2008 Nuclear Weapons Inheritance Project Summer Events

6/30-7/2, Brussels

Report

Read what a group of 8 students from the NWIP experienced when they met in Brussels from June 30 to July2! They had come to Belgium from all over the world: Sumeet from India, Tom from the UK, Wenjing from Sweden and Jakob, Katharina, Laura, Henk and Ursula from Germany showed Parliamentarians and activists of the various NGOs that nuclear weapons are a topic that matters to today’s students!

Monday, June 30th, afternoon: Workshop with Caecilie Buhmann, co-founder of the NWIP

Laura: "After we had met at the youth hostel, we quickly made our way to the European Parliament. As soon as we had managed to find the building and the room for the workshop, Caecilie started right away. It was great. In the short time we had I learned a lot about dialogue technique. This was not only useful for the meetings that were coming up on Wednesday."

Sumeet: "It was really one of the best workshops I ever attended. Caecilie told us every bit about how to have dialogues with decision makers such as diplomats or parliamentarians and about the beginnings of the NWIP. I have never had such an energetic and awesome workshop, really!"

Wenjing: "Without doubt one of the most rewarding and fun workshops I’ve been to, and immediately applicable! I really hope that more students from IPPNW will have the opportunity to learn from Caecilie’s broad experience and knowledge."

Monday, June 30th, evening: Meeting of Abolition 2000

Sumeet: "After the workshop all the students took part in the round table discussion in the European Parliament. Abolition 2000 is a network of various groups for nuclear disarmament which met in Brussels in order to discuss their strategy for advancing the Nuclear Weapons Convention and the present political scenario concerning nuclear weapons in Europe. I attended such a conference for the first time of my life and it was interesting to listen to the detailed arguments of well-known experts, among them Rebecca Johnson (Acronym Institute, London) or Xanthe Hall (IPPNW, Berlin)."

Laura: "After the workshop I was filled up with information already, so when we attended the round table in the evening I was not really able to concentrate on the discussion. But still it was interesting to hear Xanthe Hall and all the others - at least I got an idea about all the details which play a crucial role in disarmament and nuclear weapons policy. We had to finish early, because the room was booked for a later event. I was lucky to end the day and to get back to the youth hostel."

Tuesday, July 1st: The International Conference '40th Anniversary of the NPT' at the European Parliament

Sumeet: "At the European Parliament, we did not only listen to the various diplomats and parliamentarians - indeed the students of the NWIP asked the speakers several questions and I think it was great for us as we were heard by the delegates and were appreciated for taking keen interest in the discussion of nuclear weapons disarmament, the role of a Nulear Weapons Convention, the nuclear deal between the U.S. and India and the impact of NATO. Being actively involved in the discussion increased our knowledge and I think it will be helpful for the future work of the NWIP."

Laura: "A German ambassador to the NATO was speaking about the nuclear weapons programme of the NATO. I was a bit astonished about the sometimes funny, sometimes simple statements he gave. It occurred to me that he discussed the latest soccer match more emphatic than the nuclear weapons deployed in European countries. As soccer matches are less crucial I was a bit surprised about those politicians. The message was simple: nuclear weapons are needed for deterrence."

Wenjing: "I liked the diversity of the speakers. It was a mixture of NGO representatives, parliamentarians and officials from NATO, Ministry of Defence in France and Russian Embassy. The theme of the conference was "Nuclear Arsenals in EU and Its Security", a highly valid topic. The prospect of a Nuclear Weapons Convention was the red thread throughout the conference. Not surprisingly, the speakers could be divided into two groups – the officials who were more or less anti-disarmament and the NGO/parliamentarians who were anti-nuclear. For us it was naturally interesting hearing the different points of view, not the least learning the arguments of the opposite side."

Wednesday, July 2nd: Dialogues with Members of the European Parliament

Katharina: "In my opinion it is great that students get the opportunity to get active on topics as the Nuclear Weapons Convention. The parliamentarians also recognized young people being involved in these matters which was an important side effect. For the dialogues, we divided into two groups and each one met with two MPs. Our group was talking to Angelika Beer (Germany, Green party) and Jan Marinus Wiersma (Netherlands, social democrats). The second group had a meeting with Annemie Neyts-Uytterbroeck (Belgium, Liberal) and spoke shortly with Ana Maria Gomes (Portugal, Social democrats)."

Henk: "The concept of only three or four students talking to one decision maker for half an hour is a very good one. This creates a communicative atmosphere and offers the opportunity to any student to be active and involved in the discussion. Meeting other students who are equally interested in the topics at hand and are able to reflect ones own ideas in Brussels motivated us to try and attract more team-mates to the struggle for nuclear disarmament."

Wenjing: "After the meetings, we had a debriefing together. It turned out that the Parliament has quite limited saying in nuclear weapons related issues in Europe and the communication between the Parliament and NATO could certainly be improved. Efforts are made to increase this co-operation. We are hoping that EU will soon have more power over its own security."

Laura: "We all met again in the cafeteria to resume the last two days and the meetings together and to look forward to what lies ahead. A lot of work, a lot of interesting meetings and hopefully some little success towards convincing people that a world without nuclear weapons is something to go for."

Contact: Ursula Völker -Ully04@web.de