Habrá interpretación inglés<>español en todas las sesiones de la conferencia.
English<>Spanish interpretation will be available for all conference sessions.
Ending all wars means closing all military bases. The United States of America, unlike any other nation, maintains a massive network of foreign military bases around the world, over 900 bases in more than 90 countries and territories.
These bases are costly in a number of ways: financially, politically, socially, and environmentally. U.S. bases in foreign lands often raise geopolitical tensions, support undemocratic regimes, and serve as a recruiting tool for militant groups opposed to the U.S. presence and the governments its presence bolsters. In other cases, foreign bases are being used and have made it easier for the United States to launch and execute disastrous wars, including those in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya. Across the political spectrum and even within the U.S. military there is growing recognition that many overseas bases should have been closed decades ago, but bureaucratic inertia and misguided political interests have kept them open.
Join us virtually – or in-person in Australia, Germany, Colombia, and the U.S. – for the 3-day #NoWar2024 Conference to learn about the impact of the USA’s military base empire and how to resist it. The conference will travel virtually across the globe, visiting sites near U.S. military bases, from Australia, to Germany, to Colombia, with the concluding event in Washington, DC, the heart of the U.S. military base empire.
All events will be livestreamed onto the Zoom platform.
#NoWar2024 kicks off at the Henry Carmichael Theatre, Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street in Sydney, Australia at 9:00am-1:00pm on Saturday, September 21 Sydney Local Time / 7:00pm-11:00pm Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-4) on Friday, September 20. Find the time in your time zone.
Speakers:
Acknowledgement of Country: Pastor Ray Minniecon, Kabi Kabi and Gureng Gureng Elder
Introduction: Alison Broinowski, WBW Board Member and former diplomat
Session 1: The Problem
Session 2: The Solution
The venue is located on Pitt St between Park and Bathurst Streets and is a short walk from Town Hall train and light rail stations and many bus routes. Parking is available in nearby parking stations.
This section of the conference is hosted by Raising Peace, an Australian alliance of more than 30 organisations that together are working to share ideas, knowledge and inspiration for a peaceful world.
Events take place in Wanfried, Germany, from 2:00pm-6:00pm Germany Local Time / 8:00am-12:00pm Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-4). Find the time in your time zone. This section of the conference is hosted by the World BEYOND War International Peace Factory Wanfried chapter. Located at the former border between the eastern and western part of Germany, the International Peace Factory Wanfried is an old factory building that has been transformed into a gathering space for the peace movement.
Welcome by World BEYOND War Wanfried Chapter Co-Coordinator and Co-Founder of the International Peace Factory Wanfried Wolfgang Lieberknecht. Performance by Black and White and short video of “Overcoming borders by cultural cooperation” between Germany and Russia.
This session will explore the impact of U.S. and NATO military expansionism across Europe. Featuring Norwegian academic and political scientist Glenn Diesen; Karl Heinz Peil, campaigner with Stopp Air Base Ramstein and creator of Visualbases.org; former member of the German Bundestag
Heike Hänsel; and World BEYOND War Romania Chapter Co-Coordinators Maria Cernat and Florina Tufescu.
Moderator: Wolfgang Lieberknecht, World BEYOND War Wanfried Chapter Co-Coordinator and Co-Founder of the International Peace Factory Wanfried.
In this session, organizers from across Europe will share examples of effective nonviolent strategies and tactics used for successfully preventing military bases or military training grounds across the region, as well as ongoing anti-bases movements. Featuring Jan Tamáš of the No to Bases Initiative that successfully blocked a U.S. military base in the Czech Republic; Persida Jovanovic and Milan Sekulovic of the Save Sinjajevina campaign that successfully blocked a NATO military training ground in the beautiful mountain pastures of Montenegro; Bernhard Trautvetter, who will speak about ongoing movements in Germany to close the Ramstein and Büchel bases; and Reiner Braun, former Executive Director of the International Peace Bureau, who will speak about upcoming opportunities to take action in Germany.
Meet other conference participants! We’ll have time for virtual networking for those joining on Zoom and in-person networking for attendees in Wanfried, Germany.
Events continue at the Auditorio de la Unión Nacional de Empleados Bancarios, Diagonal calle 34 #18-21, in Bogotá, Colombia from 2:00pm-6:00pm Bogotá Local Time / 3:00pm-7:00pm Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-4). Find the time in your time zone.
Welcome by World BEYOND War’s Latin America Organizer Gabriel Aguirre and introduction to the conference theme. Live performance by Bogotan artist La Tata Mendoza, who has forged a career rich in exploration and fusion of traditional rhythms with electronic and contemporary influences.
