Report to UN Secretary-General on NAPF
Disarmament Education Activities: July 2014 – June 2016
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF) has been educating people in the United States and around the world about the urgent need for the abolition of nuclear weapons since 1982. Based in Santa Barbara, California, the Foundation’s mission is to educate and advocate for peace and a world free of nuclear weapons, and to empower peace leaders.
The following document was submitted to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. It will make up a portion of the “Report of the Secretary-General to the 71st Session of the General Assembly on the Implementation of the Recommendations of the 2002 UN Study on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Education.”
Websites
www.wagingpeace.org
NAPF’s primary website, www.wagingpeace.org, serves as an educational and advocacy tool for the general public concerned about nuclear weapons issues. Between July 2014-June 2016, there were over 750,000 unique visitors to the site. The Waging Peace site covers current nuclear weapons policy and other relevant issues of global security. It includes information about the Foundation’s activities and offers visitors the opportunity to participate in online advocacy and activism. The site additionally offers a unique archive section containing thousands of articles and essays on issues ranging from nuclear weapons policy to international law and youth activism.
www.nuclearfiles.org
The Foundation’s educational website, www.nuclearfiles.org, details a comprehensive history of the Nuclear Age. It is regularly updated and expanded. By providing background information, an extensive timeline, access to primary documents and analysis, this site is one of the preeminent online educational resources in the field. During this reporting period, there were 550,000 unique visitors to the Nuclear Files site.
www.nuclearzero.org
The Nuclear Zero website, www.nuclearzero.org, keeps the public up to date with hot off-the-press news developments surrounding the nuclear disarmament lawsuits filed in April 2014 by the Republic of the Marshall Islands against all nine nuclear-armed nations at the International Court of Justice and against the United States in U.S. Federal Court. By providing consistent access to information regarding the lawsuits, the site supports the Marshall Islands in holding nuclear weapons states accountable by keeping the public informed. A petition on the site in support of the RMI lawsuits has gathered over five million signatures.
Social Networking
The Foundation actively engages with members of the public through the online social networking sites Facebook (www.facebook.com/wagingpeace), YouTube (www.youtube.com/nuclearagepeace), and Twitter (www.twitter.com/napf). Through targeted use of these tools, the Foundation has been able to reach new audiences with its educational and inspirational material.
Publications
Why Our World Needs Peace Literacy
Informational Booklet
NAPF Peace Leadership Director Paul K. Chappell wrote this informational booklet about the seven forms of peace literacy. Peace literacy is the next step in the development of our global civilization because of its necessity in an interconnected world where the fate of every nation is tied to the fate of our planet.
Available online at: https://www.wagingpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/peace_literacy.pdf
Humanize Not Modernize
Informational Booklet
Humanize Not Modernize discusses the five reasons why the United States should not waste $1 trillion modernizing its nuclear arsenal and the 10 worthy ways to reallocate those funds. This informational booklet aims to make the shift from modernizing the U.S. nuclear arsenal to humanizing our planet.
Available online at: https://www.wagingpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/humanize_not_modernize.pdf
15 Moral Reasons to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
Informational Booklet
NAPF President David Krieger wrote these 15 moral reasons to abolish nuclear weapons. Ending the nuclear weapons threat is up to us all. There is no room for complacency.
Available online at: https://www.wagingpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/15_moral_reasons.pdf
Nuclear Zero: Spiritual Leaders Speak Out
Informational Booklet
This short booklet contains quotes from nine spiritual leaders from around the world in favor of the abolition of nuclear weapons. Spiritual leaders around the world agree: we share a common responsibility to protect creation.
Available online at: https://www.wagingpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/nuclearzero_believe.pdf
Sunflower E-Newsletter
The Sunflower is the Foundation’s free monthly electronic newsletter provided to over 75,000 online members. It provides summaries of current issues of global security, nuclear policy, disarmament, proliferation, energy, waste, missile defense, resources and action items, as well as current and upcoming Foundation activities. NAPF publishes 12 issues annually at the beginning of each month.
Current and back issues can be found on the Foundation’s website at https://www.wagingpeace.org/resources/sunflower/.
