As we approach the 9^th anniversary of the U.S.-led war on Iraq, we are once again seeing American politicians claiming that an oil-rich nation in the Persian Gulf might soon build nuclear weapons. Top U.S. and many Israeli intelligence and military leaders, and all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies agree that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon, is not building a nuclear weapon and has not even made the political decision of whether to move in the direction of a nuclear weapon. And yet politicians are ratcheting up calls for military threats and even military strikes, this time against Iran – and the result could lead to war.

An attack or war against Iran would be a disaster and a crime.  Just as United For Peace and Justice worked to stop the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we strongly oppose any attack on Iran, and are calling on all to take action.  It took several years to build majority opposition to those earlier wars. We must quickly express that majority sentiment that already exists against the possibility of any new wars, calling for justice at home and abroad instead!  We need a foreign policy based on diplomacy and negotiations, not crippling economic sanctions and dangerous military strikes. So far the Obama administration has held less than an hour’s actual talks with an Iranian diplomat – diplomacy means engaging, negotiating, talking – and talking some more. It is time to urge family, friends, and people of good will – everyone who cares about people in Iran, in Israel, or here in the United States – to do all they can to stop military action before it starts.

We Urge:

• The U.S. Government to state its intention to resolve the conflict with Iran through diplomacy and negotiations, and not the use of force.
• The U.S. Government to exercise the full range of its diplomatic, economic and political influence to prevent the nuclear-armed state of Israel from attacking Iran.
• An immediate cessation of economic sanctions and threats of war against Iran, assassination of its citizens, and other “covert” actions by the United States, Israel, and their allies that serve to increase the danger of war.
• The U.S. Government to support a Regional Accord establishing a Weapons of Mass Destruction-Free Zone in the Middle East as called for in United Nations Security Council Resolution 687, article 14, in order to end this cycle of coercion, fear and war.

Iran does not have a nuclear bomb. The U.S. intelligence agencies unanimously confirm this and say that Iran has not made the decision to build a nuclear weapon. Yet Iran has three neighbors that possess nuclear arsenals — India, Israel, and Pakistan. All developed their arsenals covertly outside the framework of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), yet none of these countries faces threats of war or sanctions for doing so.  Iran, in contrast, has remained a party to the NPT and continues to allow IAEA monitoring of its nuclear facilities.

Israel is not willing to give up its nuclear monopoly in the region. Its leaders would rather go to war to keep their nuclear weapons than cooperate with its neighbors to ensure that there are no weapons of mass destruction in the region.  But nuclear weapons pose a grave danger to global security, and this is especially true in the strategic, over-armed, and oil rich Middle East. A U.S.-backed Weapons of Mass Destruction-Free Zone would help reduce the threat of war in the region and help set the world on path to nuclear abolition.

If the United States truly wants to deter other countries from developing nuclear weapons, it must lead by example by implementing its own obligations under the non-proliferation treaty.  It must stop threatening non-nuclear states, divest itself of its vast stockpile of nuclear weapons, and actively support commencement of negotiations for a Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone in the Middle East – a commitment enshrined in the United Nations Security Council resolution that ended the first Gulf War in 1991.

Many believe that the escalating rhetoric could accelerate the likelihood of a war against Iran either by accident or an attack by politicians believing they have no choice boxed in by their own words.  An attack or war would be a catastrophe for the millions of Iranian people who will experience their own version of shock and awe, and would face the threat of radiation poisoning from Iran’s legal nuclear power facilities. It would be disastrous for Israelis who would face retaliation attacks, and for millions more in the region caught in the crossfire. A war would also be a catastrophe for our own country, now in the midst of an economic crisis, and for the world as oil markets would spin out of control. The U.S. economic crisis has already been worsened by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and a war with Iran would bring more of the same. The 1 percent may expect to benefit from another war and from $5/gallon gasoline, but the 99 percent stand only to lose.

UFPJ stands in solidarity with the Iranian people as they suffer from U.S. imposed sanctions and struggle to change their own country. Those sanctions, which President Obama admitted have been “virtually grinding the Iranian economy to a halt,” are exacerbating environmental, health, and economic crises for the Iranian people. In Iran, progressive labor and other popular democratic forces struggling for change have declared unequivocally that they do not want sanctions, outside intervention in their politics or war against their country. The first casualties of any such aggression are the lives and aspirations of the Iranian people themselves, while as in all wars the most repressive elements of the government would benefit most.

