The Transnational Institute (TNI) published a critical briefing on July 8th, “Climate in the CrosshairsThe planetary impact of NATO’s spending increases” co-sponsored by the International Peace Bureau.
As NATO commemorates its 75th anniversary with a summit in Washington D.C., this briefing highlights the environmental repercussions of the alliance’s burgeoning military expenditures. Here are the main points covered in the briefing:
Key Findings:
Massive CO2 Emissions: NATO’s military spending in 2023, amounting to $1.34 trillion, generated an estimated 233 million metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e), surpassing the annual greenhouse gas emissions of countries like Colombia or Qatar.
Increasing Carbon Footprint: The $126 billion increase in NATO’s military spending in 2023 is predicted to add an extra 31 million tCO2e, comparable to the annual emissions of approximately 6.7 million average US cars.
Unmet Climate Goals: Despite the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) urging a 43% reduction in emissions across all sectors by 2030, NATO’s military emissions rose by about 15% in 2023.
Climate Finance vs. Military Spending: NATO’s 2023 military expenditure could fund the minimal climate financing demanded by developing nations 13 times over, highlighting the misallocation of resources during a climate crisis.
Projected Emissions: If NATO members meet the 2% GDP military spending target by 2028, the collective military carbon footprint could reach 2 billion tCO2e, exceeding Russia’s annual emissions.
Challenges and Concerns:
Dependency on Fossil Fuels: Despite NATO’s acknowledgment of climate change as a critical issue, increased military spending on equipment, heavily reliant on fossil fuels, exacerbates emissions. For instance, the popular F-35 combat aircraft consumes significantly more fuel than its predecessor.
Arms Trade and Environmental Impact: NATO’s initiatives to support the arms industry promise lucrative profits for arms companies but push aside environmental regulations, further fueling global militarization and conflict amidst climate breakdown.
This briefing underscores the urgent need for NATO to reevaluate its spending priorities to address the climate crisis effectively.
For more detailed insights, you can read the full briefing on TNI website:
IPB supports this call from organizations and individuals around the world, demanding an end to wars and the dissolution of NATO. As the NATO Summit approaches, taking place from July 9 to 11, 2024, in Washington DC, we feel compelled to voice our collective concern over the increasing global conflicts, military spending, and the resulting insecurity. This letter highlights the critical issues and calls for immediate, non-violent resolution of disputes, urging the United States and NATO countries to act responsibly and prioritize peace.
You can find and sign the original Spanish letter here. Supporting signatures will be collected until Sunday, July 7, 2024.
Phyllis Joyce Manning Creighton, MA – Died at 94, on June 25, 2024 at the Sunnybrook Holland Centre, Toronto.
Predeceased by her beloved husband and best friend, Philip Creighton, FCA. Loving mother of Lisa (Tim), Jane, Angus, and Stephen (Liz); grandmother of Margaret, Shannon (Kasper), Victor, Ross, Jack and Claire; great-grandmother of Lennox. Dear sister of Mary Blackstock and Carol Pollen.
She was born on February 8, 1930 in Toronto, youngest daughter of Harold Ernest Manning and Mary Adelaide Endicott.
Phyllis was educated at Bishop Strachan School (BSS), Trinity College, University of Toronto, and the Sorbonne. While teaching at BSS she met Phil, her future husband and life-long companion, and left to raise four children. From 1967 on Phyllis worked as a researcher and translations editor with the Dictionary of Canadian Biography/Dictionnaire Biographique du Canada, University of Toronto, eventually retiring at the age of 87.
Phyllis was a deeply religious woman, an intellectual with rigorous standards, charm, enthusiasm and deep commitment to the causes she believed in. At the center of her efforts, in her own words, were “how to make and keep life human; how to show love and respect for human beings and for Earth and to raise awareness that the moral is the practical.” She asked the difficult questions, found ways forward, and promoted solutions and strategies to achieve them. Caring deeply for her friends and family, she gave her time and attention generously.
