Category Archives: DISARMAMENT & SECURITY

The People’s Peace Summit in Jerusalem, final day. Israelis and Palestinians together to say ‘Peace now’

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from Pressenza

(Editor’s note1: Is there a zionist censorship in the main-line English media? Why wasn’t this event reported by them?)

Thousands of people filled every available space at the International Convention Centre in Jerusalem yesterday for the People Peace Summit – and it was a great success, with a full house, enthusiastic applauses from the audience for all the speakers, and a clear and unanimous declaration against war and for a political solution.

Organised by the It’s Time Coalition (an alliance of over 60 organisations for peace, reconciliation and coexistence), it was the largest civil gathering against the war since October 7th: a two-day event that began on Thursday 8 May with a programme packed with cultural events throughout the city, film screenings, concerts, art exhibitions by Jewish and Arab artists, and of course debates and meetings (list of events here: https://www.timeisnow.co.il/thursday-english).

And yesterday, Friday, there was the main event at the Jerusalem International Convention Centre, with 12 simultaneous sessions following the plenary in the morning and more than 5,000 participants, including several Israeli military personnel opposed to the ongoing war, families of hostages, survivors of terrorist attacks, relatives mourning their dear ones who have been victims of the war, residents of the Gaza border region, legal experts, artists, diplomats, opinion leaders, Jews and Arabs, all united in a strong collective appeal: ‘It is time to end the war’.

“We are here to rebuild a strong peace camp” said Israeli actor and presenter Yossi Marshek as he opened the morning session. He was followed by the testimony of the pilots who, a few weeks ago, promoted a much-discussed letter (widely reported in the international press) signed by hundreds of Israeli military personnel currently (or no longer) in service, denouncing the unacceptability of war operations against civilian targets and calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Many ideas emerged during the opening session entitled ‘There are partners and there is a way’: too many to be summarised in a single article. But undoubtedly the main focus of the morning session was the debate on the various solutions on the table, for a political and stable solution to the conflict. A point that in particular was addressed by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and former Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser al-Qidwa, who presented their long-standing ‘peace plan’.

“Peace is essential, but we must offer the international community and our two peoples a plan that can be feasible” said Olmert “and the only option is the two-state solution. There are other ideas, such as the ‘one-state solution’, which we do not agree with because we believe it would lead to endless conflict between the two peoples. We are in favour of a solution that can bring about real change between the two peoples, and that solution is to guarantee the Palestinians the right to self-determination and freedom of movement and voting in their own state, alongside the State of Israel, with complete equality for all its citizens. Our plan therefore envisages a two-state solution based on Israel’s pre-1967 borders: when the Likud party first came to power, no one believed that Menachem Begin would make peace with Egypt and that Israel would withdraw from the Sinai, but it happened!”

“This conference is undoubtedly important” added Nasser al-Qidwa in a video message from the West Bank. “But since the Israeli establishment will do everything in its power to boycott this solution, it is up to us to believe in coexistence and the redistribution of territories as the only guarantee of a common future. And there is no doubt that settlement colonialism must be brought to an end. A choice must be made: either we believe that this land already belongs entirely to Israel, which therefore has the right to colonise it and expel the people who live there from the West Bank and Gaza; or we must create the conditions for coexistence between the two states, believing in the division of the territories without excluding forms of cooperation. (…) The first thing to resolve, however, is Gaza. It is urgent to reach an agreement on the release of hostages in parallel with the release of Palestinian prisoners. Clearly, the governing structure will have to be linked to the Palestinian National Authority, which will be responsible for the reconstruction of Gaza.

(…) Of course, many things will need to be negotiated: settlements, refugees, security measures on both sides. But nothing will be possible unless we create a new culture between Israelis and Palestinians. Today we are here to say that we must move forward and build a possible future together.”

(Editor’s note2: It’s not war, it’s genocide! writes a Palestinian critic.)

(Click here for the article in French or here for the article in Spanish.

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Question related to this article:
 
How can a culture of peace be established in the Middle East?

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Just a few minutes earlier, Palestinian journalist Mohammed Daraghmeh had described a situation in the West Bank as almost completely ‘Israelised’: “Going from Ramallah to Nablus, there is a whole geography and infrastructure – bridges, roads, signage, farms, solar energy plants – that makes you feel like you are in Israel. Israel has used the war in Gaza as a cover to effectively annex the West Bank. Sixty per cent is now subject to settlement schemes under Smotrich’s plan, which has created a department to facilitate the expansion of the settlers, while the Palestinian communities have become cantons. (…) If Israel and Palestine are left to their own devices, there is no hope. They have been negotiating unsuccessfully for 30 years, with Israel continuing to eat the cake put on the negotiating table. Without sufficient external pressure to stop the settlements, there is no future for a Palestinian state. But I would like to say to the Israelis that the expansion of settlements would be also counterproductive for them, because in the end we will inevitably have to talk about a single state, with all the problems that we can foresee. (…) It is therefore important that the international community get involved in this issue, with sanctions in order to discourage settlements and curb this expansion, which in fact makes a two-state solution increasingly difficult.”

