'Guns to butter' for a Better Future

There are many ideas towards a plan for world peace and development. See 'More' below.

I summarized two proposals posted in March 2021 which I believe are fresh, feasible and authentic regarding converting 'guns to butter' for a better future.

1.  Close all USA military bases

The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft (QI), has been brave enough to tell the world that some 750 US military bases around the world appear to have little or no usefulness in keeping the country safe and prosperous. 

In a one-hour webinar 'Taps for America's Empire of Bases?', QI president Andrew Bacevich moderated David Vine, Christine Ahn, and John Glaser.

These 3 experts agreed:

• There are NO exaggerated threats to the USA from the Middle East and elsewhere.
• The greatest threat to peace is the military-industrial complex.
• All bases abroad should be closed and the troops sent home. Open Letter to President Biden, March 4, 2021.
• Funding for peace diplomacy and domestic infrastructure (health care, transportation, education, clean water, housing, etc.) should be greatly increased.

The Quincy Institute is a new US 'think tank' founded in December 2019. It is 'the most truthful and daring of the dozens of these entities that exist in the Washington DC area', according to Sharon Tennison, Founder and Director of Center for Citizen Initiatives, in a March 11th letter to its members.

2.  Putin's 'open system'

Matthew Ehret, Senior Fellow at the American University in Moscow and editor-in-chief of the Canadian Patriot Review explains global 'win-win cooperation' for the future in 'Putin's Vision for an Anti-Fascist/ Open System Future and You' (The Canadian Patriot, March 10, 2021).

Ehret reports that President Putin speaks about an 'open system' of international behaviour that would avoid wars and instead would focus on cooperative efforts of multi world nations for joint security and development, such as the following:

• Space diplomacy among Russia, USA, and China. Increase working together to explore space.
• Asteroid defense. Implement a proposal by the Chief of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin, nick named the 'Strategic Defense of Earth'. by aiming US President Reagan's 'Star Wars' Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) away from targets on earth to aim for incoming meteors and asteroids.
• Arctic and Far East Development. By further expanding the 'Silk Road' on rails as proposed 150 years ago, but from South America, north across the Bering Strait, to Europe. Ships are now crossing the thawed Arctic Circle. Development of new cities, mining, transport corridors and energy benefits all nations connected.
• 'Guns to butter' in an 'open system' world. If all nations cooperate to divert military spending to social needs, poverty can end and global warming stopped.

Ehret concludes: 'If Russia, America, China and other nations of the UN Security Council and BRICS were to apply their best minds to solving these problems rather than fall into a new arms race, then not only would either country benefit immensely, but so too would humanity more broadly.' Agreed! Let's hope it becomes a reality.

This means that we all need to look inward and have the moral courage to make this happen. Peace starts with us. Yes, 'Guns to butter' for a better future!

---

More

Peace Quest, Rideau Institute, World Federalists. Webinar: 'Peace Prospects in the Biden Era (Thursday, April 1, 2021, 6:30 PM ET). — Free webinar on Zoom. Featuring Douglas Roche.

Canadian Foreign Policy Institute and World Beyond War Canada. Free webinar on Zoom: 'Why Canada Should Leave NATO'. Saturday, April 3, 2021, 3 PM ET. — Free webinar on Zoom.

New Hampshire Peace Action. 'Peace & Justice Conversations:Is Russia truly our enemy? Should we risk nuclear war?' April 12, 2021, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm ET. — Free webinar on Zoom.

Escobar, Pepe. Welcome to shocked & awed 21st century geopolitics. In Information Clearing House, March 23, 2021.

Fry, Stephen. The Terrifying $1.2 Trillion Plan That Could Kill 90% of Humanity, March 16, 2021. YouTube, 11.16 minutes.

O’Connor, Taylor. 10 Global Peacebuilding Networks. In Transcend Media Service, March 15, 2021. [We can add to this list many others, such as: Center for Global Nonkilling, World Beyond War, Project Ploughshares, Center for Citizen Initiatives, Coalition to Oppose Arms Trade, Voice of Women for Peace, and PeaceQuest. For alternative news sources see Honest World News.]

Zuesse, Eric. Why It’s Especially Necessary to End NATO Now. In Modern Diplomacy, March 15, 2021.

Benjamin, Medea and Nicolas J.S. Davies. Biden’s Foreign Policy — Ten Problems, One Solution. In The Progressive, March 13, 2021.

Healy, Hazel. 10 Steps to World Peace. In New Internationalist, September 18, 2018.

Glaser, John. 'Withdrawing from Overseas Bases: Why a Forward ‐ Deployed Military Posture Is Unnecessary, Outdated, and Dangerous'. Cato Institute, Policy Analysis No. 816, July 18, 2017.

United Nations. Dept. of Economic and Social Affairs. Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Adopted September 25, 2015. Preamble: This Agenda is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. It also seeks to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom….The 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets which we are announcing today demonstrate the scale and ambition of this new universal Agenda….'

World Beyond War.org. A global movement to end all wars.

Center for Global Nonkilling. Promoting change toward the measurable goal of a killing-free world.

Updates

Sahiounie,  Steven.  US-NATO provocation in Ukraine to stop Russian pipeline.  The Duran, April 7, 2021.

Paul, Ron. Why Is the Biden Administration Pushing Ukraine to Attack Russia? OpEdNews Op Eds, April 5, 2021. 

Lavelle, Peter, CrossTalk, RT, April 2021. The End of Ukraine? YouTube, 25 minutes. — Lavelle hosts three panelists: Mary Dejevsky,  Independent columnist, London; Earl Rasmussen, Executive Vice-President, The Eurasia Centre, Washington, DC; and Gabriel Gavin, journalist, policy consultant, Moscow, Russia.

