Peace Alliance Winnipeg News

Information Picket for Peace
2023-01-21 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Winnipeg) | River Avenue and Osborne Street, Winnipeg
Please join us this Saturday as we inform our fellow Winnipeggers about the need to negotiate a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine and to abolish NATO.
Date: Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023
Time: 1:00 to 2:00 PM
Place: River Avenue and Osborne Street, Winnipeg (map)
Sponsored by: Peace Alliance Winnipeg

Webinar: Justice for Hassan Diab
2023-02-18 13:00 - 14:30 | Zoom
Peace Alliance Winnipeg Presents
JUSTICE FOR HASSAN DIAB
Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023
1:00 to 2:30 PM CST
Via Zoom
Admission is free; tickets at Eventbrite
Professor Hassan Diab is a Canadian citizen and academic who is facing extradition to France to stand trial in connection with the 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue. This even though Diab was in Beirut, Lebanon at the time of the attack, writing university exams.
This is the second time France has tried to hang this crime on Professor Diab. In 2014, he was extradited to France and held for three years, mainly in solitary confinement, before a French judge ruled that there was not sufficient evidence to put him on trial.
Professor Diab’s case is explored in detail at https://www.justiceforhassandiab.org/. Among other things, it reveals serious flaws in Canada’s extradition system and France’s judicial system. Roger Clark will discuss the case, Canada’s role in Mr. Diab’s extradition, and actions people can take now to prevent further injustices against Professor Diab.
The Panel
Roger Clark is a former national Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada and has been active in Hassan Diab’s support group for the past seven years. He has led several human rights investigations, including research missions to Cambodia, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Nepal, Guatemala and Algeria. In 2001 he was awarded the Order of Canada for his human rights work, both in Canada and internationally.
Candice Bodnaruk is an executive member of Peace Alliance Winnipeg. She has been active in Palestinian Solidarity work for many years and is the Canadian Columnist for the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs magazine (https://www.wrmea.org).

Information Picket: Stop the War, Stop NATO
2023-02-25 13:00 - 14:00 | River Avenue and Osborne Street, Winnipeg
Members of the Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network are organizing a weekend of action to “Stop the War, Stop NATO” from February 23-26, 2023 in solidarity with other pro-peace, anti-war actions occurring around the world at the same time. Visit this page for more information on virtual and in-person actions.
In Winnipeg, Peace Alliance Winnipeg will be holding an information picket at the intersection of River Avenue and Osborne Street.
Date: Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023
Time: 1:00 to 2:00 PM
We will be handing out leaflets urging Winnipeggers to get behind the demand for negotiating a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine. All are welcome. Please join us.

Peace Alliance Winnipeg Annual General Meeting
2023-04-15 12:00 - 15:00 | Ukrainian Labour Temple, 591 Pritchard Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Date: Saturday, April 15, 2023
Time: 12:00 Noon to 3:00 PM
Place: Lower Level Meeting Room, Ukrainian Labour Temple, 591 Pritchard Avenue, Winnipeg
Join us as we reflect on past achievements and plan for the coming year. This is an election year for all executive positions. All are welcome to attend, but to vote or be considered for an executive position, you must be a member in good standing. For more information, consult our bylaws.

Dimitri Lascaris' Canada-wide Tour for Peace
2023-06-22 19:30 - 21:30 | Filipino Seniors Group of Winnipeg Cultural Education Centre., 49 Euclid Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
On Thursday, June 22, 2023, Canadian lawyer, journalist, and peace activist Dimitri Lascaris will speak in Winnipeg about his recent trip to Russia and the need for Canada to promote a peaceful end to the conflict in Ukraine. Lascaris is on a 10-city Canadian tour entitled “Making Peace with Russia, One Handshake at a Time.” The tour has been organized by the Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network; Peace Alliance Winnipeg is hosting the Winnipeg portion of the tour.
Date: Thursday, June 22, 2023
Time: 7:30 PM (Doors open at 7:00)
Venue: Filipino Seniors Group of Winnipeg Cultural Education Centre,49 Euclid Avenue (at Sutherland Avenue) (MAP)*
Admission: $10 general, $5.00 students, seniors and unwaged. Ticket revenues will be used to pay rental and staging costs. You can buy the tickets online, at Eventbrite, or at the door.
Background
In April 2023, Dimitri Lascaris took a self-financed trip to Russia where he lectured to students, presented at a think tank, gave interviews, met officials and peace activists, appeared on Russian media, wrote articles and tweeted daily about what he saw and heard. Dimitri agreed to embark on this Canada-wide speaking tour because of the extraordinary danger created by the war in Ukraine. As he explained:
“NATO is effectively at war with Russia. They possess enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world many times over. Meanwhile, the climate crisis is spinning out of control. Not only is the war itself a major source of emissions, but this conflict is an insurmountable obstacle to the international cooperation needed to manage the climate crisis responsibly. Never was the cause of peace more important than it is today.”
*We have made this change because we were informed by an official in the Administration of the original venue, Canadian Mennonite University, that we would not be able to hold this event on their campus due to their concerns about complaints they had received.