A life-long volunteer, Phyllis started by teaching and advocating for natural childbirth, and continued at Planned Parenthood, the Ontario Mental Health Foundation, the Addiction Research Foundation, the Anglican Church of Canada, Project Ploughshares, Health Canada, the Conservation Council of Ontario, Science for Peace, the Canadian Network to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, No Weapons in Space, the Canadian Pugwash Group, the Hiroshima Nagasaki Day Coalition, and Veterans Against Nuclear Arms, to name a few.
Phyllis was a member of the Raging Grannies for more than 20 years. The protesting, writing and singing of satirical songs against injustice and in support of peace, justice and care of people and the earth, in crazy hats and costumes, and with lots of buttons, came naturally for her. She loved to sing for people in public and in the church choir.
She worked actively to create peace in the world and an end to nuclear weapons, speaking, writing, presenting, and even travelling internationally to support these efforts. We remember her trips to Volgograd as a participant in the Toronto-Volgograd Initiative citizen exchange, and the nesting dolls and vodka toasts that followed. She also visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki twice to attend the peace memorial ceremonies and to speak at the World Conference against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs.
In recognition of her contributions to the church over many years, Phyllis was made a Canon of the Anglican Church of Canada, a rare distinction for a lay person. She researched and wrote on many issues, served on committees and taskforces, attended synods, asked questions, made speeches, moved motions. She raised awareness of, and support for, social justice issues within the church.
Among many other achievements, Phyllis chaired the Ontario Mental Health Foundation and the Addiction Research Foundation’s clinical institute. She also received the Anglican Award of Merit for service to church and community, the Order of Ontario, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and was named a Bishop Strachan School Distinguished Old Girl.
Phyllis loved to dress in beautiful, colourful clothes and wear her many pieces of jewellery, particularly her sparkly earrings, brooches and rings. She was an active woman, swimming regularly, on the go from morning to late into the night. With a deep love of nature and the outdoors, she enjoyed the beautiful garden Phil created at their home. Phyllis adored her Siamese cats: Nicholas, Natasha, Katrina, Alexander, and Oliver. There was always a cat perched on a chair nearby or in her lap.
Hosting and later attending family dinners and celebrations gave Phyllis joy. Every year she baked shortbread at Easter and a selection of cookies at Christmas. Phyllis enjoyed visiting with her grandchildren, and regularly looked after them when they were young. Photography was another passion. As was Paris, a city she lived in as a student, and visited with Phil.
She also loved the cottage in Muskoka. It offered wildness, peacefulness, the ability to get away from the phone and computer and the chance to swim daily and sail her beloved Laser. Being in Muskoka would often jump start her creativity; she would sometimes write passionately early in the morning, while everyone else slept. Those of us who went to Muskoka with Phyllis quickly realized there was an alternate reality where normal time and routines did not apply. We had to keep a straight face for the first swim at 12:30 p.m., lunch at 3 p.m., second swim at 6:30 p.m., and dinner after sunset. The rest of her family members rarely matched her enthusiasm, politely declining when asked if we wanted to swim in the early evening, when there were whitecaps and no sun at the beach. Muskoka was an experience for everyone, but soul fulfilling emotionally for Phyllis; she used it to recharge for all of her social justice, peace and environmental efforts.
Phyllis was loved and will be greatly missed. Many of her words live on in publications, and her voice can be heard in recordings and videos online. Phyllis once said, “I don’t expect I’ll give up questioning until my voice is silenced.” May her spirit of love and questioning, and the peace she wanted for the world, live on in us all.
Our sincere thanks to the many doctors, nurses and other health care professionals who provided such excellent care to Phyllis in the last few years, particularly the team at the Sunnybrook Holland Centre.
Visitation at Morley Bedford Funeral Home, 159 Eglinton Ave. W., Toronto (2 stoplights west of Yonge St.) on Sunday, July 7, 3-5 p.m. A Memorial Service will be held at the funeral home chapel on Monday, July 8 at 1:00 p.m. with a reception to follow.
No flowers please. Donations to a charity of your choice would be appreciated.
From your IPB family, thank you Phyllis for being part of IPB and sharing generously your wisdom and dedication for peace with us. We will always remember.
