[E-rundbrief] Info 2157 - US- and Russian Women , peace call

Mi Feb 16 21:48:20 CET 2022

E-Rundbrief Info 2157 - INDEPENDENT AMERICAN AND RUSSIAN WOMEN CALL FOR 
PEACE (USA, Russland).

Bad Ischl,16.2.2022

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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INDEPENDENT AMERICAN AND RUSSIAN WOMEN CALL FOR PEACE

https://www.nuclearwakeupcall.earth/independentamericanandrussianwomencallforpeace

We are women from the United States and Russia who are deeply concerned 
about the risk of possible war between our two countries, who together 
possess over 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons.

We are mothers, daughters, grandmothers, and we are sisters, one to another.

Today we stand with our sisters in Ukraine, East and West, whose 
families and country have been torn apart, have already suffered more 
than 14,000 deaths.

We stand together and we call for peace and diplomacy, with respect for all.

We are united in the belief that diplomacy, dialogue, engagement and 
exchange are urgently needed to end the current crisis and avert a 
catastrophic military conflict that could spiral out of control — even 
push the world to the precipice of nuclear war.

For the U.S. and Russia, the only sane and humane course of action now 
is a principled commitment to clear, creative and persistent diplomacy— 
not military action.

At this perilous juncture, rather than allocate blame, we should be 
seeking 21st century alternatives to senseless military conflicts and 
wasteful spending on war. It is a time to redefine security so that 
women, families, and our children, can live in peace.

At a time when we find ourselves in perhaps the most dangerous moment 
since the Cuban Missile Crisis, we call on the media in both our 
countries to stop fueling the flames of war. We call on the media to 
fulfill their ethical responsibility as journalists to remind us of the 
price of war, the bloodshed and loss of human lives, to demand evidence 
when claims are made that can escalate tensions, and to have the courage 
to sound the alarm on the risk of escalation to a nuclear war that would 
mean the end of life as we know it.

At a time when poverty is increasing in the U.S., Ukraine and Russia, 
when the world collectively faces the existential threat of climate 
change, a pandemic that has taken 5.8 million lives and caused rising 
“deaths of despair,” declining life expectancy and extreme inequality, 
isn’t it time to think anew?

How might we seize the day and lay out a 21st century vision — that not 
only advances peace and security, but can unite the world — essentially 
a new realism? What could creative, humane diplomacy look like? If done 
thoughtfully, it could do more than resolve the standoff in Ukraine — it 
could pave the way for broader cooperation between the U.S., Russia, and 
Europe and beyond on climate, disarmament and more. It could lay the 
seeds for a new, demilitarized and shared security architecture.

We independent women, seekers of peace and security, understand the 
vital importance of engaging minds and hearts. We call on you to share 
this call for peace and urge our governments to keep talking, to pursue 
clear, creative and persistent diplomacy.

These are times of fear but also of hope and possibility. The world is 
in motion, the future is not written. As Americans and Russians, we have 
a compelling stake in deescalating tensions between our countries. The 
approach we suggest surely is more realistic, more wise, than preparing 
for a military conflict that could lead to unthinkable nuclear war.

We stand together and we call for peace. Stand with us.

   #WomenCall4PeaceUkraine

#WOMENPEACEBUILDERS

#MINDFUL CHERNOBYL

#WOMENSAYNOTOWAR

#WHEREISOURPEACEDIVIDEND

#MONEYFORSCHOOLSNOTMISSILES

#SISTERSAGAINSTWAR

#PEACEWINS

#KEEPTALKINGUKRAINE

#TALKANDLISTEN

Signed,

Jackie Abramian, Writer

Dr. Susan H. Allen, Director, Center for Peacemaking Practice at George 
Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Nadezhda Azhgikhina, Journalist, Feminist, Director, Moscow PEN, Board 
Member, Article 19

Natalia Bitten, Journalist and Feminist

Sandra Cline, Trustee Emerita for Biosphere Foundation, Founder and 
Editor of Dance of the Spirit, Writer and Novelist

Dr. Ann Frisch, Prof. Emerita University of Wisconsin Oshkosh US; Chair 
Rotary Action Group for Peace Nuclear Weapons Education, Rotary Peace 
Champion 2017

Paula Garb, PhD, Fellow, Center for Peacemaking Practice at George Mason 
University

Dulcie Kugelman, Center for Citizen Peacebuilding

Cynthia Lazaroff, Founder, Women Transforming Our Nuclear Legacy and

NuclearWakeUpCall.Earth, Board Member, American Committee for US-Russia 
Accord

Sarah Lindemann-Komarova, Writer, Researcher and Activist

Olga Malutina, Artist

Eva Merkacheva, Investigative Journalist, Member of Human Rights Council 
of Russia

Galina Michaleva, Chairwoman of the Gender Faction, Yabloko Party, Russia

Larisa Mikhaylova, PhD, Senior Researcher at Journalism Department, 
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russian Society of American Culture 
Studies Academic Secretary

Galya Morrell, “Cold Artist," Polar Explorer and Visual Artist, 
Co-Founder, Citizen Diplomacy Initiative, “Arctic Without Borders”

Marina Pislakova-Parker, Ph.D Sociology, Founder and Chair of the Board, 
ANNA - Center for the Prevention of Violence, Author, Researcher

Joan Porter, Community Activist

Lubov Shtyleva, Long-term President, Women’s Congress of Kola Peninsula 
and Board Member, Vyi i Myi Magazine

Karen Sperling, Author and Publisher

Svetlana Svistunova, Journalist and Filmmaker

Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation 
magazine, Board Member, American Committee for US-Russia Accord

Elizaveta Vedina, Artist, Illustrator

Ann Wright, Colonel, US Army and Former US Diplomat, Veterans For Peace 
Advisory Board Member

Natalia Zhurina, Research and Education Officer, Agency for the 
Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean

This letter was written by American and Russian women participating in a 
dialogue and peacebuilding initiative founded in 2021 by Women 
Transforming Our Nuclear Legacy and the American Committee for US-Russia 
Accord

Russian text:

https://www.nuclearwakeupcall.earth/independentamericanandrussianwomencallforpeace

-- 

     Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
     Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
     Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
     Wolfgangerstr. 26, 4820 Bad Ischl, Austria,
     fon: +43 6132 24590, Informationen/ informations,
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