Rula Hardal, co-director (together with Israeli May Pundak) of the organisation A Land for All, also spoke on the issue: “There is talk of two states, but the reality that has developed on the ground over decades is not one of separation. We are interconnected in so many ways and we must understand that another plan is needed to respond to this situation of interdependence. This is why we propose a confederal solution, with shared institutions and solutions, for example in the areas of health, environment, education, in other words… we need to work on coexistence. Then there are difficult issues that the two sides have never really addressed, such as the right of return. What happened on October 7th and the genocidal war that followed have been points of no return, both for the Palestinians and for the Israelis…”

May Pundak echoed this sentiment: “We must consider the issue of climate change, or related to water… we must understand that segregation does not guarantee a secure future for either side. Israeli-Palestinian interdependence is an important point.”

From Ramallah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sent a video statement: ‘Through justice, we can guarantee security and a future for all the peoples of the region: peace is possible and it will be up to all of us to make it possible.’

Representing the much-evoked ‘international community’, French President Emmanuel Macron intervened in a video message 5 min long: ‘Our hearts are with both Israeli and Palestinian families. We support with the utmost conviction this peace process that has made these two days in Jerusalem possible, coinciding with the celebrations of the end of the war 80 years ago in Europe. We promise to stand by your side for any future initiative.” He also mentioned a meeting that is expected to take place in Saudi Arabia in June. (link to the message on You Tube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkkDBUfo7gc)

Among the many speeches, there were also those from the people who have been personally affected by the war: Maoz Inon (one of the main organisers of this event), who lost both his parents on October 7th; Liat Atzili, whose husband Aviv was killed in the Nir Oz Kibbutz; Sigalit Hilel, mother of Ori, who was killed at the Nova Music Festival; Elana Kaminka, mother of Yannai, who was also killed on October 7th. “We have been victims of this cycle of violence for over a century” said Elana. ’It is time to use all our resources of humanity and creativity to resolve this conflict. We owe it to our children.”

Words echoed by the Palestinian Soumaya Bashir, from the organisation Women Wage Peace, while the smiling portrait Vivien Silver (founder of the same organization and victim of the Octeber 7th massacre as well) was projected on the main screen: “As women, we affirm life against those who only want death and destruction. We must not take refuge in silence and pain, it is time for everyone to unite in action.”

And from Makbula Nassar, journalist and activist, came the appeal: “Let us listen to the cries of the hungry children of Gaza. Let us put an end to the cruelty and crimes we have witnessed for too long, because there will be no ‘day after’ for our consciences. We all deserve to be freed from this endless oppression and we can do it only choosing peace.”
Both days were broadcast live to dozens of solidarity rallies in more than 20 cities around the world, including London, Berlin, Sydney, New York and Boston.

List of articles previously published on Pressenza on the People’s Peace Summit in Jerusalem:

Interview with Maoz Inon: https://www.pressenza.com/2025/04/towards-the-peoples-peace-summit-in-jerusalem-8th-and-9th-may-interview-with-one-of-the-organisers-maoz-inon/

Interview with Aziz Abu Sarah: https://www.pressenza.com/2025/04/towards-the-peoples-peace-summit-in-jerusalem-may-8-9-interview-with-aziz-abu-sarah/

Interview with Nivine Sandouka: https://www.pressenza.com/2025/04/towards-the-peoples-peace-summit-in-jerusalem-may-8-9-our-full-support-to-the-civil-society-says-the-palestinian-activist-nivine-sandouka/

Interview with Mika Almog, May Pundak and Maya Savir: https://www.pressenza.com/2025/05/towards-the-peoples-peace-summit-in-jerusalem-8-9-may-women-can-make-the-difference/

Event program: https://www.pressenza.com/2025/05/peoples-peace-summit-in-jerusalem-may-8-and-9-what-kind-of-peace-are-we-talking-about/

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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Mideast

Germany’s Easter peace marches lament war-filled world

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article edited by: Darko Janjevic from Deutsche Welle (translation by google, reprinted by permission)

Thousands of people around Germany on Saturday joined in some 70 so-called Easter marches to demonstrate for peace, a tradition that dates back to the 1960s.

Some 100 events are planned up until Easter Monday, according to the Bonn-based activist group Netwerk Friedenskooperative (Peace Cooperative Network), which has coordinated the marches this year.

Easter marches are reportedly planned for cities including Cologne, Munich, Berlin, Leipzig, Bremen and Stuttgart.