Winnipeg Lanterns for Peace 2023
2023-08-09 19:30 - 22:00 | Manitoba Legislative Building – South Plaza, Manitoba, Canada
78 years ago, the world was introduced to the horrors of nuclear war. The death, destruction and suffering that resulted from the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on Aug 6 and 9, 1945 meant that the world had changed for the worse. Nothing would ever be the same. The mushroom clouds that arose over Japan cast a shadow that menaces every living creature, even today.
In 1945 the United States had a monopoly on nuclear power; today, nine countries have their own nuclear arsenals and many more, via NATO, are set up to use these weapons. Even more alarming is the present conflict in Ukraine which pits a nuclear armed Russia against a nuclear-armed NATO.
Therefore, we gather annually to remember people whose lives were lost in August 1945, to remember the survivors whose lives were unalterably damaged, and to reaffirm our commitment to the abolition all nuclear weapons.
Please join us for our annual Lanterns for Peace ceremony. Beginning at 7:30 pm we paint lanterns and make origami cranes. (We provide the art supplies; you contribute your imagination and creativity.) At 9: 15 pm, following a short program of speeches, we float our lanterns in the fountain as the sun sets. (Note: If you wish to be seated during the speeches, please bring a lawn chair.)
It is a beautiful ceremony, rich with meaning and one which can be enjoyed by the whole family. If you have never been to one, here is a playlist of videos of Lantern Ceremonies over the years.
Date: Wednesday, Aug 9, 2023
Time: 7:30 pm
Place: the south side of the Manitoba Legislative Building
Sponsors: Peace Alliance Winnipeg, Japanese Cultural Association of Manitoba, Winnipeg Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

Webinar: Manufacturing Consent for War in Canada and the United States
2023-08-26 12:00 - 14:00
Wars rarely begin on the battlefield. Long before the first shots are fired, governments prepare their citizens to accept the death and destruction that would otherwise be unacceptable. In this webinar, two extremely knowledgeable researchers, Yves Engler and Colleen Bell, will help us understand how public opinion is molded and manipulated in Canada and in the United States.
Date: Saturday, August 26, 2023
Time: 12:00 Noon to 2:00 PM Central Time
Place: via Zoom
Admission: Admission is free. Register at Eventbrite.com.
Yves Engler’s presentation will describe how the Canadian government and military have suppressed and shaped the flow of information during wars. While the tactics have varied based on technologies, balance of power and type of conflict, the government has pursued extensive information control during wars. There was formal censorship during World War I, WWII and the Korean War. In recent air wars, the military largely shut the media out while in Afghanistan they brought reporters close.
While Canada is not formally at war with Russia, the political climate over the past year and a half has been remarkable. Easily demonstratable facts and history are all but expunged from a media sphere devoting extensive attention to the war in Ukraine. The repressive attitude towards anti-NATO and antiwar voices reflects policies from the first half of the 20th century.
Yves’s recommended readings

A Propaganda System: How Canada’s Government, Corporations, Media and Academia Sell War and Exploitation
Repression of anti-war voices an old Canadian story
Truth always the first casualty of war — CBC proves it

Colleen Bell will discuss the role of martial public diplomacy in US Imperialism. Public diplomacy and war are generally considered antithetical concepts. The former signals dialogue and the search for shared understanding, while the latter refers to the very breakdown of dialogue and a resort to coercion or all-out destruction. However, in reality, war and public relations activities are deeply entwined. In this talk Colleen will propose the concept of “martial public diplomacy” which lays the ground for the examination of a range of information, influence and media practices that have been “synchronized” in US-led global contingency operations. Contemporary efforts by the US military to “shape the information environment” provide it with a robust role in public communications campaigns within and beyond the battlefield.
Colleen’s recommended readings

Bell, Colleen. 2018. Celebrity power and powers of war: the rise of the COINdinistas in American popular media,Critical Military Studies, 4:3, 244-263, DOI: 10.1080/23337486.2016.1268370
MacKenzie, Megan and Nicole Wegner. 2021. Feminist Solutions for Ending War. London: Pluto Press.
Mirrlees, Tanner. 2016. Hearts and Mines: The US Empire’s Culture Industry. University of British Columbia Press.
Shipley, Tyler. 2020. Canada in the World: Settler Capitalism and the Colonial Imagination. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing.

