SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2007
OCTOBER FOCUS ISSUE: Prepare now for
Keep Space for Peace Week, October 4-13
L
Is this the world we want? Satellites, giant radomes, radar installations watching for military targets everywhere? Constant cyberspace surveillance, nuclear missiles, weapons in space, near instantaneous global strike capacity from aegis destroyers, nuclear submarines and U.S. military bases around the world?
WILPF is again co-sponsoring Keep Space for Peace Week nationally and internationally.
Click here for resources, information and important links. Report event plans to Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space at globalnet@mindspring.com. WILPF members and Branches please copy to carol.disarm@gmail.com
OCTOBER CALENDAR
(Scroll down for past September events already past)
October 4: Fiftieth anniversary of Sputnik and the first day of Keep Space for Peace Week (October 4 to 13) and UN World Space Week (October 4 to 10). Click here for a list of planned events around the world during KS4P. The ten day "week" is facilitated by Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and co-sponsored by Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.
October 4: WILPF in Geneva issues a statement to UN diplomats supporting the Outer Space Treaty, new negotiations to Prevent an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) and the ending of military exploitation of space for war, death and destruction.
October 4: WILPF Boston/Cambridge, Massachusetts Space video and presentation by Mary Beth Sullivan from the Global Network 6:45 PM, Central Square Public Library, 45 Pearl Street, Cambridge, MA) WILPF Call 617-244-8054
October 6: U.S.WILPF DISARM facilitated work shop on Aerospace corporations, Strategic Air Command and the Omaha Economy at the Nebraskans for Peace annual conference in Omaha. Omaha is host to Offut Air Foce Base and Strat Com, the U.S. control center for both nuclear weapons and military space domination programs.
October 8: WILPF in Ashland, Oregon showing of Arsenal of Hypocrisy, discussion and legislative action at Peace House, 6:00 pm with pot luck for Keep Space for Peace Week. Jill Mackie jmackie@mind.net
October 10: The fortieth anniversary of Ethe 1967 Outer Space Treaty which seeks to ensure the peaceful uses of space for all humankind.
October 10: WILPF in Portland, Oregon Keep Space for Peace vigil and leafleting in downtown Portland Pioneer Square on the 40th anniversary of the Outer Space Treaty. Contact Barbara Drageaux bjdrgx@aracnet.com
October 12-13: WILPF St. Louis Branch and the national DISARM committee will particpate in a round table on developing a peace economy facilitated by the Peace Economy Project with Frida Berrigan, Mary Beth Sullivan, Mary Ann McGivern and other long time leaders in dismantling the war economy and building an economy for peace.
October 14: WILPF begins preparations in earnest for participation in the December intersessional meetings on the Bioweapons Treaty in Geneva, Switzerland. Read about WILPF participation in the Sixth Review Conference in November 2007. Hear DISARM chair Carol Urner discuss those meetings in a radio interview distributed to public radio stations. Investigate the Sunshine project which is monitoring U.S. bioterror labs for questionable research and dangerous accidents (click on the Bioweapons bubble at the top). See whether your university or other local area installation is involved in this "Manhattan Project" (so called by former Senator Frist) of "biodefense/biowarfare" for which Congress has already allocated $44 billion since torpedoing the Bioweapons Treaty Inspection Protocol in early 2002.
October 21: WILPF Penninsula Branch Keep Space for Peace Event with Jackie Cabasso at Unitarian Church, 605 E. Charleston Rd., Palo Alto, Ca. BernSFish@aol.com
SEPTEMBER CALENDAR
All September: Continuation of the UFPJ endorsed Occupation Project, aimed at ending funding for the Iraq war. WILPF is not itself a sponsor of this project, but many of our friends in the peace movement are, and some WILPF members are already involved.
September 6: Call-in day to Congress: let's end the Iraq occupation NOW. Kick Off date for the United for Peace and Justice fall End the Iraq War Campaign.
September 10 to 13: Visit Congress in D.C. with DISARM Chair Carol Urner at carol.disarm@gmail.com. Next visit planned for November 5 to 9. Join her or send letters for delivery, whatever your current WILPF issues and concerns.
September 14 to 21: Declaration of Peace Days of Decision -- a week of coordinated action to end the war in Iraq. Visit Congressional offices in your home district. (Rosh Hashanah recess begins 9/13 for the House and 9/14 for the Senate, so many will be home until the 17th.) This is a Declaration of Peace Action, endorsed by WILPF and our Monterey, Marys Wood and East Bay Branches. Many will particpate in civil disobedience and occupation of offices -- others may choose dialogue.
September 21: First day of the Iraq war moratorium. This action is also endorsed by Progressive Democrats of America. Read the Open letter from 70 of our friends in Congress who are calling for no more funds for the Iraq war -- except to bring the troops home. WILPF has not specifically endorsed this action, but UFPJ and many other peace organizations have done so. Ellen Barfield, long-time WILPF DISARM co-chair, is one of the many individual signers you will recognize, along with Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn and Cindy Sheehan (See Who's on Board).
September 26: 100 U.S. religious leaders meet with the President of Iran in the United Nations chapel to discuss ways of opening constructive dialogue between their two countries. This is the third in a series of meetings arranged by the Mennonites and the Quakers at the invitation of President Ahmadinejad and encouraged by members of Congress. Read a report of the February meeting of U.S. religious leaders with Iranian religious and policitcal leaders in Tehran last February.
September 29: World Peace Forum is co-sponsoring an international gathering at the peace arch on the Canadian border (between Vancouver B.C. and Seattle Washington). Click here for program and details on this historic event.
