LI Alliance Hails Nobel Peace Prize Winner: The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

The LI Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives applauds Nobel Committee’s choice to award the 2013 Peace Prize to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention prohibits the production and storage of these weapons and came in force in 1997, making them illegal under international law.

Since then, the Organization for the Prohibition has carried out implementation of the treaty through inspections and destruction of more than 80% of the international stockpile of chemical weapon. 189 states have acceded to the convention.

The Nobel Peace Prize and recent OPCW efforts in Syria demonstrate the effectiveness of multilateralism as a better and more effective means of preventing the spread of these weapons of mass destruction. Moreover, it highlights the importance of international law in resolving and preventing conflicts.

The choice of OPCW also challenges states who are not members to sign on and to the United States and Russia to accelerate their work to eliminate their own stockpiles.

The OPCW inspectors in Syria also provide a glimpse of how the disarmament process works – and this focus emphasizes that while expensive and dangerous, disarmament can be accomplished through universal adherence and compliance with international law.

The work of the OPCW has been a reality check that disarmament works. And in the case of Syria illustrates that diplomacy, multilateralism and the rule of law are better alternatives to the use of military force.

Margaret Melkonian, Executive Director

longislandpeace@gmail.com

516-741-4360

Long time peace activist and actress Shirley Romaine (Great Neck SANE Peace Action) talks about the worldwide impact of the nuclear blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and outlines the history of the annual Hiroshima commemoration on Long Island.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

& Join us at the 2013 Hiroshima Commemoration featuring Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman on Tuesday, August 6th (7:00 PM) at the Unitarian Universalist Church at Shelter Rock in Manhasset, Long Island NY

Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives

P.0. Box 301, Garden City NY 11530            

516-741-4360 – Email: longislandpeace@gmail.com – www.longislandpeace.org

Peacecomes dropping slow . . .W.B. Yeats

 As we work together for peace – for a world without war – the LI Alliance is strongly committed to engaging and supporting the next generation of peacemakers.

 Where are the young people? You can find them at Hofstra in the LI Alliance’s new Peace Fellows Program – on our staff with our new Assistant Director Ariel Flajnik – and on our board with our newest board member, Kayla Rivara. Both Ariel and Kayla have just graduated from Hofstra University.

 We ask for your support of the LI Alliance Peace Fellows Program initiated as a pilot project in collaboration with Hofstra’s Center for Civic Engagement. Peace Fellows is a semester-long program on peace and nonviolence and alternatives to war and conflict. At weekly discussion meetings, students examine the US Role in a Changing World and participate in advocacy and deliberative dialogue training on the issues of War and Peace, Nuclear Disarmament, Military Budget and National Priorities and Global Climate Change. The students are selected after an application and interview process.

 Thanks to the efforts of Mike D’Innocenzo, the LI Alliance has received a grant from the Goldman Foundation for this program. But we need your help to fully fund the Peace Fellows program for the Fall 2013 and Spring 2014 semesters. Because of a generous donor, your contribution will be matched. So please give as much as you can to support the Peace Fellows program at this time.

 The work ahead is daunting as we advocate for a treaty to abolish nuclear weapons and for cuts in military spending to fund urgent needs in our communities. The Alliance also believes strongly that as the war in Afghanistan comes to an end, we don’t “just get over it”. Instead, let us learn the lessons and the costs of the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan – and let us work harder than ever to prevent new wars.

We are extremely excited about the Peace Fellows Program at Hofstra. We have had very positive feedback from the Peace Fellows in the pilot project this spring and also from other students who participated in discussions on America’s Role in the World and Global Climate Change. The good news is that some of the Peace Fellows will continue as Alliance interns in the fall.

 Thank you for your sustained support of the Alliance and our shared and persistent pursuit of peace.

Peace,

Margaret Melkonian                         Andrea Libresco

Executive Director                            President, Board of Directors

*************************************************************************************

Here’s my contribution for  Engaging A New Generation of Peacemakers. Please make checks payable to LI Alliance, P.O. Box 301, Garden City NY 11530

                           $ 500     $200     $100     $50       $25      Other     $______  

Name:

Address:                                                                                        

Email:                                                          Phone:

Comments/Suggestions: