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WHAT'S NEW IN INES? |
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No. 16/2002 |
Dateline: June 2, 2002 |
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This is the weekly electronic information service of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility
Editor: Tobias Damjanov, e-mail:
WNII is archived at: http://inesglobal.org/archive.htm
INES homepages: http://inesglobal.org http://www.inesglobal.com/
INES International Office
INES Chair: Prof. Armin Tenner [Please note that the first "1" in q18 is the number one, while the last "l" is an "L"]
CONTENTS of WNII No. 16/2002
Sir Joseph Rotblat: Open Letter to the University of California Community
Sir Joseph Rotblat, recipient of the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize, and an INES member, has sent the following Open Letter to the University of California Community.
Dear Students, Faculty and Staff of the UC Community:
My name is Joseph Rotblat. I am 93 years old. I worked as a scientist on the Manhattan Project to create the atomic bomb. I resigned from this project in late 1944 when I realized that the Germans would not succeed in creating their own atomic weapons and therefore the Allied powers would not need these weapons to deter the Germans.
Since that time I have worked for a world free of nuclear weapons. In 1955, I was one of 11 signatories of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto warning humanity about growing nuclear dangers. In 1957, I was a founder of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. In 1995, I received the Nobel Prize for Peace along with Pugwash for our efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
I am writing to ask you to take a great step forward for humanity by disassociating your great University from the oversight and management of the US nuclear weapons laboratories. For more than 50 years, the UC system has provided respectability to these laboratories that carry out research, develop and test nuclear weapons, weapons that could destroy civilization and probably the human species.
Please raise your voices and demand that the University of California get out of the business of making weapons of mass destruction. In doing so, you will send a message to your country and to the world. It is time to end the nuclear weapons threat to civilization and humankind. The students, faculty and staff of the University of California can help lead the way.
Remember your humanity!
Joseph Rotblat
"The SEU TIMES" No 6 (28) – May 2002
"The SEU TIMES" is the electronic newsletter of the "Socio-Ecological Union", one of the Russian INES member organisations.
The May 2002 edition No 3 (25) is a special edition entitled "New Lukoil Project Brings More Harm to Baltic Nature"
Editor: Sviatoslav Zabelin < > Previous issues of "The SEU Times" may be found at "The Online Gadfly": http://www.igc.org/gadfly
INESAP 2001 Annual Report
The Annual Report 2001 of INESAP is now available at: http://www.inesap.org
SPECIAL SECTION ON THE US MISSILE DEFENSE POLICY
Letter-writing campaign against the U.S. NMD programme (Source: Steve Freedkin, Publisher, ProgressivePortal.org)
ProgressivePortal.org has a letter-writing campaign against the U.S. NMD program, which you can find at: http://www.progressiveportal.org/letters/disarmament/
The letter goes to various U.S. Administration officials.
Since Progressive Portal was launched a year ago, more than 1.6 million letters have been sent via Progressive Portal. To give one example, the letter campaign started March 29 calling for all sides to de-escalate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has generated more than 336,000 letters already. The NMD letter has not had as much success yet. This could change if grassroots networks would encourage people to send the letter.
International Days of Protest to Stop the Militarization of Space
For the past two years the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space has organized an international day of protest in October to protest plans to move the arms race into space. Having seen the number of local actions double (115 actions in 19 countries) in 2001 over the previous year, the Global Network is calling for a week of events in 2002.
In addition to local protests at key space installations and U.S. embassies, groups are urged to organize events throughout the week that would include things like visits to political leaders, community teach-ins, meetings of religious leaders, visits to local schools, media work, and public displays.
The dates of October 4-11 were chosen to coincide with the pro-space "World Space Week" that annually promotes the aerospace industry agenda for space.
For details: http://www.space4peace.org < >
BASIC Missile Defense Update
INESAP Coordinator Regina Hagen has spread information that the British American Security Information Council (BASIC) is offering a regular information service on missile defense-related issues which is highly useful. The email account for subscription reads:
Abolition 2000 homepage: http://www.abolition2000.org Grassroots News: http://www.napf.org/abolition2000/news/
WNII Special: References concerning the India-Pakistan crisis
Because it would be much too lengthy to publish it here, I have compiled a WNII special containing
Upon request, you'll get this WNII references compilation which I am updating on a daily basis, as an rtf-formatted email attachment. From this list, you can order articles and statements from me which, again, would be mailed to you as rtf-formatted email attachments.