We must keep building a powerful peoples movement for justice and work to insure that preventing an attack or new war with Iran remains high on our justice agenda. We need those dollars in our communities. We need that money for jobs and to take care of Iraq and Afghan war veterans. We need that money to keep people in their homes and schools open. We need that money to rebuild what we have destroyed in Iraq.

Please join us and stand against sanctions, against war, and in solidarity with the Iranian people whose lives and dreams would be smashed by both. Call for a new decade of global justice and let’s start by building healthy communities at home!

Signers:

Alliance for Peace and Justice (MA)

Alliance of Community Trainers

Association of World Citizens

Backbone Campaign

Brandywine Peace Community (PA)

Bryn Mawr Peace Coalition (PA)

Cambridge United for Justice with Peace (MA)

Campaign in Solidarity with the Iranian People’s Green Movement (CSIPGM)

Campaign for Peace and Democracy

Catalyst Project

Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War

Citizens for a United Nations Peoples Assembly

Code Pink

Columbus Campaign for Arms Control

Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism

Community Alliance of Lane County (OR)

Concerned Families of Westchester (NY)

Delaware Pacem in Terris

Delaware Valley Veterans For America (PA)

Fellowship of Reconciliation

Flatbush for Peace (NY)

Global Exchange

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

Global People’s Assembly

Grandmothers Against the War (SF/Bay Area)

Greater New Haven Peace Council

Institute for Policy Studies, New Internationalism Project

Jeannette Rankin Peace Center (MT)

Lehigh-Pocono Committee of Concern (PA)

Logan Square Neighbors for Justice and Peace (IL)

Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives

Malu ‘Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action (HI)

Massachusetts Peace Action

Mid-Missouri Peaceworks

Military Families Speak Out

Milton for Peace (MA)

National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance

Nevada Desert Experience

North Carolina Peace Action

North Country Peace Group (NY)

Northeast Connecticut Coalition for Peace and Justice

Oak Park Coalition for Truth and Justice (IL)

Office of the Americas

Peace Action

Peace Action Montgomery (Maryland)

Peace and Freedom Party (CA)

Peace & Justice Center of Sonoma County (CA)

Progressive Democrats  of  America

September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows

St. Louis Instead of War Coalition

Suffolk Peace Network (Long Island, NY)

Syracuse Peace Council (NY)

Topanga Peace Alliance (CA)

United for Justice with Peace (MA)

United for Peace and Justice

U.S. Peace Council

Veterans For Peace

Voices for Creative Nonviolence

War Resisters League

WarIsACrime.org

Wasatch Coalition for Peace and Justice of Northern Utah

Washington Peace Center (DC)

Western States Legal Foundation

Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation

Where is My Vote – NY

Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice

Witness Against Torture

Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, U.S. Section

The post UFPJ’s Statement “No War On Iran” appeared first on United For Peace and Justice.

If you would like to register for the UFPJ’s Occupy Peace Summit please click here!

Occupy Peace, a weekend of planning, sharing and training, February 24-26 in Philadelphia, PA. It has been a little over three years since United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) had a national strategy meeting.  The financial crisis that hit this country hit UFPJ too, and we have worked hard to maintain this important network and respond to the tremendous political changes taking place.

An international financial crisis, a right wing response and a global popular uprising have ushered in a new popular politic.  The Arab Spring, Wisconsin Wave and the Occupy Movement have created new openings and strategies.  Now, U.S. troops have finally left Iraq  and the bloated military budget is at last on the table

But our work is not done. Military operations in Iraq have been replaced by a corporate occupation. The President signed the 2012National Defense Authorization Act, which sanctions indefinite detention of suspected enemies of the state and brings our nation one step closer to legally disappearing its own citizens. US military actions continue around the globe, and new nuclear weapons systems are on the drawing board. Millions of people are still facing foreclosure, homelessness, and unemployment; student debt is rising and climate justice has not been won.  In the new political climate we look forward to an exciting decade and a very important year for organizing to turn these things around!

UFPJ is committed, as ever, to building a strong network to take action for justice and peace. There are key events ahead this year – Global Days of Action Against Militarism in April,  May 1 Protests and Strikes, the G8 and NATO Summits in Chicago in May, the political conventions this summer, and a movement to occupy everywhere that is a growing powerful force for cultural change!