Baldwin, Natylie. The Situation in the Donbass, In Natylie's Place: Understanding Russia, April 3, 2021. — The situation in the Ukraine is extremely dangerous. Heavily armed Ukrainian soldiers with USA weapons are threatening the Russian Republic, as Russian soldiers stand by ready to respond if attacked.

Tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Tōrō nagashi — floating paper lanterns — began August 6, 1947. It was copied from the traditional August Buddhist Obon festival as a consolation to the souls of the millions of Japanese citizens who perished during World War II. 

Photo by Brent Patterson.

Due to my caution about CoVid-19 at my age, I chose to not attend this year’s annual 1945 A-bombing of Japan Memorial, hosted in Ottawa by the Society of Friends. I only missed 2 since 2009. About 60 people attended.

Photo by Brent Patterson.

This year the event was held at a pond along the Rideau Canal Western Pathway, a few meters east of Queen Elizabeth Parkway, at Third Ave, a few meters north of the new Flora Footbridge that crosses the Rideau Canal. (Google map) 

The proposed footbridge with labels added and red arrow pointing to location of
the Tōrō nagashi ceremony (Image from: Support Flora Footbridge, Facebook) 

It has been 75 years since the atomic bomb was dropped by the USA on Hiroshima, followed three days later with another one on Nagasaki, resulting in over 200,000 instant deaths and many more injured and dying.

In Special coverage: Hiroshima & Nagasaki at 75, The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, warns us that we are all living in a ‘particularly dangerous period of our nuclear age’. Civilization is at stake. Time left in January 2020 : 100 seconds to midnight.

Though there are many fine books and articles for this 75th year milestone, I don’t find convincing evidence for preventing nuclear war. Concerned citizens and world leaders need to stand up and prevent a world holocaust that would take us back to the Stone Age. These are just 6 items online that reflect my thinking:

Robert Freeman. 75 Years On: Reflections and Preflections on Hiroshima. Common Dreams, August 7, 2020. — ‘We cannot change what happened, neither the heinous military nor the tragic moral stains that indelibly mark its occurrence. But we can transcend it, rise above it, by naming it, acknowledging it, repudiating it, and committing ourselves to a greater expression of the people and society we imagine and hope ourselves to be. It is the only option for a sane, safe, and civilized future.’

PBS. 75 years after Hiroshima, should the U.S. president have the authority to launch a nuclear attack?, (USA Public television), August 5, 2020. — No U.S. President should have absolute authority to initiate a nuclear attack. Too many were mentally impaired while in office. William Parry, former Secretary of State, concluded: ‘Ronald Reagan and Gorbachev said it best, which is, a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.’

Helen Caldicott. The Lessons We Haven’t Learned. The Progressive, August 3, 2020. — ‘... make friends with ... all nations and reinvest the trillions of dollars spent on war, killing, and death, saving the ... world with renewable energy including solar, wind, and geothermal, and planting trillions of trees. ... free medical care for all U.S. citizens, along with free education, housing for the homeless, and care for those with mental illness.’

Gary G. Kohls, MD. Why Americans Believe That Bombing Hiroshima Was Necessary. LewRockwell, August 1, 2015. — The American government was ‘... fully aware of Japan’s search for ways to honorably surrender months before Truman gave the fateful order to incinerate Hiroshima. Japan was working on peace negotiations through its ambassador in Moscow as early as April of 1945, with surrender feelers from Japan occurring as far back as 1944. ... all of Japan’s military and diplomatic messages were being intercepted. On July 13, 1945, Foreign Minister Togo wrote: “Unconditional surrender ... is the only obstacle to peace.” …(BUT) … ‘profiteers … Wall Street, the Pentagon, the weapons industries and their lapdogs in Congress … (did) … what is profitable or advantageous for our over-privileged, over-consumptive, toxic and unsustainable American way of life, …’

Amy Goodman and David Goodman. Atomic Bombing at 75: Hiroshima Cover-up -- How Timesman Won a Pulitzer While on War Dept. Payroll. Consortium News, August 4, 2020. Enhanced from: Hiroshima Cover-up: How the War Department's Timesman Won a Pulitzer, Common Dreams, August 10, 2004 — By boldly disobeying US military orders and censors, Australian journalist Wilfred Burchett was the first western reporter to get to Hiroshima, 30 days after the bomb, and have an uncensored eye-witness report published about an ‘atomic plague’. Burchett was extensively bullied by US agents. To negate the story, the US War Department used their hired propagandist, William L. Laurence, the Pulitzer Prize-winning science reporter for The New York Times, to deny massive deaths from radiation. ‘“Atomic Bill” Laurence revered atomic weapons.’ In 2003 the Times discussed removing a 1932 Pulitzer awarded to their Moscow bureau chief (1922–1936) Walter Duranty, but did not. This prompted the authors to recommend that Laurence’s prize be ‘stripped’.

Setsuko Thurlow. Hiroshima survivor, anti-bomb activist, and 2017 Nobel Prize winner living in Toronto, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, on June 22, 2020, urging him to ‘acknowledge Canada’s involvement in and contributions to the two atomic bombings and issue a statement of regret on behalf of the Canadian Government for the immense deaths and suffering caused by the atom bombs that utterly destroyed two Japanese cities.’ She also urged him to sign the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

My Conclusion

Prevention. Prevention. Prevention of nuclear war is the key to world survival. Atomic wars must never be fought. Hiroshima and Nagasaki warn us of the danger if we do not act urgently and sensibly to prohibit atomic weapons development and wars.