The editor
An eleven nations poll on nuclear issues (Forwarded by WNII reader Dr. Hiromichi Umebayashi, President/Executive Director, Peace Depot, and International Coordinator, Pacific Campaign for Disarmament and Security (PCDS), Japan)
According to the Japanese news paper Asahi Shimbun, an opinion poll, covering nuclear issues in part, was conducted from Feb to March this year in eleven nations involving Japan, the Republic of Korea (South Korea), the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa. It was conducted by the Liu Center for the Study of Global Issues at the University of British Columbia in cooperation with The Asahi Shimbun. The international research firm Ipsos-Reid fielded the survey. The survey canvassed the opinion of 6,036 respondents.
It is good to know that even amongst the US public sentiments after September 11th, the 76 percent of the US citizens support a treaty to ban nuclear weapons.
Dr Umebayashi is currently trying to get the original report in English but he has provided an excerpt* from the Asahi Shimbun article by personal translation, which is available from the WNII Editor as an rtf-formatted email attachment.
*This excerpt carries the following questions and answers:
You can contact Dr Umebayashi directly through: < >
IEER on the recent Bush-Putin agreement
The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER), a US-based INES member organisation, has issued its position on the occasion of a "Back From the Brink" press conference in Moscow on 21 May. Together with references to additional topical resources, it is available online at: http://www.ieer.org/comments/dsmt/summitmb.html
Nonproliferation Literature Review (NLR) (forwarded by Emily Schroeder, WILPF/Reaching Critical Will)
The Monterey, California/USA-based Nonproliferation Literature Review (NLR) is a current digest of nonproliferation, arms control, and international security literature.
Abolition 2000 Fissile Materials Inventory working group
The Abolition 2000 Fissile Materials Inventory working group is back in action and requires your participation! Termination of production of fissile material as well as adequate safety of existing fissile material is ever urgent, as recent events indicate. With potential for terrorist attacks, risk of accident and dangerous plans to store fissile material in Yucca mountain in the US and other inappropriate centralization and transportation plans in other countries, NGOs must be carefully watching and documenting our government's relevant policies.
WILPF's Reaching Critical Will project recently produced a report, centralizing vital information about the nuclear fuel cycle that we believe should form the basis of any reporting mechanism set up under the NPT.
The report documented holdings of fissile material and means of disposal in the 44 states with nuclear power or research reactors as listed in Annex II of the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).
The report can be found at http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/npt/shadowreport/ngoshadrepindex.html .
This information and organizing tool is a work in progress, and needs to be expanded with your help.
Please take a look at the current NGO Shadow Report, and review whether the information on your country (or any other country of interest) is correct. Then please send any corrections, additions, relevant articles or any suggestions for additional categories to me, Emily Schroeder, convener of the Fissile Materials Inventory working group, to the following email address: < >
We would like to have someone from every country update the draft Shadow Report by taking charge of the reporting from their country and mobilizing people to help get it done. Please volunteer to be a point person for your country, or help to find a suitable person.
Emily Schroeder
Japan Official Challenges Taboo on Nuclear Arms
One 1 June, Reuters quoted Japanese local media, Tokyo could review the self-imposed traditional ban, i.e. the "three principles," which ban the possession, production and import of nuclear arms. "The principles are just like the Constitution. But in the face of calls to amend the Constitution, the amendment of the principles is also likely," Kyodo news agency quoted the unidentified top government official as saying.
The mayor of Hiroshima, the city destroyed by the world's first nuclear bomb on August 6, 1945, added his voice to the debate. "I am concerned that the ultimate goal for the government is to become a country with nuclear weapons," Kyodo quoted Tadatoshi Akiba as saying. "The remarks will create a sense of mistrust about Japan abroad and lead to increased risk of nuclear proliferation."
Reuters also pointed out, that the controversial statement by the senior government official was the latest in a string of remarks by hawkish officials and politicians seeking to challenge Japan's postwar pacifism. Ichiro Ozawa, leader of Japan's second-biggest opposition party, drew a sharp response from Beijing in April when he said Japan could easily make nuclear weapons and surpass Beijing's military might. In a more recent statement, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda was quoted as saying, that "Japan does not have offensive arms because it restricts military activity to self-defense," he said, referring to such offensive arms as long-range missiles and atomic bombs. He went on to say that Japan could have intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) even under its security policy that is specified as being exclusively for self-defense. However, Fukuda had to roll back later after consulting with his secretaries, saying: "Japan will not possess ICBMs because they exceed the defense-only policy."
