WILPF: No nukes! Webinars, news, offer, more

The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Friends House, PO Box 13075, Des Moines, IA 50310

Dear Kevin:    Many thanks for signing the WILPF US petition supporting the U.N. Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Because you signed our petition, the WILPF Disarm/End Wars Committee is sending you this special invitational email.   Also, we are emailing you to give you a status report on the treaty's progress and to let you know about a special offer.  And we invite you to join us in this work. The Disarm/End Wars Committee is in the midst of 75th anniversary online programming for this very important year: the anniversary of the 1945 development, testing, and use of these genocidal weapons in war. The next webinar is this Sunday, August 9. Please see more details below about our webinar series and our special offer, as well as information about WILPF.   Progress on the U.N. Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and More As of the end of July, 2020, the leaders of 82 countries have signed the treaty, and 40 legislatures have ratified it. It goes into effect when 50 countries ratify it. In addition to signatures supporting the treaty, we have collected 24,783 signatures on the online letter to the House of Representatives, supporting Eleanor Holmes Norton's "Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act."  However, it will take much more public pressure and organizing to convince our own government to change its position.   Ways You Can Support This Work and Other WILPF Work for Peace WILPF works to ban nuclear weapons and also addresses a number of interconnected issues, all with the goal of ending war and the causes of war. We invite you to help support the WILPF US campaign work to inform the public about the profound dangers of nuclear weapons and to prohibit them. We hope you might be interested in other areas of WILPF US work:  building a sustainable society,  expanding economic and social justice,  advocating for human rights -- including voting rights and an accurate count!  Founded in 1915, WILPF has consultative status with the United Nations. Actively engaged with local, national, and international bodies for over one hundred years, we seek to establish the foundations for a peaceful world. The Disarm/End Wars Committee is one of six WILPF US committees working on these issues. Please take a look at our WILPF US facebook page and website to learn more about WILPF. Webinar Series: Disarm/End Wars Focusing on this 75th Anniversary Year Few of us alive remember back 75 years. In this unprecedented time, these webinars look back at the year 1945, joining with the #HiroshimaNagasaki75 activist coalition to provide resources. The coalition is helping people demand a world without nuclear weapons and an end to the whole nuclear era!  Learn more about our free upcoming webinar presentations: This 75th Anniversary events series is fully described on the WILPF US Disarm/End Wars Committee web page, and on our online timeline of events. The webinars are available afterwards on the WILPF US Disarm Committee YouTube channel. On our Sunday, August 9, webinar meet survivor Dr. Hideko Tamura, who shares her personal experiences from before, during, and after the August 6 Hiroshima atom bombing.  On our Sunday, September 20, webinar hear Alice Slater, on the board of World Beyond War and several nuclear abolition organizations, explores "Obstacles to Nuclear Abolition: Telling the Truth About the Relationship between the US and Russia." On our Thursday, October 22, join us when Ray Acheson, Director of the WILPF disarmament program, Reaching Critical Will, will speak about her experiences and insights as WILPF International's amazing Representative to the United Nations, working for human rights, peace, and disarmament Being Active, Joining the Activist Community Do you want to take further action to inform the public about the dangers of nuclear weapons? We'd like to thank you for your interest -- and possible efforts -- with this special offer: sending you two origami peace cranes which were hand-folded by supporters of atomic bomb survivors in Japan! Along with the cranes, we'll send a handy tip sheet about paper cranes: what they represent, instructions on how to fold them, and ideas for using them in your community. Origami cranes can be an inviting way to open a conversation about nuclear weapons.  Please email info@WILPFUS.org if you would like to receive this free package, and let us know if you might like to work with us in any way. (Send us action photos to share with the #HiroshimaNagasaki75 coalition and on our Facebook page!) And if you're not yet a member of WILPF US, please join us!  Sincerely, DISARM-End Wars Issues Committee Co-Chairs: Robin Lloyd (robinlloyd8[at]gmail.com)  Ellen Thomas (et[at]prop1.org)  Cherrill Spencer  Your support helps us reach farther and have more impact. Consider a donation to WILPF today to demonstrate your solidarity with our work.  Women's International League for Peace and Freedom/US Section Friends House | PO Box 13075 | Des Moines, IA 50310 | 617-266-0999 | www.wilpfus.org  WILPF US | WILPF International | PeaceWomen | Reaching Critical Will STAY CONNECTED:

Live stream from Hiroshima, Japan, Wednesday, August 5, 5:30pm Eastern

Email from Ralph Hutchison, Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance:

The City of Hiroshima, Japan will be live streaming its commemorative events beginning at 5:30pm EST in the US on WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5 (that's 6:30am in Japan).

