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Join World BEYOND War for our annual global conference in Toronto on September 21 and 22, 2018, at OCAD University (Ontario College of Art and Design University), 100 McCaul St, Toronto, ON M5T 1W1, Canada. (How to get there.)

You say you’re against war, but what’s the alternative? Let’s design and build an alternative system of global governance – one in which peace is pursued by peaceful means. Learn how at #NoWar2018!

We will explore how the rule of law has been used both to restrain war and to legitimize it — and how we can re-design systems to abolish the institution of war and uphold human and ecological justice.

The conference will take place on Friday September 21 (5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., doors open at 4:00 p.m.) and Saturday September 22. (9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.).

BEFORE THE CONFERENCE:
Thursday, September 20, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at OCAD: Inside Iran: Exclusive Book Talk with CODEPINK Co-Founder Medea Benjamin.

AFTER THE CONFERENCE:
Sunday, September 23, 2:00 p.m. Blue-scarf march through Toronto.

Spread the word on Facebook and Twitter. Click “going” on Facebook and share with your friends! Download and use this poster/flyer.

List of confirmed speakers.

Conference Schedule:

September 21, 2018, International Day of Peace

4:00 p.m. Doors open for checking in (and picking up boxed dinners), tabling, meeting and greeting.

5:00 p.m. Welcome by Leah Bolger, Peter Jones; and ________ providing land recognition. Brief reports from World BEYOND War chapters around the world.

5:45 p.m. Opening remarks by Christine Ahn and ___________. Moderator: David Swanson.

7:00 p.m. Music of Tom Neilson and Lynn Waldron.

7:45 p.m. — 9:15 p.m. Plenary: Using the Rule of Law Against War with Gail Davidson, Daniel Turp, and Ray Acheson or Allison Pytlak. Moderator: Kevin Zeese.

September 22, 2018, Saturday

8:00 a.m. Doors open for tabling, light breakfast fare.

9:00 a.m. Plenary: Canadian Weapons, Wars, and Indigenous Rights with Tamara Lorincz, William Geimer, and ___________. Moderator: Alice Slater.

10:15 a.m. Break.

10:30 a.m. Plenary: Global Governance: Actual and Potential with Kent Shifferd, James Ranney, and __________. Moderator: Tony Jenkins.

11:45 a.m. Break.

12:00 p.m. Lunch. Boxed lunches provided. Optional small-group discussions:

1. Intersectionality: A brainstorm session on “fusion organizing”: how to connect the dots and foster collaboration between the anti-war movement and the movements for ecological, economic, racial, and social justice. Facilitator: Greta Zarro.
2. Creative Activism: Brainstorming ideas for creative, nonviolent action. Facilitator: Medea Benjamin.
3. Peace Education: Facilitator: Tony Jenkins.
4. How the Internet Changes Activism: It’s a new world for those of us who want to change it. Facebook, Twitter, email, cryptocurrency and Internet privacy are some of the hot topics we’ll talk about in an open dialogue led by two maintainers of the World BEYOND War website and social media channels. Facilitators: Donnal Walter, Marc Eliot Stein.

Ideas collected by facilitators will be shared through WBW website.

1:30 p.m. Workshops:

1. 1. Upgrading the Kellogg-Briand Pact with Kent Shifferd and David Swanson.
      This workshop will cover a brief history of the Kellogg-Briand Pact 1928 treaty to end war, its current status, what has and has not been accomplished, and what we can do to make it more effective including bringing a new treaty to the UN General Assembly.
   2. Disrupting the Business Models of War with Peter Jones, OCAD University and Stephen Sillett.
      This workshop looks at long-term strategies for facilitating a transition to new public policy and industry models that might replace war-making as a core function of Western governments. We’ll consider how the business of the military and the industrial complex are entwined in a long-standing business model of publicly funded international violence that requires a constant flow of new enemies and targets served to the public payers. Large group and small group sessions will design and propose alternatives to the post-war, state-industrial business model which has become extremely expensive and yields poor return on public investment.
   3. Departments and Other National Infrastructures for Peace – A Way Forward with Saul Arbess and Anne Creter. This workshop will present the movement for departments of peace (DoP) and progress made to date, with four countries having DoPs and others with proposed legislation, highlighting Canada and the U.S. The conversation will be broadened by consideration of other national infrastructures for peace(I4P) and a UN resolution calling for I4Ps in all member states, to counteract the military infrastructures for war and violence and to provide a legal framework for conflict resolution by peaceful means at home and abroad.
   4. War Tax Resistance: Legality, Practicality, Value with Doug Hewitt-White.
      There are active Peace Tax Fund campaigns worldwide. Tax resistance to paying for the military began in Canada over 200 years ago. Legislation has been proposed here in Canada and several other countries. Yet legally redirecting the military portion of our taxes to support peace programs is not yet sanctioned. This workshop will examine and discuss the legal basis for conscientious objection to military service and taxation. Is there a fundamental human right at stake? How practical is tax resistance? How effective is military tax redirection at advancing the cause of peace? Is it an important and valuable strategy?
   5. Citizen Action Using the Law with Daniel Turp, and Gail Davidson.
   6. World Peace through World Citizenship and the Global Rule of Law with David Gallup.
      What do you think are the most important questions of the 21^st century to achieve a sustainable, just and peaceful world? Come prepared with ideas to discuss. This workshop will explore holistic alternatives to the divisive politics of nationalism. We will contemplate how to create spaces (social, legal, political, governmental, and ethical) where humans can interact peacefully and sustainably with each other and the earth. We will examine how world citizenship and world law provide a better alternative to national citizenship and national law. This session will end with a discussion about how world peace, as well as human and environmental sustainability, depend upon the advancement of common world law.

2:45 p.m. Break.

3:00 p.m. Workshops:

1. Organizing 101: Strategy, Intersectionality, and Millennials with Greta Zarro.
   In this session, we will discuss the nuts and bolts of grassroots organizing, with a focus on campaign development. We’ll identify effective strategies & tactics for engaging community members and influencing decision-makers. We’ll also look more broadly at movement-building from the perspective of “fusion” organizing and youth activism.
2. Divestment from War Profiteers with Medea Benjamin.
3. “Push Pins” Holding Up The Map of Empire: U.S. Military Bases Around the World with Leah Bolger.
   How many foreign military bases does the U.S. have? 100? 300? The answer is over 800! Why does it have so many? We’ll talk about the role that these bases play in U.S. foreign policy, and their effect on global relations, as well as efforts to close them down.
4. Prosecuting War with __________.
5. People’s Tribunals with Tom Kerns.
6. Learning Peace in Schools with Tony Jenkins and Pat Elder.
   This workshop will analyze the contradictory ways in which children are being taught to embrace both war and peace in the schools. We’ll examine the increasingly bellicose content of textbooks and various military programs in the nation’s schools, while looking at exciting developments in teaching peace and nonviolent conflict resolution.

4:15 p.m. Break.

4:30 p.m. Reports Back from Workshops, Discussion of Plans. Moderator: Marc Eliot Stein.

5:45 p.m. Break.

6:00 p.m. — 7:00 p.m. Energizing the War Abolition Movement in Canada and Globally with Kevin Zeese and Norman Finkelstein. Moderator: Greta Zarro.