Activities

Nuke Free Europe: Human chain against nuclear arms in Büchel (Germany)

On Sunday 5 September, the European month of action against nuclear weapons in Europe was kicked off in Büchel, Germany. 800 peace activists formed a human chain to protest against the US nuclear bombs at the Fliegerhorst air base as part of NATO’s nuclear sharing arrangements.

The action took place just weeks before the September 26 federal elections to call on Germany to join the UN nuclear weapons ban (TPNW), which has been in force since January 22, 2021. The peace movement has been campaigning against nuclear arms at the air base for 25 years. The human chain was organized by the campaign “Büchel is everywhere! Nuclear Weapon Free Now”. Continue reading “Nuke Free Europe: Human chain against nuclear arms in Büchel (Germany)”

Webinar II: A Roadmap to End Nuclear Sharing In Conversation with EU Parliamentarians

Building on our last very engaging webinar with experts and activists from the EU nuclear sharing states we are now taking the next step towards developing a clear roadmap for a Nuclear Free Europe.

On Monday the 28th of June from 18.30-20.00 CEST we will be having an open conversation on the topic of nuclear disarmament with four parliamentarians from EU nuclear sharing states:

Karl-Heinz Brunner (SPD Germany)

Jasper van Dijk (Socialistische Partij – Netherlands)

Kris Verduyckt (Vooruit – Belgium)

Kathrin Vogler (Die Linke – Germany)

Moderation: Angelika Claussen (IPPNW)

Continue reading “Webinar II: A Roadmap to End Nuclear Sharing In Conversation with EU Parliamentarians”

Asian Generation Z’s Voice for Peace and Justice

On June 16, 2021 the IPB Asia working group hosted an informative discussion on the socio-political phenomenon currently sweeping Asia, namely that of the youth generation’s political activism. The event brought together four grassroots activists from around the continent to share in solidarity their experiences, lessons and hopes for the future of their generations. If you were unable to join us on the day, the full English version of the event can be viewed via the IPB YouTube channel. 

Speakers included:

  • Park Do-Hyung (Co-Representative of The Declaration of Global Citizen, Republic of Korea)
  • Nakayama Ayumi (Vice President of Democratic Youth League of Japan, Japan)
  • Khin Sandar (Spokesperson, General Strike Collaboration Committee and organizer for the Milk Tea Alliance, Myanmar)
  • Wisallya Ngamna (Anti-Government Protester, Northeast Thailand )

Moderators: Jessica Pardo and Stephanie Verlaan, IPB Assistant Coordinators

Month of Action: September 2021 – Leaflet

The peace movements across Europe are coming together for a month of action in September 2021 to demand a safer and more peaceful future. A network of organizations, Nuke Free Europe, wants a nuclear-weapon-free Europe; an end to the stationing of US nuclear weapons in Europe; and we demand that European states sign up to and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Continue reading “Month of Action: September 2021 – Leaflet”

Webinar Report: SIPRI Figures on Military Expenditure

On April 26, The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) published its global arms spending statistics for 2020, confirming the expected further increase in military expenditure worldwide. In our German webinar “SIPRI Figures on Military Expenditure – Developments in Germany and Worldwide” on April 28, Tarja Cronberg  (Distinguished SIPRI Fellow), Thomas Würdinger (IG-Metall), Myriam Rapior (BUND Youth / Fridays for Future) and Reiner Braun (Executive Director IPB) discussed and analyzed the global and German armament in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic together with our participants. The event was moderated by Julia Auf dem Brinke.

Continue reading “Webinar Report: SIPRI Figures on Military Expenditure”

Webinar Report: Roadmap to End Nuclear Sharing

The first webinar on the “Roadmap to end nuclear sharing” on March 29, 2021, was a real success, with 87 people from all over Europe, and some from other continents, taking part. Our aim was to develop interactive connections and a common strategy for European peace and disarmament activists to approach governments.

If you were unable to attend, you can now watch the video here on the IPB´s YouTube Channel.

To learn more about Nuke Free Europe´s network appeal and call for actions visit: www.nukefreeeurope.eu

Continue reading “Webinar Report: Roadmap to End Nuclear Sharing”

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.

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.