Books
NAPF Peace Leadership Director Paul K. Chappell authored two books during the reporting period. The Art of Waging Peace (2015) offers new and practical solutions in today’s struggle to stop war, terrorism and other global problems. By sharing his own personal struggles with childhood trauma, racism, and berserker rage, Chappell explores the anatomy of war and peace, giving strategies, tactics, and leadership principles to resolve inner and outer conflict. The Cosmic Ocean (2015) is Mr. Chappell’s most recent book. To survive and progress as a global human family, Chappell explains that we need a paradigm shift that can transform our understanding of peace, justice, love, happiness, and what it means to be human. To help create this paradigm shift, The Cosmic Ocean explores diverse subjects such as empathy, rage, nonviolent struggle, war, beauty, religion, philosophy, science, Gandhi, the Iliad, slavery, human sacrifice, video games, sports, and our shared humanity.
NAPF President David Krieger published four books during this reporting period. WAKE UP! (2015) is a compilation of Dr. Krieger’s piercing and thought-provoking peace poetry. ZERO: The Case for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (2nd edition, 2015) is a collection of Dr. Krieger’s short essays that together make a strong case for the urgent abolition of nuclear weapons. Summer Grasses (2014) is an anthology of war poetry collected over the years by Dr. Krieger. Speaking of Peace: Quotations to Inspire Action (3rd edition, 2014) is a collection of quotations on peace, war and the human spirit. These quotations were selected by David Krieger to encourage thought and inspire action toward a more peaceful and nuclear weapon-free world.
Articles and Op-Eds
NAPF President David Krieger and Director of Programs Rick Wayman have had numerous letters to the editor and op-eds published during the reporting period. Media outlets publishing content from Dr. Krieger and Mr. Wayman include The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Santa Barbara News-Press, Truthout, Counterpunch, Hiroshima Peace Media Center and Pressenza.
Public Lectures
Frank K. Kelly Lecture on Humanity’s Future
This endowed lecture is named for Frank K. Kelly, a co-founder and Senior Vice President of the Foundation. The lecture focuses on hope and inspiration for a positive future for humanity, and is presented annually by a distinguished individual and subsequently published and distributed by the Foundation. The 2015 Kelly Lecture was delivered by Helen Caldicott who was named by the Smithsonian as one of the most influential women of the 20th century and is renowned as a prominent and influential speaker on nuclear weapons and the fate of the Earth. Her lecture was entitled “Preserving the Future.” The 2016 Kelly Lecture was delivered by Robert Scheer, one of the nation’s most outspoken and progressive journalists, professor of Communications at the University of Southern California, and Editor-in-Chief of Truthdig.com. The title of his lecture was “War, Peace, Truth and the Media.” Transcripts and videos of all of the Kelly Lectures are available on the Foundation’s website at https://www.wagingpeace.org/programs/public-events/kelly-lecture/.
Lectures at Universities and Other Public Venues
In the past two years, NAPF staff members have given over 100 public lectures in many US states as well as in Uganda, Germany, Austria, Canada, Mexico and Japan. Audiences are specifically challenged to think critically about nuclear weapons and join NAPF in taking action for a nuclear weapon-free world.
NAPF has also worked with over 50 universities around the United States to arrange screenings of the film Nuclear Savage: The Islands of Secret Project 4.1, which details the effects of U.S. nuclear weapons testing on the people of the Marshall Islands. Rick Wayman, NAPF’s Director of Programs, spoke to many of these university groups about the film and about the Marshall Islands’ nuclear disarmament lawsuits either in person or via skype video chat.
Speakers Bureau
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation maintains a Speakers Bureau featuring numerous Foundation representatives available to speak on many different aspects of peace and nuclear disarmament. More information is available online at https://www.wagingpeace.org/about/speakers-bureau/.
Empowering the Public
Internship Program
The Foundation provides internship opportunities to select college student during the academic year to work with staff on current peace and security issues. Interns conduct research, write analysis of issues, work on the websites and gain valuable insight into the workings of an NGO.
During the Summer, the Foundation offers three full-time paid internships through a competitive application process. Students come from all around the United States and abroad to work at the Foundation’s Santa Barbara office. During this reporting period, NAPF hosted 23 interns.
Peace Leadership Program
The NAPF Peace Leadership Program is led by Paul K. Chappell, a West Point graduate and Iraq War veteran. The program is designed to provide educators, students and activists with the skills they need to effectively wage peace every day. The program seeks to develop peace leadership that will achieve a world free of nuclear weapons through innovative training in leadership, interpersonal communication and conflict resolution.
