Peace in Space Conference Building Support

I am back home now after my weekend trip to Huntsville, Alabama to do advance work for our Global Network 25th annual space organizing conference and protest.  The event will be held on April 7-9, 2017.

I was in the 'rocket city' to look for a conference meeting site and think we've found a good one.  Details still to be worked out.  I also needed to find a suitable hotel and to begin working on leads to get home hospitality for folks who can't afford a hotel or would rather spend quality time with local Huntsville activists.  So all that is heading in the right direction.

While in Huntsville Donald Trump came to Alabama for one of his victory lap appearances.  He has already appointed ultra-conservative Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) to be the next Attorney General of the nation.  Sessions is also serving as a major adviser to Trump on space issues - so Alabama will be central to the new administration in Washington.

This morning I felt great energy to work on the program for the conference - it will be a day long event on Saturday, April 8.  We are starting to hear from some of our Global Network board members who are signing up for various speaking slots.  It's exciting to think about them passing on their years of wisdom when it comes to peace in space issues.  Plus over these 25 years we have become family - and each time we hold a conference in a new place our family grows.  All good - especially at a time like this where we see our own government in the US coming apart at the seams - it helps to be part of a positive and loving movement.

Veterans For Peace (VFP) members from around the country are going to be heavily involved in the conference.  In fact our keynote speaker at the event will be Col. Ann Wright - retired Army and diplomat who now is a leader in VFP.  She resigned from the government after George W. Bush's 'shock and awe' attack on Iraq in 2003.

At the same time I am working with folks in Sweden, Finland and Denmark to plan a speaking tour for Dave Webb (GN board convener and Chair of CND in the UK) and I in February.

GN board member Agneta Norberg in Stockholm is organizing a one-day space conference on February 4 in her community.  Three GN board members will be attending (Dave Webb, Regina Hagen from Germany and myself).  The conference will highlight the dangerous security situation in Sweden. Sweden´s military installations are currently being adapted to NATO´s needs. NATO will be able to attack Russia from Swedish territory. US-NATO Air Force planes and Navy warships will have permanent access to bases and ports in Sweden.  

There is growing resistance and action groups have formed all over Sweden to oppose these dangerous and provocative US-NATO operations. One problem though is that the movement doesn’t know much about how space technology is directing all warfare today and Sweden’s growing role in the space warfare technology program.  So Agneta is taking the bull by the horns and holding an educational event for the public.

Then following the conference Dave Webb and I will do the 10-day speaking tour.  

Bruce