OMNI WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS #137

 

OMNI WAR WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #137, AUGUST 2, 2023.

Hiroshima Nagasaki Day returns

Sunday August 6 - 7:00 pm Omni Center

 

Omni and our predecessors have held Hiroshima Nagasaki commemorations since 1971, to honor the deaths of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and remind ourselves of the terrible consequences of using weapons of mass destruction. It's especially relevant as nuclear nations are facing off over the Ukraine war and multiple other hotspots around the globe.

 

The Remembrance will include talks by Marshallese leader, activist and international speaker Benetick Maddison, and Physicist and writer on both nuclear and climate issues Dr. Art Hobson.

 

 

Climate change has caused a near-certain increase in August temperatures that make our long-standing tradition of meeting at the Fulbright Peace Fountain difficult.  This year the commemoration will feature a dinner from the MayDay Community Kitchen, which is also a fundraiser to benefit the Omni project that feeds homeless people. Very soon we'll put out an invitation with requests for RSVP's and more information. The suggested donation for the dinner will be only $20, but there is room for just 20-25 people. So please make reservations early.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

US PEACEMAKERS v. NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND MILITARISM

Opposition to the Ukraine War
ICAN, US Financial Institutions Reflect Treaty to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

Staughton Lynd.  Nonviolence.

Mike Gravel.  Pentagon Papers.

“Russia, Donbass, and the reality of the conflict in Ukraine.”

Editor.  mronline.org (7-30-23). 

The people of the West need to come to grips that the government of Ukraine has done great violence against its own people in the Donbass and that the people of the Donbass had every right to choose to leave Ukraine and join Russia.

Money talks: 109 global institutions restrict investments in nuclear weapons.

Susi Snyder, ICAN <admin@icanw.org> 7-27-23	4:57 AM (4 hours ago)
Dear Dick -- Exciting news in the latest PAX-ICAN report “Moving away from mass destruction” out today: the number of financial institutions across the globe rejecting nuclear weapons keeps growing! The number of financial institutions excluding the nuclear weapons industry from their investments continues to grow year on year, and many are naming the UN nuclear weapons ban treaty as a reason to stop funding the bomb. Read the Report The 109 financial institutions profiled in this report know that nuclear weapons represent a systemic reputational and regulatory risk, and are putting policies in place that limit or completely exclude any financial engagement with this controversial industry. The report shows the financial community is taking a more responsible approach, embracing the positive role they can play in further stigmatising and delegitimizing nuclear weapons. Even with Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, and skyrocketing defence spending, the financial community is holding a firm line against financing weapons of mass destruction. These policies do more than simply cut off the funding to the individual companies producing nuclear weapons: they signal that doing business off weapons of mass destruction is not a viable business model particularly now the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is in place. So today, we want to celebrate that, and encourage more. Will you help us share the report and congratulate these financial leaders? Exciting #divestment news: PAX and ICAN’s new report "Moving away from mass destruction" shows more and more financial institutions around the world are rejecting nuclear weapons, citing the #nuclearban treaty as a reason to stop banking on the bomb.  You can use the link above to share directly on Twitter or find a post for your social media of choice here. Thank you for your support, Susi Snyder, Programme Coordinator and contributing author “Moving away from mass destruction” ICAN

Bill Griffin.  “Staughton Lynd 1929-2022.”  The Catholic Worker (June-July, 2023).  The legacy of Staughton Lynd’s devotion  to “a more just and equitable world” is found particularly in Nonviolence in America: A Documentary History, edited by him and his wife Alice.

 “Tribute to Mike Gravel, American Hero.”  Consortium News (7-19-23).

Sen. Mike Gravel’s ashes were buried in Arlington National Cemetery last month. Gravel was a hero for his courage in opposing U.S. militarism and reading Dan Ellsberg’s Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record. Read here...