[sust-mar] 17 resources, upcoming events & take action for peace + International Day of Action for Gaza on Jan 13

[Tamara Lorincz]

Hello and Happy Holidays Sust-Mar,

I wanted to let you know that there is a deadline this Sunday, December 31 for submissions to the UN Pact for the Future that will serve as the zero draft text for the Summit of the Future that will be held next September at the United Nations. Civil society organizations are encouraged to make a submission. Sorry for this last-minute announcement but I just noticed the deadline myself.

Another deadline is January 10 to hire a youth for your organization for the Canada Summer Youth Employment Program. See details below.

As well, I have listed 17 resources, events and take action items below. Note: There is also a big International Day of Action to call for a ceasefire in Gaza on January 13. Please feel free to share.

*Finally, please see this important article by Ottawa Citizen journalist David Pugliese about Canada buying more weapons & ceding to US pressure to increase military spending:

“Analysis: With $30 billion in new deals, Canada hopes to send U.S. a message on defence”
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/analysis-with-30-billion-in-new-deals-canada-hopes-to-send-u-s-a-message-on-defence-analysis

It is an outrage that the Trudeau government is spending public funds for new fighter jets, armed drones, strategic tankers, missiles etc when the climate crisis and poverty are getting worse in the country and that the federal government is failing to seriously help end the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. This militarism makes a mockery of the women peace & security and Canada’s climate commitments.

Have a good new year’s weekend. Hoping for peace & justice in 2024,
Tamara

(1)
DEADLINE December 31: Written Submissions for the Zero Draft for the Pact for the Future
https://www.un.org/en/summit-of-the-future/stakeholders
The UN co-facilitators for the Summit of the Future have invited written inputs for zero draft for the Pact for the Future from Major Groups and Other Stakeholders (MGoS), other civil society networks and organizations, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and academia.  Stakeholders are encouraged to reflect on the scope of the Pact for the Future outlined in General Assembly Decision 77/568: https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/LTD/N23/101/48/PDF/N2310148.pdf?OpenElement
When submitting written inputs, stakeholders are requested to adhere to the following guidance:
Inputs must be submitted using the format template.  The document should contain concise, concrete, and action-oriented recommendations structured around the elements of the Pact for the Future.
The submission should be no more than 2,000 words in total.
The name of the organization or network and focal point contact details must be included.
Only one submission per organization or network will be accepted.
Completed submissions are to be entered through this form.
The deadline for written inputs is 31 December 2023.
Summit of the Future will be held at the UN from September 22-23, 2024: http://tinyurl.com/34es4umu

(2)
SIGN: Parliamentary e-petition 4745 to impose a two-way embargo on arms between Canada and Israel
https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4745
Help reach 25,000 signatures. Sign and share widely. Deadline is February 19, 2024, at 4:26 p.m. (EDT)

(3)
Stop the War Coalition has called an International Day of Action “Ceasefire: Stop the War in Gaza”
https://www.stopwar.org.uk/
This will coincide with a March on Washington DC for Gaza: https://events.worldbeyondwar.org/event/march-on-washington-for-gaza/

(4)
DEADLINE: January 10, 2024 Application to hire youth for the Canada Summer Jobs
CSJ is delivered annually by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). Through CSJ, employers are encouraged to create quality summer work experiences for young people between the ages of 15 and 30. It provides youth with opportunities to develop and improve their skills, responds to national and local priorities, and improves access to the labour market for youth, especially those who face barriers to employment.
Not-for-profit employers can receive funding for up to 100% of the provincial or territorial adult minimum hourly wage and all associated mandatory employment related costs, such as Employment Insurance premiums and Canada Pension Plan contributions. Public and private sector employers are eligible to receive funding for up to 50% of the provincial or territorial minimum hourly wage.
https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/news/2023/11/canada-summer-jobs-2024.html Deadline until 11:59 p.m. PST on January 10, 2024.

(5)
WEBINAR: On the Gaza War, Short & Long Term Diplomatic Imperatives, Implications for the Middle East and Geopolitics with Richard Falk, Irene Gendzier, and Assaf Kfoury
Jan 10, 2024 07:00 PM ET
Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3bx1nQUoQrGAV__F9ZqEkw#/registration

(6)
READ: "Urbi et Orbi" - Christmas 2023, Pope Francis - The Holy See Message
https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/urbi/documents/20231225-urbi-et-orbi-natale.html#:~:text=Not%20the%20passing%20happiness%20of,of%20being%20born%20for%20heaven.
“To say “yes” to the Prince of Peace, then, means saying “no” to war, to every war and to do so with courage, to the very mindset of war, an aimless voyage, a defeat without victors, an inexcusable folly. This is what war is: an aimless voyage, a defeat without victors, an inexcusable folly. To say “no” to war means saying “no” to weaponry. The human heart is weak and impulsive; if we find instruments of death in our hands, sooner or later we will use them. And how can we even speak of peace, when arms production, sales and trade are on the rise?... Isaiah, who prophesied the Prince of Peace, looked forward to a day when “nation shall not lift up sword against nation”, a day when men “will not learn war any more”, but instead “beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks” (2:4). With God’s help, let us make every effort to work for the coming of that day!”

