Peace History

noreply@blogger.com (kidsshishu) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:53:00 -0700

July 7, 1977

The United States conducted its first test of the neutron bomb. The neutron bomb was a tactical thermonuclear weapon designed to cause very little physical damage through limited blast and heat but was designed to kill troops through localized but intense levels of lethal radiation.

Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell and nine other scientists warned that the development of weapons of mass destruction had created a choice between war and survival of the human species. The Russell-Einstein Manifesto was published in London and became the basis for the Pugwash Conference of scientists two years later.

July 7, 1957

Convened at the onset of the Cold War, a group of scientists held their first peace conference in the village of Pugwash, Nova Scotia, Canada. The mission of the Pugwash Conference was to “. . . bring scientific insight and reason to bear on threats to human security arising from science and technology in general, and above all from the catastrophic threat posed to humanity by nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction . . . .”

Wealthy industrialist and Pugwash son Cyrus Eaton had invited the world’s greatest minds to his family home in Nova Scotia and address the emerging threat of nuclear war. The Conference became the basis for an ongoing organization that deals with issues of weapons of mass destruction. The 1995 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Joseph Rotblat (one of the original signatories of the Pugwash Manifesto) and to the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.

PEACE HISTORY SOCIETY

noreply@blogger.com (kidsshishu) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:26:00 -0700

The PEACE HISTORY SOCIETY invites paper proposals for its fifth international conference that focus on the interrelationships between gender and war, peace and justice.

From Aristophanes' comedy Lysistrata, a comedic example of Greek women using nonviolent direct action to stop the Peloponnesian War, to contemporary debates on the war on terrorism, matters of war, peace and justice have had a gendered dimension. This conference seeks to shed light on the nexus of gender, war, peace and justice.

We are most interested in papers that take a historical approach to this topic. We welcome panel and paper proposals that compare different historical periods and geographies as well as those that focus on a particular event, place or time-period. Paper proposals about peace history not related to the conference theme will also be considered.

Topics might include but are not limited to:

Just War theory and gender;
the historical development of concepts of justice and their relationship to gender;
the use of war and peace initiatives as justifications for rescuing women;
masculine and feminine constructions of peacemaking and social justice;
gender and war/peace talk; race, class, and gender-based constructions of justice;
the interrelationships between gender, race and class in peace and social justice movements;
religion, gender and peace.

The Peace History society is unable to provide travel assistance or financial support to conference attendees.

Strong conference papers will be given consideration for publication in a special issue of the journal Peace& Change to be co-edited by the program co-chairs. For more information on the PHS and for conference updates, visit the PHS website, at www.peacehistorysociety.org

Please forward proposals for individual papers or a panel (limit of 250 words per paper) and a CV to both program committee co-chairs by February 1, 2007:

The Greenpeace flagship

noreply@blogger.com (kidsshishu) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:07:00 -0700

July 10, 1985

The Greenpeace flagship, Rainbow Warrior (named after a North American Indian legend), was blown up in Auckland Harbour, New Zealand, killing one and sinking the ship.

The attack had been authorized by French President François Mitterand because the environmental organization had plans to protest France’s nuclear bomb tests in the South Pacific.

Dr. Benjamin Spock History

noreply@blogger.com (kidsshishu) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:00:00 -0700

July 11, 1969

The federal appeals court in Boston reversed the convictions of Dr. Benjamin Spock and Michael Ferber who had been found guilty of conspiring to counsel evasion of the military draft in 1968. The judges considered their activities opposing the Vietnam War covered under the 1st Amendment right to free speech
[see July 9, 1917].

John Ehrlichman History

noreply@blogger.com (kidsshishu) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:40:00 -0700

July 12, 1974

John Ehrlichman, former top aide to President Richard Nixon, and three others were convicted of conspiring to violate a citizen’s civil rights. Ehrlichman had approved a recommendation for a covert investigation of Daniel Ellsberg in 1971 by writing on a memo: "If done under your assurance that it is not traceable."
Looking for information to discredit Ellsberg, agents of Pres. Nixon’s re-election campaign broke into the office of his psychiatrist. Ellsberg, a former Defense Dept. analyst, had been responsible for public release of The Pentagon Papers, a collection of documents outlining the U.S. history and strategy in Vietnam, that had been classified as secret to avoid public scrutiny.