We encourage your group to be a part of this exciting conversation and planning process for 2012. Mark your calendar now and start planning to send a delegation of 2-3 people to Philadelphia — more information to come about housing and other logistics.  We are asking for a donation of $35 per person to cover food and materials.

Occupy Peace Strategy Summit

• Fri. Feb 24: Registration and meet and greet 5 pm – 7 pm, Mexican Post, 1601 Cherry, Philadelphia, PA 19102
• Sat. Feb 25: Working Sessions begin at 9 am – 5 pm,  ARCH Street United Methodist Church, 55 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
• Sun. Feb 26: Working Session begin at 9 am – 4 pm, Friends Center, 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102

If you would like to register for the UFPJ’s Occupy Peace Summit please click here!

The post Register for UFPJ’s Occupy Peace Summit! Feb 24-26th appeared first on United For Peace and Justice.

Bill McKibben just sent this email to 350.org supporters in the United States and Canada

Dear Friends

We wanted to share with you the news: this afternoon the Obama Administration announced that they are denying the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. You did good work, against some of the longest possible odds.

For years, the knock on the President Obama was that he backed down too easily in the face of opposition. Not here. When Republicans in Congress forced the issue again by passing a 60-day time limit on the President’s final decision, he stood strong and denied the permit. And that was despite the most explicit threats from Big Oil: that they would exact ‘huge political consequences’ if he did the right thing on Keystone. Make no mistake—this is a brave decision.

And make no mistake about this either—Big Oil will do everything it can to overturn that decision, because they are not used to losing. They have one weapon—money. They’ve used it to buy the allegiance of many Representatives and Senators and now they’ll use Congress to try and get their dirty work done. That’s what happened when the President delayed the permit last November, and we should expect them to try again now.

That’s why we’re going to Congress and Big Oil, beginning next Tuesday the 24th. If you can join us, we’re meeting at noon on the West Lawn, and you should wear a referee’s shirt. We’re going to ‘blow the whistle’ on the corruption that passes for business as usual on Capitol Hill, where people take money from companies whose interests they vote on. If this happened at the Super Bowl it would be a national scandal; we’ve got to make sure it’s seen that way in our political life too. We know it’s short notice, but we hope we can get at least 500 people there. Not to get arrested, at least not this time, but to make quite a noise.

If you can make it, click here to join the action in DC.
We’ll be fighting to prevent Keystone, but we’ll also be fighting to shut off the flow of handouts to the oil, gas, and coal industries, and to take away their right to use the atmosphere as an open sewer into which to dump their carbon for free. This industry, simply because it iss rich, has been cosseted too long. Time to fight back.

What you’ve done these past eight months is quite amazing—and against all the odds. We’ve won no permanent victory (environmentalists never do) but we have shown that spirited people can bring science back to the fore. Blocking one pipeline was never going to stop global warming—but it is a real start, one of the first times in the two-decade fight over climate change when the fossil fuel lobby has actually lost.

Rest assured they’ll fight like heck—their world-record profits depend on it. We better fight just as hard, because the world depends on it.

-Bill

The post Keystone XL Rejected (Again) appeared first on United For Peace and Justice.

An international financial crisis, a right wing response and a global popular uprising have ushered in a new popular politic.  The Arab Spring, Wisconsin Wave and the Occupy Movement have created new openings and strategies.  Now, U.S. troops have finally left Iraq  and the bloated military budget is at last on the table

But our work is not done. Military operations in Iraq have been replaced by a corporate occupation. The President signed the 2012National Defense Authorization Act, which sanctions indefinite detention of suspected enemies of the state and brings our nation one step closer to legally disappearing its own citizens. US military actions continue around the globe, and new nuclear weapons systems are on the drawing board. Millions of people are still facing foreclosure, homelessness, and unemployment; student debt is rising and climate justice has not been won.  In the new political climate we look forward to an exciting decade and a very important year for organizing to turn these things around!

UFPJ is committed, as ever, to building a strong network to take action for justice and peace. There are key events ahead this year – Global Days of Action Against Militarism in April,  May 1 Protests and Strikes, the G8 and NATO Summits in Chicago in May, the political conventions this summer, and a movement to occupy everywhere that is a growing powerful force for cultural change!

We encourage your group to be a part of this exciting conversation and planning process for 2012. Mark your calendar now and start planning to send a delegation of 2-3 people to Philadelphia — more information to come about housing and other logistics.  We are asking for a donation of $35 per person to cover food and materials.

