Upcoming events:
Moving Back From the Brink: Countering the Growing Threat of Nuclear War
Monday, March 18 from 7-9pm at Artrage Gallery (505 Hawley Ave., Syracuse)
Download the flyer
Ira Helfand, MD, is a leader in 2 Nobel Peace Prize-winning organizations: the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapon, (ICAN), and the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. He is also co-Founder and Past President of Physicians for Social Responsibility, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War's (IPPNW) US affiliate.
Ira co-chairs Physicians for Social Responsibility's Nuclear Weapons Abolition Committee, and also is co-president of IPPNW. He is on ICAN's International Steering Committee.
In May, 2016, Ira led the session on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear war at the United Nations in Geneva that resulted in the successful negotiation of the Treaty on the Prohibiition of Nuclear Weapons in summer, 2017.
Recent Work:
Beyond War and Militarism (BWaM) is a joint committee of the SPC and the CNY Solidarity Coalition. It draws resources from both parent organizations and enhances their interrelationship.
A monthly Alternative Education Series offers perspectives on militarism not covered by corporate media. In July, noted anti-war activist Kathy Kelly made a rousing presentation to 90 people at All Saints Church. She spoke eloquently about the tragic situation in Yemen and expressed general concern about increasing US militarism. In September, Greta Zarro, organizing director of World BEYOND War, spoke on “The Social and Ecological Imperatives of War Abolition.” We look forward to a talk by Professor Frederick Carriere on North Korea on October 9.
In several hours in late August at the entrance to the NY State Fair. BWaM garnered over 230 signatures on a petition to Senators Schumer and Gillibrand. It urged them to do everything in their power to "support a negotiated settlement [in Yemen] and to insist that the United States stop providing Saudi Arabia with logistical support, drones and other weapons."
– Barry Gordon, Carol Baum, Ed Kinane
Statement of Purpose:
The Committee is dedicated to non-violent protest of:
1. United States participation in multiple wars and plans to engage in other wars.
2. the acceptance of nuclear weapons as tools of war.
3. the enormous size of the so-called "defense" budget.
4. the pervasive infiltration of militarism into our culture.
5. the corporate state that is the primary beneficiary and supporter of this militarism.
The committee meets at least once monthly. Our aim is to increase people's awareness of the dangers resulting from government and corporate militaristic policies and practices. We have initiated a series of public educational events at ArtRage Gallery. Additional current activities include petitioning our elected representatives regarding these dangers and organizing demonstrations in protest. We also plan to support campaigns for divestment.
In addition to the present wars in which the US is involved*, the preparation for even more war is damaging in so many ways. The gross misallocation of public funds to military purposes represents theft from other, more legitimate government activities and services. This affects all of the issues upon which committees of the Coalition focus.
Please send an email to: drswords@gmail.com for additional information or to get involved.
* The US is currently at war in: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Niger.
The BWAM committee organizes monthly events at ArtRage Gallery for our Alternative Education series on US militarism.
See our article Getting Beyond War and Militarism: The “To-Do” List in the Jan/Feb 2018 issue of the PNL.
