World Peace Forum Report

I arrived in Vancouver on the morning of Saturday June 24th. The
weather was deliciously warm and sunny, in contrast to the cold chill
and fog I left behind in Nome. It took about an hour to make my way on
Vancouver's excellent and cheap bus system to the University of
British Columbia, a large campus located on a peninsula to the south
and east of downtown Vancouver. Though I tried to connect with Global
Network folks all day, I couldn't check in to our shared room until
later that evening, and didn't see anyone until we all emerged from
our beds on Sunday morning.

Saturday June 24th
The main even on Saturday was a protest walk and rally through
downtown Vancouver. I never did get the official count but thousands
of people were in attendance, from all over the world, walking,
chanting, singing, holding signs, for peace, for an end to U.S.
occupation of Iraq, for the dismantling of the war machine, to abolish
nuclear weapons, for human rights.. The march ended with a rally at
Stanley Park.

Mel Hurtig, Canadian author and activist began the panel discussion.
Hurtig noted that as long as the Military Industrial Complex continues
to fund corrupt governments, arms build-up and space weaponization
will continue, regardless of who is in the Oval office. If the United
States continues to weaponize space, China and Russia will respond
in-kind, and that the possibility of cataclysmic nuclear confrontation
is real. Unfortunately, Hurtig doesn't think that diplomacy will
really change much. He calls for nothing less than a People's Revolt,
using the internet as an organizing strategy (much like how the
Canadians organized to withdraw Missile Defense support in 2003.
(More on this fallacy later!)

Jurgen Scheffran, a scientist with International Network of Engineers
&Scientists Against Proliferation, spoke next. Recent developments in
space weaponry include experiments on micro-satellites, and multiple
kill vehicles, or the MKVs (also known to No Nukers as the "Galactic
Bird Shot" being deployed for missile interceptors at Fort Greely.)
Expenditure on these recent programs? Over $40 billion dollars. High
Altitude Nuclear Explosions may be used as a means of space warfare
and will effect space satellites. Russia and China may be very likely
to use this method if confronted with a U.S. Space War.

Dr. Rebecca Johnson spoke next. She emphasized that so much
conventional warfare is now space technology dependent. Johnson tried
to draw a distinction between the militarization of space versus the
weaponization of space, a fine line between the technology and it's
actual purpose. She says having the eyes and ears in space, to
maintain transparency and verification down here on earth was
desirable. She also noted that U.S. is always trying to reinterpret
the Outerspace Treaty (up for renewal in 2007), insisting that it's
space weapons programs are strictly "defensive" in nature.

Sunday Night, Global Network Meeting and Dinner. Bruce Gagnon, GN
Coordinator, gave his annual report. Mary Beth Sulivan has been hired
as a part-time assistant to Bruce, with a grant from the Wallace Fund.
Everyone agree that the Board of Directors and Board of Advisors will
continue again for another year. There was a discussion about how to
get more "space for peace" involvement and activism, since the Iraq
war has overshadowed so much of the peace movement. Keep in mind, at
the time of the 2003 Shock and Awe attack, 70% of the weapons fired
were directed from space. Other news: Keep Space for Peace Week,
October 1-8, is being co-sponsored by WILPF (Women's International
League for Peace and Justice). This coincides with the United Nations
Space Week. Bruce would like for groups to send him a paragraph or two
about their activities for that week so he can get that info out to
the GN list.

Monday, June 26
No Means Yes: Canadian Complicity in the "Missile Defense" Weapons
Development Program, Workshop with Richard Sanders, Coalition to
Oppose the Arms Trade. Richard gave an in-depth presentation
highlighting all the ways that the Canadian Government, as well as
private Canadian contractors, are still intimately involved with the
U.S. Missile "Defense" program. Richard is adamant about two key
points: 1. Canada's "no" to the U.S. government is a huge public
relations lie and he urges Canadians to continue to protest Canada's
involvement, and 2. let's stop calling this system missile "defense"
when we all know it's about "offense."

Tuesday June 27
Star Wars Organizing: Activists Reports from Around the World. Global
Network Activists from the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Germany gave
brief reports of their organizing efforts. I spoke for No Nukes North
briefly during the Q & A, giving an outline from our current
newsletter.

The Space Military Industrial Complex: Connecting the Dots and Acting
on the Picture, Loring Wirbel (Citizens for Peace in Space, Colorado).
This workshop gave a basic template for power structure research, in a
nutshell….follow the money. Loring did an excellent job of
deconstructing the many convoluted manifestations of corporate
structures and how they relate to missile defense, or rather missile
offense, contracting. The new 21st Century Corporation outsources
everything, and our government also increasingly follows this model.
This talk was complex, interesting, and full of practical tips and
advice for activists organizing against the military industrial
complex. Loring suggests activists put pressure on the Corporations,
in the form of protests at their sites and annual meetings, as well as
dialog with their employees, who are often in denial about, or unaware
of, the systems or equipment they are developing for military use. I
would highly recommend his book, Star Wars, US Tools of Space
Supremacy.

The World Peace Forum had so many events running concurrently, it was
hard to focus in and choose which workshops to attend. There were
numerous free concerts, and interesting people and events from around
the world. I concentrated mainly on Global Network events, but did
manage to attend a few other events.

Report on No Nukes North Participation in the 2006 World Peace Forum