[act-ma] Event Submission: Pivoting for Peace in Asia and the Pacific Conference - April 19

[Joseph Gerson]

Pivoting for Peace in Asia/Pacific
Challenging US Militarism and Corporate Dominance

April 19, 2014, 9:30 am - 5:00 pm
Friends Meeting at Cambridge
5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge, MA 02138
$10 registration - $10 lunch
Register: http://pivoting-for-peace.bpt.me/
INFO: JSherysr at afsc.org<mailto:JSherysr at afsc.org>
phone: (617) 661-6130

KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Hideki Yoshikawa, environmental campaigner; leader of the Okinawa movement against U.S. military bases; professor at Univ. of the Ryukyus and at Meio Univ.

sPEAKERS (Partial List)

The Pivot: Motivations, Dimensions, Impacts, Possible Consequences
Joseph Gerson, AFSC: Overview
Duncan McFarland, UJP: Chinese foreign & military policies
Alex Brown, Communications Workers of America
Introductions: The Most Dangerous Hot Spots
Hyun Lee,, Nodutdol for Korean Community Development: Northeast Asia
Yuiichi Moroi, Temple UniversitySenkaku/Diaoyu; Japan-China-US

Impacts of the Pivot at Home: Building a Movement
Bruce Gagnon, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space: Solidarity
Mike Prokosh, New Priorities Netowrk, Dorchester People ofr Peace, Move the Money, Costs of the Pivot
Speaker from Asian American Resource Workshop, The View from Asian American Communities


Midst the crisis over Ukraine, President Obama is returning to Asia and the Pacific to press a military, economic and diplomatic "Pivot to Asia and the Pacific. The goal: to "manage China's rise" in ways that ensure continued U.S. dominance.  60% of the Air Force and 60% of the Navy are being deployed to the region. Military alliances are being deepened, new military bases built, and hundreds of billions of dollars diverted to deploy dangerous advanced weaponry. And the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement is being negotiated in secret.

Little known to most Americans, we've come to the brink of war - potentially nuclear war - twice in the last two years, first during tensions with North Korea and then over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. Our hundreds of military bases have devastating impacts on people in "host" communities. And TPP will cost us jobs, worsen working conditions and assault the environment, all to increase U.S. economic leverage over China and further maximize corporate profits and power.

The conference will bring us to date on what is happening in Asia/Pacific, how it will affect us here at home, and what we can do.  Join us as we build our ability to pivot for peace, instead of for war.

Co-sponsors: American Friends Service Committee, Massachusetts Peace Action, United for Justice with Peace, Asia America Resource Workshop