June 20, 2024 – New York – The International Peace Bureau (IPB) had the privilege of honoring Alfredo Lubang, a prominent advocate for peace and disarmament from the Philippines, with the Seán MacBride Peace Award. Fred is also the first recipient of this award from the Philippines. This award was given in recognition of his unwavering work and commitment toward peace, disarmament, common security, and non-violence, especially in the face of ongoing wars. Without him, the Philippines would not be the only country that has ratified nearly all humanitarian disarmament treaties today.
Earlier in the awarding ceremony, we hosted an intergenerational panel discussion on the Current State of Disarmament and Civil Society, Visions, and Aspirations. This discussion featured Alfredo Lubang; Binalakshmi Nepram, IPB Board Member and Founder of the Global Alliance of Indigenous Peoples, Gender Justice, and Peace; and Gene Gesite Jr., Youth Vision Moderator. The panel highlighted the efforts and commitments of civil society in advocating for disarmament. Fred emphasized the urgent need for more advocates and elaborated on both regional and international efforts to strengthen and spread this critical work. He also called on the younger generation to utilize their skills and talents to take part in promoting disarmament, peace, and common security.
This award celebrates all the people who have struggled and become voices of the suffering they have experienced. I am fortunate to have reached the age of disarmament conference which is half of century. This is not just a project; we need more people willing to dedicate their lives to disarmament. It’s about living that experience. I still vividly remember the first death I witnessed during military and armed group conflicts, and the cries of my classmates when it happened. These lived experiences, shared by me and my colleagues, should guide us, as we understand how to solve these problems simply.
The issues we would like to bring in and strategies we put in could be actually successful. But the way global civil society and advcote framed as a new way of again taking advantage of other..But when you look the capacities and look at the people who would like to offer their lives for disarmament, they should be given an opportunity to lead Global Campaigns.. It’s really now about the people who live in conflict areas and excluded groups should be leading the way. We may have left the wars or left your communities but if you lived in conflic areas, the wars would never leave you. To solve this conflict we should have that eyes of lived experience.
For humanitarian disarmament to succeed, we must move beyond a human-centric perspective and embrace a decolonial approach. We must stop exploiting the vulnerabilities of others, whether due to lack of funds or being a small NGO not speaking English like others. There are many ways to achieve our goals, and now is our opportunity to show the world that there are alternatives. I encourage the younger generation to take up this challenge. I will continue to be here for many more years. Thank you. Shukran. I am humbled in this opportunity. Again, this is not about me but having the opportunity that my voice is also someone’s voice.
During the ceremony, Sean Conner, IPB Executive Director, provided an overview of Seán MacBride’s legacy, emphasizing his lifelong dedication to peace and disarmament. He highlighted MacBride’s impactful work with the International Peace Bureau (IPB) and how it relates to Alfredo’s work. This was followed by a congratulatory message from Tak Mashiko, Programme Officer at the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs, who has been a long-time friend and collaborator of Fred in disarmament. Tak highlighted Fred’s hard work and dedication in promoting disarmament both in the Philippines and globally.
Binalakshmi also emphasized Alfredo’s inspiring legacy and lifelong commitment to peace and disarmament. She expressed gratitude to Alfredo and his wife Mitzi Austero, who is also a Program Manager, Nonviolence International Southeast Asia, for their tireless efforts to advance policies and agreements related to disarmament. The event concluded with remarks and appreciations from Emily Rubino, IPB Board Member, and Joseph Gerson, former IPB Vice-President and current President of Campaign for Peace, Disarmament, and Common Security. They acknowledged all the participants who attended and celebrated Fred’s legacy in disarmament, peace, and common security.
Together with Alfredo Lubang and all other peace and disarmament advocates, we continue to reimagine a world without wars.
We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung New York, especially Ms. Mariana Fernandez, RLS-NY Project Manager, for providing the space and making this event possible. We also appreciate the unwavering efforts of the Manipur Gun Survivor Women for their gift to Fred and No War Factory as our patron sponsor. The entire event would not have been possible without the overall coordination and nomination by Bina, our IPB Board Member, and the behind-the-scenes assistance of Gene, Ate Mitsky, and Emily Rubino. Thank you to everyone who participated in this event, including SCRAP Weapon partners, esteemed experts in disarmament, and all those who celebrated with us at this momentous event. Thank you very much.