‘Never again war’ is written on this 1924 banner by German artist Käthe Kollwitz, carried at an Easter march in Potsdam

Appeal to new German government

A spokesman for the group, Kristian Golla, said a focus of the demonstrations this year was an appeal to the incoming German coalition government  for Germany to “become capable of peace rather than war.”

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Question related to this article:
 
Is there resistance to the rearmament of Europe?

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“Instead of taking on new debt  and spending several billions of euros on arms, disarmament agreements and clever diplomacy are needed” to end Russia’s war on Ukraine  and establish a joint European security architecture guaranteeing peace, he said.

The marches started on Thursday and will continue until Monday, the last day of Easter holiday season in Germany.
Golla said that the attendance has been slightly higher than in previous years.

The demonstrations also include a three-day march that has started on Saturday in Duisburg and will continue until Monday through the Ruhr area via Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Herne and Bochum to Dortmund.

Gaza, US missiles

In addition to protesting against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the buildup of weaponry in Europe in response to it, demonstrators are also voicing their opposition to the war in the Gaza Strip and the planned stationing of US medium-range missiles in Germany.

The marches are taking place under different mottos in different cities. 

In Bonn, the motto is “Yes to peace — no to combat readiness,” in Kassel “Peace — disarmament — climate protection — come to the Easter march” and in Leipzig “Against rearmament and cuts to social services.”

The Easter peace marches in Germany had their heyday during the Cold War in the 1980s, when hundreds of thousands of people took part.

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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Europe

Pope Francis calls for ‘disarmament’ while still hospitalized

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from La Croix International

As Europe rearms itself, Pope Francis has issued a renewed call for peace and disarmament from his hospital room at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital in a letter made public March 18 and addressed to the director of the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. “We must disarm words, to disarm minds and disarm the Earth. There is a great need for reflection, calmness, and an awareness of complexity,” wrote Francis in this message dated March 14.

“Human fragility has the power to make us more lucid about what endures and what passes, what brings life and what kills,” said the 88-year-old pope, who has been hospitalized for over a month to treat double pneumonia. Repeating what he expressed in his Sunday Angelus message March 16, the pope said that in the period he is going through, “war appears even more absurd.”

War, he said, have no power other than to devastate ” communities and the environment, without offering solutions to conflicts,” he added, arguing that diplomacy and international organizations need “new vitality and credibility.”

General disarmament

On the eve of the publication of this message, the number two of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, was asked about the “rearm Europe” plan presented in early March by the European Commission. This plan aims to mobilize €800 billion ($841 billion) over four years, including €150 billion in loans made available to EU member states.

“The policy of the Holy See, since the First World War, has always been to insist at the international level on the need for general and controlled disarmament, so we cannot be satisfied with the direction we are taking,” declared the Vatican Secretary of State. He further questioned, before journalists on the sidelines of a Roman event on Ramadan organized by the Moroccan Embassy to the Holy See: “Those who rearm, sooner or later, must use the weapons, mustn’t they?”

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Question related to this article:
 
Is there resistance to the rearmament of Europe?

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The Holy See’s diplomatic activity in Europe has not ceased since Francis’ hospitalization over a month ago. On March 14, Cardinal Pietro Parolin spoke by telephone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy regarding the ceasefire proposal from the United States, which Ukraine has accepted.

“The Holy See, while renewing its prayer for peace in Ukraine, hopes that the parties involved will seize the opportunity for sincere dialogue, not subject to any preconditions of any kind, and aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace,” the Vatican stated, also encouraging “all efforts to be made for the release of prisoners.”

Not just words

A phone conversation between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, specifically concerning Ukraine, was held March 18. According to a White House readout of the call, Putin agreed to halt military strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure but stopped short of agreeing to a 30-day ceasefire agreement.

In the letter made public today, Pope Francis also addressed journalists covering these events and “all those who dedicate their work and intelligence to informing” to “feel the full importance of words.”

“They are never just words: they are facts that shape human environments,” the pope wrote. “They can connect or divide, serve the truth or use it for other ends. We must disarm words, to disarm minds and disarm the Earth. There is a great need for reflection, calmness, and an awareness of complexity.”

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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Europe

Sign the Peace Clock Manifesto

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from Code Pink

Join us to pivot from Doom to Peace and disarm the world from nuclear weapons. Sign the Manifesto!

Over the years, the hands of the clock have been reset, forward and backward, as scientists and policy makers estimated how immediate the nuclear danger loomed, based on the perils faced by other countries obtaining nuclear weapons as well as new arms control measures, weapons limitations, and agreements, particularly between the US and Russia for disarmament measures. At its most optimistic, the Doomsday hands were moved to 17 minutes to midnight in 1991 when the US and USSR announced the complete cessation of nuclear testing.

