Edinburgh CND: The EWJF continues (and other News: 7th October)

The Festival Continues:

Wed 10 Oct, 7 – 9pm What price Nuclear War?
Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace, EH1 2JL
Edinburgh Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

Statue Of Liberty Mushroom Cloud Atomic Bomb

———— Thu 11 Oct, 6.30 – 8.30pm: Film: Shadow World (exposes the reality of the global arms trade)
David Hume Tower, LG09, George Square, EH8 9JX
Campaign Against Arms Trade Scotland ——— Fri 12 Oct, 7.30 – 9.00pm Just Transitions Augustine United Church, EH1 1EL
Scot E3 (Employment, Energy and Environment) ———- Sat 13 Oct, 11am – 4.30pm Book Fair and forums
Epworth Halls, Methodist church, 25 Nicolson Square, EH8 9BX
www.sfbbooks.wordpress.com We will have a stall at this event. We will also go to the East End of Princes Street from 1230 for our usual monthly leafleting session. __________ Tues 16 Oct, 7pm From the Sabine Women to Srebenica Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, EH8 8DT Dove Tales, Association of Scottish Artists for Peace From time immemorial rape has been used as a weapon of war and women treated as booty. This Dove Tales event aims to highlight the issue through prose accounts of rape in modern conflicts and through poetry dramatising the complexities of such action for both victims and perpetrators. _______ Last event: The People of Palestine Sat 20 Oct, 12.00 – 5.00pm
Muslim Welfare House (Lauriston mosque), 59 Lauriston Place, EH3 9HY
Interpal

OTHER NEWS:

We need your urgent help! The “No Fleet Review in Jeju” endorsement is by 9 October 6pm(GMT +9, South Korea time). Collected signs will be published on Oct. 10, the opening day of International Fleet Review in Jeju (Oct. 10 to 14). Please sign and spread to your network as soon as you can. Your prompt response is very appreciated. Thanks so much for the help!

To Endorse >> Click and Fill out the form

1. A new project from Scottish CND with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to highlight the rich Scottish peace heritage with a focus on the nuclear disarmament. This project includes a free training workshop in video making and conducting interviews at an accessible venue with lunch provided. Scotland: A Peace of History will capture the key developments that shaped Scottish CND and the wider Scottish Peace Movement and share them with the whole community in a mobile exhibition and an online resource, marking the 60th anniversary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
A large display timeline with pictures and explanatory texts will be produced and recordings with video testimonies will run on a screen accompanying the exhibition. A digital version of the timeline and additional materials will be made available online. With the help of volunteers and liaising with other groups we hope to launch by the end of the year and tour the country in public venues, schools and museums in 2019. The project will offer training opportunities, particularly for volunteers wanting to learn how to make a testimony video. We will include Scottish CND material currently held in our archives but we are inviting members and supporters to get in touch if they hold any relevant or rare materials like press cuttings, leaflets, photos, posters or CND merchandise. The free training workshop will run as part of the project and BAFTA New Talent Winning Filmmaker David Newbigging will teach participants valuable, transferable campaign skills and improve their knowledge of media and digital campaigning.

You can check out the Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/286794425262842/

And also book your place via Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/training-in-video-making-and-conducting-interviews-scottish-cnd-tickets-50130034282?aff=erellivmlt

Attendance for this event will require a £10 deposit which is fully refunded on the day of the training. This deposit will be requested upon booking via Eventbrite. Free lunch will be provided and the venue is accessible. The next meeting for the 60th Anniversary Exhibition will take place next Thursday, 11th at 6:30 in the Scottish CND office.

2. CND UK:

We’ve already seen the Public Accounts Committee warn that the MoD’s nuclear sites are a “ticking time bomb”, a report on nuclear divestment in Scotland, and good discussions at the CND fringe meetings at the Liberal Democrat and Labour Party conferences.annual conference, Towards a nuclear-free future: building change from the grass roots, is coming up on Saturday and Sunday October 20-21 at the historic Wills Memorial Building at the University of Bristol.
At a time of increasing global threats and amid an unstable political situation, conference is the chance to decide our direction for the next year and discuss how we respond to the challenges ahead.

