Sign and circulate a petition to abolish nuclear weapons. The petition is available for download.  An online version may be signed here .

New York City Events May 2010:

Join the Rally, March and International Peace & Music Festival on Sunday May 2.

Participate in the International Peace Conference at Riverside Church on April 30 (eve) and May 1 – registration will be available at  http://peaceandjusticenow.org/   Please also contact nffchairs@wilpf.org if you are a WILPF member and wish to attend.  Provide your name, branch, email and phone.

For details, updates and resources for the April 30 to May 2 events visit http://www.peaceandjusticenow.org.

At the UN in New York:

The Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty Review Conference (NPT Rev Con) will take place from May 3 to May 28 and WILPF's Reaching Critical Will Project  is the go-to site for UN based NGO events and information about the NPT.   

New!:  Modeled on the very successful Practicums held during the Commission on the Status of Women meetings, WILPF is holding a Practicum in Advocacy at the United Nations for 20 participants during the NPT Rev Con. (fully enrolled)

Walking the Walk and Talking the Talk: Proposition 1 in 2010 is a campaign to redirect Resources from War to Human and Environmental Needs.  Carrying this message, international peace activists will leave Washington on April 8, 2010 to walk through Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, Princeton and points in between, before arriving in New York on April 30 to participate in the NPT events. Afterward, WILPF branches in New England will have an opportunity to sponsor events and home stays, as the campaign heads north to encourage voter support for the "Nuclear Disarmament and Economic Conversion Act" (HR-1653 in 2009-2010), which would use the money currently spent on nuclear weapons to convert the war machine and provide for human needs. To invite the crew, contact Ellen Thomas et@prop1.org  202-210-3886 or Jay Marx marxjay@gmail.com 202-368-4690.
Links for more information:
Walk for Nuclear Disarmament and Abolition: http://nptwalk2010.org
Proposition One in 2010 Campaign http://prop1.org and http://propositiononein2010.blogspot.com

Work in your own community:

City and town project: This toolkit has everything you need to pass local resolutions by your city council, aldermen or town meeting to express their support for nuclear abolition, sending a message to the Obama administration.  Find it at Massachusetts Peace Action.

Educate and lobby locally with ANA resources:  “Ending the Nuclear Threat: Protecting Our Communities and Our World” was the theme for the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) DC Days in March. The 2010 fact sheets can be used for education and local lobby work. Find them at the ANA website.

Beyond May and the NPT events:

June 5 is International Nuclear Weapons Abolition Day.  As we continue to press for nuclear abolition, it is fitting to protest continued testing of nuclear warhead delivery systems by our country.  
Despite President Obama’s promises in Prague to pursue a nuclear weapons free future, two ICBM test launches (with dummy warheads) are scheduled for June 2010 from Vandenberg Air Force base / Space Command near Lompoc California to Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands.

For more information and slide shows on missiles and the use of space based assets for war, check out MacGregor Eddy's website at www.vandenbergwitness.org and a blog at http://vandenbergprotest-macgregor.blogspot.com

Nuclear Disarmament Day Petition A national observance of Nuclear Disarmament Day on August 6, the anniversary of the bombing of the civilian population of Hiroshima, Japan, is an initiative of the Disarm Committee.
You can sign the petition online here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/nucleardisarmamentday/  
The first statewide Nuclear Disarmament Day was observed on August 6, 2009 in Vermont.  Burlington, Vermont and New Haven, Connecticut are the first two cities to observe the day. Members of the Disarm Committee continue to lobby Congress with thousands of signatures on the petition to make August 6 a national day of remembrance as Nuclear Disarmament Day.

Contact Margaret Harrington: Margaret@English-Advantage.com for ideas and information about this campaign.

Questions or suggestions? Contact nffchairs@wilpf.org.

January 2010: Jean Verthein, NGO Representative for WILPF, US to the United Nations, has written an excellent report on WILPF activities at the United Nations, where WILPF has official consultive status.

To view and download this report, click here.

Here is an excerpt from that report:

"WILPFers and Friends of WILPF at UN DPI/NGO Conference, Mexico City

Nuclear disarmament strategies, military budgets and gang use of small arms stirred about 1300 attendees at the recent UN conference for NGOs. Such issue panels prepared the groundwork for the Review of the Non-Proliferation Treaty in May 6 through May 26, 2010.

The whole peace effort to back the NPT, other treaties and initiatives sprang out of the August 6 and 9 US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

As diplomats convene on the NPT itself, side events will occur in buildings around the closed UN building under repair. Governmental disarmament agencies will track developments under the existing NPT.

NGOs and their coalitions will host thematic meetings. Torchlight parades and marches will pass through many countries and end up in New York City.

To prepare for the NPT Review in May 2010. six WILPF members participated in this process at the annual United Nations Department of Information this past fall in Mexico City on disarmament."