Shockingly, despite years of nuclear arms control measures, resulting in arsenals down from a high of 70,000 bombs at the peak of the world’s nuclear insanity, to about 12,000 today, 11,000 of which are in the US and Russia with nearly 4,000 poised and ready to go, with another 1000 held by the six other nuclear weapons states—UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea– the clock has never been set closer to Doomsday than it is today—At 90 seconds to midnight! (1)

It’s time to transform the clock and change the conversation! Dire warnings about Doomsday have done little to increase our world’s safety these 77 years. It’s time to pivot our focus from doom to the many small necessary steps we each need to engage in to create peace. The fear of doom encourages compromise with those who are only interested in building Empire and the war economy. This never brings us to our goal of peace. We must stop giving our blessing and consent to endless steps to “control” arms that lead to ever more danger as illustrated by the aging Doomsday clock.

Instead, we must demand their abolition, as we move to a nuclear free world at peace unthreatened by catastrophic annihilation and the ultimate climate change; a nuclear winter.

Let us deemphasize procedural steps that keep up stuck, which scholars have already named: ‘anti-preneurism’ steps towards illusory progress. (2)

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Question related to this article:
 
Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

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We are at a turning point in history. It is time to change the conversation with bold new proposals. Proposals that are guaranteed to bring us a respite from the growing terror. Proposals that will bring a shift in planetary consciousness allowing us to respond cooperatively to the impending cataclysmic climate disaster down the road! Proposals that will usher in a rising dawn and change our focus from Doom to Peace. Mother Earth grows impatient with the folly of humankind.

We will take steps that lead to peace on earth and mobilize, expose and render powerless the MICIMATT (Military, Industrial, Congressional, Intelligence, Media, Academic Think Tank complex) in our work for peace. Bringing about:

° US acceptance of Russian and Chinese proposals for treaties to ban weapons in space and cyberwar

° The reinstatement of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia and removal of US missiles from Romania and Poland

° Removal of US nuclear weapons from five NATO states in a deal for Russia removing its recently placed nuclear weapons in Belarus

° All nuclear weapons off high alert and separate the warheads from their delivery systems as China does – following the wisdom of the East

° The dissolution of NATO and respect of a reformed United Nations empowering global democracy, where all countries have decision-making power, not just imperial powers.

° US, China, Russia, India, Pakistan, UK, France, North Korea, and Israel completely disarm.

Russia and China have offered to be willing partners in these initiatives. They have been proposing them to the United States and voting on them in the UN for more than ten years. Let us together make this real for the people and the planet.

1 Status Of World Nuclear Forces

2 Resistance to the emergent norm to advance progress towards the complete elimination of nuclear weapons

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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global

Remarks by Michael Klare on strategy for the peace movement

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

Excerpts from YouTube videoconference, Trump’s Second Term: NATO, War, and the Economy

At this point we are in a new reality and we need to understand it and figure out how to be relevant and effective. . . .

The establishment that determined American foreign policy for 75 years since World War II has been replaced with a new foreign policy establishment with which we have to contend. . .

The old establishment was composed of foreign service officers and the top leadership of the military as well as the elites in the top think tanks in Washington DC and the academic elitse, the top law firms, the top bankers, old wealth Ivy League, Atlanticists to the core. The love French wine and speak French. Their priority was
to preserve US dominance as the number one power,
to promote capitalism,
to maintain global order so that capitalism can function in an orderly fashion,
to promote US values abroad,
to promote Western solidarity.

Well, now we have an entirely new foreign policy elite that’s going to be making the decisions and it’s in the process of formation and we need to understand it better.

I would say it consists of
° number one, the Trump organization itself which has international corporate interests,
° then the Trump family, the capitalists who have attached themselves like Elon Musk to the Trump Empire and seek to profit from a new foreign policy
° you have the right-wing think tanks that have emerged, the Heritage Foundation being the most reasonable of the group
° then there’s the America First Institute and others that we barely knew a year or two ago
° you have the new media moguls set up to escape Facebook
° the new wealth from technology and medical supplies and the like.

We have to learn more about them. What are their priorities? So far as I could tell:
° to promote crony capitalism around the world
° to enrich Trump and his cronies
° to promote white supremacy internationally and domestically. We see this in the outreach to the alternative for Germany, by Musk and Vance and Rubio support for the white Africaners in South Africa and their claim that they have been discriminated against, and there are other
° their priority is to plunder the world’s resources, especially those that bear on the the emerging industries like artificial intelligence, including rare earch minerals and lithium
° to stop the flow of migrants
° and promote the preservation of oil and gas as the dominant energy supply indefinitely into the future . . .

We shouldn’t think that the old elite is still there and we could talk with them and accomplish anything that way. We can’t. They’re gone and we have to figure out how to be effective and accomplish anything with this new power elite that governs Washington under Trump. That means totally new strategies so I’m going to suggest briefly what some of those strategies might be. People may think I’m off course here, but i don’t see any other choice.