Presenters

Yves Engler: Dubbed “Canada’s version of Noam Chomsky” (Georgia Straight), “one of the most important voices on the Canadian Left” (Briarpatch), “in the mould of I. F. Stone” (Globe and Mail), “part of that rare but growing group of social critics unafraid to confront Canada’s self-satisfied myths” (Quill & Quire), “ever-insightful” (Rabble), “Chomsky-styled iconoclast” (Counterpunch) and a “Leftist gadfly” (Ottawa Citizen), Yves Engler (yvesengler.com) has twelve published books. His latest is Stand on Guard for Whom? — A People’s History of the Canadian Military.
Colleen Bell: Professor Bell is an associate professor in the political studies department at the University of Saskatchewan. She is an international relations scholar specializing in theorizations of war and security, and the contested boundary between military and civilian operations in Western counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, and stabilizations missions. She is author of The Freedom of Security: Governing Canada in the Age of Counterterrorism (UBC Press) and co-editor of War, Police and Assemblages of Intervention (with Jan Bachmann and Caroline Holmqvist). Her current research projects examine police power in global politics, martial public diplomacy, and the security politics of
Canada’s feminist foreign policy. Bell is past president of the International Studies Association-Canada section and current editor of Critical Studies on Security.
Moderator
Radhika Desai is Professor at the Department of Political Studies, and Director, Geopolitical Economy Research Group, at the University of Manitoba. Her books include Capitalism, Coronavirus and War: A Geopolitical Economy (2023), Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire (2013), Slouching Towards Ayodhya: From Congress to Hindutva in Indian Politics (2nd rev ed, 2004) and Intellectuals and Socialism: ‘Social Democrats’ and the Labour Party (1994), a New Statesman and Society Book of the Month.

Walk for Peace Art Build
2023-09-16 11:00 - 14:00 | Art City, 616 Broadway Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Join us as we bring a message of peace to Winnipeg’s annual Nuit Blanche festivities. There are two parts to this program.
ART BUILD
Saturday, September 16, 2023
11:00 am
Art City, 616 Broadway Avenue (MAP).
We will make beautiful paper lanterns to light our way at Nuit Blanche. We’ll supply the materials; you bring your artistic spirit. Refreshments will be served.
WALK FOR PEACE
Saturday, September 23, 2023
7:00 pm: Assemble at City Hall (MAP)
7:30 pm We will hold our Walk for Peace, going from venue to venue at Nuit Blanche, with our music, our lanterns and our messages of peace.
Please join us. Bring your friends. Bring your family.

Walk for Peace at Nuit Blanche
2023-09-23 19:00 - 21:00 | Winnipeg City Hall, 510 Main Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Saturday, September 23, 2023
7:00 pm: Assemble at City Hall (MAP)
7:30 pm We will hold our Walk for Peace, going from venue to venue at Nuit Blanche, with our music, our lanterns and our messages of peace.
Please join us. Bring your friends. Bring your family.

Webinar: Urgent Medical Crisis in Gaza
2023-11-21 08:00 - 10:00
On Tuesday 21 November 2023 No Cold War, Viva Salud and the People’s Health Movement invite you to an important international webinar:
‘Urgent Medical Crisis in Gaza.’
15:00 Brussels | 17:00 Jordan | 09:00 EST
Join us on zoom by clicking here.
Webinar ID: 810 6280 1821

Speakers:

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, Member of the Palestinian National Council Palestine
Dr. Aed Yaghi, Director of Palestinian Medical Relief Society in Gaza
Dr. Hanne Bosselaers, Medicine for the People (MPLP), Belgium
Dr. Mads Gilbert, worked at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, Norway
Dr. Rupa Marya, Do No Harm Coalition, USA
Moderated by Wim De Ceukelaire, People’s Health Movement

