#NoWar2016

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#NoWar2016 was a series of panels and workshops, plus an awards ceremony and a protest action. The conference was sold out and universally praised in high terms. Various action plans came out of the workshops and other discussions at the conference. You can get the book that the conference was arranged around. You can get the DVD of this video:

 

American University School of International Service By William McDonough & Partners-02#NoWar2016 was held in Washington, D.C., on September 23rd to 26th. Thanks to American University for hosting. Thanks to TheRealNews.com for livestreaming and recording video on the 23rd and 24th. These were the speakers. This was the agenda:

Friday, September 23
Washington, D.C., American University, School of International Studies, Founders Room

12:00 p.m. ET Strategies to End War:
MC: Leah Bolger
Speakers:
1. Brenna Gautam: (TheRealNews.com didn’t produce this one.)
2. Patrick Hiller: video.
Q&A: video.

1:45 p.m. Ending War and Patriarchy:
MC: Brienne Kordis
Speakers:
1. Barbara Wien: video.
2. Kozue Akibayashi: video.
Q&A: video.

2:45 p.m. Remaking the Mass Media for Peace.
MC: David Swanson
Speakers:
1. Sam Husseini: video.
2. Gareth Porter: video.
3. Christopher Simpson: video.
Q&A: video.

4:00 p.m. Capitalism and transition to Peace Economy:
MC: David Hartsough
Speakers:
1. Gar Alperovitz: video.
2. Jodie Evans: video.
Q&A: video.

5:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. The Racism of War
MC: Robert Fantina: video.
Includes 26-min film: Crisis in the Congo: video.
Speakers:
1. Maurice Carney: video.
2. Darakshan Raja: video.
3. Bill Fletcher Jr.: video.
Q&A: video.

Saturday, September 24
American University, School of International Studies, Founders Room

9:00 a.m. Ending War: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Introduction: Leah Bolger
Speaker: David Hartsough: video.

9:15 a.m. War Isn’t Working, and It Isn’t Necessary. Why we need complete abolition, even of humanitarian wars.
MC: David Swanson
Speakers:
1. Leah Bolger: video.
2. David Swanson: video.
3. Dennis Kucinich: video.
Q&A: video.

10:15 a.m. Diplomacy, Aid, and Nonviolent Peacekeeping and Protection
MC: Patrick Hiller
Speakers:
1. Kathy Kelly: video.
2. Mel Duncan: video and power point.
3. Craig Murray: video.
Q&A: video.

11:15 a.m. break

11:30 a.m. Disarmament, and Abolishing Nuclear Weapons
MC: Alice Slater
Speakers:
1. Lindsey German and Jeremy Corbyn (by video) — video.
2. Ira Helfand: video.
3. Odile Hugonot Haber: video.
Q&A: video.

12:30 p.m. Closing Bases.
MC: Leah Bolger
Speakers:
1. David Vine: video.
2. Kozue Akibayashi: video.

1:30 p.m. lunch, with remarks on Protecting the Environment from War by Ending War
Introduction: David Swanson
Speaker: Harvey Wasserman: video.
Q&A: video.
Free PDF of Solartopia (PDF) and of Strip and Flip (PDF).
Printed copies available via www.freepress.org and www.solartopia.org at $18 each, which includes shipping.

2:30 p.m. Changing War Culture to Peace Culture.
MC: David Hartsough
Speakers:
1. Michael McPhearson: video.
2. John Dear: video.
3. Maria Santelli: video.
4. Chris Kennedy: video.
Q&A: video.

3:30 p.m. International Law. Can War Makers Be Held Accountable? Can We Achieve Truth and Reconciliation?
MC: Jeff Bachman: video.
Speakers:
1. Maja Groff: video.
2. Michelle Kwak: video.
Q&A: video.

4:30 p.m. Break

4:45 p.m. Demonstrations, Direct Action, Resistance and Counter-Recruitment
MC: Brienne Kordis
Speakers:
1. Medea Benjamin: video.
2. Pat Elder: video.
3. Mark Engler: video.
Q&A: video.

5:45 p.m. Dinner and screening of Peter Kuznick’s and Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States (Dinner provided to registered participants)
MC: Peter Kuznick
6:45-7:30 Peter Kuznick and Gar Alperovitz — Remarks and Q&A: video.

Sunday, September 25

10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Nonviolent Action: Getting to Work: video.
American University, School of International Studies, Founders Room
MC: Robert Fantina
Speakers:
1. Miriam Pemberton
2. Mubarak Awad: power point.
3. Bruce Gagnon
Plus 3-minute presentations by leaders of workshops to follow lunch: video.

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. lunch

12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Simultaneous Workshops
American University, School of International Service, rooms as indicated below. All these rooms have either a projector or a screen to show powerpoints or other materials from a laptop. Workshops can be moved outdoors at discretion of organizers depending on weather. Room assignments are subject to change based on number of participants in each workshop.
1. Closing Bases. — David Vine. — in SIS Room 113 (seats 32)
2. Bringing United States into the International Criminal Court. — John Washburn. — in SIS Room 300 (seats 25): video.
3. Resistance, Ending the Draft, Countering Recruitment, Creating Free College. — Maria Santelli, Pat Elder, Pat Alviso. — in SIS Room 333 (seats 40)
4. Abolishing Nuclear Weapons. — John Reuwer, Ira Helfand, Lilly Daigle. — in SIS 233 (seats 40)
5. Freeing Palestine / Young People Organizing for Peace. — Raed Jarrar, Alli McCracken, Taylor Piepenhagen. — in SIS Room 120 (seats 56)
6. Improving the Alternative Global Security Strategy. — Patrick Hiller. — in SIS Room 348 (seats 14) and in SIS Room 349 (seats 14)
7. Building Friendship Between the United States and Russia. — Kathy Kelly, Bob Spies, and Jan Hartsough. — in SIS Room 102 (seats 48)

2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Planning/Training Session for the Next Day’s Nonviolent Action
American University Kay Center Chapel

4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Presentation of 2016 Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence to John Kiriakou, by the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence
American University, Kay Center Chapel
Speakers: Larry Wilkerson, Thomas Drake, Larry Johnson, John Kiriakou, Craig Murray, and Phil Giraldi. Late addition: Ray McGovern.
Details here.