The whole event can be watched on our IPB YouTube channel
The whole event can be watched on our IPB YouTube channel:
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The G7 lacks vision and commitment to address the root causes of today’s and tomorrow’s crises.
The depth of inequalities, human rights violations, threats to the planet, and fragility of global peace call for urgent and concrete multilateral cooperative actions. A “new peace agenda” is needed to overcome the current polycrisis, which particularly affects women, children, youth, and the most marginalized. It must be an agenda able to ensure a future of rights and social and personal development for all, building trust on respect for shared rules, such as international law, International Humanitarian Law (IHL), Human rights and the 2030 Agenda, consolidating the role of international multilateral bodies called upon to enforce these rules, avoiding double standards and attacks on institutions. Collective and shared security must be seen as a pillar of “Positive Peace”, pursuing mutual security instead of at the expense of another state. The G7 should invest in trust, solidarity, universality and global disarmament (both nuclear and conventional) instead of in a ‘muscular confrontation’. Resources should be allocated to addressing structural and systemic challenges, to pursue justice and sustainability for all. The almost unconditional support of the G7 to Ukraine must be oriented in this perspective.
Read the full article here:
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A new report, “Surge: 2023 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending”, has been released by ICAN detailing the world’s total expenditure on nuclear weapons. However in this context, “the world” just refers to the nine states which possess and illegally develop nuclear arms.
The findings are shocking, revealing that these nine governments spent $91 billion dollars on revamping their nuclear arsenal in 2023, marking a $10.8 billion increase from the year prior. Unsurprisingly, at the top of the list of spenders is the United States, which financed the creation and maintenance of these weapons of mass destruction with $51.5 billion. Not only did the U.S. outspend all other nuclear states alone, however its spending this year also constituted 80% of the increase of expenditure on nukes.
Manufacturers remain to be a major driver of nuclear arms development. ICAN’s report shows that in just 2023, these companies earned at least $31 billion from their work in the industry. Understanding that they have more to gain, manufacturers have concomitantly spent $118 million lobbying in just France and the U.S. to continue operations. Further influence on political decision making is exerted by meeting with public officials, which companies such as Roll Royce, Airbus, and BAE systems have done with UK politicians over 40 times. Other companies, such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and RTX, are active in lobbying for their interests as well, despite deep concerns being raised at stakeholder meetings over violations of human rights and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
The report demonstrates how fragile peace is in the 21st century, as the only explanation for this drastic spending on nuclear weapons is that they will eventually be used. Undoubtedly, the continued production of these arms is a conscious decision made by politicians and CEOs which will jeopardize humanity’s future.
The Institute of Economics and Peace has just released the 18th edition of its Global Peace Index (GPI). The GPI evaluates the current status of peace according to three metrics: social safety & security; presence of domestic & international conflict; and degree of militarization. The results from the report confirm the unfortunate reality that democracy and peacebuilding are currently on a historic backslide.
In a statistic which captures the essence of the findings, the GPI reports that there are 56 active conflicts in the world today, which is the most since the second World War. In fact, 97 countries have experienced a decline in peacefulness in 2024, which marks a record for any given year since the beginning of the index. Accompanying this increase in violence are larger ratios of military expenditure to size of GDP for 86 countries, indicating a frightening willingness to take up arms.
As expected, the effects of armed conflicts are devastating. For instance, more than 95 million people have been displaced from their homes thanks to prolonged violence. Over the last three decades, battle deaths peaked in 2022, with the Russo-Ukranian war contributing to this figure without doubt, producing 2000 casualties for nearly every month that it has been waged. The economic effects of these situations are crippling too: armed conflicts wrought an estimated total of $907.5 billion dollars of damages in 2023. In contrast, peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts were only allocated $49.6 billion last year, meaning that for every dollar countries lose from violence, they are only willing to spend six cents to solve the problem. Obviously, the return on investment in this transaction will continue, then, to be minimal.
