#31 An Ending-War Plan, Drones, Belfast (July 2013)

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How Do We End War? An Action Plan

AFWW founder Judith Hand attended the recent conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland organized by the Nobel Women's Initiative, the theme of which was "Moving Beyond Militarism and War: Women-driven Solutions for a Nonviolent World." (see the block below). She took with her the skeleton of an action plan for organizing and energizing a directed-action movement that has the potential to bring an end to war in two generations or less.

In a new blog post she writes: "For over ten years I've studied war. And I've concluded from my perspective as an evolutionary biologist that if we want it bad enough and make the choice to act, we can end war. And a fascinating pattern emerges when I speak with long-time, dedicated peace activists, people who have spent years struggling to end war. In one way or another they ask me the same question. Not, can we end war? They believe we can and have been trying mightily to do it. The question they ask is, how?"

You can read Dr. Hand's article on this topic, which in addition to How? includes a brief explanation of Why? Why can humanity achieve a goal at this time in history that no other people before us have been able to achieve? In addition, a page that links to the skeleton of the action plan she took to Belfast can be found on the AFWW website. 
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Belfast, 2013, Nobel Women and Ending War

In late May 2013 the Nobel Women's Initiative, a project of six of the living women Nobel Peace Prize winners, hosted a conference in Belfast Northern Ireland entitled "Women Beyond War."  The theme was "Moving Beyond Militarism and War: Women-driven Solutions for a Nonviolent World."
PictureNobel Women's Initiative the Six Laureates Leymah Gbowee, Mairead MaGuire, Shrin Ebadi, Jody Williams, Tawakkol Karman, Rigoberta Menchu Tum
Over 100 grassroots activists, scholars, and philanthropists from around the globe attended the invitation-only conference to share ideas and network. A Future Without War's founder, Judith Hand, was a participant and shared her Action Plan for a global, direct-action movement to end war. In the photo below she is center-right, dressed in white. Videos from the conference plenary talks and workshops can be found on the NWI website. The NWI blog provides a full list of content including photos, video, tweet manuscripts, Laureate blogs, media coverage and more. 
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Drones - Friend or Foe?

What are drones? Why are so many people gravely concerned about the rapid acceleration of the use of drones?

This technology-which allows us to build aerial, unmanned flying machines-has enormous power. Power to rob individuals of their privacy, and power to create havoc with global security that affects us all.

In early April 2013 several dozen organizations deeply concerned with the public's alarming ignorance of the growing use of drones and the threats they pose organized four days of "drone awareness" in San Diego, California.

The video created by AFWW, Drones-Friend or Foe? 
  • introduces drones,
  • gives examples of the many kinds already existing,
  • documents the four days of drone awareness that highlight problematic dangers drones pose for U.S. citizens,
  • describes some of many positive services drones can provide,
  • and challenges viewers with the task to oversee the regulation of drone use.
This informative video can be found on YouTube.com
Quotable Quote 
 
"Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose." 
Helen Keller 
   
 
 A Good Book
 
War Is a Racket -
Marine Major General Smedley Butler. An insiders view of war as a business machine, which since it does so much harm should by any sane standards be considered a criminal enterprise.
   
 
A Good Movie
  
Lord of War.  Starring Nicholas Cage. Arms dealer confronts the immorality of war and the machine that supports it. 
A Future Without War
Believe in it.
Envision it.
Work for it.
And we will achieve it.
 
QuickLinks
These three quick links are to Dr. Hand's core articles on paradigm shift:
To Abolish War
Shaping the Future
Paradigm Shift: Swift and Enduring

More Links:
How Long Ending War Would Take
Why Women Are the Key to Security
The Nine Cornerstones
AFWW Newsletter Archives
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Now with their book Sex and World Peace, four authors, Valerie M. Hudson, Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill, Mary Caprioli and Chad F. Emmett, present solid data from numerous sources that document the relationship of women's empowerment to creating socially stable and less violent societies and nations.

If you are interested in the possibility of ending war and of understanding the role that women can play in making that vision a reality, these two books should be considered required reading.

Sex and World Peace is a rich trove of data that strengthens the argument that women's security and social stability are entwined: the greater security women have within a society, the less inclined such a society is to initiate internal or external wars.

The authors make clear that what they are presenting in Sex and World Peace is the evidence for correlation of this relationship of women to the nature of their societies. Women, Power, and the Biology of Peace offers the biological explanation for why women's influence in a community or society does not just correlate with social stability, why women's influence is causative.
A Future Without War
About A Future Without War

We want to provide newsletter readers with a reminder about our extensive website,  www.afww.org. The materials can be a reference for personal use, something to share with friends or colleagues who doubt that it would ever be possible to abolish war, and as thought pieces to stimulate discussions, for example, by your students, a book group, or peace activist organizations. You will find on the site:
  • A Mission Statement
  • An Action Plan
  • Keynote Speech - Åbo University, Vaasa, Finland 2014 - "War is Not Inevitable"
  • Capstone Essay: "To Abolish War"
  • "Overview" Essays - 7 essays explaining the core rationale for why it is reasonable to believe we could abolish war if we make it a priority.
  • "Cornerstone" Essays - 9 essays explaining each of the broad categories of "good works" that we need to attend to simultaneously in any campaign to abolish war and maintain that state into the future.
  • "The Books" - a Table of Contents, reviews, and FREE download of Women, Power, and the Biology of Peace, links to purchase that book and also A Future Without War: the Strategy of a Warfare Transition"
  • A Link to the AFWW Blog
  • A Map of Nonviolent Cultures
  • A Video of Dr. Hand
  • Several Movie and Book Reviews
  • Archives of AFWW Newsletters
  • Links to over 150 Organizations involved in some aspect of the campaign to abolish war
  • Miscellaneous AFWW Essays​
These are titles of and links to current Miscellaneous AFWW Essays 
A Future Without War ​