Friends,

With my covid booster shot surging through my body, face masks and Spain’s covid rate in decline, I’ve traveled to Barcelona, to participate in the International Peace Bureau’s World Conference, the world’s largest peace event of the year (2,000 people in person & online from more than 100 countries.) I will be chairing an important hybrid (in person and on line) workshop with five exceptional authorities.

Featured Speakers: Reiner Braun (IPB – Germany), Sharran Burrow (ITUC President – Australia), Alexey Gromyko (Russian Academy of Science), Anna Sondstrom (Palme Foundation – Sweden), Tobia Chow (Global Justice and Committee for a Sane U.S.-China Policy – USA).

At the height of the Cold War, the Common Security Report, initiated by Swedish Prime Minister Olaf Palme, provided the paradigm and foundation for the 1987 INF Treaty, which functionally ended the Cold War before the fall of the Berlin Wall. It taught that security can only be created in common with those adversaries, that “States can no longer seek security at each other’s expense; it can be obtained only through cooperative undertakings”.

Forty years later we face new and increasingly dangerous geostrategic tensions: the escalating U.S.- China cold war and U.S./NATO – Russian military confrontations; as well as the existential climate, nuclear and pandemic threats; nuclear, cyber and high-tech arms races; and massive and deadly structural inequalities. This workshop will reengage the wisdom and legacies of the original Common Security Report. It will explore alternative Common Security policies – bilateral, regional and global – that governments and civil society should be pursuing to prevent war and reduce military tensions, address existential threats, and ensure justice. It will also introduce the current Palme Foundation’s/IPB’s/ITUC’s development of a 21st century Common Security ReportM

TO ACCESS THE FORUM YOU WILL NEED TO REGISTER FOR THE WORLD CONFERENCE https://www.ipb2021.barcelona/register/.

That will also give you access to the entire World Conference program, including speeches by Lula, Vanana Shiva, Noam Chomsky, many others, and three dozen workshops.

 Join us if you can.

All best wishes,

Joseph Gerson