I was 13 years old in 1945. I got the censored news on radio and newsreels at cinema. Let’s give hope to our children and grandchildren and everyone else that atomic wars must never take place, and that wars be banned as criminal behaviour.

I want an international War Prohibition Treaty! — like the 1920 League of Nations, the 1928 General Treaty for Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy,  the 1933 Anti-war Treaty of Non-aggression and Conciliation, and the 2017 United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Every country should have a well-funded Department of Peace and a nonkilling foreign and domestic policy.

See all my reports since 2009: 1945 A-bombing of Japan Memorials.

——————

Note: You can enter a Comment only with a Google Account. If you do not have a Google Account, email your Comment for posting to KJTarasoff@gmail.com

World Beyond War Global Conference Ottawa May 26-31, 2020 CANCELLED

Update April 2, 2020: Both CANSEC 2020 and the 'No to CANSEC' rally have been postponed to June 2021. People not Bombs! You can't kill a virus with bullets. Only after massive public pressure from our peace coalition, 7,700+ letters sent, and 19 days after a pandemic was declared, the cancellation followed. The World Beyond War conference has been rescheduled and will be held in Ottawa June 2021. The peace movement is now working to shut down CANSEC.

M. Wuerker, POLITICO.

• "The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war", by António Guterres, Secretary-General , United Nations, March 23, 2020.
• 'PBI-Canada welcomes cancellation of CANSEC arms show, seeks peace and health for all'. By Brent Patterson, President of Peace Brigades International, March 31, 2020.
• COVID-19 takes down Canada's Top Arms Trade Show! CANSEC 2020 in Ottawa is Cancelled, of course.... By Richard Sanders, Facebook, Press For Conversion Magazine (COAT), March 31, 2020.
• “Coalition celebrates cancellation of CANSEC; demands permanent ban on weapons shows”, David Swanson, Executive Director, World BEYOND War, April 2, 2020
• “Weapons don't fight pandemics,” Opinion by Miodrag Soric, Deutsche Welle, April 26, 2020.

---

See the latest updates on the big event 'Divest, Disarm, Demilitarize' planned for Ottawa, Canada May 26-30, 2020 with major collaboration by dozens of peace groups led by World Beyond War. [With the cancellation of the CANSEC event in 2020, the new venues including the World Beyond War conference can be forwarded to June 2021.]

See the promotional video. Look at the Schedule, About, Speakers, Media Toolkit (5 items on Google Drive), Rides & Lodging Board for messages, and Contact form. Share on Facebook. Help to billet out of town guests.

The 6-day 2020 WBW Conference workshops, training, panel discussions, films, art, music, dance, and nonviolent action will be held at various locations in Ottawa.

Join this international coalition of individuals and organizations which will converge on Ottawa to say 'No to CANSEC', Canada's biggest annual weapons expo. This event promises to be a peace highlight of the year for Ottawa and Canada. Dozens of peace groups will join as endorsers and sponsors, including Quakers and Mennonites; the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace plans to hold its 60th Anniversary in Ottawa at this time.

As citizens of the world, come and join us as passionate builders of peace and goodwill. Our children and grandchild deserve a viable future. We are responsible in preserving life for the new generation and saving our world from destruction.

More from my blog

• Stop wars! Stop the killings! — A Poem for Our Times
• CANSEC Ottawa Reports Since 2009

A Quaker Summary of Fighting

Book review.

• Are you worried about increasing hate crimes?
• Does it feel like our world is becoming more divided?
• Do you care about peace?

In 2017 the Peace Program Coordinator and Communications Coordinator for the Canadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers) proposed to answer these questions scientifically by conducting a peace literature review and bibliography. He originally planned to compile a 50-page report to summarize:

• What does science reveal about achieving interpersonal peace, avoiding conflict and hatred?
• Do we really need to fight?

The short project continued for 2 years, and grew to 327 pages. To include as much as possible into the book, the font size was reduced, yet much had to be omitted. Perhaps a second volume will be published to compile the rest of their research.

Matthew Legge. Are We Done Fighting? Building Understanding in a World of Hate and Division (New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, BC, 2019): 327 pp. Copyright by Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC, Facebook).

• Are We Done Fighting Video Trailer, YouTube (1:16 min.)
• Are We Done Fighting? : Building understanding in a world of hate and division, Psychology Today — Matthew Legge elaborates on 8 topics, posted from April 26 to October 7, 2019.
• Preview and Search in Google Books.

---

I read the book with much interest and then attended a book launch by the author on October 23th, 2019 at the Friends’ Meeting House, Ottawa, Ontario. Some 30 people attended. A question-answer period followed.

The event was audio recorded by Ken ‘Kensky’ Billings, and posted for you on pCloud, linked from his Digileak Canada website:

• Lecture (63 min.),
• Q & A, discussion (23 min.).
• And I took 24 photos.

Matthew Legge (pronounced: ‘Le-ZHAY’) has been on a book tour across Canada, speaking on radio, at universities, bookstores, and Friends Meeting Houses; and teaching a few workshops. See schedule at bottom of AreWeDoneFighting.com. This is his first presentation fully recorded and posted online.


My Review

This book is a 2-year cooperative effort of many people: the author Matthew Legge — an anthropology graduate from the University of Toronto — and his staff at the Quaker Centre in Toronto.

Matthew emailed to me:

‘The book has about 750 end notes that made it into the final copy. I can't say how many hundreds of books and studies I read, many hundreds did not make it into the book. I didn't do 100% of the research myself. 2 other staff and volunteers did parts and sent me things.’

The book is mostly a literature review of many sources related to avoiding violence — 'Evidence and techniques you can use right now'. The research team examined publications in psychology, anthropology and sociology of peace, mostly focusing on cultural ‘interpersonal peace issues’, not inter-government politics.