This link will take you to the Hiroshima page and you can find a link there to the English live-stream.

Peace,

Ralph

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The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance works to stop nuclear weapons production at the Y - 12 Nuclear Weapons Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This is a tightly moderated list which includes a wide range of members from across the country. It is strictly limited to matters of concern to OREPA and its work to abolish nuclear weapons.

ReThink Media: Please share: #StillHere: 75th Commemoration of Hiroshima (Th. 8/6) & Nagasaki (Sun. 8/9)

This Thursday and Sunday mark the 75th anniversary of the United States’ nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Survivors of those attacks and of the next few decades of testing and nuclear weapons production are still here. But so are the weapons. You can be part of the solution to ensure nuclear weapons are never used again. Join a national coalition of experts, activists, survivors and everyday people pushing back against the threat of nuclear war for a virtual event on August 6 and 9. It will feature religious leaders like Archbishop John Wester, youth activists like Rachel Traczyk, scholars like Gar Alperovitz, and many more. Check out the full schedule online and share this link with your friends! Tell them that the 75 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear weapons are still here—but so are nuclear survivors. They need our help to remove the threat of nuclear war from the world.

Share the event on social media.

Share this event with your network so that everyone can learn about our shared nuclear legacy. 

• Post on social media with #stillhere
• Encourage your friends and family to register for the event
• Add a 75th anniversary frame to your profile picture 
• Set a reminder to watch on Youtube (Aug 6 and Aug 9)

Together we can highlight the voices of survivors and make sure nuclear weapons are never used again.

Nuclear weapons are #stillhere. But so are survivors. hiroshimanagasaki75.org

Message from Beyond the Bomb:

With so much turmoil in the world right now, it can be difficult to step back to truly assess where we are. But, now, more than ever, we must commit to remembering the past, to never repeat the atrocities of yesterday and to learn how to create a brighter future.

This year marks 75 years since the beginning of the nuclear age. Join us on the anniversaries of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to honor those lost as well as all survivors of nuclear violence around the world.

On July 16, 1945, the first nuclear weapons test was conducted in New Mexico. Then, three weeks later, on August 6, the U.S. dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. Days later, on August 9, the U.S. dropped a second nuclear bomb on Nagasaki. Hundreds of thousands lost their lives on those two horrific days — and more have followed in the years since due to the long term effects of radiation exposure. But, survivors of those attacks and of the nuclear weapons industrial complex are #stillhere, sharing their stories and asking for justice. Sadly, these terrible weapons are also #stillhere. We have so much to learn from those impacted by nuclear violence. And, we have a responsibility to join them in action.

That’s why Beyond the Bomb is proud to join more than 100 other organizations worldwide in honoring the survivors of the world’s most gruesome and deadly attack — and in ensuring these weapons are never used again. Listen to survivors tell their stories, learn how to get involved in your community, and push back against the nuclear status quo through our live streamed events.

TUNE IN ON AUGUST 6TH AND 9TH

Please RSVP and share the online event with your friends! Together, we can make a difference. We all have a role to play in raising awareness about this anniversary, and we need your help to show the world that we will not rest as long as these weapons are #stillhere. We hope you’ll join us.

Forward,

Yasmeen, and the Beyond the Bomb team

NAPF: This week: 75th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

This week -- August 6 and 9 -- will mark the 75th anniversaries of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. To observe these important anniversaries, NAPF's Sadako Peace Day event will be livestreaming on our Facebook page at 9:00 pm Eastern / 6:00 pm Pacific on Thursday, August 6. Our keynote speaker is Toshiharu Kano, who is perhaps the youngest survivor of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The event will include music, poetry, and reflection. Tune in live at 9:00 pm Eastern on the NAPF Facebook page! A recording will also be available to watch at a later time. More information on this year's speakers is here. A new film, "The Vow From Hiroshima," featuring Hiroshima survivor and NAPF Advisory Council member Setsuko Thurlow, will be available to stream online for free for 24 hours on August 9th. To view this film on August 9th, click on this link. I am also excited to announce that Mary Becker, a filmmaker, long-time supporter of NAPF, and dedicated nuclear weapons abolition activist, has made her film "Original Child Bomb" available to stream for free on YouTube. The film takes a meditative approach and aims to touch the viewer’s heart by focusing on the devastating human cost of the atomic bombings. Becker's film is free to stream any time on YouTube at this link. You can also read this short article where Mary explains why she chose to re-issue the film at this moment in history. Sincerely, Rick Wayman CEO Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

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