“We are witnessing the destruction of life and property on a horrific scale,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus said in reference to the current Israeli aggression on Palestine. In Gaza, the health sector is on the front lines of the war.
At least 200 doctors, nurses, and paramedics have been killed. Some 25 hospitals and 250 medical facilities are out of operation. More than 2,000 patients with cancer; 1,000 with kidney disease; 50,000 with cardiovascular disease and 60,000 with diabetes are at risk amid treatment interruption. Up to 200 women are giving birth every day in the worst imaginable conditions.
Health conditions are deteriorating fast. Numbers of respiratory and skin infections, as well as malnutrition are on the rise. Cases of diarrhea are rampant as the sewage system breaks down. Even on the West Bank, health conditions are deteriorating and health facilities are targeted by the Israeli occupation forces.
This webinar will pay tribute to the Palestinian doctors and health professionals who are still providing service to their communities in spite of these dire conditions. It will also discuss the challenges they face on the terrain and provide examples of the solidarity among their colleagues and friends abroad. Finally, it will put forward some conditions and demands necessary to bring health, safety and humanity back to patients and health workers alike, with an unconditional ‘ceasefire now’ as a starter.

Screening: Cake in the Sky (La torta in cielo)
2023-12-09 17:00 - 18:45
December 9, 2023
5:00 PM
Dave Barber Cinematheque, 100 Arthur Street, Winnipeg
Buy Tickets

$10 | General
$8 | Students & Seniors
$6 | Members

Dir. Lino Del Fra
1973, Italy, 102 min
Italian with English subtitles
The first North American screening of a 50-year-old antiwar film that Italian authorities tried to suppress! A socialist propaganda film disguised as a children’s film, the satirical La torta in cielo (1973, Lino Del Fra) begins as a flying UFO-sized cake symbolizing socialism crashes into an impoverished Roman suburb, and is quickly claimed by the children of the underclass. But just as they are celebrating their good fortune, the adult forces of capitalism—army, media, police, and profit-driven scientific industry—descend to attempt to steal, spread lies, and destroy their treasure. What ensues is an all out war between children and adults; between the spirit of socialism and the rapacious greed of the ruling class.
Presented with the support of Winnipeg Peace Alliance. Guest programmed by Irene Bindi.

All out for Rafah
2024-02-13 17:30 - 18:30 | Portage Avenue and Memorial Boulevard, Winnipeg, MB

Let Cuba Live Rally (Winnipeg)
2024-02-25 13:00 - 14:00 | River Avenue and Osborne Street, Winnipeg
Sponsor: Manitoba-Cuba Solidarity Committee

Monthly Meeting - Peace Alliance Winnipeg
2024-03-12 19:00 - 21:00
Peace Alliance Winnipeg usually meets online the 2nd Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm. If you wish to attend, send us an email at peacealliancewinnipeg@gmail.com and we will send you a Zoom link.

Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage (Winnipeg)
2024-03-16 07:30 - 08:30
Date: March 16, 2024
Time: 7:30 AM
Place: Kapabamayak Achaak Healing Forest (St. John’s Park, Winnipeg)
Sponsor: Event by GCPilgrimage Winnipeg

This Lent a global movement is walking in prayerful solidarity with the people of Gaza. With our bodies, pilgrims in 125 communities worldwide will be mapping the 42 km of the Gaza strip onto their cities & towns with their bodies.

Winnipeg’s Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage will be on Saturday March 16th. We’ll be gathering at the medicine garden in St John’s Park at 7:30 AM.

The pilgrimage will be divided up into 7 segments. You can walk it all, a shorter segment with your family, take it on with others as a relay, rest your legs while you drive a support vehicle, etc.

Regardless of what option you choose we’re asking all pilgrims to gather for 7:30 AM.

Israel-Palestine 101
2024-03-26 19:00 - 20:30 | Union Centre, 275 Broadway, 2nd Floor Auditorium, 275 Broadway, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
It didn’t begin on October 7th. When did it begin? How did it continue? And why?
Join artist and activist Daniel Thau-Eleff for a discussion of key historical events and how they can help us understand the current violence.
Daniel Thau-Eleff is a Winnipeg-based playwright, artistic producer of Moving Target Theatre, a Master’s student in Peace and Conflict Studies, and a long-time member of Independent Jewish Voices. He was recognized for his theatre work with the 2018 Manitoba Human Rights Commitment Award.
DATE: TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2024
TIME: 7 PM – 8:30 PM
PLACE: UNION CENTRE, 275 BROADWAY, 2ND FLOOR AUDITORIUM

