Peace Network News

Anonymous — June 1984

Edited by Mary Vrantsidis and Nancy Watt

An International Peace Workshop will be held in England from July 13th to 20th. Guest speakers are Jonathan Porritt, Co-Chairman of the Ecology Party Council; Stephanie Leland, Founder – National Council of Women for Life on Earth; and, John Davy, Principal of Emerson College. For further information, write to: The Secretary, Summer Workshop, Emerson College, Forest Row, Sussex, England RH18 5JX.
A Western peace group visiting Moscow brought flower seeds as gifts, both to the official and unofficial peace groups. An activist in the latter organization requested, and was granted permission to plant a peace garden in front of the police station. When the flowers bloom, they will spell out the message: “Ban the bomb in Russia!”
William H. Epstein, former advisor to the Secretary General of the U.N. for Disarmament Questions, is being awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Alberta on June 4th and will deliver the convocation address. This is the first occasion (of which we are aware) of an honorary doctorate being awarded to someone in appreciation of activities in peace and disarmament.
On May 2, 1984, Nobel peace prize laureate, Andrei D. Sakharov began a hunger strike in the Soviet city of Gorky. Sakharov was arrested and exiled in Gorky 4 years ago by Brezhnev, without being charged with any offence.
His hunger strike is an attempt to save the life of his wife, Yelena Bonner. She desperately needs special heart treatment, that can only be performed outside the Soviet Union. The Soviet government has refused both of them exit visas. Yelena joined her husband’s hunger strike 10 days later. She has been charged under Article 190-1 of the Soviet Criminal Code with “spreading slanderous anti-Soviet information discrediting the Soviet social and state order” and sentenced for up to three years in labour camps.
In Canada, Dr. Roman Fin and his wife Prof. Galina Fin joined their hunger strike for 6 days to demonstrate their support. They urge others to join – even for a day – and/or send letters of protest to the Soviet government: His Excellency Konstantin Chernenko, Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., The Kremlin, Moscow, U.S.S.R.
The Peace Petition Caravan Campaign has opened an office at 32 Macdonell St. in Guelph. Office hours are 11 am to 4 pm, Monday to Saturday. Canvassing started on May 19th, but they are still looking for volunteers. If you are interested, please contact Dorothee Bienzle at xxx-xxxx.
The University of Bradford will be holding a conference on “Peace Studies in Higher Education” to enable academics interested in the subject to come together and discuss intellectual issues and practical problems. The conference will run from September 12 – 14. Further information can be obtained by writing: Conference Organizer, PSHE, School of Peace Studies, U of B, Bradford, West Yorkshire, B10 1DP.
The Peace Petition Caravan Campaign contact for London is: Jim Alexander, c/o Cross Cultural Learner Centre, 533 Clarence St., London, N6A 3Nl. 519-xxx-xxxx.
Konaka Yotaro will talk about the anti-nuclear movement in Japan and will bring a new film, Hiroshima/Nagasaki: The Harvest of Nuclear War at OISE, June 18th, 7 pm.
The Peace Calendar apologizes to all those people who were not contacted for the events calendar this month (especially London). As we all know, volunteer labour is a wondrous and mysterious thing. Unfortunately we just did not have the time to try to reach anyone more than once this month. It looks like this situation may be difficult to rectify as it has been a recurring problem. Please, if at all possible, try to send your events to us (or call them in yourself) by the 15th of each month. (Consider the virtues of Special Delivery). If you don’t have time to mail your events, check our list of correspondents before you call, there may be someone near you that you can contact.

The Peace Calendar

Canadian Disarmament Information Service, 1983-1984

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