We invite you to join us in wearing white poppies, blue scarves and other symbols of our commitment to work for peace with justice.
You can order wallet cards (as above) & sample poppies by contacting Bruna b.nota@icloud.com .
And maybe your group would like to sign on to this statement -> “Join us to support the White Poppy Campaign”. Continue reading
This conference is a great opportunity to “meet” people all around the world who are working for peace with justice.
Sign the WBW peace declaration here: https://worldbeyondwar.org/individual/
& register for the conference here: https://worldbeyondwar.org/wbw-news-action-nowar2024-sept-20-22/
If you find the brouhaha about meeting NATO spending targets (while we more or less ignore overseas development aid or climate targets) upsetting, you’ll surely find this article by Yves Engler helpful! https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/yves-engler-the-insanity-of-spending-two-percent-of-gdp-on-the-military
What US Gen. Omar Bradley said (10 Nov. 1948) is relevant, in remembering Hiroshima & Nagaski: “We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. Man is stumbling blindly through a spiritual darkness while toying with the precarious secrets of life and death. The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living.” Here are some events happening in Canada: Victoria: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/hiroshima-nagasaki-day-august-6-2024-tickets-943962415997, Nanaimo, starting 8:45 pm Swy-A-Lana Lagoon, Winnipeg- South Side of Manitoba Legislature. Lantern making 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Official ceremony 8:30 p.m. Launch of lanterns 9:15 p.m., Ottawa, starting 7 pm at the pond near Queen Elizabeth & 5th, Hamilton: Aug. 9 12 – 2 pm at Dundas Town Hall, Toronto (Peace Garden near City Hall) , 4 – 8:30 pm, Aug. 6, Dartmouth: Aug. 6 11 – noon, 88 Alderney Dr.. If you know of other Hiroshima -Nagasaki Day events in Canada, please let us know. (You can write to janslakov @ proton.me or info @ consciencecanada.ca .)
So, species are disappearing at an unprecedented rate (the 6th Mass Extinction) and we face the virtual certainty of the end of civilization as we know it (the end of things like pensions, Medicare, garbage services, etc.) and the Canadian government is under intense pressure to “deliver a concrete plan next month to raise defence spending to meet NATO’s benchmark”. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nato-spending-trudeau-joly-business-council-canada-1.7231776?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar (I [Jan S] could expound on the hypocrisy of the Business Council of Canada’s stance…!)
An article originally published in Haaretz by award-wining journalist Netta Ahituv, resonates deeply with members of the board of Conscience Canada & friends. A couple of us even subscribed to Haaretz; we want to support this kind of journalism!
“When everyone who was able to flee from Gaza was doing so, Dr. David Hasan made the reverse journey. His story is a must-read for every Israeli.” The article continues, describing conditions in Gaza, and transforming statistics into people, loving and loved, people we can learn to love too. Dr. Hasan, a Palestinian born in Kuwait, has a deep connection to the place, the people. When he moved to the US, he “connected mainly with Jews and Israelis” who helped him acclimate. He changed his name from Emad to David.
He went to Gaza to help not just Palestinians, but Israelis as well. Continue reading
A Montreal professor wrote the letter below, which we want to share as a great example of how to reach out to MPs about respecting the right to conscientious objection.
Thanks for sharing; our letters can inspire more and better 🙂
Dear Minister Freeland,
I am a part-time Teacher [in a university faculty], a dedicated citizen and community member who is deeply concerned about Canada’s investment in militarism and warfare. Myself, friends, family and colleagues are working and dedicated to life-giving practices and community building to support people who are disproportionately excluded from access to basic resources, including affordable housing, food, healthcare, and education.
Mattan Helman, executive director of Refuser Solidarity Network, has a petition we hope you’ll sign, and share. Find it here: https://support.refuser.org/ .
Addressed to Israeli COs, it reads:
We, citizens of countries around the world, support your brave decision to refuse to take part in the Gaza genocide despite the persecution you face.
Not only is refusal to participate in war crimes a moral imperative, it is crucial to ending the horrors of the war. By withdrawing your cooperation and disobeying, you are undermining Israel’s ability to continue destroying Gaza.
SIPRI has just released their annual analysis of world military expenditure. They report that military spending worldwide increased for the ninth consecutive year in 2023, reaching a total of $2.43 trillion USD. That increase is the biggest since 2009 and highest level SIPRI has ever recorded. . . Spending per person was . . .
Reflections from Doug HW
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has just released their annual analysis of trends in world military expenditure. They report that military spending worldwide increased for the ninth consecutive year in 2023, reaching a total of $2.43 trillion USD. That 6.8 percent increase over 2022 is the steepest rise since 2009 and highest level SIPRI has ever recorded. The world military burden (military spending as a percentage of GDP) increased to 2.3 per cent. Average military expenditure as a share of government spending rose to 6.9 per cent and world military spending per person was the highest since 1990, at $306 USD.
Military expenditure went up in all five geographical regions, with major spending increases recorded in Europe, Asia and Oceania and the Middle East.
At $27.2 billion USD in 2023, SIPRI reports that Canada’s military spending was 6.6 per cent more than in 2022 and a whopping 49 per cent more than in 2014. Canada’s military burden was 1.3 per cent of GDP in 2023. Canada’s plans are to increase military spending by $8.1 billion CAD over the next five years and $73 billion CAD over the next twenty years.
Those are the bare facts. So what is missing from this account?
The figures cannot truly testify to the misery of millions of people all over the world that suffer the consequences of this nasty spending on guns, bombs, artillery, land mines, warplanes, warships, nuclear arms and solders trained to kill. So many of these weapons find their way into the hands of paramilitary militias and roving gangs. Mines remain hidden for years to kill and maim innocent men, women and children.
Are not these some of the same numbers boldly flaunted by politicians to garner the trust of voters. Our governments tell us that this spending is to keep us safe, to protect us from evil nations, to protect us from people unlike us beyond our borders that mean us harm and want to destroy our homelands.
But can we ever be safe swimming in this sea of weapons?
What is missing? The money desperately needed to secure health care, education, housing and food.
What is missing? Money badly needed for training, developing and deploying experienced expert people for peace building, mediation, negotiation, diplomacy, peacekeeping.
Not one soul profits from weaponized WAR.
It is PEACE that pays dividends!