So here are the kind of strategies that we should be pursuing.

First of all to encourage Trump, encourage them when their priorities align with ours.

Now Donald Trump has said that he wants to reduce the risk of nuclear war and to negotiate with Russia and China for nuclear arms reductions and controls to try to reduce nuclear risks. [See CPNN article.] I say yes! Go for it! Let’s support him in that and help them accomplish those goals.

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Questions related to this article:
 
The peace movement in the United States, What are its strengths and weaknesses?

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He’s also talked about cutting defence spending. I’ve advocated that with my colleagues and friends for 50 years without any success whatsoever to overcome the military industrial complex. These people say they’re going to do it, and maybe they can. So go for it! Let them go at the military-industrial complex!

They say they want to return US troops from around the world and shut US bases around the world. We’ve been talking about that for decades without any success. If they could do that maybe, we should cheer them on and say go for it!

They say they want to avoid US entanglement in foreign wars, and, well, I share that objective!

They talk about economic competition with China but not military confrontation. We should encourage them. Yes, we could compete with China economically but let’s avoid war. Let’s have negotiations.

So thats our first pathway: encourage them when they’re pursuing goals that align with ours.

Our second pathway, I think, is to persuade these Trumpist elites that it is in their best interests to embrace our priorities.

I think making Ukraine safe from Russia is a priority for us and it’s in their best interests if they want to exploit Ukraine’s resources. I know you find that objectionable and for all kinds of reasons, but if exploiting Ukraine’s resources will impel them to provide security assurances to Ukraine, to protect Ukraine in whatever ways military at least from invasion by Russia in the future, yes, we should persuade them it’s in their best interest to keep Ukraine safe.

I’ll quickly summarize the other pathways.

A path to Palestinian statehood may sound like the last thing they’re going to agree to, but it’s in their best interests if they want to do business all over the Middle East. The Trump organization and their cronites they want ties with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Well, the only way to get there is at least to accept the notion of Palestinian statehood. So, yes, promote ties with the Saudi oil monarchs if that entails acknowledging their demand for Palestinian statehood.

The third pathway, quickly, is our other task to expose the contradictions and the vulnerabilities and the dangers in their priorities, to expose their own weaknesses.

For example, high tariffs. Trump thinks this is great, but it’s going to damage the interests of his crony capitalists and the people who voted for him like farmers. So let’s expose how what Trump is doing is going to harm his own constituencies. Nail him on it!

Another example is dividing Europe and having an economic fight with Europe. However good that sounds to him, it’s good for China and China is their number one bet. I don’t like making that point about China and its global interests, but the fact is that what Trump is doing in Europe is a win for China and in Africa, too.

So, that’s our job. I think we have to come up with a strategy to be effective in this new world and do so in a way where we could find some leverage or some way to have more effectiveness in this new world. What we did before won’t work. So, I encourage you to think anew and come up with new strategies. . . .

. . . (In the peace movement) We’ve lost that common sense of purpose around opposition to nuclear weapons and nuclear war that was universal . . . so in a multipolar world what we have to do is to recreate that kind of mass movement against nuclear weapons and nuclear war. Because there are people in China and Russia who are just as afraid of it as we are.

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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, North America

Global Day of Action to Close Bases

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

An announcement from World Beyond War

We call on individuals and organizations around the world to join the Global Day of Action to #CloseBases on February 23 by organizing protests at military base sites near you.

The thousands of military bases, both foreign and domestic, around the world are a critical piece of the war machine that must be dismantled. Closing bases is a necessary step to shift the global security paradigm towards a demilitarized approach that centers common security — no one is safe until all are safe.

Video for Global Day of Action

Top 5 Reasons Why We’re Calling for a Global Day of Action to #CloseBases

1. Bases often perpetuate colonialism, removing Indigenous people from their lands. From Panama to Guam to Puerto Rico to Okinawa to dozens of other locations across the world, militaries have taken valuable land from local populations, often pushing out Indigenous people in the process, without their consent and without reparations. For example, the entire population of the Chagos Islands was forcibly removed from the island of Diego Garcia by the UK so that it could be leased to the U.S. for an airbase.

2. Bases cost an exorbitant amount of $$. The cost of U.S. foreign military bases alone is estimated at $80 billion a year, money that could be better spent on healthcare, education, renewable energy, and so much more.

3. Bases exacerbate environmental damage and the climate crisis. Military emissions are exempted from climate agreements, like the Kyoto Protocol. The construction of bases has caused irreparable ecological damage, such as the destruction of coral reefs and the environment for endangered species in Henoko, Okinawa. Furthermore, it is well documented at hundreds of sites around the world that military bases leach toxic so-called “forever chemicals” (PFAS/PFOS) into local water supplies, which has had devastating health consequences for nearby communities.