VIDEO.

kiriakou
Photo by Linda Lewis

2016 SAM ADAMS AWARD CEREMONY HONORING JOHN KIRIAKOU
KAY CHAPEL, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
4-5:30 PM

[opening piano music by Tom Dickinson]

4:00 – Welcome to Sam Adams Associates for Integrity Intelligence (SAAII) annual award ceremony by SAAII co-founder Ray McGovern, peace & justice advocate and former CIA Presidential Briefer

4:05 – 4:10 Master of Ceremonies Craig Murray, former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan & 2005 Sam Adams Award recipient

4:10 – 4:15 Thomas Drake, former NSA Senior Executive

4:15 – 4:20 Larry Wilkerson, Col., U.S. Army (ret); Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell

4:20 – 4:25 Larry Johnson, CIA and State Dept. (ret.)

4:25 – 4:30 Philip Giraldi , CIA Operations Officer (ret.)

4:30-4:35 Elizabeth Murray, former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East, National Intelligence Council and former CIA political analyst (ret.)

4:35 to 4:50 Ambassador Craig Murray speech

4:50- 5:05 Joint reading of Sam Adams Award Citation for John Kiriakou by Elizabeth Murray and Coleen Rowley, 2002 Sam Adams Award recipient & former FBI attorney

• [Tom Dickinson piano music] John accepts Sam Adams Citation and Corner-Brightener award

5:10 to 5:20 John Kiriakou acceptance speech

5:20 to 5:25 Ray McGovern acknowledgment and thanks to Busboys and Poets owner and social activist Andy Shallal for generous donation to the Sam Adams Associates

5:25-5:30 Adjournment (Craig Murray)

5:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Sam Adams Award Reception (hors d’oevres provided)
American University, Kay Center Lounge

Monday, September 26, Morning

Nonviolent Action at Pentagon at 9:00 a.m.: video.

More video from Netra Halperin of PeaceFilms.net: One, Two, Three, Four.

Here’s why. We also delivered to the Pentagon a petition to close Ramstein Air Base in Germany, as U.S. whistleblowers and Germans together delivered it to the German government in Berlin.

germany

berlin

This action was one of over 650 nonviolent actions planned around the country this week. See the Campaign Nonviolence Week of Actions. And see World Beyond War’s events page.

*****

This was the announcement of #NoWar2016: As the war system keeps societies in a state of permawar, we have reached a stage in human history at which we can say with confidence that there are better and more effective alternatives. Of course we know the question: “You say you are against war, but what’s the alternative?” This event will develop answers to that question, building on World Beyond War’s publication A Global Security System: An Alternative to War.

Events were held at the same time in Berlin, Germany, where U.S. whistleblowers delivered to the German government a petition from RootsAction.org, World Beyond War, and others urging the closure of Ramstein Airbase (also delivered to the Pentagon on the 26th). Events were also held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. And protests were held in these places:

Sept 26 – West Point U.S. Military Academy: WEST POINT ANTI-WAR PROTEST

Sept 26 – Marysville, CA: Beale Air Force Base Protest

Sept 26-30 – Alice Springs, Australia: Close Pine Gap

American-University-School-7Partners of #NoWar2016 Included: Jubitz Family Foundation, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, RootsAction.org, Code Pink, International Peace Bureau, Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Jane Addams Peace Association, Veterans For Peace, Delaware Peace Club, United for Peace and Justice,

Co-Sponsors Included: Washington Peace Center, Pace e Bene/Campaign Nonviolence, Liberty Tree Foundation, TheRealNews.com, Nonviolence International, Peace Action Montgomery, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Military Families Speak Out, Peace Action, WILPF-DC, International Movement for a Just World (JUST), Center for Bangladesh Studies, Society for Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University, Nuke Watch, Friends of Franz Jagerstatter, National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance (NCNR), WILPF-DC, International Society for Inter Cultural Study and Research (ISISAR), Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice, On Earth Peace, The Virginia Defenders, UNAC, Pax Christi Metro DC-Baltimore, Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice, National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund/Peace Tax Foundation.

Change_Survive3
Graphic by Franklin Greenwald.

 

Here’s what people are saying about our recent #NoWar2016 conference:

“With a country that seems to be engaged in perpetual war, this conference was an important step towards reorienting a peace & justice movement.” — Bill Fletcher Jr, author, columnist, organizer.

“This year’s World Beyond War Conference was an extraordinary gathering of activists, writers, and community organizers — a critical step in building power and the step by step development of an ever more powerful and effective peace movement.” — Gar Alperovitz, author, historian, political economist.

kathy“During the World Beyond War conference, I thought of Howard Zinn’s exhortation following The September 11 attacks on the U.S.
Zinn encouraged people to strive for calm and to be thoughtful, aiming to understand how U.S. warfare has likewise terrified and bereaved people in other lands.
World Beyond War activists convened worthwhile sessions, upheld alternatives to war, issued challenges to all in attendance, and set an example by including nonviolent direct action at the Pentagon in their plans.” — Kathy Kelly, activist, columnist, author.

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