DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article from Common Dreams (licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.-)

While Russia presses on with its lumbering invasion of Ukraine and Western nations led by the United States keep sending billions of dollars in arms and aid to bolster Ukrainian resistance, peace advocates on Wednesday marked the war’s six-month anniversary—and Ukraine’s independence day—with renewed calls for peace.

UNICEF video based on children’s drawings from Ukraine

Decrying the “senseless war,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told  the world body’s Security Council on Wednesday that “the people of Ukraine and beyond need peace and they need peace now. Peace in line with the U.N. Charter. Peace in line with international law.”

Writing for the U.K.-based Stop the War Coalition, journalist Shadia Edwards-Dashti noted  that “the war has been a disaster for the Ukrainian people, resulting in tens of thousands of Ukrainian casualties and displacing more than 13 million people—just shy of a third of the population. On the Russian side, some estimates suggest up to 75,000 are dead or injured.”

“From the very start of the invasion the Western response has focused on the military solutions,” she continued. “Within a week of the invasion, NATO forces had drummed up their biggest military mobilization in Europe since the end of the Cold War. The aim from the start was a decisive military victory against Russia. As a result, negotiations have been discouraged and chances for peace squandered.”

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“We simply cannot allow this six-month war to drag on for years as some analysts are predicting, Edwards-Dashti added. “Decisive victory for either side looks remote. The only possible solution is a process of negotiation. As the economic crisis deepens and Western governments threaten to raise defense spending, we in the West must intensify our call for peace and sanity.”

Anatol Lieven, director of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft’s Eurasia program, warned  that while NATO countries “can now afford to be less afraid of Moscow” given the Russian military’s battlefield woes, “the risk of unintended escalation to nuclear war does however remain very real.”

“Since nuclear weapons are the one area in which Russia remains a superpower, there is an obvious temptation for Moscow to engage in nuclear brinkmanship,” he added, “and anyone who decides to walk along a brink runs the risk of falling over it.”

Martin Kimani, Kenya’s ambassador to the U.N., similarly cautioned  that “unless the Ukraine war is stopped through dialogue and negotiation, it could be the first of a series of conflicts that future historians will name the Third World War.”

“Such a disaster would be different from the last world wars, and all the wars before them,” he said. “The dangers of direct conflict between nuclear-armed powers means that most of their confrontations would be undertaken by proxy. Africa and the rest of the world would be thrown into a mirror of the Cold War.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked the war’s six-month anniversary and his country’s independence day by hailing Ukraine’s unexpected success in resisting Russia’s invasion.

“Every day is a new reason not to give up,” he said  in a video address from central Kyiv. “Because having gone through so much, we have no right not to reach the end. What is the end of the war for us? We used to say, ‘peace.’ Now, we say, ‘victory.'” 

Asked in an interview with NPR if she sees “any negotiated way out” of the war, Norwegian U.N. Ambassador Trine Heimerback replied: “I think that’s the question we all have. Right now, I don’t think we are too optimistic, unfortunately.”

James Kariuki, Heimerback’s British counterpart, said the issue of negotiations is “for the Ukrainians” to decide.

“But,” he added, “the best way to end the conflict would be for Russia to withdraw its troops and end its illegal occupation.”

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

An article by Paige Wright for Nonviolence International (NVI)

NVI-Ukraine has worked for years to promote peace & reconciliation in Ukraine.

1) NVI-Ukraine serves as the coordinator of the Eastern European Network for the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC). GPPAC is the longstanding network of peace groups in the region. GPPAC has long worked to ameliorate internal ethnic, religious and community conflicts in Ukraine and the region. You can see statements from GPPAC below on the current war.

2) NVI-Ukraine hosts a nascent Ukrainian Stop the War Coalition. This is a network of groups in Ukraine working to nonviolently resist the Russian invasion and to support the Russian anti-war movement. See below for details on its membership.

Andre Kamenshikov speaking in the video of Civil Resistance in Ukraine and the Region

3) NVI-Ukraine is currently focusing on how to address ordinary Russian citizen with anti-war messaging. Although Russia is a dictatorship – public opinion does matter a lot. In fact, the Russian government is not able to currently sell to its own population the concept of an all-out war against Ukraine, thus it uses euphemisms such as a “special military operation” etc. Due to this – the government cannot announce a full mobilization, it does not have the legal instruments to send people to the battle zone against their will and so on.