The author presents many tips for avoiding personal conflict and misunderstandings in daily living, but little about preventing WW3. The intent was to examine what is known about ‘hate and division’ in society. A very challenging aspect of war prevention!

In 24 short chapters, each ending with helpful tips, the author attempts to reach people with different educational, political, religious and cultural backgrounds. The result is a comprehensive text with many insights into the fundamental issues of hate and division, without a guarantee of what will work or not work. Although very useful as an academic study, in my opinion it fails to be a practical guide to action.


Positives

Gems I found especially useful and noteworthy:

1. Equality is a useful ingredient in respecting people and countries. Trying to be overly superior to others will not lead us to a peaceful world. We need to acknowledge that we are all part of one world community and need to work together to survive.
2. The understanding of ‘power over’ and ‘power-from-within’ are useful concepts in avoiding exploitation and violence (pages 23-24). Working together for a ‘win-win’ outcome would also help. 
3. ‘....The peace virus can demand patience and perseverance, and the way we live it out makes a difference to the results we get’ (page 49). Peace virus is transmitted to children through modelling (page 126). Parents and teachers, please take note and be a model for living.
4. The ‘creative power of silence’ can be used to begin a meeting (page 44), as is done effectively in many Quaker meetings. This is mindfulness at work.
5. Among the communication skills, try communication instead of changing someone’s beliefs by shooting down our opponent (page. 56). Recognize, acknowledge, and even respect other views. Work together on common ground issues such as climate change, disarmament, etc.
6. Emotions are contagious — treat them with care (p. 84). We can all be manipulated towards goodness or violence. Psychologists tell us that our interdependence and malleability shapes what we think and do. Beware of psychological warfare (page 79).
7. Effective communication involves shared values of rapport building, careful listening and observing, and seeking truths (page 94). Take note of body language. Use humour when appropriate, but avoid humiliation (page 90).
8. War ‘is not natural’ (page 124), but is a learned behaviour. It follows that we can learn to create a peaceful world.
9. There is a problem today with mainstream media where the bias is towards sensationalism, such as the bomb. How about seeking good news stories?
10. Establishing Ministries of Peace around the world is ‘an intriguing idea for improving the capacity and will to engage in prevention’ (page 228).

Negatives

The 327 pages of fine print, of which 52 pages are end-notes and index with even finer print makes it very difficult to read.

Though over 1,000 books and articles are listed, many important items for peacemaking familiar to me were not listed. It appears that the author and his team did not look at my website and blog which are full of valuable aides for peacemaking. I suggest adding these 7 missing items/topics.

1. The Center for Citizen Initiatives in California has escorted groups of “citizen diplomats” (mostly Americans) to Russia since 1984 to engage in personal dialog. President Sharon Tennison has visited Russia for 35 years and rejects the war propaganda. “Misunderstandings, fallacious accusations, flare ups and demonizing ... we see the need and possibility for changing this situation. When real people in large numbers get involved, amazing things begin to happen. Join us!” Next trip: June 2020.
2. In June 1895 my ancestors burnt their guns as a public resolve to get rid of wars. The war / peace issue is very much part of the Doukhobor movement, and I continue to be part of that movement to create a world without wars. Since the 1950s, I have been working steadily on a study of Spirit Wrestlers / Doukhobors with connections to the wider peace movement. A dozen books have been published and countless articles are in print and many more are steadily being produced in my Spirit-Wrestlers website and blog.
3. 'A Study of Russian Organizations in the Greater Vancouver Area', 1963, my MA thesis in anthropology and sociology. During the first Cold War, I attended the University of British Columbia and studied the issues of what brings people together and what splits them apart. I found that both hot and cold wars split societies apart and cause undue suffering to humanity. If   we are to achieve a sustainable nonkilling society, this means we urgently need to get rid of the ‘scourge of war’ and make war a crime against humanity!
4. ‘Opening Doors For Survival: A Handbook on Soviet-West Initiatives’, 1986. I produced this practical manuscript which was expanded and published in very limited numbers in 1991 by Peace Train Foundation in Ottawa, Canada as Discovering Soviet-West Cooperation. A Handbook on Soviet-West Bridge-Building Initiatives. The insights into peace-making are as valid today as they were in the 1980s.
5. 'Doukhobor — Quaker Connections : Talk with Young Friends in Ottawa', December 6, 2009 Presentation Outline, Comments (updated 2019). Includes useful suggestions of what young Friends can do to make a contribution to society. The article also includes the story of effective peace manifestations  in Western Canada in the 1960s involving Doukhobors, Quakers, Mennonites, Fellowship of Reconciliation, and other groups. 
6. Dr. Glenn D. Paige’s book Nonkilling Global Political Science, (2002), advanced the thesis that it is possible for humans to stop killing each other. The thesis supports the conclusion of the World Report on Violence and Health (Geneva, 2002) that human violence is a ‘preventable disease’. In November 2007, Dr. Page organized the First Global Nonkilling Leadership Forum, Hawaii, at which I presented my paper: ‘Tolstoy and the Doukhobors’. Wisdom people from around the world united to create a Nonkilling Society. The forum launched the Centre for Global Nonkilling ‘to promote change for a killing-free society’. While killing is deeply entrenched in world culture, it is not universal. Nonkilling is a new paradigm for a brave new world. The wider peace community should take note.
7. 150 Canadian Stories for Peace — An Anthology, 2017. One of my contributions here was 'Opening Doors for Survival during the Cold War' (pages 101-102). In 1984-1985 I held 17 living room discussions on East-West bridge-building. My article concludes: ’With fake news in today’s Cold War world, are we not repeating again the dangerous lies about our northern Russian neighbours and others? When will we ever learn?’