Occupy Peace Strategy Summit

For more information contact:  Michael McPhearson at: michael@unitedforpeace.org

Or email:  OccupyPeaceSummit@unitedforpeace.org

The post Save The Date! UFPJ Member Group Meeting Feb 24-27th appeared first on United For Peace and Justice.

The costs of the war have been horrendous – most of all for the Iraqi people. The quality of life and security in Iraq is much worse than before the U.S. led invasion and occupation. An unknown number of Iraqis have died as a result of hostilities and the impact of the war. The count ranges from hundreds of thousands to over a million. More than four million have become refugees or have been internally displaced. All live in a country that has been destroyed – where one in four do not have access to clean drinking water, electricity is unreliable, violence is rampant, schools and hospitals no longer function and citizens’ human rights and civil rights are frequently violated. In many Iraqi cities and towns the environmental pollution caused by the war has produced an epidemic of birth defects and cancers.

The war has also wreaked havoc on our people and our economy. U.S. service members have paid a high price with 4,484 dead and 33,186 with physical wounds including traumatic brain injury, and loss of limbs and eyesight. Tens of thousands return with the unseen injuries of post-traumatic stress disorder. All return to a dismal economic outlook with many unable to find jobs; the unemployment rate for veterans 18 to 24 is an astounding 37.9%. Thousands are either homeless or one step away from it. Ultimately we see the pain of war reflected in the epidemic suicide rates of service members and veterans, reaching one death every 36 hours and one every 80 minutes, respectively.

In a nation where millions have lost their homes and millions more are unemployed, the trillions of dollars wasted to carry out this war is money desperately needed to invest in our nation’s future. With the country facing staggering debt and limited resources to address domestic human needs at a time of economic crisis, the war in Iraq proved to be a war of depravity and inequality at home enriching war profiteers and corporations at the expenses of the poor and middle-class.

U.S. troops have left Iraq, but has the occupation actually ended? The U.S. has built the largest embassy in the world in Baghdad – the footprint of our military is being replaced by that of the State Department and thousands of private security contractors in its employ. As UFPJ members protested the war, we must also protest this new form of corporate occupation.

U.S. troops have left Iraq, but is there peace? There can be no peace without justice. We must insist that the U.S. government end its interference in the affairs of Iraq. We must support the struggles of the Iraqis for jobs, security, and human rights. The Iraqi people deserve reparations from the U.S. for the damages and destruction that the immoral invasion and occupation spawned. In 2012, UFPJ will be exposing the impact of the war and advocate for the reparations and restitution that the U.S. government owes the Iraqi people.

As we move into 2012, we thank you for your dedication and perseverance. The world’s continued resistance to U.S. military aggression has made a significant difference. The people in the streets around the globe on February 15, 2003 were indeed a “second superpower.” We still have that power and in the coming year we will continue to use it to move forward the cause of peace and justice. In the face of a global recession and a sick U.S. economy, our message of peace and our solutions are more relevant than ever.

UFPJ will continue to call for an end to occupations and U.S. military aggression around the world. We will continue to pressure for a shift in spending priorities from war making to human needs. As part of the 99% we call on the wealthy and on corporations to pay their fair share, especially in this time of need. In 2012 we will continue to advocate for a vision of a world beyond war, where political and economic equity and peace and justice are shared aspirations.

Our work is not yet done, and new opportunities to create peace and justice emerge every day. Power To The Peaceful and persistent!

The post UFPJ’s Statement on Iraq appeared first on United For Peace and Justice.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Cole Harrison, Boston, 617-466-9274, cole@masspeaceaction.org

Elsa Rassbach, Bonn, 011-40-170-738-1450, elsarassbach@gmail.com, skype: elsarassbach

 Protest Bonn II Afghanistan Conference

They Talk of Peace But Wage War

On December 5th more than 1000 delegates from 90 countries, including 65 foreign ministers, are expected in Bonn, Germany for the “Bonn II” or Petersberg II Conference to plan the future of Afghanistan after troop withdrawal in 2014.  Yet parallel to Bonn II, the US is negotiating a US-Afghan Strategic Partnership Agreement that will allow US troops, special forces units, and air power to remain in Afghanistan until 2024 and joint military bases beyond 2024 — even though all of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries are opposed to a long-term US military presence in the region.  NATO members such as Germany have announced that they will also keep troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014.

