Spring newsletter – Infolettre de printemps (Montréal for a World BEYOND War – Montréal pour un monde sans guerre)
Spring newsletter – Bulletin de printemps
Dear members of Montréal for a World BEYOND War,
This newsletter looks back over the activities that our chapter has undertaken since our last newsletter, and looks forward to some upcoming actions.
Rally for peace in Ukraine – Feb. 25 2023
Montreal joined with local peace organizations here and around the world to call for peace in Ukraine. You can read all about our rally, and click links to photos, on our web page.
Alison, Sally, Diane and Cym at the Ukraine peace rally
Yemen action, March 27 2023
On March 27th, a delegation from Montréal for a World BEYOND War gathered in front of the Global Affairs Canada building in downtown Montréal, armed to deliver documents on behalf of more than a million Canadians, telling our government that we haven’t forgotten the war in Yemen, and Canada’s ongoing complicity in it.
Local author and activist Yves Engler was on hand and used his cell phone to record our meeting with the Global Affairs representative. You can watch it on Twitter, here.
Since then, as you may have read, China brokered a peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Syria that has brought what we hope will be a lasting peace to Yemen.
CANSEC protest, Ottawa, May 31st
For the second year in a row, Montreal for a World BEYOND War members travelled to Ottawa to protest the gigantic arms fair known as CANSEC. Our delegation comprised Cym Gomery, Wendy Lehman, Sally Livingston, Marjorie Moffatt, and Laurel Thompson.
Marjorie Moffatt (second from left) with fellow Raging Grannies
On May 30th, the eve of the protest, the CANSEC organizing committee hosted a catered get-together at the Quaker meeting house in Ottawa. The CANSEC organizers there included Ottawa activist Mary Girard, Canada coordinator Rachel Small, Brent Patterson of PBI and his wife Pat. Tamara Lorenz breezed in towards the end to show us some new banners she will be displaying on her peace advocacy travels. Other groups represented were the communist party, ILPF, the Quakers, and local raging grannies to name a few.
On the 31st, about 100 people gathered for the CANSEC protest at the EY center. There were the usual oversized cars lined up to get in, and cops pretending to “keep the peace” but in fact facilitating war!
Montreal chapter members Wendy, Laurel, and I were there in our war profiteers costumes, made in Wendy’s “Puppets for the planet” workshop in Montreal. Thanks, Wendy, for dreaming up this theme and helping to make it happen!
Wendy Lehman as a war profiteer, complete with suit, top hat, cigar, moustache, and of course, a gigantic bag of money!
Montreal lawyer and peace activist Dimitri Lascaris is doing a cross-Canada peace tour to talk about his recent visit to Russia. He will be in Montreal on June 29th.
Beehive project presentation and Mtl chapter picnic, July 8 2023
On July 8th, as part of the international Peace Wave, Saku Bee (Sakura Saunders) from the Beehive Design Collective is coming to Montreal to give a presentation of the epic work “Mesoamérica Resiste” which took nine years, and a team of 22 people to create. It tells the story of resistance to mega infrastructure development in Mexico and Central America through metaphor and pen and ink illustration. Saku will have two massive 10′ tall banners to aid her in telling this story, which will highlight stories of cross-border grassroots social movements and collective action, especially organizing led by Indigenous peoples.
The Montreal event will be filmed, and will be one of many events around the world as part of a 24-hour-long series of actions comprising a Peace Wave. https://worldbeyondwar.org/wave/
When: July 8, 2023 at 12:30 pm.
Where: Parc Lafontaine, (metro Sherbrooke, exit Berri and go North to Cherrier, then East to the park; about 10 min. walk) We will meet at the pond where the banner is to be displayed; this is the first thing you see when you walk towards the park from rue Cherrier.
What to bring: Bring a picnic lunch and a blanket to sit on.
Itinerary: Picnic from 12:30 to 1:30, and then Sakura’s presentation in front of the banner from 1:30-2:00 pm EDT.
Global Women against NATO (summit July 11-12 2023)
An international group of women has been organizing to protest the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania on July 11-12 2023. A delegation will go to NATO headquarters in Brussels to deliver a declaration saying, in part,
”The time of colonialism and imperialism has passed. The time of the West’s claim to unipolar domination and ‘moral supremacy’ is over. Today we welcome a new multipolar world order based on shared decisions, on social and environmental justice, on the sharing of resources and technologies, on the transition to zero military arsenals.”
(Incidentally, our Chapter coordinator wrote an article recently that examines a possible link between the activities of NATO’s secret armies of fascist terrorists, and the 1980 rue Copernic bombing that the French government is attempting to blame on Palestinian-Canadian professor Hassan Diab.)
The Canadian government is planning to purchase armed drones for an initial price tag of $5 billion… we can expect to pay billions more to operate the drones over their 25-year lifespan.
To protest this madness, the Montreal chapter, together with Canadian Foreign Policy Institute, will be hosting an ice cream stand and handing out No Drones flyers sometime in July. We will be meeting to plan this action in the next week or two.
What if… (a poem)
by Sue Blain, California chapter of WBW
What if a mysterious force, a gentle force, hovered over our country?
A force that flowed around and among us
A force that changed how we perceive each other, surrounding everyone with a feeling of calmness
A force that caused us to forget the grudges we held and the criticisms we made of each other
A force that left us all realizing that we are one, we are equal, and we all belong here
A force that replaced competition and zero sum concepts with the realization that there is enough for everyone because we all bring something to the table
A force that drew out the fear we hold and dissipated it
A force that opened our eyes to the world beyond our borders, allowing us to see that what is true for our country is true for the world
A force that would move us to turn our swords into plough shares, to dismantle nuclear weapons, to end the military in every country and repurpose military equipment, into vehicles of peace
Could we be that force?
Even as wars continue around the world, it seems that the movement for peace is growing
Concern is growing for Palestine, Yemen, Syria, and everywhere war, apartheid, and oppression are ongoing
There is power in intersectional work
There is power in organizations working together for the greater good
Proceeding with open minds and open hearts, knowing that millions of people are longing for and working for peace, we may very well become that force, joining hearts and minds around the world.
That’s all for now! Wishing you a great summer and wishing all of us success in our efforts.
In Solidarity,
Cym Gomery
Coordinator, Montreal for a World BEYOND War
Montreal for a World BEYOND War brings together activists who believe that war and violence are unnecessary and beneath us as a species that aspires to achieve equality, compassion, ecological balance and an understanding of the oneness of all existence. We organize and attend rallies, protests, educational events and more. Please join us!
Montréal pour un monde sans guerre rassemble des militants et militantes qui croient que la guerre et la violence sont inutiles et indignes d’une espèce qui aspire à l’égalité, = l’équilibre écologique et la compréhension de l’unicité de toute existence. Nous organisons et participons à des rassemblements, des protestations, des évènements éducatifs et plus encore. Joignez-vous à nous !
Should giant war-profiteering corporations decide what emails you don’t want to read? We don’t think so either. So, please stop our emails from going into “junk” or “spam” by “white listing,” marking as “safe,” or filtering to “never send to spam.”
World BEYOND War | 450, 4-2 Donald Street | Winnipeg, MB R3L 0K5 Canada
