Write Obama re: Nuclear Abolition
August 10, 2010     Alert #268 Images/links not showing up? View online .

Dear Peace Activists and Friends,

Some very promising events took place during this past week that suggest progress is being made in the fight for worldwide nuclear abolition.

The 65th anniversaries of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were commemorated on August 6th and 9th respectively. These dates usually come and go with few people from the general public taking notice of their deep significance, however, this year they finally began to receive some of the attention they rightly deserve.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon traveled to Hiroshima to take part in events at the "Peace Memorial Park" on Friday, marking the first time in history that any UN Secretary General has traveled to this memorial site. Ban Ki-moon has continued to support nuclear abolition, persuading the world that we will only be safe from these weapons of mass destruction once every last one of them has been destroyed. He says the world should aim to be free of nuclear weapons by 2020, and he seeks to run for another term as Secretary General to bring the world closer to this goal.

Another reason the event was such an accomplishment was because it was also the first time that a U.S. Ambassador had ever visited the memorial, with the attendance of Ambassador John Roos. Roos attended in lieu of President Barack Obama, who many Japanese survivors and leaders worldwide feel should have been present at the event.

PANYS has been very active in the movement towards nuclear abolition. This year alone we have:

  • Helped to coordinate the International Conference For a Nuclear Free, Peaceful, Just and Sustainable World.
  • Filled movie theaters for the premiere of the documentary Countdown to Zero.
  • Educated children about the dangers of nuclear war on the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.
... and we continue to work tirelessly to gain public support for nuclear abolition.

You can contribute to these efforts by sending a letter to President Obama, urging him to make nuclear abolition one of his top priorities, despite his absence in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Thank you for all of your efforts.