End NATO Rally
2024-04-04 17:00 - 18:00 | River Avenue and Osborne Street, Winnipeg
Join us on April 4th, 5pm at River and Osborne as we come together to call for the end of Canada’s involvement in the immensely destructive war machine that is NATO.
This April marks the 75th anniversary of NATO, an organization of which Canada was a founding member. Under cover of a false claim—to be working toward the preservation of peace and stability—NATO has in reality, through its corrupt principle of “peace through strength” been engaged in relentless war expansion for the interests of US imperialism, and of other western nations whose banks and corporate monopolies move for profit. In service to these interests, NATO has been a primary vehicle of war, occupation, and destabilization in the world for these past 75 years.
Canada’s involvement has meant an inability to enact foreign policy that deviates from the will of the United States, and it has also meant the draining of billions of desperately needed budgetary resources that should be going to social needs and environmental protection in Canada.
In order to get off of this relentless path of destruction, Canada must move to a foreign policy model of peace and disarmament, not one of endless war and destruction that will ultimately lead to annihilation. So please join us to help spread the message: 75 years is a shamefully long record of invasion, destruction, and death for the sake of profit. Canada must say no to endless war and GET OUT OF NATO.

Peace Tax Info Session
2024-04-07 14:30 - 17:00
If you object to your taxes being used for war and militarism you may be interested to learn more. Doug Hewitt-White is a conscientious objector to military taxation and former president of Conscience Canada. Doug will give an overview of how people can act on their conscientious objection and what role the federal government plays currently and how it could change to fully respect our right to freedom of conscience.
Topic: Conscience Canada war tax resistance Zoom meeting
Time: Apr 7, 2024, 15:30 Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85675787245?pwd=BaEeqUzzxgkI72N0cPzkOLnK4RSrss.1
Meeting ID: 856 7578 7245
Passcode: 967822
Note: Attendees using the above link should not need to input the meeting ID or Passcode

Peace Alliance Winnipeg Annual General Meeting
2024-04-13 13:00 - 16:00 | Ukrainian Labour Temple, 591 Pritchard Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Peace Alliance Winnipeg will hold its Annual General Meeting on Saturday, April 13, 2024.
Time: 1:00 to 4:00 PM
Place: Lower level meeting room, Ukrainian Labour Temple, 591 Pritchard Avenue, Winnipeg
While this is not an election year, we will be hold an election to fill a vacancy on the Executive. While all are welcome, only members in good standing can vote or be elected to the Executive. If you have not renewed your membership, please do so without delay. You can do so, online, here.

Building a movement for a just transition
2024-05-08 19:00 - 21:00
Day: Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Time: 7pm
Where: Via Zoom Meeting ID: 863 4472 7215 Passcode: 254636

Featuring
Kevin MacKay
Hamilton Professor from Mohawk College and author of
Radical Transformation – Oligarchy, Collapse and the Crisis of Civilization

How can we transform ecologically destructive, oligarchic political structures and align Canadian society with the values of democracy, equality, and ecological sustainability? Discuss with other activists how progressive movements can reject the politics of division, and instead, organize to build new shared narratives, collective identities, and effective strategies to unify the diverse working class and to win transformative change. Help co-create a clear agenda for “Green Labour” or how workers must organize for just transition.
Who should attend?
People concerned and active for peace, climate justice, social equity to reduce poverty, organizing labour and improving democracy.

Peace Alliance Winnipeg Fundraising Concert
2024-06-02 19:00 - 21:00
Date: Sunday, June 2, 2024
Time: 7:00 PM (doors open at 6)
Place: Old Grace Co-op (200 Arlington St. map )
Tickets: $25; low income/students and Old Grace residents $20
Tickets can be bought with cash at the door or by Interac etransfer to peacealliancewinnipeg@gmail.com. Please add the memo “concert.” If you wish to support PAW, but do not plan to attend, add the memo “support” to your etransfer.
Featuring Tannis Kelm. For more about Tannis, visit her website. Feel free to bring snacks or drinks.

