JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2009 DISARM! Dismantle the War Economy WILPF National Issue Committee UPDATE

Let's begin now to educate ourselves for effective work in our own communities.  Let's gather the information we need to lobby effectively for that alphabet soup of treaties: compliance with the NPT, ratification of the CTBT, support for a successor to the START treaty, and possibilities for direct negotiation of a Convention on the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons. Join us, as well, in resistance to nuclear power, and in securing clean up of toxic waste sites.

Come to Washington D.C. with WILPF April 25-29 to lobby Congress  and to help plan our continuing Nuclear Free Future campaign there, in our communities and at the United Nations. We'll have the guidance of Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, and visit Congress and Administration officials along with members and staff of WAND, Peace Action, Physicians for Social Responsibility, FCNL, and nuclear watch dog organizations from around the country.

Join us at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Prep Com at the UN in New York May 4 to 14. Stay one day, or stay ten. There we will have the guidance of WILPF's Reaching Critical Will and meet with UN delegates and experts from dozens of NGOs. Help plan our own side event on Monday, May 4 (10 am to 1 pm) on U.S. Prospects for a Nuclear Free Future.

And, most important, let's work in our own communities to build the understanding and support necessary to make that Nuclear Free Future a reality!

Download the invitation flier here  and join the national WILPF DISARM! committee Nuclear Free Future Campaign

And contact nffchairs@wilpf.org to let the DISARM team know how you would like to participate

Also contact  nffchairs@wilpf.org to join our new Nuclear Free Future list serve.

No Regisration necessary unless you are going to Geneva where the meetings occur: but some knowledge of the CD is essential for WILPFers working  for nuclear weapons abolition. Ray Acheson of Reaching Critical WIll brilliantly summarizes those session for us all, with links to statemetns by delegates and documents submitted. Monitor U.S. positions!

February 8:  Coleman McCarthy writes a beauftiful tribute to William Thomas, husband of DISARM! co-chair Ellen Thomas. which appears in the Washington Post.  For almost 28 years Thomas vigilled outside the White House, calling for abolition of nuclear weapons.  He died of pneumonia on January 23.

February 9-13: Two of our DISARM co-chairs join the Walk for a New Spring. This walk for nuclear weapons abolition begins at the Peace Pagoda in Leverett, MA and ends April 8 in Washington D.C. Margaret Harrington will be introducing the WILPF petition calling on Congress to declare August 6 Nuclear Weapons Disarmament day. Ellen Thomas will be speaking in  several communities on Proposition One, a Washington D.C. voter initiative calling for abolition of nuclear weapons and conversion to a peace eonomy. It has been introduced as a bill  in each session of Congress since 1994. 

For information and a flier on the walk call 413 485 8469. 

February 27- March 27: Security Without Empire -- National Organizing Conference on Military Bases.  WILPF is a co-sponsor of this conference at American University in Washington D.C. Download information, flier, agenda and registration form here. In U.S. WILPF we have worked closely with our Reaching Critical Will project  and concentrated on bases related to the inter-related nuclear weapons and space militarization programs. We expect Kozue Akibayashi, international WILPF Vice President,  to speak on WILPF's concern for  exploitation of women  by foreign military  personnel. Contact nffchairs@wilpf.org if you can attend.

Registration: Cost is only $30 for most of us and $15 for students. Free or low cost housing is still available. Click here.

April 25 - 30: Come to Washington D.C. for WILPF April lobby days with the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability network to which WILPF belongs. We will have a full day of preparation and then three days of lobbying for a nuclear free future with  otehr NGO activists and professional "watch dogs" at U.S. nuclear waste, power and weapons storage and production sites. It will be a powerful learning experience that can enable us to much better organize lobbying in our home districts. This work is crucial. For instance, we need to find at least seven  sensible Republicans in order to successfully ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty: an important step toward nuclear weapons abolition. There will be inexpensive accommodation ($150 total for all five nights from April 25 through 29!) at William Penn House near the House and Senate office buildings. We will also have time for our own planning and information sharing meetings there. Contact nffchairs@wilpf.org .

Registration:  Cost is $135 for ANA registration. 15 beds  available for WILPFers at William Penn House on Capitol Hill fat just $150 total for all five nights. Or make your own arrangements, but join us for three evening meetings. Contact nffchairs@wipf.org .

May 4-15: Come to New York for the May 2009 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Prep Com. Join other WILPF members and our WILPF staff at the UN in New York. Help plan and/or participate in the WILPF side event for NGOs, diplomats and UN staff on  staff on May 4. Observe UN delegates at work, meet them and ask your questions, participate in NGO workshops and strategize with other WILPFers and NGO participants. (If possible, come a day early for the NGO orientation on Sunday, May 3). Information is here on resources, registration, housing, the NPT Monitor and how you can actively participate. Even if you can't  come  follow the sessions  in WILPF's NPT monitor. We will be empowering ourselves to help achieve previously agreed upon practical steps toward nuclear weapons abolition and the final treaty. WILPF is uniquely equipped to push the process along. 

Registration: Any WILPF members interested in attending the conference, please email Ray Acheson  (ray@reachingcriticalwill.org ) with your full name (the name that shows up on your passport or drivers license) as soon as possible and she will add you to the official letter she will send to the UN. The deadline for submitting your name to Ray is Friday, 20 March 2009.

You are each, however, responsible for filling out your own registration form and bringing it with you to New York when the PrepCom starts. The form is available at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/prepcom09/registrationform09.doc

We will be learning and equipping ourselves and preparing materials for educating Congress and our communities. We invite your own creative contributions from peace trains visiting nuclear bases and Mil-Corp facilities to fliers, posters, You-Tube productions and more. Keep checking the DISARM UPDATE  of the DISARM! Dismantle the War Economy committee for frequently updated resources

Explore the resources of some of the partner networks of which WILPF is a member and with whom we will be working.

Nuclear Weapons Free World: Learn about the campaign, download some of the fact sheets, and sign the petition. Explore the campaign page to see the web sites of almost fifty of our national partner co-sponsors, and also download  by state some of their many affiliates.  It is time for WILPF Branches to also decide to sign up and participate in this joint effort. With the support of Reaching Critical Will WILPF has much to contribute nationally and in our own communities.

Alliance for Nuclear Accountability:  Material  for D.C. Days 2009 is still in preparation but soon materials and fact sheets for our lobbying during D.C. days will begin appearing. Explore the list of other member organizations, most of whom will also have  members and staff joining in the training and then the lobbying of Congress and the Administration during D.C. Days. Let DISARM! know if you can use ANA resources in your community to stop nuclear power plants, get clean up of nuclear waste or to educate on the need for nuclear weapons abolition NOW. Send queries to nffchairs@wilpf.org.

United for Peace and Justice Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Human Security Working Group: Branches can also have representatives in this working group, chaired by Jackie Cabasso. Begin to plan now for how you and/or your Branch can participate in Hiroshima- Nagasaki commemorations and UFPJ August Nuclear Free Future month.

Only Mayors can belong to Mayors for Peace but we WILPFers have been enlisting many of our own Mayors in this campaign: Check the list of 2,635 member cities to see if your's is listed there. Sign and circulate the petition for no targeting of cities and for nuclear weapons abolition by 2020.