Contact the author Matthew Legge at Canadian Friends Service Committee (CFSC, Quakers), 60 Lowther Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M5R 1C7, Canada. Phone: 416-920-5213 Web: quakerservice.ca. Facebook/Twitter/Instagram: @CFSCQuakers. Get a free chapter of CFSC's book at: AreWeDoneFighting.com


More reviews

• Keira Mann. ‘CFSC launches Are We Done Fighting?’, Quaker Concern, vol. 45, no. 2, Spring 2019: pages 1, 3.
• Linda Taffs. ‘Are We Done Fighting? Building Understanding in a World of Hate and Division’. Transcend Media Service, 17 June 2019.
• Matthew Legge. ‘Working for Peace in a Violent World’. When the need for large-scale solutions is so dire, it can be challenging to focus on individual actions. Yes Magazine, 15 July 2019.
• Are We Done Fighting? Toronto based author Matthew Legge is coming to Kamloops, Kamloops Coffee Talk, November 1, 2019 — Quotations and announcement.

Enter your comment below.
For help, see 'Blog comment instructions'.
If you use the Safari browser on a MacIntosh computer, sorry, you cannot enter a comment.

No to NATO and War — Yes to Peace and Progress

On March 30, 2019 the Regina Peace Council in Saskatchewan is holding a peace conference and noon rally to condemn NATO and celebrate 70 years of the World Peace Council and affiliated peace organizations. NATO is 70 years old also.

• No to NATO and War — Yes to Peace and Progress
• Saturday, March 30, 2019 at 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM CST
• Cathedral Neighbourhood Center, 2900 13th Ave. (at Retallack St), Regina, SK
• At noon we walk to the Cenotaph in Victoria Park for an anti-NATO rally.

See album of 31 photos of speakers, rally and march.

Speakers

• Keynote address will be by Andre Vltchek, journalist, author, film-maker, globe trotter, and critic of NATO and Western interventionism. See: Vltchek's World in Words and Images
• Laura Savinkoff (above) of Grand Forks, BC, coordinator of the BC Southern Interior Peace Coalition and newly elected Vice-President of the Canadian Peace Congress, will speak about the need for a reinvigorated peace movement.
• David Gehl, Regina peace activist/ leader, will talk about a peace platform for Canada.

For more information, call Ed Lehman 306-718-8010 or write edrae1133@gmail.com. Ed said he borrowed their event title from the larger annual event held in Washington D.C. by World Beyond War, and doing it on a Saturday 4 days earlier.

News Updates

— Newspaper

Group of Reginans protest Canada's involvement in NATO,
Regina Leaper-Post, March 31, 2019.

— Radio

'Listen Up', Regina Community Radio, 91.3 FM CJTR, April 2, 2019, 11 a.m. – noon, current events hosted by Dave Morgan. Download 1 hour audio file to play on your computer. The second half of the broadcast, beginning at minute 25 to 54 (move time slider), are 25 minutes of interviews with '... Andre Vltchek, war correspondent: Laura Savinkoff, Canadian Peace Congress & Dave Gehl, Regina Peace Council “Yes to Peace & Progress: No to NATO, War & Aggression”.'

— Ottawa

On March 30 in Ottawa, Canada, a small group braved the weather to call on the Government of Canada to get out of NATO at the time when NATO is celebrating its 70th birthday. I took 40 photos posted here: Say No to NATO. Ken "Kensky" Billings included news on his monthly e-zine: Digileak Canada, April 2019, slides 31+.

— Toronto

Tamara Lorinez, Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, reports from Toronto, in solidarity with Regina and Ottawa.

Hello Ottawa friends! Well done protesting NATO in our capital! We were in solidarity with you in Toronto. We had two actions in Toronto: on Wednesday, March 27 we protested the “Women & NATO” conference; and on Saturday, March 30 we had very rainy rally. See 14 photos from March 30, plus all my albums.

• Yves Engler has a new series that critiques NATO
• Coverage of the anti-NATO rally in Washington, DC
• We oppose NATO and the the Canadian-NATO Parliamentary Association

In January I began a monthly protest against NATO outside the NATO Association of Canada, 60 Harbour St., Toronto. Join us on April 24, noon to 1 pm.

— Doukhobors

Mae Popoff reports: 'Neither I nor members of the Saskatoon Peace Coalition went to the Regina Peace Conference, though Laura Savinkoff was a speaker. With Regrets but many responsibilities.

Koozma J. Tarasoff replied: 'Sorry to hear that no one from the Doukhobor community went to the "No to NATO" rally in Regina on March 30th. I was hoping that Western Canadian Doukhobors would reinvigorate their peace mission as we did when Peter G. Makaroff and others did in 1964-1965. Think about it! Anticipate the next moment soon....The world needs our voices to help preserve the human civilization on Planet Earth. This means you, me, our children and grandchildren.'

---

Peace Bill Board

This year the Regina Peace Council will construct their own peace billboard on donated farm land along the highway just outside of Regina. Their major cost will be the large plastic fabric sign, a considerable savings compared to their first sign last year Peace Billboard in Saskatchewan, 6 June 2018.