Yves Engler & Owen Schalk: Canada's Long Fight Against Democracy
2024-06-20 19:00 - 21:00
Date: June 20, 2024
Time: 7:00 PM
Place: The Hive, Lockhart Hall, University of Winnipeg (map)
Admission: Free
Join us for a discussion with Yves Engler and Owen Schalk about their latest book, entitled Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy, which documents Canadian government support for the overthrow of some 20 democractically elected governments since the end of World War 2.
Yves Engler is a Montréal-based activist and author who has published 12 books. In recent years Yves has sought to mobilize activists to confront politicians through peaceful, direct action. He has interrupted about two dozen speeches/press conferences by the prime minister, ministers and opposition party leaders to question their militarism, anti-Palestinian positions, climate policies, imperialism in Haiti and efforts to topple Venezuela’s government. Read more about Yves, here.
Owen Schalk is a writer from rural Manitoba. In addition to co-authoring Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy, he is a columnist at Canadian Dimension magazine and the author of Canada in Afghanistan: A story of military, diplomatic, political and media failure, 2003-2023. He is currently working on his third book, which details Canada’s role in the 2011 NATO war on Libya.

Say NO to NATO
2024-07-11 17:00 - 18:00 | River Avenue and Osborne Street, Winnipeg
When: July 11, 2024 at 5:00 PM
Where: River & Osborne in Winnipeg
Please join us in protest of the NATO summit on July 11, 2024 at 5:00 PM at River and Osborne in Winnipeg.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the U.S.-led, nuclear-armed military alliance that was founded by twelve countries including Canada in 1949, is marking its 75th year summit in Washington, DC, from July 9-11.
In the last 35 years, NATO has left a trail of death and destruction from its interventions in the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Libya and now Ukraine.
This action is part of a week of actions across Canada led by Canada Wide Peace and Justice Network demanding No to NATO, Canada Out of NATO and Nature not NATO. CWPJN is a network of 49 peace, social justice, antiwar and climate justice organizations across Canada. This week of action is also in solidarity with the No to NATO, Yes to Peace counter-summit and protest being held in Washington DC from July 6-7 – nonatoyespeace.org.
We also encourage you to sign on to the new parliamentary petition #4979 calling on Canada to withdraw from NATO: t.ly/t4noF

Winnipeg Lanterns for Peace 2024
2024-08-06 19:30 - 22:00 | Manitoba Legislative Building – South Plaza, Manitoba, Canada
Date: Tuesday, Aug 6, 2024
Time: 7:30 pm
Place: the south side of the Manitoba Legislative Building
79 years ago, the world was introduced to the horrors of nuclear war. The death, destruction and suffering that resulted from the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on Aug 6 and 9, 1945 meant that the world had changed for the worse. Nothing would ever be the same. The mushroom clouds that arose over Japan cast a shadow that menaces every living creature, even today.
In 1945 the United States had a monopoly on nuclear power; today, nine countries have their own nuclear arsenals and many more, via NATO, are set up to use these weapons. Even more alarming is the present conflict in Ukraine which pits a nuclear armed Russia against a nuclear-armed NATO.
Therefore, we gather annually to remember people whose lives were lost in August 1945, to remember the survivors whose lives were unalterably damaged, and to reaffirm our commitment to the abolition all nuclear weapons.
Please join us for our annual Lanterns for Peace ceremony. Beginning at 7:30 pm we paint lanterns and make origami cranes. (We provide the art supplies; you contribute your imagination and creativity.) At 9: 15 pm, following a short program of speeches, we float our lanterns in the fountain as the sun sets. (Note: If you wish to be seated during the speeches, please bring a lawn chair.)
It is a beautiful ceremony, rich with meaning and one which can be enjoyed by the whole family. If you have never been to one, here is a playlist of videos of Lantern Ceremonies over the years.
Sponsors: Peace Alliance Winnipeg, Japanese Cultural Association of Manitoba, Winnipeg Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Mennonite Central Committee