United for Peace and Justice’s Afghanistan Working Group salutes the many German citizens — peace activists, trade unionists, parliamentary representatives, members of religious organizations, students, retirees, and many more — who will gather in Bonn this weekend to protest Bonn II under the banner: “They talk of peace but wage war.” They rightly criticize Bonn II as a “farce” and a public relations ploy designed to placate international outrage at the continuing war and occupation in Afghanistan.

Bonn II will take place exactly ten years after the first Bonn Conference was held on December 5, 2001, convened by the United Nations after the fall of the Taliban regime. The first Bonn Conference named Hamid Karzai as President of Afghanistan, empowered the warlords in the Afghan Parliament, and led to the UN mandate for ISAF- NATO troops in Afghanistan.  It did not lead to peace.

Bonn II will fail to bring peace to Afghanistan and the region, because peace cannot be attained as long as foreign troops remain there. Indeed, Pakistan recently withdrew its participation from the Bonn conference following the recent NATO cross-border attack into Pakistan that killed at least 24 Pakistani soldiers. While talking of peace, the US and NATO continue drone attacks and targeted assassinations. They continue the killings of civilians, including many children. Under the plan for a partial withdrawal of US and NATO troops, many will in fact stay in Afghanistan, reclassified as “trainers” of Afghan soldiers, police, and mercenaries.  This attempted “Afghanization” of the war under US and NATO command is doomed to failure, just as the US  “Vietnamization” in the 1970s failed: the Afghan people and the people of the region seek self-determination.

We, the 99% on both sides of the Atlantic, also suffer from this seemingly endless war and occupation.  63% of the US people and more than 70% in Germany oppose the war in Afghanistan.  In a time of economic hardship, the military costs of NATO’s Afghanistan intervention have already passed $1 trillion, with the US spending $525 billion, the EU $400 billion, and other ISAF partners $100 billion.  Meanwhile, 14 million are unemployed in the US, yet the government has no adequate jobs plan; instead, teachers are laid off, schools and libraries are closed, our infrastructure is crumbling, and nothing is done about looming environmental disaster,

The U.S. Senate bowed to popular sentiment and called for accelerated withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan on November 30, passing the Merkely amendment to the 2012 Defense Authorization bill which requires the President to present a new withdrawal plan to Congress within 90 days.

Here in the U.S., UFPJ will join with the Network for a NATO-Free World: Global Peace and Justice in sponsoring a counter-summit conference in Chicago, May 18-19, 2012, when both NATO and the G8 will be meeting in Chicago. The counter-summit will call for complete withdrawal of all US and NATO troops from Afghanistan among other demands: https://www.unitedforpeace.org/?p=112

The Bonn demonstrations are called by more than 170 German organizations and numerous individuals: http://www.afghanistanprotest.de/aufruf/liste-der-unterzeichnungen.html. They will be joined by  Malalai Joya of Afghanistan, author Tariq Ali and MP Jeremy Corbyn of the UK, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Mairead Maguire of Ireland, and Alyn Ware of New Zealand.   Joseph Gerson of the American Friends Service Committee, a founding member of UFPJ, will also address the Bonn rally.

We stand in solidarity with those protesting in Bonn this weekend and join with them to demand an immediate ceasefire, an end to the war in Afghanistan, withdrawal of all US-NATO troops and military facilities, and devotion of significant resources to help rebuild Afghanistan for the benefit of the Afghan people.

–          UFPJ Afghanistan Working Group, December 2, 2011

The post Press Advisory: They Talk of Peace But Wage War appeared first on United For Peace and Justice.

We stand in solidarity with the hibakusha – the aging survivors of the atomic bombs dropped by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 65 years ago, who have recognized that, “Regardless of whether atomic energy is used for peaceful purposes or for destructive reasons, the result is the same and it poses serious risks to all populations.”

We stand in solidarity with Gensuikyo, the Japan Council against A& H Bombs, http://www.antiatom.org/GSKY/en/index.html which has declared: “As a movement working on the basis of the tragic experiences of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the prevention of any more calamity and for a total ban on nuclear weapons, we… urge the Japanese government to make its all-out effort to avert the worst situation of catastrophic exposure of the entire nation to radiation…. The ongoing disaster at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant once again shed light to the tremendous danger of continued dependence on nuclear power especially in Japan, the most earthquake-prone country of the world…. We have urged the immediate halt to the new construction of nuclear power plants, and called for an all-out examination of existing nuclear power plants…. Further, we urge it to give priority to the development and promotion of alternative energy resources.”