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Questions related to this article:
 
How can we be sure to get news about peace demonstrations?

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4. Bases can have violent and harmful impacts on local communities. Militaries have a notorious legacy of sexual violence, including kidnapping, rape, and murders of women and girls in nearby communities. Yet troops stationed at foreign bases are often afforded impunity for their crimes due to Status of Forces Agreements (SOFAs) with the so-called “host” country. Bases can also bring a rise in property taxes and inflation in areas surrounding them which has been known to push locals out.

5. Bases heighten tensions and provoke war-making. The presence of hundreds of thousands of troops, massive arsenals, and thousands of aircraft, tanks, and ships in every corner of the globe facilitates war-making and promotes an arms race. Additionally, bases make locations into targets for attack. And foreign bases implicate countries in the crimes of foreign militaries.

Actions Around the World on February 23

Click here for the map with details on the planned actions.

Click here for the Action Planning Toolkit.

Core Mobilization Organizers

International Peace Bureau (Global)
No to War – No to NATO Network (Global)
Pace e Bene (U.S.)
RootsAction (U.S.)
Veterans For Peace (U.S.)
War Industry Resisters Network (U.S.)
War Resisters’ International (Global)
World BEYOND War (Global)

Click here and go to the bottom of the page for the full list of endorsing organizations.

RESULTS

Reports from the Global Day of Action to Close Bases

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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global

An excerpt from remarks by President Trump at the World Economic Forum

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

Excerpt from a press release of The Whitehouse

(Editor’s note. The following excerpt from remarks by President Trump at the World Economic Forum illustrates the impression one gets from the new President that it is impossible to know if his words can be taken seriously. Or are they just part of a game he is playing with the world, much like Charlie Chaplin’s portrayal of Hitler playing with a toy balloon of the world. Let us hope they can be taken seriously in this case.)

How do you see the relationship between the U.S. and China in the next four years under your leadership?

THE PRESIDENT:  He called me.  But I see it very good.  I think that we’re going to have a very good relationship.  All we want is fairness.  We just want a level playing field.  We don’t want to take advantage.  We’ve been having massive deficits with China.  Biden allowed it to get out of hand.  He’s — $1.1 trillion deficit.  It’s ridiculous, and it’s just an unfair relationship. 

And we have to make it just fair.  We don’t have to make it phenomenal.  We have to make it a fair relationship.  Right now, it’s not a fair relationship.  The deficit is massive, as it is with other countries — a lot of Asian countries, actually.  But we have deficits that are very big, and we can’t keep doing that, so we’re not going to keep doing that. 

But I like President Xi very much.  I’ve always liked him.  We always had a very good relationship.  It was very strained with COVID coming out of Wuhan.  Obviously, that strained it.  I’m sure it strained it with a lot of people, but that strained our relationship.  But we always had a great relationship, I would say, and we look forward to doing very well with China and getting along with China. 

 Hopefully, China can help us stop the war with, in particular, Russia-Ukraine.  And they have a great deal of power over that situation, and we’ll work with them. 

And I mentioned that with — during our phone conversation with President Xi, and hopefully we could work together and get that stopped. 

We’d like to see denuclearization.  In fact, with President Putin, prior to a — an election result, which was, frankly, ridiculous, we were talking about denuclearization of our two countries, and China would have come along.  China has a — a much smaller, right now, nuclear armament than us or field than us, but they’re — they’re going to be catching it at some point over the next four or five years. 

And I will tell you that President Putin really liked the idea of — of cutting way back on nuclear.  And I think the rest of the world, we would have gotten them to follow.  And China would have come along too.  China also liked it. 

Tremendous amounts of money are being spent on nuclear, and the destructive capability is something that we don’t even want to talk about today, because you don’t want to hear it.  It’s too depressing. 

(Continued in right column)

Question related to this article:
 
Can we abolish all nuclear weapons?

(Continued from left column)

So, we want to see if we can denuclearize, and I think that’s very possible.  And I can tell you that President Putin wanted to do it.  He and I wanted to do it.  We had a good conversation with China.  They would have been involved, and that would have been an unbelievable thing for the planet.

And I hope —

MR. BRENDE:  Mr. President, when you’re —

THE PRESIDENT:  — it can be started up again.

MR. BRENDE:  — back here in Davos next year, will — will there be then a peace agreement with — with Ukraine and Russia by then?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, you’re going to have to ask Russia.  Ukraine is ready to — to make a deal. 

Just so you understand, this is a war that should have never started.  If I were president, it would never have started.  This is a war that should have never, ever been started.  And — and it wasn’t started during my — there was never even talk about it.  I knew that it was the apple of President Putin’s eye, but I also knew that there was no way he was going in, and he wasn’t going to go in. 