Webinar: Defending Venezuela Against US-Led Coup Attempt
2024-08-25 11:00 - 13:00
Where: Online, via Zoom. Register at https://bit.ly/VzlaElections3
When: Sunday, August 25, 2024
Time: 11 am Winnipeg Time
The presidential election in Venezuela, held on July 28, concluded with the re-election of President Nicolás Maduro for the next presidential term (2025-2031), who won with about 51.9% of the votes according to the second bulletin of the National Electoral Council (CNE). Although he received a little over 7% more votes than his nearest rival, Edmundo González Urrutia of the far-right coalition Unitary Platform, the ultra-right opposition has refused to recognise the results, claiming that President Maduro and the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) carried out an electoral fraud.
Just after the initial declaration of the results in the early morning hours of July 29 and the far-right’s non-recognition of the same, violent protests erupted in several parts of Venezuela, causing widespread material and human losses, including loss of lives, reminiscent of the guarimbas of 2014 and 2017 and the violence accompanying the Guaidó coup attempt in 2019. In parallel, the data transmission system of the CNE suffered an unprecedented cyberattack that delayed the transmission of results. Taking advantage of this situation, far-right politician María Corina Machado published falsified voting minutes as “evidence” of electoral fraud and launched a media campaign presenting González Urrutia as the “winner” of the July 28 election. This has been repeated and inflated by mainstream media outlets across the world as well as on social media. As expected, the United States declared González as the “president” of Venezuela, and some of its vassals in Latin America and Europe have followed suit.
Was there really an electoral fraud in Venezuela? Is there a possibility of executing such a fraud and stealing an election in Venezuela? There were more than 900 international electoral observers and 1,300 foreign journalists present in the country who witnessed the electoral process. What do they have to say about the election and the fraud claims? To hear directly from some such observers and journalists, International Manifesto Group and Orinoco Tribune are jointly organising a webinar on August 25, 2024, where we will be joined by a number of experts who were present in Venezuela during the electoral process.
Speakers:
Diego Sequera is a journalist, writer, translator, editor, and political analyst based in Caracas, Venezuela. He is a founding member of Misión Verdad, where he writes about geopolitics, global conflict, and Latin American and Venezuelan history and politics.
Francisco Domínguez is a specialist on Latin America’s contemporary political economy, about which he has published extensively. A former refugee from Chile’s Pinochet, he is also National Secretary of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign in the UK. He is also involved in solidarity activities with Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, and Mexico. He makes regular contributions to various alternative media. He is co-author of Right-Wing Politics in the New Latin America and author of the pamphlet Maduro: A decade continuing Chavez’s socialist anti-imperialist struggle.
Arnold August, M.A. in Political Science from McGill University, where he also completed two years of Ph.D. studies in the same field, is a Montreal-based author and journalist specializing in geopolitics and international relations, Global South, multipolarity, Latin America, ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for Our America), Venezuela, and Cuba. He also focuses on Palestine, indigenous peoples, China, BRICS, and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). He has visited Venezuela five times including for the July 28, 2024 presidential elections as an international observer, and written over 40 articles on Venezuela, many of them also published in Spanish and French. Of his 2013 book (published in English and Spanish) on comparative political systems, the section on Venezuela is still very valid. His website: www.arnoldaugust.com
Ivan Pankratz is a Venezuela solidarity activist based in Winnipeg, Canada. In 2007 he went to west Africa where he led workshops for local teachers. He is a math and physical education teacher.
Linda Christian works with the International Manifesto Group as an administrator. She completed a PhD in history specializing in the history of the French Revolution during the Terror and Thermidorian periods. She was an international observer for the July 28 presidential elections in Venezuela.
Alison Bodine is a social justice and antiwar organizer and author based in Vancouver, Canada. She is on the editorial board of the Fire This Time newspaper and coordinator of the Fire This Time Venezuela Solidarity Campaign, as well as a founding member of the Venezuela Solidarity Network. She is author of the book Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Venezuela (Battle of Ideas Press). She regularly publishes articles on climate justice, migrant and refugee issues, and Venezuela. Her articles have been published by Fire This Time, Venezuelanalysis, Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), Common Dreams, Monthly Review, and Counter Punch. She has travelled as a speaker and participant to international antiwar and anti-imperialist events in Cuba, Venezuela, Ireland, England, and the US. She has been an international elections observer in Venezuela on three occasions, including the 2024 presidential elections.
Dimitri Lascaris is a lawyer, journalist and activist. After graduating from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 1991, Dimitri began his legal career at the Wall Street law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, first working from the firm’s New York offices and then joining the firm’s offices in Paris, France. In 2012, Dimitri was selected by Canadian Lawyer Magazine as one of the 25 most influential lawyers in Canada. In 2013, he was named by Canadian Business Magazine as one of the 50 most influential persons in Canadian business. Canadian Business Magazine described Dimitri as the “fiercest legal advocate for shareholder rights.” In 2023, Dimitri was nominated as one of Canadian Lawyer’s 25 most influential lawyers in Canada.
Jesús Rodríguez-Espinoza (moderator) is an expert in international relations, Venezuelan politics, and media and communication. He served for several years as Consul General of Venezuela in Chicago (United States). Before that, he was part of the foundational editorial team of the Venezuelan online media Aporrea. He is the founder and editor of the Venezuelan anti-imperialist news outlet Orinoco Tribune.

