Yesterdays´news

Joseph Gerson speaks at the Gensuikyo International Forum

IPB’s Vice-President, Joseph Gerson, spoke at the Gensuikyo International Forum, part of the 2019 Bikini Day Commemorative Program in Japan. The event marked the 57th anniversary of the Bikini disaster caused by a U.S. hydrogen bomb test in the year of 1954.

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Abolition 2000´s Webinar on “Preserve the INF Treaty”

On the 17th of January, 2019, the Coordination Committee of Abolition 2000 hosted a webinar on the subject of the imminent unilateral withdrawal from the INF Treaty by the United States of America. The video of this webinar can be found below and each individual presentation can be found under the names of the guest speakers.

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CODE PINK´s statement “Don’t Attend Trump’s Mideast Peace Ministerial”

CODE PINK´s statement “Don’t Attend Trump’s Mideast Peace Ministerial in Warsaw, Poland“
“Don’t Attend Trump’s Mideast Peace Ministerial in Warsaw, Poland
Dear Representatives of the European Union,
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently announced that the United States and Poland will jointly host a ministerial meeting on the Middle East in Warsaw on February 13-14. This meeting aims to build a broad coalition against Iran. We urge you NOT to attend the meeting.
Secretary Pompeo says the summit will bring together representatives from 70 countries from Asia, Africa, the Western Hemisphere, Europe and the Middle East. While the meeting will address issues of peace, stability, freedom and security, a major part of the agenda is, according to Secretary Pompeo, to make sure “that Iran is not a destabilizing force.” This meeting is part of the US campaign against Iran that includes withdrawing from the Iran nuclear agreement and re-imposing sanctions that the U.S. had lifted as part of the deal.
A major step forward for peace and security in the Middle East was precisely the Iran nuclear agreement, which was negotiated by the US, Iran, France, the UK, Germany, Russia and China, and was approved by the European Union and the UN Security Council. The other signatories have remained in the agreement and have been looking for ways to circumvent US sanctions on Iran. It is the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the long-negotiated agreement and its increased hostility towards Iran that have added to the instability of the region and are threatening to unleash another devastating war in the Middle East.
The US is fanning the flames of conflict.
Since European countries are still a party to the Iran nuclear agreement and want to improve relations with Iran, it would not make sense for Europe to participate in a conference hostile to Iran. Your non-participation would send a critical message to other countries to follow your lead.
We urge all nations to boycott this conference and instead pressure the US administration to rejoin the Iran nuclear agreement and to work with Iran, as well as all other nations in the region, to stop terrorism and end wars, including the catastrophic war in Yemen.”
Signed:
(Organizations for identification only)
Sign here:

Statement by Fredrik S.Heffermehl: Nobel´s Peace Prize? Yes … and no

by Fredrik S. Heffermehl

Many see the 2019 Nobel for peace as a humanitarian prize and thus not within Nobel’s intention, but the committee’s announcement does characterize sexual violence as a weapon of war and praises efforts to end such war crimes. The 2018 prize is linked to a major theme of the day, equal rights for women, protection against violence. The committee has often borrowed glory from popular phenomena but accepted our advice that the prize could not be given to MeToo. Continue reading “Statement by Fredrik S.Heffermehl: Nobel´s Peace Prize? Yes … and no”

David McReynolds has left us

by Colin Archer

Older members of the IPB family will have vivid memories of David McReynolds, who died on Aug.17th in New York City at the age of 88. David was a committed pacifist and socialist, as well as an accomplished photographer. He was on the War Resisters League staff from 1960 to 1999 and was chair of the War Resisters’ International. He was also a long time member of the US Socialist Party, running for President of the USA in 1980 and 2000 — the first openly gay candidate for President — and for the U.S. Senate from New York in 2004 on the Green Party ticket. His very moving photos reveal (among much else) a lifelong engagement with campaigns against war and oppression; and in favour of disarmament and human rights. He traveled extensively, many times to war-torn countries, once getting arrested in Red Square during an anti-nuclear protest in 1978. David was appointed a consultant to the IPB in the 1990s, and was a reliable source of support in all kinds of ways over the years. Many colleagues have expressed great sadness at his passing. David was an outstanding activist who was both resolute and gentle, never afraid to take a bold stand. He was a radical political thinker and writer, a movement organiser, and especially in his later years, a global networker. His family and friends will be planning a memorial service in the weeks to come. See also New York Times obituary.