Peace,

Charlie Gumz
Peace Action New York State
info@panys.org

Featured Event
Monday, August 23. Forum: 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.; Reception: 6:00 -7:30 p.m.
LENOX, MA. Founders' Theatre at Shakespeare & Company, 70 Kemble Street.
 A PANEL DISCUSSION ON ISRAEL/PALESTINE
A TWO-STATE SOLUTION: BENEFITS? ROAD BLOCKS?
Mark Rosenblum, Ph.D., Director of the Center of Jewish Studies at Queen’s College of the City University of New York, Advisor to six U.S. Presidents on the Arab-Israeli confict.
Ghaith Al-Omari, Esq., Advocacy Director, American Task Force in Palestine; Advisor to Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and to several Palestinian negotiating teams, including at the Camp David and Taba Summits. 
Letty Cottin Pogrebin (Moderator) Founding Editor, Ms. Magazine; author of 10 books, including Deborah, Golda and Me: Being Female and Jewish in America; former president of the Authors Guild.
Audience participation Q&A. Mediterranean hors d'oeuvres, beer and wine by Firefly.
Download the flier.
More information: www.shakespeare.org, www.nationinstitute.org, www.panys.org.
Tickets: $50 general admission, $10 Students at 413-637-3353 or www.shakespeare.org.
Sponsored by Doris Shaffer Memorial Lecture Fund,
a project of Peace Action Fund of New York State, and The Nation Institute.
New York Metro Area and Long Island Events
Sunday, August 15, 2010 1:15 p.m.
MURRAY HILL. , Gallery Room, Community Church NYC 28 East 35th St.
AMERICAN RADICAL: THE TRIALS OF NORMAN FINKELSTEIN
A film by David Ridgen and Nicolas Rossier. Brooklyn born Norman Finkelstein has had a tumultuous career as an academic, author, and stinging critic of Israel and US Mid-East policy. AMERICAN RADICAL is the probing, definitive documentary about his life and work. While the film is sympathetic overall to Finkelstein, the filmmakers do provide a voice for his critics including most notably Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz, a bitter adversary. More info. Presented by Resistance Cinema. Admission free; donations appreciated.
Tuesday, September 21.
UNITED NATIONS and around the world.
U.N. INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE.
 The International Day of Peace was established by a U.N. resolution in 1981, and in 2002, September 21 was declared the permanent official worldwide date for "commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples .... as a constantly pealing bell reminding us that our permanent commitment, above all interests or differences of any kind, is to peace." The day has grown to include millions of people in all parts of the world, and each year events are organized to commemorate and celebrate this day. Events range in scale from private gatherings to public concerts and forums where hundreds of thousands of people participate. Start or join an event at the IDP web site and stay tuned for future listings here.
Thursday, September 30, 7:00 p.m.
EAST VILLAGE. Great Hall of Cooper Union, Cooper Square,
THE 2010 NUCLEAR-FREE FUTURE AWARDS
Awards to five international visionaires of a nuclear-free world:
Resistance: The African Uranium Alliance
Education: Oleg Bodrov
Solutions: Bruno Barrillot
Lifetime Achievement: Martin Sheen
Special Recognition: Henry Red Cloud
This year's Awards ceremony will be accompanied by a swarm of events (music, seminars), scheduled to happen between September 27 and October 2. For more information see www.nuclear-free.com/eng/release/htm@2010.
Upstate Events
Monday, August 16, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. 6:30 P.M. potluck)
BUFFALO. El Buen Amigo, 114 Elmwood Ave.
 POTLUCK AND CONVERSATION
You are invited to an informal gathering hosted by the Latin American Solidarity Committee, the first in a series of conversations on future directions for peace and justice in Western New York.
Thursday, August 19, 7:00 p.m.
ROCHESTER. The Baha’i Center, 693 East Ave.
 CREATING THE FUTURE SERIES FOR 2010
MIKE CONNELLYl HOW MANY LIBERALS DOES IT TAKE TO CHANGE SOCIETY?
The series will continue on Thursday eveings as follows:
September 16th:  Liz Pixley / Dirt! The Movie
October 28th:  Mike Rudnick / Human Nutrition, Best of the best papers from 2009 as found by Michael Greger, MD.
November 18th:  Sven Warner / Transformative Learning
December 16th: TBD
Information or program suggestions: hstone@rochester.rr.com, (585) 624-3673, http://rocwiki.org/Rochester_Baha%27i%27_Community/.
Tuesday, September 14
BUFFALO. Betty's Restaurant, 370 Virginia Street.
 DINE OUT FOR UGANDA.
A fundraising dinner by Global African Village. GAV will received 10% of the proceeds from all dine-in meals eaten at Betty's that day (breakfast, lunch and dinner).  We will also be holding a raffle for a beautiful framed photograph of an African elephant, which will be on display. More info: http://www.globalafricanvillage.org/.
Saturday, September 25, 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
WASSAIC. World Peace Sancturary, 26 Benton Road. Directions (pdf)
 A CALL TO PEACE
This annual event is held in the Sacred Grove under the canopy of century-old black walnut trees, surrounded by nature and other Sanctuary amenities. An invitation to friends and community members who feel a call to generate the positive and focused intentions of our Message and Prayer: "May Peace Prevail On Earth." A multitude of cultural blend! People from the surrounding areas and members from other countries attend year after year to experience this amazing event. More info: worldpeace.org/actp.html. Members of Peace Action New York are particularly invited. Please RSVP to info@worldpeace.org.
Saturday, September 25, 1:00 p.m.
BUFFALO. Room 100, Allen Hall, South Campus University at Buffalo
 SEPTEMBER MEETING, WESTERN NEW YORK PEACE CENTERk
The WNY Peace Center's Board of Directors has called the September meeting. All members are strongly encouraged to attend.
Sunday, October 17, 4:00 - 8:00 p.m.
SYRACUSE. Pensabene's Casa Grande, 135 State Fair Blvd.
22nd ANNUAL PEACE AWARDS DINNER
Speaker: JOHANTHAN SCHELL, Senior Fellow at The Nation Institute, Peace and Disarmament Correspondent for The Nation magazine, Visiting Lecturer at Yale College, and author of 13 books, including The Fate of the Earth (1982), which received the Los Angeles Times book prize and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Critics Award; The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People (2003), which The NY Times called "the most impressive argument ever made that there exists a viable and desirable alternative to a continued reliance on war". and The Seventh Decade: The New Shape of the Nuclear Danger (2007), a "careful assembly of the available evidence [that] will scare the pants off most readers."
Peace Action of Central New York • 315-478-7442 • peaceactioncny.org
Ongoing Events
Many local peace groups hold regular events, vigils, "Honk for Peace" actions, etc. 
See our list: www.panys.org/ongoing.htm
Out of State and National Events
DATE TBD
FORT ERIE, CANADA (Just Over the Peace Bridge)
 MEET CANADIAN WAR RESISTERS
The Buffalo Veterans For Peace and the War Resister Support Campaign are sponsoring an opportunity to meet with the War Resisters and the families who went to Canada. The details are being worked out, but it is essential that people have their passports (or enhanced licenses) so you can cross the border. Please stay tuned to more information!
All Summer
NEW MEXICO and other locations.
THINK OUTSIDE THE BOMB's DISARMAMENT SUMMER.
Think Outside the Bomb, the largest youth-led anti-nuclear network in the US, is organizing Disarmament Summer near Los Alamos, New Mexico, in partnership with the Tribal Environmental Watch Alliance, TEWA Women United, the Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment, Products of Atzlan youth group, and the Southwest Indigenous Uranium Forum. For further information please check out www.thinkoutsidethebomb.org, call (408) 676-TOTB (8682), or email Rebecca Riley, totbchicago@gmail.com or Lisa Putkey, lisaputkey@gmail.com.
Going out of state? Check UFPJ's national Events Calendar: http://www.unitedforpeace.org/calendar.php .
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