And then, when I was out, bad things happened, bad things were said, a lot of stupidity all around, and you end up with what you have.  Now you have all these bombed-out cities — they look like demolition sites — with many people killed. 

I think the — the thing that you’ll see about Ukraine is that far — far more people have died than is being reported. 
And I’ve seen that.  But far, far more people have died.

When you look at a city that’s become a demolition site, where big buildings have been collapsed by missiles hitting them and everything else, and they say, “One person was slightly injured.”  No, no, many people were killed.  Those are big buildings.  I was surprised at how — that was my business.  These are buildings that go two and three blocks long.  They’re 20 stories high.  They’re big, powerful buildings.  Then they were knocked down, and there were a lot of people in those buildings.  They had announced that two people were injured.  That’s not true.  So, I think you’re going to find that there were many more people killed in Ukraine and the Ukraine war than anybody has any idea. 

But if you look now, so many of the — the people being killed are soldiers just facing each other with guns, rifles, and drones — the new form of warfare — drones.  And it’s a very sad thing to see.

And when you see pictures of the fields that I see, nobody wants to see it.  You’ll never be the same.

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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global, North America,

CODEPINK Celebrates the Announced Ceasefire in Gaza

DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY .

An article from the X account of Codepink

CODEPINK celebrates the news of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza. As reported, as of now only the first stage of the ceasefire agreement has been accepted by both Israel and Hamas. We hope all stages are also accepted as soon as possible to ensure a permanent ceasefire and the ability for Palestinians to rebuild with freedom from Israeli attacks.

For fifteen months, the world community has demanded an end to the slaughter, only to witness Israel’s continued bombings and siege, with full backing from the United States. This ceasefire agreement is a welcome development, and we will continue to demand accountability for the war crimes Israel committed over the past 15 months and the past 75 years. This agreement is virtually the same agreement Israel has been rejecting for months, reaffirming that this could have been accomplished long ago, with fewer Palestinians killed.

We hope that Israel and the United States respect the terms of the ceasefire so that Palestinians can rebuild their lives in Gaza. We will continue to organize toward a future that includes a free Palestine with no border fences, checkpoints, or blockades. In this important moment, we are rejoicing alongside our Palestinian siblings in Gaza who have been waiting for far too long for this moment to arrive.

It’s been reported that the Israeli government was pressured to agree to the terms of the ceasefire in a meeting with the incoming Trump administration’s Middle East envoy. If it’s true that the Trump administration finally pushed Netanyahu to end the constant and indiscriminate slaughter of civilians on a daily basis, then President Biden’s legacy as an architect of genocide is set in stone. He was not working “tirelessly” for a ceasefire. He was not willing to use any of his leverage to force a ceasefire. He let the genocide continue because he had no interest or care to stop it. Our deepest hope is that the ceasefire lasts, without Israel breaking ceasefire agreements as they’ve done in the past, and progresses to the final stages of prisoner swaps.

(article continued in right column)

Question related to this article:

How can a culture of peace be established in the Middle East?

(article continued from left column)

The crisis in Gaza did not happen in a vacuum. The people of Gaza were not all of a sudden in a state of war or siege. When the current genocide campaign began, over half of the population in Gaza were children – born there and never able to leave. For years, Israel let only the minimum caloric value of food into Gaza to keep the entire population on the brink of starvation. Periodically, Gaza would face brutal and extended periods of bombing campaigns carried out by the Israeli military. If world leaders are serious about peace, they must also confront the material reality that launched us into this current moment. If we want peace, we also need to demand justice. Neither peace nor justice looks like a return to the status quo pre-October 7. The news of a ceasefire gives us a reason for optimism, and we hope it’s the start to a chapter of accountability, reconciliation, and true peace.

We continue to demand:

• An end to all US military “aid” to Israel

• The reinstatement of USAID and UNRWA funding to Gaza so that Palestinians who are recovering from 15 months of bombardment can be able to feed and shelter themselves, as well as ensuring secured open and uninterrupted access to humanitarian aid trucks

• The freedom of Palestinians who were taken as political prisoners since October 7, 2023, and before, such as Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, who Israel kidnapped in recent weeks

• Accountability for war criminals, including Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, by supporting prosecutions in international courts for Israel’s repeated violations of international law.

• Removal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria

• An end to the siege on Gaza and Israel’s settler colonial occupation of Palestine

• The right of return for all Palestinians barred from their homeland

• A free Palestine from the river to the sea

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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, Mideast

Letter from Mali: a plea for peace

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

CPNN has received the following copy of a letter coming from Mali for the UN Secretary-General. It provides details for the report from Human Rights Watch about Mali government and mercenary atrocities committed on innocent civilians. (translation by CPNN)

In publishing this letter, we hope that it will be read by some in the military government of Mali, and that they will follow the example of the military governments in neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger and turn to dialogue instead of military force to deal with the conflicts in their country. The rationale for dialogue is explained clearly by General Djibril Bassole.


