#NoWar2021 Schedule

#NoWar2021 is a unique event that brought together a global grassroots coalition of individuals and organizations around the topic of CANSEC and the global arms trade. As North America’s largest weapons expo, CANSEC typically brings together 12,000+ government and military officials and weapons industry reps from 55 countries to Ottawa each year. Due to the coronavirus pandemic and pressure from our coalition, CANSEC 2020-2021 has been postponed to 2022. But that doesn’t mean our work is over. We’re demanding the permanent cancellation of CANSEC and also drawing attention to the fact that CANSEC is a symptom of a larger problem – Canada’s and the world’s complicity in the global arms trade and the institution of war.

Instead of pouring trillions into weaponry, the world must invest in a just recovery from the pandemic and a green new deal that includes a just transition for arms industry workers. #NoWar2021 brought together key international allies to not only assist Canadian efforts to permanently #CancelCANSEC but also to share expertise from similar campaigns worldwide in the global struggle for war abolition.

Panels, discussion groups, workshops, and trainings covered a range of topics, such as: how to shut down a weapons expo, weapons in space, the global arms trade, war’s environmental footprint, divestment, digital storytelling, nonviolent civil resistance, and more.

Schedule:

Note: All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-04:00)

Friday, June 4, 2021

Explore the platform before the online conference starts and get familiar with the different features, including Main Stage, Sessions, Networking, and Expo.

Meet other conference participants using the Hopin Networking feature, plus browse the expo booths for our sponsoring organizations.

Shannon has been involved with the people’s intent to protect the land, animals and traditional way of life with the land, from land defending, to restoring Indigenous Governance, to building a Land Based Curriculum, to Anishnabe Odinewin Camps and taking part in Climate Change discussions in her homelands. Read Shannon’s full bio.
El Jones is a spoken word poet, an educator, journalist, and a community activist living in African Nova Scotia. She was the fifth Poet Laureate of Halifax. Read El’s full bio.
Featuring Rachel Small, Richard Sanders, Brent Patterson, Vanessa Lanteigne, and Dave Webb

Featuring Daniel Selwyn, Bianca Mugyenyi, and Hamza Shaiban. Moderator: David Swanson. This opening panel will introduce the conference theme, “From Weapons Fairs to War Zones: Unraveling the War Machine.” We will explore the flow of weapons from the mining and manufacturing processes to the peddling of weapons at expos like CANSEC (North America’s largest weapons expo) and Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) (one of the world’s largest arms fairs) to the first-hand experience of the impact of bombs dropped in Yemen. This panel shines a light on the disastrous human, environmental, and economic impacts of militarism in order to expose the pervasive global impact of war and make the case for a paradigmatic shift away from militarized foreign policy.

    • Peace Education: Please join the Chair of the Rotary Action Group for Peace (RAGFP) and World BEYOND War’s (WBW) Education Director for an interactive discussion about the role of peace education in contributing to a culture of peace. This session will also introduce a new intergenerational, cross-cultural, programme designed in collaboration with the RAGFP to engage youth and communities in processes of peace education and nonviolent direct action organising across 10 different countries. Moderators: Alison Sutherland and Phill Gittins.
    • Building Peace with Iran: Learn about the impact of sanctions and engage in a discussion about how to ease tensions and build peace with Iran. Moderator: Foad Izadi and Daniel Kovalik.
    • Young Peacebuilders in Action: What role can youth play in the promotion of peace and security? How can young peacebuilders empower each other with the skills necessary to make meaningful change? Join us for an interactive discussion where you will learn how youth can be at the forefront of peace advocacy and listen to peace stories from some members of the WBW Youth Network! Moderators: Chiara Anfuso, Angelo Cardona, Kasha Sequoia Slavner, and Tareq Layka.
    • War’s Ecological Impact: One of the most destructive of human behaviors, war is a leading contributor to the environmental crisis. We’ll examine the military’s carbon “bootprint” and military base contamination. This discussion will include analysis of the full lifecycle of weapons and war, from extracting the materials to operating weaponry. We’ll close by sharing strategies for resistance and demilitarization. Moderators: Brent Patterson and Tamara Lorincz.
    • War Tax Resistance: Tax resistance to paying for the military began hundreds of years ago and continues to this day. Let’s talk about the practicality and efficacy of refusing to pay for war. Moderator: Doug Hewitt-White, Lincoln Rice, and Robin Brookes.
    • Departments and Infrastructures for Peace: A conversation looking at ways to create ministries, departments, and other national infrastructures for peace, in order to implement a culture of peace and nonviolence globally. Moderators: Liz Remmerswaal and Saul Arbess.
    • Weapons in Space and the Conversion of the MIC: Who cares about an arms race in space? Is it far away and in the future? Let’s talk about what is going on with Space Force and the need to transform the war machine. Moderators: Bruce Gagnon, Dave Webb, and Mary Beth Sullivan.
    • Antiwar Veterans Meetup: A meetup for veterans turned anti-war activists. Friends and allies are also welcome to join this discussion! Moderators: Leah Bolger, Bill Geimer, and Bruce Moncur.
    • China Is Not Our Enemy Campaign: Join CODEPINK Co-Founder Jodie Evans in a rousing discussion on the context and history of bias, racism, exotification, and orientalism that inform many Western understandings of China, including the current warmongering from politicians seeking to manufacture consent to expand military funding and send more weapons, ships, and troops to the South China Sea. Moderator: Jodie Evans.
    • No to NATO: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is used by the U.S. for its cold war mongering in Europe and is now pushing NATO member states and NATO partners in Asia to do the same in Asia and the Pacific. Join us for a discussion about NATO war practice along the border with Russia and the actions in the South China Sea. Moderators: Barry Sweeney and Ann Wright.

Meet other conference participants using the Hopin Networking feature, plus browse the expo booths for our sponsoring organizations.

Saturday, June 5, 2021

Meet other conference participants using the Hopin Networking feature, plus browse the expo booths for our sponsoring organizations.

    • Divestment Workshop: Money makes the world go around, and we all know the expression “follow the money” but how do we find the money trail, and what then? Join this workshop to learn tools and tactics to cut off the flow of money to the weapons industry. From research, to advocacy, to action, there are options for everyone. As a case study, David will share the success story of divesting Charlottesville, VA from both weapons and fossil fuels. Workshop Facilitators: Carley Towne, Susi Snyder & David Swanson.
    • Shutting Down Weapons Expos: This workshop will share practical strategies and tactics on how to effectively shut down or disrupt weapons expos. We’ll hear three diverse perspectives from organizers in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK on what has worked – or not – in their respective contexts, and how these experiences can inform organizing against weapons expos around the world. We’ll also talk about how organizing has changed throughout the pandemic and effective use of virtual tactics. In this interactive session, participants can come on video to ask questions and share their organizing experiences as well. Workshop Facilitators: Siana Bangura, Zelda Grimshaw, and Te Ao Pritchard
    • How to Shut Down a Military Base: Save Sinjajevina: How a movement took on the military, and won a first crucial battle to dismantle a military ground! Montenegro joined NATO in 2017 and in 2018 rumors started to appear that the grasslands of Sinjajevina mountain, the biggest mountain pasture in the Balkans and the second largest in Europe, a unique landscape of immense natural and cultural value, part of the Tara River Canyon Biosphere Reserve, was going to be converted into a military training ground for Montenegro and NATO allies unconcerned about the immeasurable damage that this would bring upon its people and ecosystems. About 250 pastoralist families pass their summers rearing their animals in these highlands and more than 1.000 people have their livelihoods depend on it, while over 22,000 people live all year around it. In September 2019 the military ground was officially inaugurated while pastoralists were still in the area and in late 2020, a coalition of national environmental and human rights activists, pastoralists, and international NGOs organized a global and local resistance to a new military training exercise planned for October 2020. The movement that led its defence camped in the heart of the grasslands and the military training ground at almost 2,000m just before the military entered and worked as human shields to prevent new bombings and shootings. They resisted for more than 50 days in freezing conditions until the new minister of the Defence announced that the new training would be cancelled in the area for the time being while awaiting an alternative solution. In our session we will explain the details of how this success was achieved and our plans for the future. Workshop Facilitators: Pablo Domínguez, Milan Sekulovic, and Petar Glomazic

Meet other conference participants using the Hopin Networking feature, plus browse the expo booths for our sponsoring organizations.

