Tag: Climate of Peace

How to get involved in GDAMS 2023 – War costs us the Earth

Original text at: https://demilitarize.org/

This year of war in Ukraine has meant a huge boost for militarism and military budgets across the world, especially in countries of the Global North. But at GCOMS we believe the response should be quite the opposite: we should drastically reduce military spending and invest in common & human security instead… 

The 12th edition of the Global Days of Action on Military Spending will take place from April 13 to May 9, 2023. Join us in protesting military budgets & warmongering, and take action for peace & justice!

These dates include:

  • April 18: Tax Day in the USA
  • April 22: Earth Day
  • April 24: GDAMS press conferences and social media storm on the occasion of SIPRI’s release of new data on military spending
  • May 9: Europe’s Day of Peace · Actions against the militarization of the EU

How can you get involved?

If you’re part of an organization:

  • Prepare your own GDAMS action or join activities prepared by other organizations near you. Once you know the details of your action please send us an email so we can add them to our map & agenda and help you spread the word. You can see examples from last year here.
  • April 24 will be the main day of action once again. Using new military spending data released that day by SIPRI (figures for 2022), we’ll hold press conferences and launch a Social Media Storm. We’ll send instructions for social media actions soon, and if you’re preparing media work in your city/country, we can help you plan it.
  • Stay active during GDAMS by sharing ideas, articles, actions and debates through your own network and social media, with other GCOMS partners, and with us (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).

As an individual:

  • Join a local group working on the issue, or set one up!
    Here’s our list of partners.
  • Do Online Campaigning: join our social media storm on April 24; use your social media to protest military budgets by sharing pictures, news, materials, and actions;
  • Write an op-ed; Send a letter to representatives in your country responsible for defense budgets.

IPB Call to Action – On the First Anniversary of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Let’s Show That There Are Peaceful Alternatives to War

The International Peace Bureau calls on our members worldwide to take action during 24-26 February 2023 in support of peace in Ukraine. The war, which will mark its first anniversary on 24.02.2023, has already cost more than two hundred thousand lives[1] – by conservative estimates – forced millions to flee their homes[2], caused widespread destruction of Ukrainian cities, and strained already fragile supply chains that have made life more difficult for people the world over.

We know that this war is unsustainable – and, worse still, risks escalation that threatens the life and livelihood of people around the world. The nuclear rhetoric of Russia in particular is irresponsible and demonstrates the fragility of this moment. Moreover, the war’s direct and indirect impact on the climate impedes the urgent need for a green transition[3].

There is no easy solution to the war in Ukraine, but the current track we are on is unsustainable. Through global demonstrations for peace, we seek to pressure the two sides to establish a ceasefire and to take steps toward negotiations for long-term peace.

Our calls for peace are not limited to Ukraine – for all conflicts in the world, we implore governments to refuse the logic of confrontation and war, to oppose the nuclear peril, and to commit themselves to disarmament by signing the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty. We demand that governments and states act in favor of diplomacy, negotiation, conflict prevention, and the establishment of common security systems[4].

We call for your support and your voices for peace. Please consider joining an existing event during this weekend of action, or planning your own. Together we are stronger, and can show the world that there are alternatives to war and militarization. 

Further resources:

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/10/us-estimates-200000-military-casualties-all-sides-ukraine-war

[2] https://cream-migration.org/ukraine-detail.htm?article=3573#:~:text=The%20UNHCR%20records%207%2C977%2C980%20refugees,for%20temporary%20protection%20in%20Europe. 

[3] https://www.sgr.org.uk/publications/estimating-military-s-global-greenhouse-gas-emissions

[4] https://commonsecurity.org/

You can download the PDF version of this official statement here:

IPB-Call-to-Action-On-the-First-Anniversary-of-the-Russian-Invasion-of-UkraineDownload

➡️ Click here to read the appeal in French.

➡️ Interact with us on social media especially to learn about our latest actions and activities: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube.

➡️ Our office is open to reply to any doubts regarding the documents that were above presented. To get in touch with us, e-mail us at info@ipb-office.berlin.

Militarized Japan and the Biden-Kishida Summit Signal Moment in the New Cold War

Article by Joseph Gerson – 11/01/2023

➡️ Read the original article in commondreams.org

Across the Indo-Pacific, as well as in the escalating Ukraine War, humanity stands an accident or miscalculation away from the calamity of nuclear war.

Japan in December adopted a set of three security and defense strategy documents that break from its exclusively self-defense-only stance. Under the new strategies, Japan vows to build up its counterstrike capability with long-range cruise missiles that can reach potential targets in China, double its defense budget within five years, and bolster development of advanced weapons.” —Asahi Shimbun

“U.S. officials have welcomed Japan’s willingness to take on more offensive role, while experts say it could also help widen cooperation with Australia, their main regional defense partner.” —Asahi Shimbun

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida comes to Washington on Friday, January 13. Unlike Japan, his summit with President Joe Biden will not garner much press attention here in the United States, but it marks a signal moment in Japan’s rise in military power and in the implementation of the Biden Administration’s National Security Strategy. The Strategy, which prioritizes Chinese and Russian challenges to the so-called “rules-based order”, a euphemism for U.S. primacy which is rife with contradictions, prioritizes the centrality of alliances to U.S. global power, stating that “our alliances and partnerships around the world are our most important strategic asset.”