---

Related

• Group of Reginans protest Canada's involvement in NATO, Regina Leaper-Post, March 31, 2019.
• Savinkoff to Speak at Conference, Boundary Peace Initiative, January 29, 2019.
• No to NATO — Yes to Peace FESTIVAL, and Free webinar March 7. World Beyond War, — April 3-4, 2019, Washington, D.C. — The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is coming to Washington, D.C., on April 4. We’re organizing a peace festival to unwelcome them.
• Reflections on the BC Southern Interior Peace Coalition Conference, by Hannah Hadikin, Dec 5, 2018.
• 70 Years in Defence of Peace, World Peace Council, August 29, 2018.
• B.C. Southern Interior Peace Coalition Conference, by Hannah Hadikin, member of the VOW Board of Directors, Nov 15, 2017 — Also published in Iskra.
• Canada party adopts bold peace platform, Peace News, April 4, 2014.

Q82 — Does Our Civilization Have a Future?

From a Russian scholar, Moscow, Russian Federation.

Дорогой Кузьма!
Вот и еще один год прошел, пролетел, подхваченный ветром времён. И наступает новый 2019 год - таинственный и немного страшный, потому что жить в этом мире становится всё страшнее и страшнее. Ощущение приближающейся 3 Мировой войны становится всё более явственным. Мне кажется, что мы все никогда не были от нее так близко. Это ощущение постоянно рождает в голове мысль: а надо ли вообще что-то делать, к чему-то стремиться и чего-то добиваться, если все в один момент может исчезнуть, и тогда ничего и никому будет уже не нужно. На меня эта мысль действует очень плохо, хотя вопреки ей я стараюсь продолжать работать.

My Translation:

Dear Koozma!
So another year has passed, it flew by, caught up by the wind of times. And the new year 2019 is coming — mysterious and a bit scary, because living in this world is getting more and more dangerous. The feeling of the approaching World War 3 is becoming more pronounced. It seems to me that we have never been so close to this. This feeling constantly gives birth to the idea: is it necessary to do something at all, to strive for something and to achieve something, if everything can disappear in one moment and then nothing will be necessary for anyone. This thought has a very bad effect on me, although in spite of it I try to keep working.

---

In 2019, The Doomsday Clock reaffirmed
the "two minutes to midnight" time.

Koozma’s Answer

I agree and have extensively written about our future (list below).

A similar view was expressed in (‘We’re Headed To War With Russia, and No One Seems to Care’, Russia Insider, March 26, 2018).

How can I give hope and optimism to my Russian friend in 2019 when The Doomsday Clock by concerned scientists warn us of eminent danger of nuclear weapons to our civilization, when many politicians continue to rely on NATO to protect their empires, and when the US threatens world peace with its rage for endless wars? With the New Cold War in process, fueled by the military industrial complex and elites drunk with making money from the killing field, what hope can we provide to ensure a real future for humanity? Let’s remember that the former Soviet Union lost over 27 million citizens in fighting the Nazi invaders. We need to respect Russia because it won the war at great cost to protect our world from destruction.

We all need to Wake Up, Become Educated and Act Humanly to save our beautiful world from catastrophe.

2018 October 13 — World Beyond War Conference 2018, Toronto, Ontario, September 21-22.
2018 May 9 — Celebrating a World Without Wars : Russian Victory Day
2018 April 4 — Issues for the World Peace Forum
2018 March 17 — Peace Networking with Professor Beissel
2017 November 13 — Remember peace and nuclear disarmament on ‘Remembrance Day’
2017 August 9 — Hiroshima and Nagasaki Remembered — What are we waiting for?
2017 May-August — What I Have Learned From Peace Activism in the World

---

See all Questions and Answers.

Suggestions for 'World Beyond War' Conference in Toronto Sept. 21 - 22, 2018

The forthcoming peace conference in Toronto, Canada in September 2018 appears like the ultimate in world peace conferences. Its organizer is David Swanson, founder and Director of World BEYOND War.

The confirmed speakers are impressive, including retired Canadian anthropologist Dr. Saul Arbess, who is currently the Director of the Canadian Peace Initiative (formerly known as the Canadian Dept. of Peace Initiative) that I have been associated with since its birth in 2006.

The conference shows much promise, and these additions would make it more effective.

The Doukhobors should be included under 'War Abolishers' (right column). In 1895, 7,000 Russian pacifists in Russia burned their guns — a public declaration to the world that violence and wars are wrong and that non killing is the way of the future. As a Doukhobor, I have been taught that it is wrong to kill another human being because there is a spark of god/love/beauty in each of us, and war is a crime.

At least three speakers from important organizations should be included in the Speaker's List:

• Prof. Johan Galtung, Transcend Media Service, a peace journalist for over 65 years. He is founder of Transcend International and rector of Transcend Peace University.
• A representative for The Center for Global Nonkilling founded in 2007 by the late Dr. Glenn D. Paige in Hawaii. Its goal: 'to promote change toward the measurable goal of a killing-free world'.
• Sharon Tennison of The Center For Citizen Initiatives, California, builds bridges of peace through citizen diplomacy between Russia and the USA.

World BEYOND War is a global network of volunteers, activists, and allied organizations advocating for the abolition of the very institution of war. Its success is described as being driven by a people-powered movement. Support their work for a culture of peace. World BEYOND War PO Box 1484 Charlottesville, VA 22902 USA

Peace Billboard in Saskatchewan

Messages from Ed Lehman, President Regina Peace Council, Saskatchewan:

• Photo of our peace billboard, erected May 25, 2018, outside of Qu'Appelle, SK, on the Trans Canada Highway (SK-1), about 55 km (35 miles) east of Regina.
• Unveiling ceremony to be held at the billboard on Saturday June 16 at 2 p.m.
• We paid for the east-facing side for one year, seen by west bound traffic.
• Please forward this news.

Unveiling Ceremony, 16 June 2018

Canada - Act for Peace Not War.

• Sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
• No Participation in Ballistic Missile Defense
• Stop Exporting Weapons of War
• Oppose Regime Change Militarism

Regina Peace Council
in memory of Peter E. Gehl.