As the war drags on, Russia’s key military objectives remain unfulfilled. The Russian government is tempted to carry out more and more measures which will gradually put the entire country in a de-facto state of war, even if war is never officially announced. This cannot be done without significantly increasing pressure and demands on all of society. Our hope is that if anti-war attitudes and resistance will continue to grow, while the motivation of those who support the government remains insufficient, this will put the country’s leadership in a situation where it will have no other option as to seek peace and discontinue its imperialist policies. You can see NVI’s internal public opinion and messaging reports here.

4) NVI-Ukraine continues to work closely with a variety if international efforts to facilitate visits, meetings, delegations, humanitarian efforts, and project explorations. We would like to draw attention the work of Nonviolent Peaceforce, Patrir, and PAX. We also speak out to the media on nonviolent alternatives in Ukraine, Russia, and the region. See below for media interviews.

Ukrainian Stop the War Coalition

Nonviolence International-Ukraine is supporting the Ukrainian Stop the War Coalition (USWC) which is building a network of activists and groups to resist the Russian invasion and to support peacebuilding efforts that can provide a platform for future reconciliation. The USWC is focusing on

1) supporting nonviolent resistance to Russian occupation,

2) promoting war-resistance, both passive and active, in Russia and Belarus,

3) strengthening the social fabric in Ukraine created by the war, such as between internally displaced people and their host communities.

NVI is asking for supporters to donate generously. Nonviolence International, based in DC, will provide administration and fiscal sponsorship support.

Steering Committee

Andre Kamenshikov, Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC), regional network coordinator for Eastern Europe, 30 years of practical experience in civil peacebuilding and humanitarian work in Russia, Ukraine and post-soviet states. Based in Kyiv.

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Olha Zaiarna, GPPAC regional liaison officer, researcher with experience in both government and public institutions working on peacebuilding and conflict management. (Based in Kyiv)

Dmitro Zvonok, socio-psychologist, trainer at the Ukrainian Peacebuilding School initiative, dialogue facilitator, developer of a number of educational games for dealing with conflicts on a community level, internally displaced person from eastern Ukraine.

Igor Semivolos, Head of Association for Middle Eastern Studies of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, founder of the Ukrainian Peacebuilding School initiative.

The USWC will focus its efforts in the following 3 areas. However, given the fast-moving events on the ground, priorities may understandably shift.

Nonviolence International is proud that Andre Kamenshikov, NVI Ukraine director, was part of this impressive gathering.

Civil Resistance in Ukraine and the Region

How does civil resistance work and what can it achieve? This panel shares how civilians are using strategic civil resistance to diminish the power and impact of the Russian military.

In Ukraine, civilians replace road signs to confuse Russian military vehicles, they block roads with cement blocks and iron pins, and they have set up a complex humanitarian aid system with neighboring countries. Within Russia, protests and resignations by universities, media outlets, and professionals denounce the military invasion. Join us to learn more about the strategy of civil resistance in Ukraine and the region.

Panelists include leading experts in civil resistance, some joining us from the frontlines in Kyiv.

As a member of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC), Nonviolence International supports and endorses the following statement made by GPPAC. We note that the tensions around Ukraine and the potential for war will have destructive consequences for all citizens and all nations involved. Now more than ever do we stand for diplomacy in a coalition with other nonviolent actors. We hope you do the same.

GPPAC Statement on the situation around Ukraine, February 24, 2022

As a global network of peacebuilders, GPPAC is gravely concerned by the situation around Ukraine. We condemn the military operations launched by Russia today on February 24, in violation of international law and the Charter of the United Nations. We call for an immediate cessation of all military actions which threaten the lives and livelihoods of citizens of all countries involved. In particular, we urge:

* All parties to uphold obligations under international humanitarian law regarding conduct during wartime.

* The international community to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine.

* Third parties, especially EU countries, to provide safe haven for those people who do not wish to take part in wars of aggression.

* The international community must pursue all possible efforts urgently to resolve this crisis through non-violent, diplomatic means, and support antiwar and humanitarian efforts of civil society as well as do everything possible to guarantee the safety and security of the people of Ukraine.

Please see NVI’s database of Nonviolent Tactics.

There is enormous civilian resistance to this war around the world. In Russia, hundreds of thousands of people have protested with signs and chanting in the streets and more than 7000 have been arrested. In Ukraine we see enormous civil resistance with tactics including various kinds of blockades, mutual aid, changing streets signs, boycotting Russian products, direct appeals to soldiers, singing. Please visit our database of 350 tactics that can inspire people around the world to do something at this time.