(7)
WATCH: Dr. Jeffrey Sachs’ important address at the United Nations Security Council on November 20, 2023. The UN Security Council held an open debate on "Promote sustaining peace through common development" under the agenda item "Maintenance of international peace and security." Sachs was invited to brief the Security Council. (14 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm4qLWc_Co0
Sachs’ Text: https://www.jeffsachs.org/newspaper-articles/h2ljgxma4c7p336dcgrx8nab47fb5j

(8)
READ: Sachs’ latest article “US Foreign Policy Is a Scam Built on Corruption”
The $1.5 trillion in military outlays each year is the scam that keeps on giving—to the military-industrial complex and the Washington insiders—even as it impoverishes and endangers America and the world…
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/corruption-of-us-foreign-policy

(9)
READ: Pentagon can't account for 63% of nearly $4 trillion in assets
The Pentagon failed its sixth audit in a row last month…
JULIA GLEDHILL, Responsible Statecraft
DEC 04, 2023
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/pentagon-audit-2666415734/

(10)
WATCH: Former Colonel, diplomat & CODEPINK activist Ann Wright give her powerful briefing the UN Security Council on the challenges of weapons transfers to Ukraine & Israel on December 12, 2023 (9 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SeihfcvOOw

(11)
Upcoming Geneve Centre on Security Policy 2024 online events: https://www.gcsp.ch/events
How will Climate Change and the War in Ukraine Impact Arctic Governance? – An Alumni Event
24 January 2024 12h00 - 13h30
Climate Adaptation for Peace: The Path to Resilient Societies in a Poly-crises Era
07 February 2024 10h30 - 12h30

(12)
WEBINAR: NATO/Militarism in Africa – Women Speak Out
Tue January 23, 2024 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm EST
NATO expands into Africa as US bullies the continent into more militarism.
Register: https://masspeaceaction.org/event/nato-militarism-in-the-africa-women-speak-out/
Since the end of the last century with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the disappearance of the Soviet Union, NATO is on the move. Its “out of area” military operation in Afghanistan in 2011, lasted for 20 years. Since 1994 the African counties Algeria, Egypt, Mauretania, Morocco and Tunisia are together with Israel and Jordan in the NATO partnership program Mediterranean Dialog (MD) NATO. Thus began a “Global NATO,” project to use the NATO military alliance beyond its own charter obligations from the South China Sea to the Caribbean Sea forwarded to Australia.
Africa’s long anti-colonial  history with its giant leaps forward with infrastructure and development are now being challenged by the re-entry of NATO and its ensuing military infrastructure throughout the continent.  Global Women for Peace/ United Against NATO (GWUAN) and MAPA present the first in a series of webinars on the terrible cost of militarism around the world.  Women from Africa will share their experience and concerns about these military developments in their societies, countries and the continent.
Speakers:
– Cyrille Rolande Bechon – Nouveaux Droits de l’Homme Cameroun, IPB Council member – Cameroun
– Phakamile Hlubi-Majola (short Pax), spokesperson for the South African Union NUMSA (MetalWorkers), works closely with the Pan African Secretariat of the IPA – South Africa
More info: https://masspeaceaction.org/event/nato-militarism-in-the-africa-women-speak-out/

NOTE: “Canadian special forces to again train African troops despite concerns about such soldiers previously overthrowing civilian governments”: https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/canadian-special-forces-to-again-train-african-troops-despite-concerns-about-such-soldiers-previously-overthrowing-civilian-governments

(13)
TAKE ACTION: Please sign and share the statement on “Peace for Climate Justice” to the Prime Minister, Environment & Climate Change Minister Guilbeault and Foreign Affairs Minister Joly: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/declaration-on-peace-for-climate-justice

(14)
TAKE ACTION: Sign the World Beyond War petition "Stop Arming Israel”: https://worldbeyondwar.org/canadastoparmingisrael/

(15)
TAKE ACTION: Sign the petition to the Canadian government "No Armed Drones": https://noarmeddrones.ca/ Help us oppose the Trudeau government's plan to spend $2.5 billion of public tax dollars for a fleet of eleven MQ-9 Reaper drones and more than $400 million for the Hellfire missiles for these drones. These are the drones that the Israel is using to kill Palestinians and the US uses for its targeted assassinations in other countries. Canada should invest in a green, care economy not a war economy! #NoArmedDrones

(16)
WEBINAR: Journalist Peter Beinart on Understanding the Horror in Israel-Palestine
Mon January 8, 2024 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm EST
More info and to register:
https://masspeaceaction.org/event/peter-beinart-webinar-understanding-the-horror-in-israel-palestine/

(17)
WEBINAR: Guantanamo, Where Do We Go From Here?
Fri January 12, 2024 @ 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm EST
More info and to register:
https://masspeaceaction.org/event/guantanamo-where-do-we-go-from-here/

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