Saturday October 20: CND AGM & policy conference

Our policy conference is on the Saturday, with delegates welcomed by Bristol West MP Thangam Debbonaire. CND members should visit our conference page to register by Friday October 12.

Sunday October 21: CND open conference

Open to all, Sunday’s conference, introduced by South West MEP Molly Scott Cato, will include workshops and debates on today’s vital issues – including grass roots campaigning, defence diversification, nuclear power and non-violent direct action. Extra bit: As part of the upcoming annual conference in Bristol, CND would like to welcome all our supporters to a public event Sunday, October 21st on the subject of ‘Towards a Nuclear-Free Future: Building Change from the Grass Roots’ see http://www.cnduk.org

Mean while: The United Nations Association – UK, the country’s foremost advocate for action at the UN, has issued a red card for Britain’s failure to live up to disarmament obligations and for its dismissive approach to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The body’s new report, the Global Britain Scorecard, explores whether the UK practices what it preaches after Theresa May pledged her support for the UN system. She has previously acknowledged its importance in addressing shared global challenges and delivering benefits to UK citizens and the wider world. Explaining the rationale for the red card, the UNA said:

“The UK has made little progress on its disarmament obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty since the welcomed, but modest, reductions announced in 2010. Rather than working in “good faith” for a world free of nuclear weapons, Britain has failed to participate in multiple initiatives and international fora aimed at making multilateral progress on disarmament, and has failed to follow UN guidance to adopt a constructive approach to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.”
Kate Hudson, CND General Secretary, said: “We welcome the UNA’s scrutiny of government policy. It’s a national shame that the UK has rejected the nuclear ban treaty out of hand when a majority of the world’s countries are working together to eliminate nuclear weapons. The UK nominally says it supports such multilateral diplomatic efforts, but in practice it is trying to wreck the initiative. “Theresa May’s government should be taking steps in good faith towards nuclear disarmament, but instead it has committed £205 billion to replacing Trident, the UK’s nuclear weapons system, and stands idly by while Donald Trump develops new ‘usable’ nuclear weapons that raise the threat of nuclear war.”

CND has always said that Trident is an irrelevant, ludicrously expensive weapon of mass destruction. And recent events certainly prove us right. In this month’s edition of Campaign magazine, read about the latest development that shows the project is in free-fall. You can also read about Trump’s latest ridiculous idea and find out what CND got up to at Labour party conference.
Read Campaign: October edition
Download Campaign: October edition

++++++More News from London: This week, activists from around the world are holding actions and protests to demand an end to plans for a US Space Force during the annual Keep Space for Peace week. In June, President Trump made a highly controversial announcement: he directed the Pentagon to develop a ‘Space Force’ – a new branch of the US military, ‘separate but equal’ to the US Air Force – to ensure ‘American dominance in space.’ Read CND Chair Dave Webb’s blog post
Here in Britain, at Menwith Hill outside of Harrogate in North Yorkshire tonight, a demonstration will take place between 6pm and 7.30pm. All are welcome to join. See Global Network Against Weapons website for more events. Future Wars Conference: The Impact of New Technologies 10th November • London The US Space Force will be a major theme of our Future Wars Conference that will explore The Impact of New Technologies, taking place on the 10th November in London.Tickets are available now

3. Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre are working with other groups to get approval for the memorial to be erected in Princes St Gardens in the midst of seven war memorials. Those who have died in war are well remembered in public space – with 37 war memorials in Edinburgh – but opposition to war has been a significant part of our history too. This Memorial will ensure that opposition to war is also represented in public space – and be a space for reflection on alternatives to war.
Approval by the Transport & Environment Committee is a crucial step. In a couple of weeks – we’ll start fundraising for the cost of casting and installing the bronze sculpture and granite bench. You can help get approval for the Opposing War Memorial at City Council next week.
Please take a few minutes today to send a message to your Councillor today about why he or she should support the proposal for the Memorial to go in Princes St Gardens. You can see a description of the Memorial design and read more about it here. Here are the names of the Councillors on the Committee. But you can also contact all your councillors.
Below is some text you can copy and paste and use as a basis for your message. Feel free to add your own reasons why they should support the Memorial.
Click the link below to go to the Write to Them website. Just enter your postcode and the site will give you the names of your Councillors. Click on the Councillors names to open forms to send them messages. Go to https://www.writetothem.com/

+++++The Crowdfunder will start on Monday 15 October when link will be available. Here is a report on the decision in the Edinburgh Evening News to share: https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/peace-tree-memorial-to-honour-those-opposed-to-war-to-be-erected-1-4810908

4. SNP CND are holding a conference with their AGM on 4th November 2018

Albert Halls, Dumbarton Road, Stirling (FK8 2QL)
10:30am

5. nuClear News No.111 October 2018 is now available for downloading:
http://www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/NuClearNewsNo111.pdf

6. The September edition of the NFLA Newsletter, is on the NFLA website – http://www.nuclearpolicy.info/newsletters/nfla-newsletter-september-2018/

NFLA representatives attended a ceremony on 8/10 to rededicate Leeds memorial stone for the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association and encourages member Councils to support model resolution on the TPNW (see website)

7. Los Alamos: Several more countries signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), joining the first 60 such states.

The ceremony is timed to coincide with today’s UN General Assembly “High-Level Plenary Meeting on Nuclear Weapons to Commemorate and Promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. http://www.lasg.org/

8. Beyond Nuclear International: (a) There is no “safe” dose of radiation, says the National Academy of Sciences. Our new handbook on radiation and harm to human health explains why. The 2018 World Nuclear Industry Status Report confirms nuclear power’s continued global decline, eclipsed by renewable energy. And a mother in Japan tells the harrowing story of how she fled Tokyo after her daughter showed signs of radiation exposure far away from Fukushima. (b)Two new reactors underway in Georgia, USA, just got the vote to continue. But locals fear more cancers, writes Jeremy Deaton, in a community already awash in radioactive contamination. The nuclear industry, meanwhile, is making a spurious case that it must continue in the interest of US national security — “one claim too many” write Victor Galinsky and Henry Sokolski of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Centre. (c) Information is essential, but it also needs to be understandable and accessible. And of course accurate! That is why Beyond Nuclear is producing a series of concise anti-nuclear handbooks and the first ones — on radiation and health and on why nuclear power can’t address climate change — are ready on our website. But, we absolutely must print these now and get them out to the people who need them. Please help us raise needed funds!

9. UNFOLD ZERO: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made a passionate plea last week to nuclear-armed States to re-engage in ‘sincere, substantive and results-oriented dialogue towards the total elimination of nuclear weapons,’ and to ‘reinforce the norm against nuclear use‘ by affirming publicly ‘that a nuclear war cannot be won and therefore must never be fought.’
Guterres made his remarks at a high level meeting on nuclear disarmament held on September 26 to commemorate the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

++++10. Edinburgh Stop the War’s October meeting 7.30pm on Monday 15^th October at the Peace and Justice Centre, 5 Upper Bow, EH1 2JN. The agenda will include follow up on our recent public meeting on the arms trade in Scotland, planning action on arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the SACC meeting on Islamophobia which we have cosponsored, Afghanistan and campaigning stalls. This is an informal – participative meeting – hope to see you there.

11. ICAN In London: Wednesday 17th October 2018, 6:30-8 pm, Shaw Library, Old Building, LSE

The End of Nuclear Weapons

Speaker: Beatrice Fihn

edinburgh cnd

Edinburgh CND: The EWJF continues (and other News: 7th October)

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