The revitalized 70-year-old U.S.-Japan alliance has renewed importance in enforcing U.S. defense of Taiwan and resisting the expansion of Chinese influence across the South China/West Philippine Sea. This Sea is the geopolitically critical expanse of ocean across which 40% of world trade—including Middle East oil which fuels East Asian economies—flows. Similarly, further integration of the Japanese and U.S. economies and technological resources are encompassed by the alliance and seen as essential to the power and wealth of both nations.

Prime Minister Kishida has stated that the summit will be a “very important” opportunity to “demonstrate at home and abroad the further strengthening of the Japan-U.S. alliance.” The alliance is not a new development. In 1952 the Mutual Security Treaty (AMPO in Japanese) was secretly imposed on Japan as a condition for ending the postwar military occupation. Since then, contrary to Japan’s “peace constitution,” the island nation has served as the center of the United States’ hub and spokes Asia-Pacific alliance structure. It reinforced the Cold War containment doctrine in Asia, and in the 21st century it plays a critical role in containing and managing China’s rise and its challenge to U.S. regional hegemony.

➡️ Read the original article in commondreams.org

Continue reading “Militarized Japan and the Biden-Kishida Summit Signal Moment in the New Cold War”

Open Letter Launch on military spending and climate finance

In a collaboration between the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) , World BEYOND War (WBW), and the International Peace Bureau (IPB), we come to present you two Open Letters written especifically for the occasion of the COP27 happening in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egipt from the 6th to the 18th of November.

The first letter is addressed as an Appeal to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Chang (UNFCCC) to Study Climate Impacts of Military Emissions and Military Spending for Climate Financing. The second one, as a Global Appeal to Reduce Military Spending and Re-Allocate to Climate Financing, is addressed to Yannick Glemarec, Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund.

➡️ UNFCCC-Climate-Financing_Joint-Letter67-1Download

“It is inconceivable that while millions of people are waiting for vaccines, medicines or food to save their lives, the richest countries continue to prioritize their resources in armaments at the expense of people’s well-being, climate, health and equitable recovery.”

We appeal to the UNFCCC and the IPCC to do a special report and assessment of the climate impacts of war and the military. Global military spending has risen to over $2.1 trillion USD. We urge the UNFCCC to call on member states to cut military spending for climate financing.

In 2021, global military spending rose to $2.1 trillion (USD), the highest ever in history. This is 20 times more than the $100 billion pledged for climate finance, a target that Western countries failed to meet. 

➡️ ED-Green-Climate-Fund_Joint-Letter59-1Download

The military is the largest consumer of fossil fuels and biggest carbon emitter in the governments of state parties. Countries must demilitarize to decarbonize.

Military emissions and expenditures are derailing progress on the Paris Agreement. Peace, disarmament and demilitarisation are vital to mitigation, transformational adaptation, and climate justice. We also appeal to the Green Climate Fund to study the reduction and re-allocation of military spending for climate financing facilities.

IPB Statement: Call to the G20 to Invest in Healthcare Instead of Militarization (EN/FR/DE/ES/SV/FI/CA/JP/KO)

IPB is calling for a dramatic reduction of military spending in favour of healthcare and meeting social needs

The world’s oldest peace NGO, the Nobel Prize-winning IPB has called on G20 world leaders who are gathering via virtual means this coming week to send a message of peace and solidarity to the world as they address the global health emergency. Continue reading “IPB Statement: Call to the G20 to Invest in Healthcare Instead of Militarization (EN/FR/DE/ES/SV/FI/CA/JP/KO)”

Denuclearizing of the Korean Peninsula

Denuclearizing of the Korean Peninsula and Establishing a Northeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone

(Presentation of Dr. J. Enkhsaikhan, Chairman of Blue Banner NGO at the 6th Forum of Northeast Asian Peace and Development, held on 24 November 2019 in Shanghai)

Continue reading “Denuclearizing of the Korean Peninsula”

IPB’s Berlin Congress: A Huge Success!

Berlin CongressThere was a general consensus in the Berlin Congress organised by IPB (Disarm! for a Climate of Peace: Creating an Action Agenda) that the gathering was a tremendous success. Over 1000 participants from 75 countries participated in a wide range of sessions: plenaries, panels and workshops, as well as side events and cultural presentations. Speeches by experts, activists, politicians, scholars and others provided both inspiration and understanding at a high level.

The event provided a new impetus to the disarmament and wider peace movements at a critical time. IPB also presented its own Action Agenda for the coming years at the final plenary (see separate news item). Continue reading “IPB’s Berlin Congress: A Huge Success!”