We stand in solidarity with the the Citizens Nuclear Information Centre whose Urgent Demands Regarding the Nuclear-Earthquake Disaster at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants, signed by 258 groups and 1010 individuals, were delivered to officials from the Japanese Agency for Natural Resources and Energy and the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency on April 4.  These demands include expanding the mandatory evacuation zone around the Fukushima Daiichi Plant from 20km to 30km, establishing compensatory measures for damage due to radioactive contamination of agricultural products within and outside the 30km zone, decommissioning all the nuclear reactors of both Fukushima Daiichi and Daini Nuclear Power Plants, and immediate redirection of Japan’s energy policy to a phase out of nuclear power generation.

We stand in solidarity with the Peace Boat, whose relief teams are on the ground providing direct assistance to the Japanese survivors in the earthquake and tsunami affected region, and with Peace Boat U.S., which is raising funds to support these emergency relief efforts by their affiliate organization in Japan. Peace Boat sent advance teams to the affected areas to collect information about the damage and needs, and to deliver aid including blankets, food and masks. They also delivered meals to two hospitals where patients had run out of food. Peace Boat is currently conducting assessments of the needs and current situation in each evacuation center in the area.

Gensuikyo’s members and member organizations are also providing relief in affected communities, even as they continue their newly launched signature campaign urging the complete abolition of nuclear weapons. From the first days following the earthquake, Zenroren, a public sector labor union has been sending doctors and medical relief into devastated communities. Shinfujin, the New Japan Womens’ Association, is arranging for children in areas of continuing nuclear risk to be sheltered with their members in other parts of Japan.

Shinfujin has also appealed to its friends in the U.S. peace community to ask President Obama and Congress to end the U.S. requirement that Japanese taxpayers provide what is euphemistically called a “sympathy budget.”  This allocation is roughly $2.6 billion a year and pays for Japanese workers at and upkeep of the more than 100 U.S. military bases and installations across Japan. As Shinfujin eloquently explains: “With the unprecedented scale of damage in Tohoku region… and the possible radiation contamination, we need money for the rescue work and for assisting the people who barely survived to recover. In the long run, Japan will need more and more money not only for the reconstruction of the disaster-stricken areas but also for recovering from the economic and human losses we are facing as a whole nation. We cannot afford sustaining U.S. military bases and daily life of the military families any more while we need money to help our fellow people living in sorrow, grief and fear to get back to their normal life as soon as possible, although life will not be the same as it used to be.”

UFPJ urgently calls for complete transparency and full disclosure by the Japanese and U.S. governments and the International Atomic Energy Agency regarding the status of the Fukushima nuclear facilities and the continuing radiation releases, as well as full public disclosure of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization monitoring reports of radiation plumes circling the planet that have so far been released only to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organization, so that the abused public can make informed choices.

We call for independent safety inspections of all U.S. nuclear power plants and immediate closure of those found lacking. Local communities must be involved in assessing safety margins, such as uncertainties regarding the history of seismic activity in the region, and developing emergency and evacuation plans.

We call for cancellation of plans to build any new U.S. nuclear power plants, denial of permits for license renewals at existing plants, and phase-out and closure of all remaining plants.

We call for an end to off-shore oil drilling, mountain-top mining and “fracking” for natural gas; withdrawal from our addiction to fossil fuels, and a massive investment in clean, renewable, sustainable decentralized energy sources, including solar, wind and tidal.

We call for closure of U.S. military bases in Japan and around the world, and redirection of resources to meet human needs, including environmentally sustainable energy alternatives. And we reaffirm our call for the immediate commencement of negotiations for the verifiable, global abolition of nuclear weapons within a timebound framework.

To support direct humanitarian relief efforts in Japan, please donate to Peace Boat U.S.
Tax exempt contributions for Zenroren’s relief efforts can be sent via the U.S. United Electrical Workers Union.

*UFPJ works we many allied organizations in Japan – only a few are mentioned here. We worked closely with Gensuikyo, Shinfujin and Peace Boat in organizing the “No Nukes! No Wars!” marches and rallies in New York City in connection with the May 2005 and 2010 five-year review conferences of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The post UFPJ Statement on Japan’s Triple Crisis appeared first on United For Peace and Justice.