---

Peter Eric Gehl, 2008

Regina area resident and pacifist Peter Eric Gehl (1952 - 2016) was active in the Regina Peace Council, Regina Peace Quest (co-founder), the Canadian Peace Congress, and Canadians for Peace and Socialism.

PQ Regina Mourns Loss of Peter Gehl, by Ed Lehman, Peace Quest, October 25, 2016.

Lehman wrote: 'The Billboard was done in memory of Peter E. Gehl, a past president of the Regina Peace Council, a national board member of the Canadian Peace Congress, and a co-founder of PeaceQuest Regina. Peter was a life-long worker for peace and social justice.'

When Ed Lehman was asked by phone (June 6) "Why a billboard?", he explained: "To do something different. To get our message to more people. ... To do it more broadly. ... We are normally talking to small groups of people, when when we need to be talking to tens of thousands of people. ... That highway has lots of traffic."

When asked how they chose the message, Lehman said that they deliberated to be as brief as possible, to only post what was important and could be read by a passing vehicle. He added that it was expensive for them, so they paid for only one side, seen by west-bound traffic, for one year from May 25, 2018. They hope to get more exposure during the unveiling on June 16.

Contact Ed Lehman, President Regina Peace Council, 306-718-8010 or edrae1133@gmail.com.

---

Media Event on Saturday June 16 at 2 p.m.

To get more press coverage, the Regina Peace Council will host an unveiling ceremony next week, on June 16, 2018, at 2 p.m. on the east side of the billboard. Invite yourself and your friends.

From Regina, SK, take SK-1 east about 55 km (35 miles). U-turn back at Highway 35 (not to Qu'Appelle). Go west on SK-1 about 600 metres. It is the only billboard.

• Billboard location on Google maps. It is just east of the building seen in the photo above.
• Billboard seen on Google Maps Street View. Google images are several years old.

---

In the News

'Peace Billboard Unveiled outside of Ou'appelle, Saskatchewan on June 16, 2018', Saskatchewan Peace News, vol. 25, No. 3, Regina Peace Council, 13 September 2018, pages 2-4.

'Regina Peace Council ... put up a billboard ... ', Toronto Association for Peace & Solidarity, Twitter.com, 1 September, 2018.

Scott Neigh, 'The Regina Peace Council - Working to reinvigorate Canada's peace movement', Talking Radical Radio, rabble.com, SK, July 24, 2018 — Article about billboard, and audio podcast (28.5 minutes) interview with Ed Lehman and David Gehl. Billboard history begins at podcast minute 20.

Peace Billboard Celebrated in Saskatchewan, by Ed Lehman, Peace Quest, June 19, 2018 — The peace dove (1961) art was one of several by Pablo Picasso, who was a 1950s promotor of the World Peace Council.

Peace Billboard in Saskatchewan, Spirit-Wrestlers Blog, June 6, 2018.

'Peace Billboard on the Trans Canada Highway', People's Voice, June 1 - 15, 2018, page 11.

Billboard for Peace, Peace Alliance Winnipeg, Saskatchwan, May 27, 2018.

Facebook

• Florence Stratton, May 27, 2018
• PeaceQuestRegina, shared from Florence Stratton
• Toronto Association for Peace and Solidarity, shared from Florence Stratton
• Making Peace Vigil, shared from Florence Stratton

Twitter

• Communist Party Canada

---

Comment Below

Please add any updates or posting about this billboard.

Issues for the World Peace Forum

Plans are in full swing to hold the 12th World Peace Forum in Toronto, Canada April 19 -22, 2018, organized by the Schengen Peace Foundation.



This year the program is "Leadership for Peace" — conflict resolution, connecting peacemakers to women, stability and peace, and finding common global values.

I will not be able to attend the Toronto Peace Forum. So I emailed to my peace network, some of whom are attending, a set of issues that I believe would make the Peace Forum more dynamic and relevant:

• A paradigm shift from a war economy and culture to one based on nonkilling peace.
• Support the United Nations to get rid of 'the scourge of war' and confirming that life is a human right and that nonkilling is the way of the future.
• Disarmament is the road for getting rid of weapons of mass destruction and beginning a new era of normalizing civilized life.
• Propaganda. Recognizing that wars have been started by misinformation. Because the media and the politicians have an important role in preventing wars, how do we encourage them to be professionally responsible?
• Education. Bringing up children of goodwill requires good schools, full health coverage, housing, transportation, and a healthy environment; and continuing education for everyone.
• Respect our neighbours including nations, via bridge-building, diplomacy, international laws, and Departments of Peace. Avoid regime change,  military bases abroad. Get to know the stranger.

Several people replied by email.
Also see comments at bottom.

———————————————————————————
From Steve Staples:

Thanks Koozma. First I had heard about it.
———————————————————————————
From Gord Breedyk:

Thanks Koozma, I will look for opportunities to make those points. We aren’t sure what the “Forum” will be like, never having attended before. However, we felt we couldn’t pass it up, since it is so close There are four of us from Civilian Peace Service attending.
———————————————————————————
From Bill Bheneja:

Thank you Koozma for pointing these excellent peace themes so succinctly.

Saul and I attended one of the earliest Peace Forums in Vancouver in 2006, one of the many workshops/seminars there was on Department of Peace; it was in connection with Second Global Summit of Departments of Peace conference being held in Victoria, we had several high level speakers including US Congressman Denis Kuccinich and Dot Maver.
———————————————————————————
From Peter Stockdale:

I agree.
———————————————————————————
From Murray Thomson:

Very good, Koozma, Champion of Nonkilling (I hate the word but love its meaning)! Stay nonkillingableforever.

