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The plenary session at the Being the Change conference starting the day on Friday, July 9 was moderated by Rita Deverell (Nancy’s Chair in Women’s Studies at Mount Saint Vincent University) and it was given by Dr. Erika Simpson, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Western Ontario, who is also Vice-Chair of Canadian Pugwash. The presentation was called Sex, Death, and Violence in the Disarmer’s World and it explored how men and women are treated differently in the world of war, peace, and disarmament.

Simpson explored how identity is socially constructed in the debates and discussions surrounding how we talk about war. Through a postmodernist and constructivist Feminist lens that questions implicit assumptions and biases she gave a thought-provoking theoretical framework for the day. She argued that whatever makes you passionate contributes to making a culture of peace.

The afternoon plenary session on Day 2 of the Being the Change peace conference at Mount Saint Vincent University that I attended was a look at the important role that dialogue plays in breaking down barriers and working toward peace. The moderator of the session was John Eaton, grandson of Cyrus Eaton who provided Thinker’s Lodge in Pugwash as a location for the first Pugwash Conference and the presentation was by Sandra Ionno Butcher, Director of the Pugwash History Project and former coordinator of Young Pugwash USA.

The focus of the session was on how beginning with Joseph Rotblat leaving the Manhattan project and the Russell-Einstein Manifesto setting the peace movement in motion that lead to the establishment of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs that continue today. A clip from the documentary film, The Strangest Dream established the context and then some audio from the press conference in Caxton Hall on July 9, 1955 where Bertrand Russell read the manifesto to the world.

With a manifesto as a rallying point, the work then began to move things forward with a meeting of the top scientists in the world. That meeting happened in July of 1957 with 22 scientists assembling to relax and discuss peace. In many ways, this was one of the first non-governmental organizations and the scientists were able to influence the political decisions made back in their countries. An important part of the presentation was broadening the history by also looking at the role of women such as Ruth S. Adams (later an editor of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists), who was the only woman at the first Pugwash meeting. Adams said that the Pugwash conferences only became a community once the families started to come. The hostess of the first meeting was Anne Kinder Jones (later Eaton) and she formed the heart of the conference which established a template of light schedules and good food.

Pugwash has been involved in most of the major arms control treaties and has been vital in fostering dialogue to prevent conflict in the world. A backchannel that laid the foundation for peace during the Vietnam War, Pugwash works quietly in the background to encourage discussion and peaceful resolution of tense international disagreements. It’s a vital force combining science and technology to establish world peace.

In recognition of the role that Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash Conferences played in the cause of peace, a Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to them in 1995. In a beautiful tribute to the important influence that Joseph Rotblat had on her life and work, Sandra Butcher named her son Joey after Rotblatt and she showed a lovely image of her son and her mentor together in Thinker’s Lodge in Pugwash. She also reflected on what an amazing experience it was to be present when Rotblat accepted the award. In his Nobel lecture Rotblatt concluded by saying:

The quest for a war-free world has a basic purpose: survival. But if in the process we learn how to achieve it by love rather than by fear, by kindness rather than by compulsion; if in the process we learn to combine the essential with the enjoyable, the expedient with the benevolent, the practical with the beautiful, this will be an extra incentive to embark on this great task.

Above all, remember your humanity.

The morning workshop session that I attended at the Being the Change peace conference at Mount Saint Vincent University was a retrospective on the Pugwash movement. The workshop was set up and moderated by the wonderful Dennice Leahey (a corporate leader, member of the Order of Canada, active mentor, Pugwash resident and board member of the Pugwash Peace Exchange).

Eric Bednarski a documentary filmmaker currently based in Warsaw, screened a clip from the NFB documentary, The Strangest Dream which he directed. The film came about in 2005 when he spoke to an NFB producer about making a documentary film about the history of the Pugwash movement. The challenge was to figure out how to make a film about conferences and the way to make the film was by focussing on Sir Joseph Rotblat, who became the heart and soul of the project. Rotblat was the only scientist who was part of the Manhattan Project who left before it was completed. Rotblat was one of the signatories of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto which was issued on July 9, 1955 in London. The businessman and financier Cyrus Eaton wrote to Bertrand Russell to offer to host a conference in the town of his birth, Pugwash, Nova Scotia to give scientists a chance to work toward peace in a beautiful setting. The summer home was named “Thinker’s Lodge” and was one of the locations where the meetings took place at the first conference, which began on July 7, 1957.

The next presenter in the workshop was Ru Ling Susie Chou (Physicist, retired Professor of Cardiology at Columbia University Medical School) who is also the daughter of Pei-Yuan Chou, who was the sole participant from China at the first Pugwash conference in 1957. She established the development of the research history of physics leading up to the 20th century and the atomic bomb. She then gave an overview of the historical circumstances in China along with a personal perspective on her father, who was a Physicist. Pei-Yuan Chou was the first person from the People’s Republic of China to visit North America in 1957, which required special permission and negotiation to allow him to travel to Pugwash. Her father helped to build a platform for East and West to talk.