The conclusions of the GPI should draw attention to the global crisis that the world is in the midst of. To compound on present worries, the reports leave out analysis on the impact of conflict and militarization on climate change, which simply cannot be ignored. If bold and drastic action is not taken by heads of state and intergovernmental organizations immediately, future generations will come to the rue the idleness of the present. The International Peace Bureau provides recommendations on how to alleviate current tensions through the Global Campaign on Military Spending and its Common Security Report 2022. For further information on how to militarization intersects with climate issues, see the report issued by the Conflict and Environment Observatory.
UpdateBoris Kagarlitsky International Solidarity Campaign
June 6, 2024
“Unjust but not unexpected”: this is how Suzi Weissman, spokesperson for the Boris Kagarlitsky International Solidarity Campaign, described the June 5 decision of a Russian court to reject Boris Kagarlitsky’s appeal against a five-year jail term for “justifying terrorism”.
The court also maintained the ban preventing the well-known Marxist sociologist and anti-war activist from managing internet sites and telecommunications channels for two years from the end of his prison sentence.
Weissman said: “The judges’ draconian decision was no great surprise since all recent appeals against sentences brought down under Russia’s catch-all anti-terrorism legislation have been rejected.”
The charge of “justifying terrorism”, which has been widely used against anti-war activists in the Russian Federation, was brought against Kagarlitsky on July 25 last year after he made some ironical remarks on the occasion of the Ukrainian Navy’s July 17 attack on the bridge connecting Crimea to Russia.
The refusal of the body hearing Kagarlitsky’s appeal (the Judicial Collegium for Military Personnel of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation) means that he will now remain confined in a penal settlement in Torzhok (Tver region).
Kagarlitsky’s lawyer, Sergey Erokhov, has already stated on his Telegram channel (June 5) that he will continue with the appeal process, taking the case to higher instances of the Russian legal system, starting with the Praesidium of the Supreme Court and going as far as the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.
International appeal ignored
The appeals court judges refused to budge on Kagarlitsky’s sentence despite a special appeal from 37 internationally prominent progressive political figures and intellectuals, including Yanis Varoufakis, Jeremy Corbyn and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, as well as ministers in the Spanish government and MPs from France, Portugal, Ireland, Belgium and Brazil.
The signatories emphasised that Kagarlitsky had never advocated terrorist methods to reach political objectives and that keeping him in jail would tarnish Russia’s international reputation.
Since his jailing Kagarlitsky has also received offers of university postings in Brazil and South Africa, while the ongoing petition demanding his release has attracted more than 18,000 signatures to date.
Increasing repression
The court rejected the two main arguments of Kagarlitsky’s defence formulated by lawyer Erekhov, namely: “(1) it is impossible to judge a social scientist … for his professional activities and (2) punishment must be fair, i.e. it must correspond to the nature of a crime, the degree of danger it entails for the public and the circumstances in which it is committed.”
For Suzi Weissman, the judges’ “barbarous” decision to ignore such basic legal criteria reflects the determination of the Putin regime to crush domestic opposition to its war on Ukraine.
“In this context the basic democratic and legal rights of anti-war activists like Boris Kagarlitsky and thousands of others count for very little.
“Upholding Boris’s appeal would have set a very bad precedent for the Kremlin: if his argument had been accepted, why not that of everyone else condemned for ‘justifying terrorism’?”
Weissman concluded that Boris Kagarlitsky has become a “courageous champion of peace and symbol of the struggle for the right to freedom of expression, who has been the victim of a gross but entirely deliberate miscarriage of justice”.
The Boris Kagarlitsky International Solidarity Campaign will now redouble its efforts for his release. Details of a new round of initiatives will be announced soon.
Contact details:
United States: Suzi Weissman +1 818 521 2860 Canada: Andrea Levy +1 514 433 7890 Quebec: André Frappier 1 514 476 7306 United Kingdom: Alex Callinicos +44 (0)7703 358 909 South Africa: Patrick Bond +27 834 251 401 Europe: Alexei Sakhnin +33 758 988 815 Adam Novak +421 904232 129 Dick Nichols +34 683 171 461 Australia: Fred Fuentes +61 412 556 527
Watch our live chat replay with Independent and Peaceful Australia Network Executive Director Annette! She analyzes and opens the conversation on the threats to regional peace in the Asia-Pacific region and shares the important work of IPAN.
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