On our website you will find a collection of our current resources on Ukraine including press releases, media appearances, statements we support, and shared perspectives. We hope that these not only inform you about Ukraine and nonviolence efforts surrounding it but also that it inspires you to walk with us in nonviolence and support peace activists bravely taking on this stand.

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .

Press release n° 29 – June 16, 2022 received at CPNN de L’Institut de recherche sur la Résolution Non-violente des Conflits (translation by CPNN)

France must be an observer at the UN meeting in Vienna from June 21 to 23, 2022

Demonstration in Dijon and interview at the Regional Prefecture

On June 16, 2022 at 12:30 p.m., 13 whistleblowers from the ‘Collectif Bourgogne Franche-Comté pour l’abolition des weapons nucleaires’ unfurled banners in Place Darcy in Dijon asking France not to shun the Treaty on Nuclear Weapons. Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). A delegation met a representative of the Prefect on this subject at 2 p.m.

Nuclear weapons leave no one safe. They do not prevent conventional warfare, as the news claims, but they protect the aggressor. They are only an instrument of terror against populations and they divert astronomical sums of money that should be devoted, in particular, to the fight against climate change. They are ineffective, dangerous, illegal, undemocratic, demotivating, immoral and ruinous.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was adopted by a majority of States (122) at the UN on July 7, 2017. It is the only treaty that legally prohibits nuclear weapons. It entered into force on January 22, 2021, notably complementing other instruments, such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The UN will host from 21 to 23 June 2022 in Vienna the first meeting of the States Parties to the TPNW with in particular European partners such as Germany, Austria, Finland, Ireland, Malta, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden. Some take part in this process as an observer.

The ICAN France Campaign, led by a large number of organizations, asks the President of the Republic not to isolate our country from a multilateral process led by the UN. France should participate as an observer in the first meeting of States Parties to the TPNW.

France, which never ceases, whatever its government, to say that it is a responsible State, does not have the right to isolate itself from the international and European scene. It does not have the right to refuse dialogue with a view to acting for our human and environmental security in the face of the nuclear arsenals which constantly threaten us; it must be present as an observer State at the first meeting of the TPNW. Can we imagine for a single moment that France leaves its seat empty at this UN meeting, thus siding with absentees such as authoritarian or dictatorial powers (Russia, China, North Korea)?

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(Click here for the French version of this article.)

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An action near Valduc

The same day at 5 p.m. in Moloy, near the site of the Commissariat for Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies (CEA) in Valduc, which maintains and modernizes 290 French nuclear weapons, whistleblowers deployed banners .

The banners call for:

– compliance by France with article 6 of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to which it acceded in 1992 and of which it violates the spirit and the letter, while it asks other States to respect international law,

– France’s accession to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW),

– and the reconversion to peaceful activities of the CEA-DAM sites, including that of Valduc.

Actions in Paris, London, Berlin, Barcelona, ​​Turin and Faslane

Between June 16 and June 18, actions have been or will be carried out in Paris on the occasion of the next meeting in Vienna, but also in London, Berlin, Barcelona, ​​Turin and in front of the Faslane base (Scotland) which houses British nuclear submarines, so that the countries of Europe support the dynamics of the TPNW.

How can citizens support the TPNW?

– Read and distribute the op-ed by 56 French parliamentarians in Le Monde on June 18, asking that France be an observer in the meeting of States Parties to the TPNW in Vienna

– Write to your Mayor, so that your municipality signs the Cities’ Appeal of ICAN for nuclear disarmament, and ask your Deputy and Senator for France to join the TPNW.

– Ask your bank about its funding of the atomic bomb by participating in the action campaign on this topic.

– Learn about nuclear weapons, international security issues and defending democracy.

– Take part in the citizen vigils, especially in Bordeaux from August 6 to 9, 2022.

The vigils and non-violent actions carried out by the ‘Collectif Bourgogne Franche Comté for the abolition of nuclear weapons’ are part of ICAN, ‘International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons’, Nobel Peace Prize 2017. They follow up previous UN victories: banning biological weapons (1972), chemical weapons (1993), anti-personnel mines (1997), and cluster munitions (2008).

Watch the video “The Beginning of the End of Nuclear Weapons”. Discover the history with photos of the actions in Dijon and Valduc since 2014. Inform those around you about the seven vices of nuclear deterrence. Read the study on French military nuclear waste.

The Bourgogne Franche-Comté collective for the abolition of nuclear weapons http://abolitiondesarmesnucleaires.org – abolitiondesarmesnucleaires@orange.fr – 06 14 24 86 96 ■