The program has a comprehensive and targeted approach, providing lectures to high school students, colleges, veteran groups, churches and activist organizations throughout the United States and other countries and two-, three-, and five-day courses to foster leadership that promotes peace in our communities.
Awards and Contests
Swackhamer Disarmament Video Contest
The Foundation has held a video contest annually since 2008 seeking videos of three minutes or less on specific topics related to nuclear disarmament. The 2015 contest received 60 entries on the topic “The Imperative of Reaching Nuclear Zero: The Marshall Islands Stands Up for All Humanity,” in which contestants discussed reasons for supporting the Marshall Islands’ nuclear disarmament cases at the International Court of Justice and U.S. Federal Court. The 2016 contest received 52 entries on the topic “Humanize, Not Modernize,” in which contestants outlined reasons why nuclear-armed nations should not “modernize” their nuclear arsenals.
Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Awards
This annual series of awards encourages poets to explore and illuminate positive visions of peace and the human spirit. The Poetry Awards include three age categories: Adult, Youth 13-18, and Youth 12 & Under. The Foundation has published a book of the winning poems for the first seven years of the Awards, The Poetry of Peace (2003), and a sequel containing the winning poems for the years 2003-10 entitled Never Enough Flowers: The Poetry of Peace II (2012). In 2014, the contest received 140 entries. In 2015, the contest received 408 entries. In 2016, the contest received over 1,600 entries, the majority of which came from the Youth 13-18 category.
Distinguished Peace Leadership Award
The Distinguished Peace Leadership Award is presented annually to individuals who have demonstrated courageous leadership in the cause of peace. The Foundation has, on occasion, also presented a Lifetime Achievement Award for peace leadership. The award is presented at the Foundation’s Annual Evening for Peace in Santa Barbara, California. Instituted in 1984, past recipients of the award include His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Captain Jacques Cousteau, Dr. Helen Caldicott, Jody Williams, King Hussein of Jordan, Walter Cronkite and Daniel Ellsberg. In 2014, NAPF honored Medea Benjamin, the co-founder of the social justice organization CODEPINK and the international human rights organization Global Exchange. In 2015, NAPF honored Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and an outspoken advocate for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Memberships
Abolition 2000
Abolition 2000 is a network of over 2000 organizations in more than 90 countries working for a global treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. NAPF was a founding organization in 1995. For more information, visit www.abolition2000.org.
Alliance for Nuclear Accountability
The Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA) supports over 30 member organizations and groups who are working throughout the country to empower citizens to take action and to protest an opaque and mismanaged nuclear complex. ANA works to find solutions that can achieve a vision of a modern society that runs off renewable energy sources, has verifiably dismantled the world’s nuclear arsenal, and has responsibly disposed of our nuclear waste. For more information, visit www.ananuclear.org.
Amplify: Generation of Change
NAPF Director of Programs Rick Wayman is Co-Chair of Amplify, a growing international network of the younger generation of leaders in the field of nuclear abolition. The Amplify network is uniting youth from all over the world to create opportunities for future collaborations transcending strategic differences. The network’s goal is to amplify and strengthen the call for complete nuclear abolition by taking action, raising our voices and pursuing nuclear abolition in our communities and countries. For more information, visit www.amplifyyouth.org.
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)
ICAN is a global campaign coalition working to mobilize people in all countries to inspire, persuade and pressure their governments to initiate and support negotiations for a treaty banning nuclear weapons. The campaign was launched in 2007, and now has more than 400 partner organizations in 95 countries. For more information, visit www.icanw.org.
International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility (INES)
INES is a network of some 80 organizations in 34 countries concerned about the impact of science and technology on society. The Foundation provides support and leadership for the Network and regularly participates in its conferences and workshops. For more information, visit www.inesglobal.com.
International Peace Bureau (IPB)
IPB is comprised of 300 member organizations in 70 countries, together with individual members, to form a global network, bringing together knowledge and campaigning experience in a common cause. IPB links experts and advocates working on similar issues in order to build strong civil society movements. For more information, visit www.ipb.org.
Middle Powers Initiative
The Foundation is a founding member of the Middle Powers Initiative (MPI), a coalition of eight international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) seeking the cooperation of middle power governments and civil society in pursuit of a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons worldwide. For more information, visit www.middlepowers.org.
World Future Council
NAPF President David Krieger is Co-Chair of the Peace and Disarmament working group of the World Future Council. For more information on the World Future Council, visit www.worldfuturecouncil.org.