This session will explore the U.S. military’s infiltration into Latin America. Panelists will detail the impacts of the network of U.S. military bases across the region, particularly through the lens of gender and environmental justice. Featuring Diana Salcedo López, president of LIMPAL, the Colombia section of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF); Alejandra Rodríguez Peña, member of the Olga Castillo Collective, an organization that works for justice and reparations for victims of sexual violence by U.S. military personnel in Colombia; Laura Benítez, a marine biologist and activist opposing the construction of a U.S. base on Gorgona Island in Colombia; Paola Renata Gallo Pelaez, Co-President of Mopassol, a movement opposing the construction of a U.S. military base in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina; and Victor Gaute, Vice President of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples.
Moderator: Alejandro Parra Macías, founding member of the Collective Action of Conscientious Objectors ACOOC.
In this session, organizers from across Latin America will share examples of effective nonviolent strategies and tactics used for successfully preventing or closing military bases across the region, including in Vieques, Puerto Rico; Providencia Island, Colombia; and Manta, Ecuador. Featuring Myrna Pagán, founder of Vieques Conservation and Historical Trust and Vidas Viequenses Valen; Edgar Jay Stephens, leader of the Providencia Fishermen’s Cooperative; and Ricardo Armando Patiño Aroca, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defense of Ecuador during the government of Rafael Correa.
Moderator: Alicia Cabezudo, General Coordinator for Latin America & the Caribbean of the Global Alliance for Missions & Infrastructures for Peace-GAMIP.
Meet other conference participants! We’ll have time for virtual networking for those joining on Zoom and in-person networking for attendees in Bogotá.
The auditorium of the National Union of Bank Employees (UNEB) is located 450 meters (5 minutes walking distance) from the “Calle 34” station of Bogotá’s TransMilenio. Free parking is available on the street in front of the UNEB auditorium.
El auditorio de la Unión Nacional de Empleados Bancarios (UNEB), está situado a 450 metros (5 minutos caminando) de la estación “Calle 34” del TransMilenio de Bogotá. En la calle hay aparcamiento gratuito frente al auditorio de la UNEB.
Events conclude at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, 1313 New York Avenue NW, in Washington, DC, the heart of the empire, from 1:00pm-5:00pm Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-4). Find the time in your time zone.
The final day of the conference kicks off with opening remarks from WBW board member John Reuwer, followed by spoken word poetry by Marjan Naderi, an Afghan-American poet and performer, and the former D.C. Youth Poet Laureate (2020).
After traveling the globe and exploring the impacts of U.S. military bases in different regions of the world, we conclude the conference in Washington, DC, the heart of the empire. In this session, we will map out the extent of the empire using World BEYOND War’s bases mapping tool and examine the local and global impacts of these bases. Featuring World BEYOND War’s Co-Founder and Executive Director David Swanson; Dr. Cynthia Enloe, author of Bananas, Beaches and Bases; and Khury Petersen-Smith, the Michael Ratner Middle East Fellow at Institute for Policy Studies, whose research focuses on U.S. empire, borders, and migration.
Moderator: Jessica Sun, a member of the Leadership Team for the Pax Christi Young Adult Caucus.
Featuring Kazuyuki “Kaz” Nakazato, the Director of the Okinawa Prefectural Government (OPG) Washington D.C. Office, and Jared Hayes, Environmental Working Group (EWG)’s Senior Policy Analyst, who has extensive experience on PFAS contamination at U.S. military bases. Moderator: Pat Elder, Director of Military Poisons.
World BEYOND War’s Board President Kathy Kelly will offer closing words with key takeaways from the 3 days of sessions and next steps for continued engagement in the global nonviolent movement to end all war.
Meet other conference participants! We’ll have time for virtual networking for those joining on Zoom and in-person networking for attendees in Washington, DC, including browsing the expo booths of our sponsoring organizations.
New York Avenue Presbyterian Church is conveniently located near to the McPherson Square Metro Station (Orange/Blue/Silver Lines) and the Metro Center Metro Station (Red/Orange/Blue/Silver Lines). There is also free street parking.
Individuals and organizations are invited to sponsor the conference. Sponsorship is available on a sliding scale, with various perks such as tabling space, social media ads, and more, for each sponsorship tier. Learn more & sponsor here.
Organizations are invited to endorse the conference, at no financial cost. Endorsers are listed on the conference website and help to promote the event through their networks. Endorse #NoWar2024 here.