In an immediate response, the Japan Council against A and H bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) issued a statement on 1 June, demanding, among other things, "the retraction of the Government leaders remarks which negate the Three Non-nuclear Principles." The Statement goes on highlighting that,
"The remarks of the Government leaders are made in alignment with the move for the legislation of the "Contingency bills", which aim to mobilize Japan in the event of a US initiated war. These are evidence that they do not even hesitate to trample under foot the Japanese Constitution and abandon the national principles in order to follow the Bush Administration, which now has the use of nuclear weapons as its political option. Whether or not these leaders are appropriate to stay in the Government should now be sharply questioned.
"We demand that the pro-nuclear statements should be repealed and the Three Non-nuclear Principles be strictly observed. We will redouble our movement to turn Japan into a country that will contribute to the abolition of nuclear weapons and promote peace."
2002 WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Prepcom IV coverage
Through its "Earth Negotiations Bulletin", the International Institute for Sustainable Development has made available the coverage of the PrepCom IV meeting. It is available at: http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/2002/pc4/
Proposed Declaration for Compliance and Implementation of International Public Trust Law
Joan Russow (PhD) of the Canada-based Global Compliance Research Project has recently disseminated this proposal, which is available from the WNII Editor as an rtf-formatted email attachment. If you wish to contact Joan Russow directly: mailto:
Trade Unions call for stronger "social pillar" for WSSD
On the occasion of PrepCom IV, the International Confederation of Free Trade Union (ICFTU) and the Trade Union Advisory Committee of the OECD (TUAC) have issued a joint letter stating, among other things, that "We are very concerned that after WSSD, workers and trade unions are supported in their efforts to implement the Summit outcomes at the workplace and public policy levels. (…) We urge you to help introduce language in the final text that promotes worker participation in decision making and takes advantage of the workplace as a focus of action and implementation", said the two top world trade union bodies, emphasizing that such an approach "is the only guarantee of meaningful production and consumption changes that must take place in the decade to come".
The letter also expressed concern that the social dimension of sustainable development be properly integrated with environmental and economic proposals for WSSD. "In particular, employment measures must become a key feature of plans to eradicate poverty and address the world's unresolved equity, gender, access and age issues".
Proposed trade unions amendments are available as a PDF file at: http://www.tuac.org/news/PosAmend.pdf
For more, contact Lucien Royer, ICFTU/TUAC: < >
International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED): New WSSD Opinion Papers
Re: "WSSD Implementation Document Weak – No Mention of the Military …
In WNII 15/2002 , a briefing by Joan Russow (PhD), Coordinator of the Canada-based Global Compliance Research Project, was mentioned. Further to the critics herein, Joan Russow has disseminated a paper called "Inclusion of the Military in the WSSD is an Ethical Imperative for Implementation", which is available from the WNII Editor as an rtf-formatted email attachment.
If you wish to contact Joan Russow directly: mailto:
Global Partnership for Capacity Building to Implement the Globally Harmonized System for Chemical Classification and Labeling
This is a (short) brochure which introduces a WSSD Type 2 Partnership proposal, which is available from the WNII Editor as an PDF-formatted email attachment. NOTE that the brochure is available in English, French and Spanish.
The proposal has been prepared through collaboration of UNITAR, ILO and OECD. Potentially interested partners are encouraged to contact UNITAR at: < >
New website: Science and Sustainability (forwarded by new-elected INES EC member Joachim Spangenberg)
SciDev.Net is pleased to announce a new section of its website which contains news and opinion articles, as well as a discussion forum, on the topic of 'Science and Sustainability'.
This section is intended to provide information about, and stimulate debate on, the way that science and technology are being addressed during preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg later this year. Access: http://www.scidev.net/sustain
The site includes:
SciDev.Net is particularly keen to encourage contributions to the discussion forum http://www.scidevforum.net believing that this provides a unique opportunity for individuals not directly involved with the WSSD preparations to express their views in a way that, we anticipate, will be noticed by those who are.
Based in London, SciDev.Net (www.scidev.net) was launched in December last year, and covers the role of science and technology in meeting the needs of developing countries. It is a charity funded by British, Canadian and Swedish development agencies, and has the support of the journals Nature and Science, and the Third World Academy of Sciences. To receive weekly updates of additions to the website, register at: http://www.scidev.net/whyregister.html
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
May 2002 UNEP Energy and Environment Newsletter
The May 2002 newsletter from the UN Environment Programme's Collaborating Centre on Energy and Environment is now available online at: http://www.uccee.org/UcceeNews/May02.pdf
Articles deal with:
CONFERENCES, MEETINGS, SEMINARS
Nature Interpretation as a Tool in Promoting Sustainable Development
http://www.interpretation2002.dk
For more details, contact the Conference Secretariat: < >
No new or changed email or web addresses in this issue. All INES e-mail addresses and homepages are available upon request from:
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