Plenary 1 - Britain’s role in the World, Report of London
CND Conference ‘An ethical foreign policy’ held at SOAS 7th March
2020.
Catherine West, MP for Hornsea & Wood
Green
Catherine stressed the need for new and younger members.
This was covered by Plenary 3 which Ann attended.
An Ethical Foreign Policy
should be based on 3 pillars.
Human Rights.
Training.
Security (This means security from nuclear weapons).
The present British Government has singularly failed to
address these problems.
President Trump has ratcheted up the problems and made
Nuclear War more likely.
The USA has not participated in International Conferences
since 2016 , especially the 2017 Ban Treaty when Trump stood outside the Hall
at UN Headquarters where the conference was being held.
BREXIT has resulted in a lessened impetus on disarmament
issues.
Problems of Climate Change have not been resolved.
Problems in the Middle East have been exacerbated by the
failure to resolve the issues of the Kurds squeezed between Turkey and Syria.
Hannah Kemp-Welch, London
CND
Hannah reported from a
conference in Japan she attended in 2019 entitled ‘Against the A&H Bomb.’
She noted the effects of
discrimination on Japanese Women and how austerity has had a detrimental effect
on women, especially BAME Women.
The current stockpile of
nuclear weapons has destructive power 8 times that of the weapons used on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Kristen Hope, Dulwich
and West Norwood Labour Party
Kristen showed a video of the
Calais Convoy which she had participated in. The object of the convoy was to
provide Charity and show solidarity with the refugees in the Calais Area. The
refugees had been subjected to harassment by the French Police, whilst the
current Mayor of Calais is hostile .
Kristen stressed the following
concerns and areas for action:
The
need for dignity for the refugees.
The
need to raise the refugees’ self esteem.
Security
must be improved.
Activists
had been criminalised and prosecuted under security laws.
The
charitable work needs to be supplemented by solidarity.
The
rolling back of Human Rights must be resisted.
Asylum procedures have to be
reviewed and resolved.
The UK should open border
facilities in Calais.
Marian Hobbs, Former
New Zealand Labour Cabinet Minister for the Environment under Helen Clark. This
was by Video Link
Marian reported what had been
achieved under Helen Clark’s government and talked about ‘The Rainbow Warrior’
incident in 1994. She showed what had been achieved in New Zealand.
Plenary 2 - Iran, Iraq Conflicts,
Abbas Edalat: Iran Today
Iran has never had a military nuclear weapons programme, and never will. Trump is set on regime change in Iran. The Iranian people back their government against Trump. Due to Trump’s sanctions, Iranian oil exports have fallen by 90%. This is a major part of their economy.50% of the population live below the poverty line. Iran is badly affected by the coronavirus: this can be said to amount to genocide.
Sami Ramadani, Iraqi
Democrat.
a The invasion and occupation from 2003 to 2008
claimed 1 million Iraqi lives
b. A
half million Iraqi children have died as a result of the economic sanctions.
c.
Iraq’s infrastructure has been destroyed. Until 2003 it was largely under state
control.
d.
Health, education and women’s services have collapsed.
e.
Coalition forces have used depleted uranium with dire effects.
f.
There is a high level of corruption.
g. US
control has been weakened by various forms of resistance .
RicRichard
E. Hart
Round Table - Engaging New Activists. Video
link with Emily Rubino - from the US
Benali Hamdache - Climate and War
Nobu Ono - SOAS students
Amber Goneni - Facilitator
Important to challenge people in a position of power.
Working with people from all backgrounds who voice issues.
Sustain momentum of young people’s campaigning.
Listen to young people and act on their ideas.
Climate Change - young people deeply involved - climate
strikes.
SOAS CND - challenging arms companies. Organising films and
talks.
Encourage capacity building in local areas.
Use of social media to inform and communicate ideas.
Report of London CND Conference October 2019 at St Thomas’s Hospital Climate Change Workshop
There
is a high carbon footprint as the result of military action over many years.
Concerns
expressed re the huge imbalance between military and climate spending.
Security
goals are better served by a shift from military to climate spending.
Key
target audiences:
Policy
makers
Environmental
campaigners
Climate scientists
Discussion Points
How can
peace groups influence, or be a part of, XR?
Decentralise
XR into more local groups.
XR
brings different types of people together.
Strategies
for local and national levels.
Publicise
that CND runs climate change workshops in schools.
Peace groups to be encouraged
to engage with local XR groups.
Conference Plenary Session -
Building a Different Future
Phillip Jennings, TU
Global Movement.
No peace without global justice.
There is a global TU structure.
Engagement with the EU global movement.
Conversations with the fossil fuel sector.
Reiner Braun, International Peace Bureau.
Transformation of all our
societies.
Guidelines needed for long
term plans.
Transition for a more peaceful
Europe needed.
Importance of BAN treaty.
Tribute
paid to all young climate activists on the streets.
Rieko Asato, from
Japan
Important
preparations for the world peace conference in new York next Spring.
The Abi
government’s link with the US nuclear umbrella should be challenged.
400
local Japanese assemblies are challenging the Japanese nuclear policy.
Due to Trump’s sanctions
Iranian oil exports have fallen by 90%. This is a major part of their economy.
Final Discussion - Summary
Turkey’s
invasion of Syria – all part of the NATO strategy.
All
arms trade and production for the far East should be stopped.
Global
justice and equality – vitally important.
Engaging with young people and
local organisations.
Ann
Garrett
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