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The
NWIP was
invited to participate in the
IFMSA-USA National Convention in Chicago on Jan. 16th-18th
2004. Despite
the immense importance of meeting with American youth as part of
the Nuclear Weapons Inheritance Project it took us years to manage to
get
there. We tried to make contacts with US medical students through
Student
Physicians for Social Responsibility since the first year, but every
time we
thought we had promising contacts the plans fell apart. In the end the
door
that opened for us was through IFMSA.
Present at the convention
were 260 IFMSA students from all over
the US and also a no. of PSR students. NWIP have over the years attended a number
of IFMSA international
meetings and this resulted in an invitation to participate in the
national
convention for IFMSA-USA in Chicago in January 2004. To our surprise we
were
given time for a 2 hour dialogue with students as well as a 3 hour
workshop. This
was a relatively large chunk of the program of the 3-day congress. We
had
planned to send 3 delegates to Chicago – Naranath Reddy from India,
Tariq
Jawaid Alam from Pakistan and myself. This would be a wonderful
opportunity for
two of the most dedicated national student leaders of the NWIP to meet
for the
first time and to leave their fingerprint on what we recognized to be
an
invaluable opportunity for the project. Unfortunately one was prevented
from
travelling due to final exams and the other was not given a visa
despite letters
of invitation and recommendation from the congress organizers and the
Swedish
IPPNW affiliate. So in the end I found myself alone in Chicago. A
rather unfortunate
situation to be in when you consider it is the idea of the project to
engage in
dialogue and not to use traditional lecturing.
So I did what I could to
clown my way through the dialogue and was happy
to see an audience of around 75 students out of a couple of hundred
attending
the congress. The workshop also had good attendance and the group ended
up with
a plan to invite the NWIP to visit on a comprehensive delegation that
could
both train more students in a weekend workshop and meet students from
several schools
in dialogue during the stay. During
the convention the NWIP had a table at
the project fair where handouts and Vital Signs were distributed to
students and students came and asked questions about the project.
On Saturday a dialogue was undertaken with
around 75 students present. The dialogue took 1 hour and followed the
usual program, with a short introduction (with two pictures from the
delegation to India and the dialogue picture of Chazov. Lown and
Gorbatchov), 10 minutes on medical effects illustrated by 4 pictures
from Hiroshima (showing burns, radiation sickness, a destroyed overview
of the city and a destroyed hospital), 30 minutes where topics like
NMD, proliferation, deterrence, NPT, Nuclear Posture Review, terrorism,
accidental launch and human error was touched upon. The dialogue
finished with a discussion of alternatives (NWFZ, MNWC, NPT, CTBT,
Unilateral disarmament, New Security, Strengthening international
cooperation, Middle Powers Initiative, IPPNW, DwDM, NWIP etc.). About
half of the participants filled out evaluations while James Floyd from
IFMSA-USA talked about the possibilities of starting local activities
and Molly Goggin from IPPNW introduced the organization in general.
On Sunday I gave a 3 hour training – also
following the normal program, with introduction, medical effects
(resources and main messages), basics (same as during dialogue with
focus on understanding and where to find resources), dialogue theory
and finally role plays. There were 10 participants and they ended the
session by discussing how to start activities locally. Only two
participants filled out evaluations.
During the training was used a couple of quotes
on over-head, the NWIP aims were discussed from an overhead and then a
black board was used. Handouts were available (fact sheet, facts about
treaties from IPPNW and brochure about the project). A compilation of
resources was given to one of the local students for photocopying and
distribution.
Both sessions given received good reviews from
the participants. Overall feedback centred on the fact that they –
despite the time constraints – had achieved their initial purpose of
raising awareness and several students wrote about their interest in
taking up activities afterwards. The newly elected National Officer of
Refugees and Peace, Sonali, expressed a wish that disarmament would be
stressed more in national activities in the coming year. Furthermore
students of PSR from Chicago expressed interest in starting disarmament
activities locally in PSR and a group of students from across the
country decided to work on inviting a full NWIP delegation to come back
in the fall and undertake several dialogues in different colleges and a
longer training. The local students have drafted a plan of action for
the spring and have set up an e-mail list moderated by James Floyd from
Duke University in North Carolina. The expectations are that a
follow-up visit from the NWIP would be able to help consolidate a group
who could lead national disarmament activities. James Floyd also
expressed an interest in trying to find funds to support national and
international activities. So all in all the delegation was successful.
A couple of very interesting
suggestions were in the evaluations from the dialogue. I have written
them below. These could be worth considering – as well in general as
for a future American delegation.
-Discussion of WHY students don’t really think this is a
problem – would also raise awareness
-More about other similar disarmament project
-Better explanation of US policies and which candidates
have better positions!
-Could the program also be made available to
undergraduate students at US universities?
Having
spent years trying to
find an opening to visit the US, I found it
was a very positive and surprising experience to find that so many
students at
the convention who showed genuine interest in the topic of disarmament.
I left
with high hopes for the future and an understanding that it is not lack
of dedication
or interest that keeps the students from getting involved, it is a lack
of
knowledge about the nuclear dangers in the world of today. After the
congress
we managed to stay in contact with a number of the students I had met
during
the congress. Currently a group of students from PSR and IFMSA in
Chicago are
communicating with us about possibilities of us visiting in the coming
year. We
hope to see a couple of those students at the World Congress in Beijing
and to
link them with new contacts we have made to other anti-war student
groups in
the US.
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