other confidence-building measures such as contacts between militaries. Openness and verifiability of measures are indispensable. Exclusive military alliances such as NATO must in the longer term either be demilitarized into existing inclusive networks and completely redesigned (as the OSCE was in Europe) or dissolved.

While the policy of common security was originally a Euro-Atlantic concept, it is now a global one and for this very reason must be increasingly regionalized. What is needed are very specific concepts for common security strategies for different regions of the world, not only for Europe but also, for example, for the Korean peninsula, for the Pacific and for the South China Sea.

The policy of détente of the 21st century is inconceivable – this is also a further development compared to approaches from the 1970s and 1980s – without the peace movement as one of the large, cross-border social movements and without an international civil society. They are the motor for a new policy of détente, driving these developments forward and safeguarding them against crises through comprehensive diplomacy from below.

The basic idea of the Olaf Palme Report is quite simple: My security is only guaranteed if the security of my counterpart is also guaranteed. There is security only in the “double pack”.

Disarmament – another lesson from the 1970s and 1980s – is the indispensable “materialization” of the policy of détente. That is why disarmament is absolutely central. It could be decisively advanced by unilateral calculated steps, especially by those in the stronger position. In the northern hemisphere, this would be NATO.

Reiner Braun and Peter Brandt

IPB Launches World Peace Congress Pages

A few months back, IPB released our first “Save the Date” announcement for this fall’s Second World Peace Congress in Barcelona, from October 15-17. We are now excited to share with you that we have launched our social media and website for the congress. Through these platforms, you can stay up to date with all of the latest developments and events related to the congress and participate actively as we prepare for the gathering in Barcelona.

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Report: IPB at ‘Cooperation for Peace’ Annual Conference

On Friday, 26th and Saturday, 27th of February 2021, the IPB supported the German initiative Kooperation für den Frieden (Coopeation for Peace), in collaboration with Welt ohne Waffen (World without Weapons) Weimar and the Rosa-Luxemburg Foundation, hosting their Annual Conference ‘Für ein Europa, das Frieden wagt’ (‘For a Europe daring Peace’).

Cooperation for Peace encompasses and association of more than 50 initiatives and organizations of the German peace movement. Founded in 2003, they strive for the development of peaceful methods and strategies for conflict prevention and resolution, denouncing politics of violence and coercion.

Albeit held in a fully virtual format acknowledging the exceptional circumstances we are currently living and working under, the conference featured everything a great gathering of passionate peace activists ought to display: Opening music, moving speeches, passionate panelists, skilled exposés, intriguing discussions, and of course as much socializing as can possibly be cramped into the tight but rigorously rich schedule.

Dr. Klaus Dörre from Jena University impressively demonstrated in eight theses the connection between peace,  climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals. The subsequent panel discussion with, among others, IPB-Board member Alain Rouy (Mouvement de la Paix, France) and Yuri Sheliazhenko (War Resisters International. Ukraine) sketched out intriguing perspectives and proposals regarding Europe’s ongoing militarization.

Saturday morning, again moderated by Torsten Schleip (Friedenszentrum Leipzig e.V.) and IPB Executive Director Reiner Braun, started with the very holistic European security assessment from a Russian perspective by Vladislav Belov, European Institute Moscow. Straight forward, Ralf Becker (Coordinator initiative ‘Sicherheit neu denken’/’Rethinking Security’) explained the five pillars of a European civil security concept based on the sustainable development of EU-neighbor states and an economic and security partnership with Europe.

Imagining a ‘European Peace Project’ could have been the headline of the following session featuring Alain on the French security ideology and practice-paradox, Yuri on peace with and within the European Union, Willy van Ooyen (Bundesausschuss Friedensratschlag) on collective security and Dr. Christine Schweitzer (Bund für Soziale Verteidigung)  calling for a diverse, inclusive ‘peace from below’.  Five different breakout sessions on topics from disarmament to social movements and trans-border cooperation, new humanitarian politics in Europe and feminist perspectives allowed for dynamic conversations and interactive sharing of knowledge and experiences.

Closing with remarks from Reiner, Renate Wanie (Kooperation für den Frieden/Werkstatt für Gewaltfreie Aktion) and Jens-Peter Steffen (Co-Speaker Cooperation for Peace) two days of intense exchange drew to a close. Despite minor technical hick-ups, the overly positive feedback from the no less than 100 participants reassured us of the importance that peace work carries now when physical distance easily amplifies mental and ideological disconnect, motivating us to keep the ball rolling and stay engaged even when this means spending more time in front of a screen than we would all wish to.

Many thanks to all the speakers, organizers, moderators and participants who made this event such a great experience and huge success! See you (hopefully) next year, live and in colour!

You can find the conference’s full programme here. Learn more about ‘Kooperation für den Frieden’ and the conference here.

Youth Fusion Elders Series: In Conversation with Bruce Kent

On March 1,  Youth Fusion, the Youth network group from Abolition 2000, will be launching the Youth Fusion Elders initiative in conjunction with Nuclear Remembrance Day and World Future Day.

The first interview of the podcast series honors Bruce Kent, former IPB President and MacBride Peace Pize Laureate 2019, as one of the Elders. The initiative highlights the importance of inter-generational dialogue, and of youth learning from the experience of those who have been long-time and effective leaders in the peace and disarmament fields.

Please access the link to their website and the podcast here.

IPB Calls for Solidarity with the People of Myanmar

1 March 2021

IPB calls for solidarity with the people of Myanmar

Peace movement condemns Bloody Sunday in Myanmar.
Military brutality is on the rise.

The military is targeting political parties, the trade union movement and civil society. The military is forcing people at gunpoint to return to work. They are in fundamental breach of ILO labour standards.

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