Dear John,

We're partnering with 350.org, CODEPINK, Campaign Against Arms Trade UK, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, and many more organizations for our upcoming #NoWar2021 Global Conference on June 4-6, "From Weapons Fairs to War Zones: Unraveling the War Machine." This will be our 6th annual conference — but our 1st full-blown virtual conference complete with trainings, panels, virtual expo booths, one-on-one and small group networking, and much more. Get your ticket!

What makes this year's WBW conference unique is: the international diversity of the speakers; the holistic examination of the total supply chain that fuels the war machine from mineral mining to weapons expos to war; the innovative use of the new Hopin platform to facilitate an interactive virtual experience akin to real-world conference networking; and the mix of panels plus discussion groups and skills trainings to broaden the conference experience.

The opening panel of the conference on Friday, June 4 kicks off with presentations by Bianca Mugyenyi of Canadian Foreign Policy Institute and Daniel Selwyn of London Mining Network, to paint a picture of the sweeping impact of war. Following that, we'll break out into discussion groups by topic, so you can network with others working on similar issues, such as youth peacebuilding, war's environmental impact, departments of peace, the China Is Not Our Enemy campaign, No to NATO, an antiwar veterans meetup, and more.

Saturday, June 5 starts off with workshops on "Learning from Success Stories" focused on 3 campaigns: divestment, shutting down weapons expos, and shutting down military bases. Carley Towne from CODEPINK, David Swanson of World BEYOND War, and Susi Snyder of Don't Bank on the Bomb will walk through the steps of successful weapons divestment campaigns, on the university, municipal, and institutional levels. Siana Bangura from Campaign Against Arms Trade UK, Te Ao Pritchard from Auckland Peace Action, and Zelda Grimshaw from Wage Peace Australia will share strategies and tactics from years of organizing against weapons fairs around the world. Local activists from the Czech Republic and Montenegro will share their experiences of successfully stopping the construction of military bases in their communities.

Next, we'll present 3 simultaneous trainings to choose from: Media Training: Strategies for Traditional Media and Digital Storytelling with Katie Perfitt of 350.org; Nonviolent Direct Action Training with Christian Peacemaker Teams; and Strategic Corporate Research Training with Jen Moore of the Institute for Policy Studies. These trainings are designed to break down these topics into a step-by-step how-to guide for activists. All sessions will be recorded, so you can choose your favorite to attend live and watch the other trainings later. Saturday wraps up with a panel hosted by the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space as part of the "space track" of the conference, featuring David Webb, Bruce Gagnon, Lynda Williams, and Mary Beth Sullivan.

The final day of the conference, Sunday, June 6, includes 2 outstanding panels. The first on the global impact of the arms trade will talk about the flow of weapons worldwide. Kelsey Gallagher, a researcher with Project Ploughshares, has extensive experience researching Canadian military production and exports. Bruce Moncur served in the Canadian military for 10 years and will share first-hand experience of the impact of those weapons. Kathy Kelly has lived in active combat zones around the world — including Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Haiti, Lebanon, and Gaza — and will also attest to the first-hand experience of war.

The concluding panel leaves us with hope — successful stories of economic conversion. As the conference examines the global extent of the arms trade and its wide-ranging impact, so too must we understand how to move beyond it. We'll hear from Simon Black of Labour Against the Arms Trade; investigative journalist Taylor Barnes; Sam Gindin, former Research Director of the Canadian Autoworkers Union; and Sam Perlo-Freeman of Campaign Against Arms Trade UK about how we can actually achieve a just transition from a war to a peace-based economy.

I'm blown away by the knowledge of the speakers who will be presenting at #NoWar2021. From researchers to grassroots organizers, authors to activists, war tax resisters, veterans, skills trainers, and everything in between — the mixed backgrounds of our speakers will provide an eye-opening look not just into the facts and figures behind the global arms trade, but its real-world impact and, critically, the successful strategies and tactics for divesting, disarming, and demilitarizing our communities. Join me at #NoWar2021.

In solidarity,

Greta Zarro
Organizing Director
World BEYOND War
[email protected]

World BEYOND War is a global network of volunteers, chapters, and affiliated organizations advocating for the abolition of the institution of war.
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