The rational for dialogue explained by General Djibril Bassole

Open letter to the Secretary of the United Nations, New York, United States of America`

I will go straight to the facts to save time that seems to be lacking for the leaders of a world that is losing all its bearings.

On the day of January 2, 2025, a Toyota brand pickup going from Niono (Mali) to Mberra (Malian refugee camp in Mauritania) with a dozen civilians on board, the majority of whom were women and children, disappeared on a national road frequented by the Malian army and its Wagner auxiliaries. For a whole night and a day, the parents of the missing searched in vain for news.

The macabre discovery of their charred bodies hastily buried under branches and stones marked the beginning of an unprecedented tragedy since the FAMA and Wagner’s assassins have been spreading terror throughout northern Mali from Abeibara (Kidal region) in the East to the Mauritanian border in the West.

The vehicle was diverted from its route, time taken to identify the travelers and then to execute them summarily after raping the women, one of whom was pregnant for almost 6 months. The bodies were found between the town of Fatissouyou and Dioura in central Mali.

(article continued in right column)

(Click here for the original article in French.)

Question for this article:

Islamic extremism, how should it be opposed?

The new military governments in Africa: Are they promoting a culture of peace?

(article continued from left column)

This is indeed the signature of the Malian junta’s thugs and their fellow Wagner assassins, unlike the jihadists operating in Mali, who never kidnap children and women, let alone execute them. Mr. SG, it is high time that the institution you lead breaks its deafening silence on the tragedy and daily dramas experienced by the populations (Tuaregs, Moors and Fulani) in these areas including on the Mauritanian border, including Mauritanians since 2022.

The Tuaregs who were assassinated are neither terrorists, nor drug traffickers, nor rebels. The young humanitarian who was assassinated with his son (2.8 months) is the first cousin of the illustrious general leader of the Kel Ansar affiliated with Mali and the greatest defender of the Malian army and the putschist Goita. His wife carrying her second son in her womb is the daughter of a colonel major of the Malian gendarmerie well-known by the Malian military and security establishment.

One of the young people assassinated is the son of an important customs officer, an early companion of the putschists. The 10 people murdered belong to the Kel Ansar group or are affiliated with it. This is of course a targeting not only of the Tuareg but also of the Kel Ansar, a tribe that has always served the Malian state, that has never rebelled and has always refused to succumb to the sirens of fundamentalism. This brand of patriotism has never ceased to worry and to appear suspect in the eyes of the Malian state since its independence.

What is happening in Mali, in particular, in the north and center, amounts to genocide and a crime against humanity. Is human life in Gaza or Ukraine more valuable, more precious than that in Azawad, in Macina and on the Mauritanian border? Is it only people who are victims of Israel or Putin who have the right to speak out and denounce the highest authority of the international community? Can we not speak and comfort the weak not only in Palestine or Ukraine but around the World?

Mali is not a respectable State, it is condemnable. Please have the courage to condemn it and consider bringing it before the international courts that the United Nations have set up.

Mali is a failed and criminal State but it continues to receive support and backing from several Western countries. In the absence of sanctions and the removal of support, the peoples and communities who are suffering the hell of the felonious colonels in power in Bamako, can only consider all this support as complicity.

Stop the madness of a handful of felonious colonels and their relays, before the worst happens in the Sahelian sub-region. Mr. SG, it would soon be a question of threat to international peace and security (Chapter 7 UN statement).

You should forgive me, between shock and tragedy, I do not have the heart for polite expressions, which does not mean that I do not have the greatest regard for you and your title.

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Africa, DISARMAMENT & SECURITY

Team of the Third World March for Peace and NonViolence entered Nepal

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article by Tulsi Sigdel for Pressenza

A corps of the ‘3rd World March for Peace Team’ entered Nepal under the lead of Rafael de la Rubia, a great humanist from Spain, accompanied by prominent Humanist Peace Volunteers from UK, Italy, Australia, India and Bangladesh.

(article continued in right column)

(Click here for the article in French or click here for the article in Spanish.)

Question for this article:

The World March for Peace and Nonviolence: What is its history and its effects?

(article continued from left column)

The Humanist Team of Nepal joined the international champions of peace and began their march yesterday from the cultural city of Tokha, in Kathmandu, where they were received by municipal officials in their facilities.

There, the local authorities handed over a “Token of Love” to the group of visitors as a sign of support and appreciation for the message they are carrying. In reciprocity, the activists gave the municipal officials documents on the meaning of this worldwide action. Finally, a march was held through the streets.

The four-day march will continue today at Bouddha, TU-Kirtipur, Budhanilkantha and finally to Banepa and Dhulikhel cities. Then, the activists will cross to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India.
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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, South Asia