    • Media Training 101 – Be Heard: Strategies for Traditional Media and Digital Storytelling: We can’t win the world we want if we can’t tell compelling stories and have them be heard. Join Katie Perfitt, National Organizer with 350.org, to learn about how we can win against our opponents in the battle of the story. In this session you’ll learn how to create a storytelling plan for your campaign or action, including tactics to get traditional media to work for you, and also how you can harness digital tools and social media to tell your story yourself! Participants can expect an interactive workshop and practical examples and case studies from Katie’s work in the Climate Justice movement. Workshop Facilitator: Katie Perfitt.
    • Nonviolent Direct Action Training: Why do we engage in direct action? How can I plan an action? In this workshop, Christian Peacemaker Teams brings an Introduction to direct action planning and preparedness. Topics to be covered will include: direct action tactics, action roles, preparing for possible arrest, and how the landscape of preparing for direct action changes based on your location. Workshop Facilitators: Mohammed Salah Mahdi and Julie Brown.
    • Corporate Research for Taking Action Against Wars and Militarism: An introduction to undertaking corporate research collectively to inform our strategizing on private companies that are profiting from military interventions, the global arms trade, and the militarization of police forces. What information do we need in order to strategize about a corporation, where might we find it, and how do we make sense of it in order to inform our campaigns and organizing, locally and beyond? Workshop Facilitator: Jen Moore and Anthony Fenton.

Meet other conference participants using the Hopin Networking feature, plus browse the expo booths for our sponsoring organizations.

Featuring Lynda Williams, Dave Webb & Bruce Gagnon. Moderator: Mary Beth Sullivan. The push to move the arms race into space is accelerating dramatically. The US is pulling out of arms control treaties and refusing to negotiate a total ban on weapons in space at the United Nations. At the same time the Pentagon is provocatively encircling Russia and China with ‘Missile Defense’ systems (the shield) that is a key element in first-strike attack planning. The nuclear industry also views space as a new market for their deadly product with planned nuclear mining colonies, nuclear reactors on rockets to Mars and nuclear reactors to power space-based weapons systems. Learn more about the work of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space as we organize to Keep Space for Peace.

Meet other conference participants using the Hopin Networking feature, plus browse the expo booths for our sponsoring organizations.

Sunday, June 6, 2021

Meet other conference participants using the Hopin Networking feature, plus browse the expo booths for our sponsoring organizations.

Amai Kuda is a Canadian-based singer-songwriter working to promote social justice through her self branded music of AfroSoul. Read Amai’s full bio.
Featuring Kelsey Gallagher, Bruce Moncur, and Kathy Kelly. Moderator: Geneviève Nevin. Foremost in our concerns as we look “Inside the Global Weapons Trade” will be those who are vulnerable because of being trapped in war zones or targeted by military and police attacks. Who benefits from international weapon peddling? What can we do to resist weapon proliferation and war profiteering? And how can we dismantle shadowy, secretive acquisition of weapons beyond any international controls? These are some of the issues the panel will address. Panelists are keen on learning from participants and promoting steps for concrete actions to nonviolently resist weapons and war.

Meet other conference participants using the Hopin Networking feature, plus browse the expo booths for our sponsoring organizations.

Featuring Sam Perlo-Freeman, Sam Gindin, and Taylor Barnes. Moderator: Simon Black. In working towards the abolition of the institution of war, this panel will highlight that demilitarization alone is not enough; we need a just transition to a peace economy that works for all. Especially throughout the past year of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been ever more apparent that there is an urgent need for a reorientation of government spending towards vital human needs. We’ll talk about the practicality of economic conversion by sharing real-world successful examples, concluding the conference on a hopeful note for a just, green, and peaceful future ahead.
Meet other conference participants using the Hopin Networking feature, plus browse the expo booths for our sponsoring organizations. Here’s a short guide on how to create a session during this portion of the event.

The COVID pandemic has forced us to rethink what global conferences look like and to re-imagine virtual spaces. It presents us with an opportunity to facilitate global exchange through the use of creative digital platforms. In spite of the pandemic, we can still organize, while at the same time saving money and reducing our carbon footprint by not flying around the world for international conferences.