Our April newsletter is being brought to you by our National Coordinator Alley McDonald.

This April we want to highlight VOW's petition to stop the genocide in Gaza; Register Now for VOW's Peace Awards Ceremony in May; VOW's UN CSW68 Report Back Event; On to Ottawa Peace Caravan; Global Day of Action Against Military Spending; and so much more happening this month!

Be sure to scroll all the way down for upcoming events, calls to action, and recommended resources!

VOW's work of peace, anti-war and demilitarization merits your support! Make a donation. Even better, join our growing number of Monthly Peace Partners. Consider $5 or $50 or any amount in between. Become a Peace Partner today!

Canadians are STILL hunger striking for an arms embargo on Israel

The Canadian government says they will stop approving arms exports to Israel, but existing permits continue unabated. This means that Canada continues to arm Israel.

Canadians are on a rotating hunger strike. This means that every single day, numerous Canadians from coast to coast will be on a hunger strike.

While a genocide of the Palestinian people is being committed by the state of Israel, Canadians won't stop hunger striking until our representatives enforce a FULL arms embargo.

To date  1,348 people have participated in more than 6,803 hunger strike days.  There are hunger strikers in ALL provinces and territories.

While the Canadian government is promising to stop approving any more arms permits to Israel, they have not committed to actually stopping the transport of arms for those permits that have previously been approved. Any suspension that excludes the record-breaking number of arms approvals for Israel that our government pushed through in October-December makes a mockery of our collective demand for an arms embargo.

This progress would never have happened without the powerful and escalating grassroots organizing across the country demanding an arms embargo. But this is not the time to declare victory and move on — quite the opposite.

It is a critical moment to ramp up the pressure in order to make this real and actually stop the flow of all military goods to and from Israel. Take action today!

Mark your calendars for the No to NATO, Yes to Peace conference and demonstration in Washington D.C. in July: https://nonatoyespeace.org/

VOW is calling for Canada to withdraw and the alliance to be abolished. Find out more about our opposition the NATO here.

To support and encourage everyone’s hard work, we are excited to welcome back world-renowned therapist and member of IJV Vancouver, Gabor Maté. Join us for the second edition of Processing Stress and Anxiety of the Current Moment, a virtual support session for everyone struggling while doing Palestine solidarity work.

Presented by Omer Bartov, genocide historian, Samuel Pisar Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University.

This lecture examines the immediate, as well as the deeper roots of the crisis in Israel and Gaza. It also calls for dispelling some of the false analogies that have only led to obfuscation by all parties involved. It suggests that only a clear and dispassionate analysis might help us emerge from the turmoil. Sketching a potential resolution of the crisis in no way assures us that the parties involved will grasp it, but it can provide a horizon of hope and opportunity that disrupts the grim logic of the current mayhem.

Attend in person: University College, Conron Hall
Attend virtually: Register to receive the Zoom Webinar link by emailing fims-communications@uwo.ca.

The Peace Professionalism Workshop offers a unique opportunity for individuals passionate about peacebuilding to come together, both physically at Saint Paul University and virtually online, to engage in discussions, activities, and networking sessions aimed at fostering the values, skills, and competencies crucial for reducing violent conflict and achieving sustainable peace goals.

The primary objective of the Peace Professionalism Workshop is to provide a platform for participants to deepen their understanding of the complexities of peacebuilding and conflict resolution. Through interactive discussions and activities, attendees will explore various dimensions of peace professionalism, including ethical considerations, effective communication strategies, and assessment methods and techniques.

Furthermore, the workshop aims to facilitate networking opportunities among like-minded individuals, fostering collaborations and partnerships that can contribute to the advancement of peacebuilding initiatives globally.

Registration deadline: April 4th, 11:59pm ET

For more information: 

email info@peaceprofessionalism.com 

website: https://peaceprofessionalism.com

Join CND and Beyond Nuclear for this webinar to discuss how uranium mining for nuclear power production affects communities far away from where the power is consumed.
With guest speakers including Carletta Tilousi, from the Havasupai Tribal Council – guardians of the Grand Canyon; Bruno Chareyron, Scientific Advisor at CRIIRAD (Commission for Independent Research and Information about RADiation) (see here for report); and Linda Pentz Gunter, Beyond Nuclear. Chaired by Kate Hudson, CND General Secretary.

The Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs is pleased to host the international conference “Humanity at the Crossroads: Autonomous Weapons Systems and the Challenge of Regulation” on 29-30 April 2024 in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna.

The increased autonomy of weapons through the introduction of artificial intelligence will fundamentally transform armed conflicts. Autonomous weapons systems (AWS) raise profound questions from a legal, ethical, humanitarian and security perspective. Humanity is at a crossroads and must come together to address the fundamental challenge of regulating these weapons.

The conference’s livestream will be accessible on this website.

Don't let Gaza starve. Take Action.

On top of the 30 000 who have been killed directly by Israeli forces, Palestinians are increasingly perishing from starvation.

On February 29 more than 100 people were massacred by Israeli forces and at least 700 others wounded in northern Gaza as they waited for food aid to be delivered.

If Israel continues to block food from entering Gaza far more will die from hunger and related diseases.

Egypt, Jordan and France have already sought to bypass Israel’s blockade by airdropping assistance.

Please take a minute to answer the call from Palestinians to the international community to enable humanitarian aid to reach northern Gaza by emailing Canadian international development minister Ahmed Hussen and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

There are scientific and public concerns about the risks of radioactive exposures along the transportation route and in the region of and downstream from the repository site under both normal operating and accident conditions.

The Government of Canada has affirmed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which sets out that no storage or disposal of hazardous materials shall take place in the lands or territories of Indigenous peoples without their free, prior and informed consent (Article 29); and Canadian law recognizes that every individual in Canada has a right to a healthy environment (CEPA 2023).

Please sign the petition to recognize Ecocide.

• Scientific assessments underline the urgent need to address the intersecting crises of climate change, biodiversity breakdown, pollution, and resource depletion;
• The most severe, widespread, and long-term forms of environmental damage (ecocide), which contribute to these crises, are not recognized as a crime under existing international laws;
• Amending the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to include ecocide as a crime, alongside genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression, could provide a simple, effective deterrent for corporate and government decision-makers from causing intentional or negligent environmental destruction.

Sign by May 7th, 2024

Despite the catastrophic health and environmental consequences, the threat of nuclear weapons has persisted with the tragic war in Ukraine, with nuclear weapon tests, NATO’s nuclear weapons exercises, and nuclear weapons modernization.

Please take a minute to write to party leaders calling on the Canadian government to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

Speaker: Jonathan Kuttab

Jonathan Kuttab is an international human rights attorney and author who lives in East Jerusalem. He was the head of the legal committee that negotiated the Cairo Agreement of 1994 between Israel and the PLO. He is the co-founder of several important organizations that are committed to human rights protection or non-violent action: the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq, Sabeel in Jerusalem and North America, and Non-violence International, with its headquarters in Philadelphia. He is also President of Holy Land Trust. He is the author of Beyond the Two-State Solution.

The UN Security Council held a briefing and discussion on March 18th on nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation. The session, which can be watched live on UNTV, is being held during the UNSC Presidency of Japan.

The objective of the discussion was to promote dialogue between nuclear and non-nuclear weapon States. "Conducting discussions towards a world without nuclear weapons — with the participation of nuclear weapons States — is "extremely relevant and meaningful," says Ambassador Yamazaki Kazuyuki, Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations in New York. 

Around the world, in the streets, people are raising their voices and demanding change. But not all protests involve placards and marching.

Today on Now or Never, people who are rebelling against the way things are - and finding creative new ways to demand change.

The Winnipeg faction of the Raging Grannies throw on their wigs, colourful hats, and boas, and storm the studio to sing a song and explain why humour helps get the message across.   

Join author Yves Engler on Mondays for a weekly news roundup and interactive discussion about Canada’s role abroad. This weekly session will delve into the latest developments on subjects ranging from military affairs and Canada’s role in Ukraine to its contribution to Palestinian dispossession and exploitation of African resources. Join Yves for a critical take on Canada’s foreign policy. Questions, comments and criticisms are all welcome.

Mondays 6PM EST

On 20 July, Secretary-General António Guterres presented to Member States his Policy Brief on A New Agenda for Peace, which outlines his vision for multilateral efforts for peace and security, based on international law, for a world in transition. It outlines an extensive and ambitious set of recommendations that recognize the inter-linked nature of many of the challenges we face.

Be sure to renew your membership and donate to support our important work building a culture of peace in Canada and so that we can continue to hire youth throughout the year. Make a donation today!