INES NEWSLETTER No. 15 APRIL 1996
SUMMARY
Contents
STRATEGIC GOALS OF INES AFTER THE AMSTERDAM CONGRESS
The Program Committee of the Amsterdam Congress met in Dortmund on the 22nd to 23rd of March. This meeting was followed by a meeting, partly in the form of a telephone conference, of the Executive Committee.
A major topic for the discussions was how to channel the momentum generated by the Amsterdam Congress into lasting projects of INES. Some of the Congress workshops look like good candidates for transforming into continuing projects on, for instance, ethical questions in the context of technical trade unions, water and waste management and various aspects of sustainability.
The possibilities for creating a network for sustainable development will be sounded out. A meeting with prospective partners is scheduled for May.
It was strongly suggested that the cohesion among INES member organisations and the cooperation between them can be strengthened by arranging regional workshops. Such workshops would be largely self- reliant, i.e. the themes should be chosen and the organisation created by the member organisations in the region. Preparations for such a regional workshop in Russia, scheduled for Moscow in 1997, have already started. Other possible regions are Latin America, North America, South Asia and Europe.
INES will attain the mature age of five years in November this year. A special issue of the Newsletter is planned. It is also suggested that a small commemorative meeting will take place in Dortmund on November 10-11. It was also suggested that the anniversary should be distinguished by the publication of a leaflet "Ideas for the next Century - Science, Engineering and Sustainable Development."
In a network, the contribution of every member is equally important. You are therefore strongly encouraged to send your own ideas, suggestions or comments on any of the above topics or on how INES should look in the future to the INES Office or directly to the chairman
INES ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS
The networking e-mail discussion list inesnet has been operating since October 1994 (see Newsletter 11). Since March this year, we also have a mailing list for the Student Network of INES. For those wishing to join either or both of these lists, we give here the procedure:
1. Open a mail program on your computer
2. Send a mail message to:
3. In the body of your message write:
In reply, you will receive a confirmation and a list of commands.
Submissions to the lists are sent to or . When receiving a message from the list, do not use the "reply" facility of your mailing program unless you want your reply to be distributed to everyone on the list.
Please note that there is a small (but of course significant) change in the email address of the INES Office. The new address is
Southern California Federation of Scientists, Los Angeles, USA.
This is a small but experienced group of scientists concerned about arms control, economic conversion of military production and science in the public interest. Past exploits include a California Legislative conference on the mismanagement of the bomb laboratories at Livermore and Los Alamos, and disclosing to the world that Edward Teller had lied to the top levels of the U.S. government about the results of X-ray laser experiments at Livermore. Their two most recent publications are "Economic Conversion and Jobs" (Monthly Review, December 1994) and "Disposal of High-Level Nuclear Waste" (to be published by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation). Contact: Sheldon C. Plotkin, Ph.D., Southern California Federation of Scientists, 3318 Colbert Avenue, Suite 200 Los Angeles, CA 90066, USA. Tel. and fax: +1-.
Syndicat National des Travailleurs de la Recherche Scientifique - CGT, Paris, France.
The Syndicat comprises more than one thousand technical, scientific and administrative employees of three French state-financed research establishments devoted to research in physical, medical and computer science (CNRS, INSERM, INRIA). The Syndicat defends the moral, social and professional interests of their members. This organisation is also working for the abolition of nuclear weapons, disarmament, conversion and against the militarization of scientific research. They publish a journal and have already for a long time given support to INES activities like the Challenges Conference in Berlin in 1991 and INESAP (in particular through INES Council member Francois Clapier), and made them known in France. Contact: Jean OMNES, Secretary General, SNTRS-CGT, 25 Rue de Chevreuse, F-91400 Orsay, France. Tel.: +33-1-6907 6013, fax: +33-1-6907 5005. email:
The Schleswig-Holstein Institute for Peace Research (SHIP), Kiel, Germany.
This recently founded institute is attached to the Christian-Albrechts- University in Kiel. It focusses on conversion of military production and military sites and on cooperation in the Baltic region. One of the present projects is concerned with practical conversion through the transformation of miltary-oriented companies. The founding group was one of the co-organizers of the highly successful conversion conference in Kiel in March, 1995.
The non-proliferation network INESAP has established a home page at: http://www.th-darmstadt.de/ze/ianus/inesap.html
Of the INES member organizations, IANUS, Germany, can be found at http://www.th-darmstadt.de/ze/ianus/welcome.html and Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR), UK, at http://www.gn.apc.org/sgr/
INES COUNCIL MEETING 25 - 27 AUGUST 1996
The INES Council will meet immediately after the Amsterdam Conference in the Church Conference Center Driebergen about 35 km from Amsterdam. The meeting will start on the 25th of August and end on the 27th. Three issues will be high up on the agenda, viz.:
1. Picking up the momentum of the Amsterdam Congress.
2. Taking a fresh look at the INES projects.
3. Election of a new Executive Committee and appointment of individual Council members.
INES AND INESAP APPEAL TO HEADS OF STATE
A summit meeting by the "G7+1" group on nuclear security is taking place in Moscow in April this year. In a letter to the heads of state of the G7 countries (USA, Canada, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Japan) and the Russian Federation, signed by W. Liebert and H. Spitzer, INESAP and INES urge the leaders of these countries to do their utmost to overcome the present standstill in nuclear disarmament. A strong appeal is made for starting negotiations on a Nuclear Weapons Convention. The letter points out that the whole world is watching the decisions at the Moscow Nuclear Security Summit. As representatives of democratic societies, the leaders are committed to negotiating results which are for the best of the peoples they represent. Hence they should remove the nuclear threat menacing both the citizens of their own countries and those of others by launching negotiations towards a comprehensive Nuclear Weapons Convention.