Reply from Bill Bhaneja:

Thank you, Murray. It was great to be out with the like- minded. 100 years ago, people hated the word Nonviolence, except a few like Tolstoy and Gandhi. 100 years from now when we become sick of deliberately taking human lives, Nonkilling will be the word. That sounds so high minded!

---

As I post this article on April 4th, I am reminded that 50 years ago Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on this day in the USA by a lone gunman. Because King made a radical indictment of US empire, militarism, capitalism and racism, the main stream media demonized him. Here are King's words of wisdom which organizers of the World Peace Forum need to take to heart by speaking truth to power:

'We as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. . . . When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.' — the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., April 4, 1967.

King's legacy is a moral reminder to all of us that we must persevere against the forces of evil not just with words but with deeds for nonkilling peace — or face human extinction. The 12th World Peace Forum is an opportunity to address this challenge. The question is: Will the participants dare to do so?

Tribute to Michael M. Verigin (1929 - 2016)

Michael M. Verigin died September 29, 2016. Obituary in Calgary Herald.

To Michael’s children Venera and Liuba and their children and spouses, my wife Kristina Kristova and I send our sincere condolences in the passing of a dear parent and cultural legend. Michael was a stalwart elder whom people looked up to.

In human societies, the elder is one who has experienced life fully and is respected for the lessons of time. Michael M. Verigin was one of those people who worked hard in a coal mine, who lived a long life, preserved the spirit and traditions of his Doukhobor ancestors, and has shared his wisdom with the wider world.

This cultural activist knew much about the Doukhobors in Alberta. His grandfather was among the first settlers to go there in 1915 to establish a Doukhobor colony in the southern foothills area of Cowley and Lundbreck.* As the oldest of six children, Michael Verigin grew up there as a young pioneer helping with the chores of the household. Since marrying Doris (nee Fedosoff) in 1955, he lived in Cowley for much of his life, and for over 60 years was active in the community.

Michael was generous to me with his knowledge, wisdom and hospitality. When I needed to take pictures of his collection, Michael went into his basement, looked into his trunks and brought out rich treasures: old issues of Iskra and Mir, colourful traditional costumes made by his grandparents, old pens and inkwells used in an early one-room school where he attended, and rugs made by his wife. He had a cornucopia of Doukhoboria.

Michael readily stepped in as President of the United Doukhobors of Alberta, as councilman for the village of Cowley, as Board member of the CCUB Trust Fund, representing Alberta and the Alberta Cutural Council. At the Doukhobor Community Home in Lundbreck, he regularly led the sobranie meetings and joined in the singing of traditional psalms and hymns.

True to his tradition, Michael was a strong peace activist who believed that it is wrong to kill another human being because we then destroy the humanity of each. The historic 1895 burning of guns by his Russian ancestors was an event that he felt our society today can learn from. ‘Disarm our weapons of mass destruction and bring our troops home’, he would often proclaim, ‘and respect the Commandment of “Thou Shalt No Kill”.’

From his ancestors he gained the wisdom that sharing and cooperation are essential to human development. He often visited the local Hutterite colonies where he was welcomed as an honorary member. He was against exploitation and excessive materialism. Greediness for him has no place in a healthy society. The dollar cannot be the real measure of human worth.

When the media and some ignorant writers demonized all Doukhobors as fanatics, he was there to defend Doukhobors and speak up for them. For him, ‘burnings or bombings or disrobing’ were contrary to the Doukhobor movement.

In 1995 Michael and his wife Doris organized a beautiful and harmonious ‘Toil and Peaceful Life’ exhibit on the Doukhobors at the Sir Alexander Galt Museum in Lethbridge. It was produced in honour of the 100th anniversary of the burning of guns in Russia and 80 years of Doukhobor settlement in Alberta.

Yes, Michael Verigin was a man of wisdom, a hospitable man, a man to remember. All of us will miss him. May future generations respect and learn from him and his wife how to treat our neighbours with love and compassion.

 — Koozma and Kristina

---

See M.M. Verigin biography: Koozma J. Tarasoff,  'Upholding the Culture of Alberta Doukhobors', Spirit Wrestlers: Doukhobor Pioneers' Strategies for Living (2002). pages 268-271. 

* Map by Jonathan Kalmakoff, Doukhobor Genealogy Website.

Disarmament Education Online

Educating ourselves and our youth about the huge advantages of peace compared to war is of utmost importance.

I am impressed with and recommend new resources and guides provided online by the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, particularly the aids for Disarmament Education: Resources for Learning.

A short video on UN Web TV shows 3 boys performing a rap song (4.5 minutes) they wrote which was inspired by their disarmament lessons. The boys' creativity is appreciated when contrasted to youth playing war video games.

One item that caught my attention is the new book: Action for Disarmament: 10 Things You Can Do, by United Nations Department of Public Information, 2014. The book shows many ways people can engage in learning, and creatively use the materials provided online.

Stay informed Start a club Create an event Sign up Facilitate a discussion Express yourself Host a film showing Voice your concern Plan a presentation Reach out

The book summarizes the history and modern uses of weapons: guns, bombs, nuclear and biological weapons. For example, at the height of the Cold War there were 60,000 nuclear warheads, today they are 17,000.

On page 17 is a picture titled: 'Weapons being burnt during the official launch of the "Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration" process in Burundi." Burundi is a land-locked republic in Southeast Africa.

This photo reminds me of my ancestors, the Spirit Wrestlers / Doukhobors, who on midnight of June 28-29, 1895 burnt their guns in Tsarist Russia in regions of the Southern Caucasus. 7000 participated in this first international recognized mass protest against militarism and wars.