The final presenter in the workshop was Sandra Ionno Butcher, who gave another perspective on the Pugwash conferences and those who were involved with them. She highlighted the important fact that at the time talking amongst scientists and with those from other countries that were considered hostile was a radical notion. She shared how her son Joey was named after Joseph Rotblat (and wrote a moving open letter to her son on the death of Rotblat) and the remarkable person he was. She also talked about being present when Rotblat and the Pugwash Conferences received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995. The historically important work that happened in Pugwash continues to this day and she connected the personal and the political in a compelling way.

The first full day of the Being the Change: Building a Culture of Peace conference started with a plenary session built around linking the three themes of the conference which are education, the Women’s Movement, and disarmament. The moderator of the first session was Alyn Ware (Coordinator, New Zealand Peace Education) who set things up and brought everything together for a solid start for the day filled with workshops organized around the three threads.

The first presentation on the panel was from Hetty van Gurp who founded Peaceful Schools International in 2001 after years of teaching peace in the schools in Nova Scotia following the death of her older son, Ben, following an act of aggression by another student who had  been bullying him at school. In addition to her work in Nova Scotia, she has also worked with schools in Serbia (documented Teresa MacInnes‘ NFB film Teaching Peace in a Time of War). Hetty passionately argued for the importance of peace education in schools and how teaching peace is as vital as all other subjects. By adding peace to the curriculum a safer world will result for our children and ourselves.

The next panelist to speak was Donna Smyth of the Nova Scotia Voice of Women for Peace (a former English and Creative Writing Professor at Acadia University in addition to being a feminist author, novelist and playwright as well as Founding Editor of Atlantis Women’s Studies Journal). She began with a story of attending the recent Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo and her horror at the militarism on display and the glorification of war in some of the presentations. She then gave an overview of the vital role that the Nova Scotia Voice of Women for peace had in raising consciousness and advance the cause of peace in Nova Scotia. It’s important to remember the history of the struggle for a non-violent world and she gave an inspiring overview of women taking action for peace.

Sandra Ionno Butcher (Senior Program Coordinator of the International Secretariat of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, and the Director of the Pugwash History Project) then made a strong argument for the importance of heroes and mentors in the peace movement. She told stories about how she was involved with Student Pugwash USA and how the mentors such as Joseph Rotblat had shaped her involvement with the movement.

It was the perfect way to start the day and fill everyone with ideas and the important work that began in the past and continues today.

In Halifax, Nova Scotia at Mount Saint Vincent University, on a warm evening on July 7, a peace conference began with some introductory remarks from Alexa McDonough who is the Chair of the conference. Being the Change: Building a Culture of Peace runs from July 7 until July 10 with over 100 participants at the conference.

The first event of the conference set a great tone for the days ahead with an engaging talk show style dialogue between 12 year old Logan MacGillivray, a human rights activist and filmmaker and Alyn Ware (who won the Right Livelihood award in 2009 for his contributions to the world and peace). In 2008 Logan wanted to make a difference after he saw pictures of the hardship faced by children in Sierra Leone. With from the Centre for Development and Peace Education he found out what was needed in Sierra Leone. He lead the effort to fill a 40 foot shipping container with materials to refurbish seven schools and build a community resource centre in Sierra Leone. He also made a documentary animation called Listen to the Children – A Journey of Sharing and continues to raise money for projects in Sierra Leone.

To thank Logan for the dialogue, Alyn took out a guitar and sang a song in Maori about trees whose roots grow together to give them strength against storms.

Alyn Ware (director of the Wellington office of the Peace Foundation) traced his journey from being a kindergarten teacher to a peace educator and activist. Moving from education and linking conflict resolution in schools and on playgrounds with conflict between nations, he showed the importance of education and discussion in making the world a safer place for everyone. In his talk he took us through the amazing progress that has been made in making the world a more peaceful place through education and activism. Now disarmament is not a radical issue at all and in New Zealand you need to support disarmament to be elected.

While much has changed, there is still a lot of work to do and that’s what will be discussed and acted upon during the conference over the next few days.

Starting on Wednesday, July 7 at 7pm with a free public lecture by Alyn Ware, a conference built around peace begins at Mount Saint Vincent University. Being the Change: Building a Culture of Peace is a four-day conference that has a focus on peace education, women’s activism, and the disarmament movement. The conference has a great range of speakers and participants who will be discussing a range of topics to develop some practical and concrete steps that can be taken to build a culture of peace.

I’ll be blogging and photographing and sending updates via Twitter during the conference as well as being on a panel on Friday afternoon.

Thursday and Friday are filled with workshops and it all wraps up on Saturday with a field trip to Pugwash to find out more about the Pugwash Movement, sparked by Lord Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein. It should be a great conference filled with ideas, interesting people and ideas for making the world a better and more peaceful place.