[antiwar-van] Fw: [vancouver-activist] World Peace Forum--Vancouver 2005?

[Paul Browning]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: symphoricarpus 
To: vancouver-activist at yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2003 3:43 PM
Subject: [vancouver-activist] World Peace Forum--Vancouver 2005?


From: Ellen Woodsworth October 15, 2003
City Councillor and Vice-chair
Vancouver City Peace and Justice Committee

Dear Friends of Peace:

Do you think the City of Vancouver, in partnership with cities and
activists from Canada and around the world, should host a world peace
forum in 2005?

On September 29, Vancouver City's Peace and Justice Committee
approved the idea in principle and is now requesting feedback from
local-global activists and from cities regarding this proposal. We
want to know what you think before going any further.

Do you think U.S. militarism is threatening people around the world?
The illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq has unleashed untold
suffering and weakened international controls over aggression. The
deployment of National Missile Defence (Star Wars) threatens us with
a new arms race; and the U.S.-led world arms trade is once again on
the rise. Militarism not only threatens ours and our childrens'
safety, it is putting our environment at risk. Military expenditures
are robbing cities and other levels of government of the funds
necessary for social programs and sustainable human development.

Do we need a time and place to talk directly to one another? People
and whole cities across the globe have mobilized--the spring
demonstrations against the invasion of Iraq were the largest in world
history. The internet was an indispensable tool in organizing efforts
but can the Internet replace face-to-face, people-to-people dialogue?
Is it not time to take stock, to bring together representatives of
the "other superpower" the world's peoples, to tell their stories, to
sing, to dance, to strategize and to march for peace together?

Is Vancouver City the place to do this? It does have a progressive
city council that has a mandate until November 2005. And the city has
a tradition of peace activism. But perhaps such an event should be
held elsewhere?

Can we together gather the resources necessary to put on such an
event and to help peoples of developing countries, or the South, come
to Vancouver?

On November 24, the City's Peace and Justice committee will be making
its recommendation to city council. Let us know before then what you
think. Please send your views to <clrwoodsworth at city.vancouver.bc.ca>.

Sincerely
Ellen Woodsworth
City Councillor and Vice-chair
Vancouver City Peace and Justice Committee

clrwoodsorth at city.vancouver.bc.ca

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace, Earth & Justice News, Links, Toolkit: http://pej.ca
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Larry Kazdan, Secretary,
World Federalists of Canada - Vancouver Branch
lkazdan at shaw.ca
(604) 874-9982

http://www.vcn.bc.ca/wfcvb



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