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Making the Links: The climate crisis, militarism and war
6-26-2019
World BEYOND War Metro Vancouver chapter held their first event in Surrey at the City Centre Library on June 23, 2019. World BEYOND War’s mission is to end all wars and dismantle the very institution of war and militarism.
Tamara Lorincz, a renowned Peace Activist was the guest speaker. She is a PhD student in Global Governance at the Balsillie School for International Affairs (Wilfrid Laurier University). She is the recipient of the Rotary International World Peace Fellowship at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom and was a senior researcher for the International Peace Bureau in Switzerland.
Tamara is currently on the board of the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and the international board of directors of Global Network Against Nuclear Power and Weapons in Space. She is a member of the Canadian Pugwash Group and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
Tamara has an LLB/JSD and MBA specializing in environmental law and management from Dalhousie University. Her current research is on the climate and environmental impacts of the military.
Tamara’s talk highlighted the enormous carbon footprint of the Canadian military and the wide ranging environmental damage caused by the military to the soil, air and water. She outlined how the military’s environmental impact is not tracked and how over $32 Billion of taxpayers money is spent each year on the military. This money needs to be phased out of the military and towards a green economy, health, education, poverty alleviation and other much needed services.
This new chapter is made up of the following members of the organizing committee: Affan Bajwa, Asad Syed, Ashraf Muhammad, Carol Zhong, Furquan Gehlen, Lynn Armstrong, Raqiya Mohammad, Shehla Nasir.
The chapter’s goal is to support World BEYOND War’s mission of ending all wars and the institution of war and militarism. The chapter plans to hold educational, and other events regularly. They will also be starting various campaigns such as Canada out of NATO, Divestment from militarism and an election campaign so that ending wars and militarism is a visible issue in the lead up to the election.
One other goal of the chapter is to link and connect with the other various local groups working in the anti-war, peace, human rights and environmental crisis area so as to support our collective efforts.
Some future events that are coming up are:
1. Talk: David Swanson on "How to End U.S. and Canadian Wars" Monday, August 05, 2019 • 12:00 PM - Bombay Banquet Hall, 7475 135 Street, Surrey
2. Talk: David Swanson on "Growing the Movement for a World BEYOND War” Monday, August 05, 2019 • 6:00 PM, Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House, 800 East Broadway, Vancouver
3. Free Webinar: Divest from the War Machine; Tuesday, July 02, 2019• 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM – Register at worldbeyondwar.org
4. #NoWar2019 is coming to Limerick, Ireland this October 5-6, World BEYOND War's 4th annual global conference.
5. #NoWar2020 “Divest, Disarm, and Demilitarize: Conversion for a Peaceful, Green, & Just Future” Conference, Peace Festival, Mass protest against CANSEC - Ottawa from May 26-30, 2020
Join the chapter by signing the declaration of peace on the website at https://worldbeyondwar.org/individual/ . After signing, you will be placed on the email list so that you are notified of future events in the area. You can follow the chapters Facebook page. Just search for “World Beyond War Vancouver”. In order to succeed in our mission we need to have lots of engaged people that are part of this movement and are ready to take part in a focused, action oriented, sustained and persistent set of actions and campaigns.
If you are interested in being part of the organizing committee, or a sub-committee you can contact the chapter coordinator Furquan Gehlen at furquan@worldbeyondwar.org or call at 604-603-8741.
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