Walk Against War
2024-09-28 19:00 - 21:00 | Winnipeg City Hall, 510 Main Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Join us on our annual “Walk for Peace” through Nuit Blanche. A mobile, multimedia event designed to raise awareness of the growing danger of world war.
Walk Against War – September 28, 7:00 PM. Meet at City Hall, our walk will begin at 7:30.
Walk Against War will bring its message to Winnipeggers attending Nuit Blanche Winnipeg using music, posters and speeches. Walk Against War is sponsored by Peace Alliance Winnipeg in partnership with various Winnipeg community organizations.
We hope you will join us!
Endorsed by: Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, Communist Party Of Canada (Manitoba), Community Solidarity Manitoba, CUPE 2348, Ethnorama News Winnipeg, Green Party of Manitoba, ICNA Sisters Canada, Independent Jewish Voices, Manitoba-Cuba Solidarity Committee, No Nukes Manitoba, Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, Quakers (Winnipeg), Tuesday Group, Women’s March Winnipeg, Young Communist League Manitoba

Mobilize for Peace!
2024-10-07 19:00 - 21:00 | 206 Princess Street, 206 Princess Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Join us for a discussion on escalating military spending, the dangerous drive to world war, Canada’s role in NATO, Palestine, and the new ‘cold war’ on China, and the need to strengthen the peace movement across the country. The event will feature Larry Wasslen, President of the Canadian Peace Congress, as part of his cross-Canada speaking tour.
Larry Wasslen, a retired intensive care RN and labor activist, led the first unionization drive at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. A lifelong peace and solidarity activist, he founded the Ottawa Peace Council in 2016 and co-launched the Canada Wide Peace and Justice Network. In 2023, he was elected to lead the Canadian Peace Congress.
Glenn Michalchuk was elected National President of the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians in October 2022. He is also Chair of Peace Alliance Winnipeg which is part of the wider Canadian anti-war and anti- imperialist movement. He is a retired railway worker. As a union member and activist, he represented workers on shop floor, and the city and national level throughout his 40 year working life. Glenn has been active in a wide range of Canadian social and political movements since 1979, including the peace movement.
Date: MONDAY OCTOBER 7, 2024
Time: 7:00 PM
Place: 206 PRINCESS ST., Winnipeg
More Information: www.canadianpeacecongress.ca

Webinar: Arms Embargo Now!
2024-11-04 18:00 - 19:30
Register at https://armsembargonow.ca/webinar/.

Rally: Arms Embargo Now!
2024-11-16 12:00 - 13:00 | CBC Manitoba, 541 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba
CANADA IS STILL ARMING GENOCIDE – Winnipeg Action
Date: November 16, 2024,
Time: Noon
Place: in front of CBC Manitoba, 541 Portage Ave
This action is being taken in coordination with actions across Canada, led by World Beyond War (Canada). Despite the wins the Arms Embargo Now campaign has had – and despite Joly’s and Trudeau’s frequent claims to have ended the export of Canadian weapons to Israel – the flow of arms has not stopped.
On September 10 2024 Minister Joly said “We will not have any form of arms or parts of arms be sent to Gaza, period.” This is a lie. Canadian weapons are continuing to be sent to Israel and continue to be used in Gaza (and Lebanon). Here’s what the Canadian government HAS done:
• Paused issuing any new permits for weapons exports to Israel.
• Suspended 30 (or roughly 12%) of the 200+ permits that had already been issued. These active permits are for military goods that are continuing to be shipped out to Israel right now.
• Promised to stop one planned shipment of Canadian-made explosives to Israel through the US. But only after details of this one shipment (among hundreds) were revealed by fluke and provoked huge public outcry.
Here’s what the Canadian government has NOT done:
• They haven’t suspended or cancelled 88% of the permits currently being used to ship arms to Israel.
• They haven’t done anything to stop the vast majority of arms exports to Israel which don’t even need an export permit because they use a loophole that allows military goods to go to Israel via the U.S., unreported & unregulated.
• They haven’t stopped importing weapons from Israel. Canada continues to fund the Israeli war machine by purchasing Israeli weapons for the Canadian military marketed as “battle-tested” on Palestinians.
Suspending just 12% of active permits to Israel is NOT ENOUGH. Letting Canadian weapons flow to Israel via the U.S., untracked and without requiring a permit is UNACCEPTABLE. Join us!!

No Nukes MB - Free Public Event
2024-11-27 19:00 - 20:30
