PRESENTATION

At the first RID-NBC, held in October 2004, four nationalities were present (France, USA, UK and Russia - all nuclear-weapons states). At the second (in May 2006) twelve nationalities were represented, and diplomatic delegations participated from Iran and Vietnam.

On 9-11 May 2008, Saintes will host the Third Rally for International Disarmament, nuclear, biological and chemical.
At these gatherings very rich discussions take place, in the convivial atmosphere that is traditional in the Charente region. They go to the heart of major topical issues.

The fate of the planet - and therefore of each one of us - depends largely on the destiny of weapons of mass destruction: whether they are actually used or whether they are eliminated before it is too late. We live under a constant menace of multiple Swords of Damocles. We have to put an end to this absurd terror, so that we can concentrate on what really matters: improving life conditions for all human beings, for their collective security and just, sustainable well-being.

That is the subject of the 3rd RID-NBC: Disarm in order to live

The peaceable struggle for disarmament in all forms and for the abolition of nuclear weapons has been carried on for decades by numerous citizens all over the world. There have been successes and failures, advances and setbacks... Against the folly that leads to atomic suicide, reason can still triumph. All that is needed is for the leaders to follow the ordinary people’s commonsense, rather than the desire for power.

On the questions of war, peace and disarmament, the great and powerful make their decisions in great cities: their own capitals, but also New York (UNHQ), Geneva (seat of the Disarmament conference) and Vienna, seat of the IAEA and CTBT (International Atomic Energy Agency and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty).

Where then can the small and unpowerful meet, the ordinary citizens? In their own countries and villages, even the most modest. That is where that can put pressure on their elected representatives - local, regional or national - and demand policies that are more humane, social, ecological and peaceful. The « Mayors for Peace » of over 2000 cities in over 100 countries have understood this: they launched a worldwide campaign entitled « Our cities are not targets », which aims at abolishing nuclear weapons by 2020. Let us join them so as to attain this goal.

Saintes is a small city of 30 000 people, but we don’t need to be a metropolis to want what billions of humans want: peace, justice and life. Since Saintes is two thousand years old and has survived the fall of the Roman Empire, it knows by experience what the poet Paul Valéry said after the First World War: « we civilisations now know that we are mortal. » Saintes does not want human civilisation to destroy itself completely.

The 3rd RID-NBC offers to numerous disarmament activists from France’s different regions, from other European nations and other continents an opportunity to publicly compare their experiences and to open up new paths for working together. Thus it will contribute to the mobilisation of the citizens everywhere who are concerned to rid the planet of all threats of self-destruction.

If you share this concern and wish to learn more, you are cordially invited to the 3rd RID-NBC by the city of Saintes, ACDN France (Action of Citizens for the total Dismantling of Nukes) and all the various organisations that support this initiative.

INTERVENANTS aux 3e RID-NBC

Liste des intervenants confirmés au 30 avril 2008 / List of speakers as of 30 April 2008

(Liste provisoire / Provisional List)

MEMBRES DU CORPS DIPLOMATIQUE / DIPLOMATS

Son Excellence Monsieur Ali AHANI (Iran)
 Ambassadeur de la République Islamique d’IRAN en France

M. Majid JAVANMARD (Iran)
 2e Secrétaire et Expert en affaires internationales et juridiques, Ambassade d’Iran

M. Massoud KHALEGHI (Iran)
 Premier Conseiller et Chargé d’Affaires, Ambassade d’Iran

M. Leyde Rodriguez HERNANDEZ (Cuba)
 Conseiller politique, Ambassade de Cuba

M. NGUYEN TRUNG (Vietnam)
 Attaché militaire à l’Ambassade du Vietnam en France

M. TRANH DO DUC (Vietnam)
 Conseiller culturel à l’Ambassade du Vietnam en France

INTERVENANTS de la société civile

Alain ACARIES (France)
 Président de l’Association des Victimes de la guerre du Golfe (AVIGOLFE)

Alexey BABIN (Russie)
 Avocat

Gabriela BARRENECHEA (Chili)
 Chanteuse

Liliana BORANGA (Italie)
 Journaliste

Mikaël BÖÖK (Finlande)
 M.A. ; Licencié en sciences politiques
 Directeur de projets Internet
 Network Institute for Global Democratization (NIGD)

André BOUNY (France)
 Chef d’entreprise
 Président du Comité International de Soutien aux victimes vietnamiennes de l’Agent Orange et au procès de New York

CHORALE HUMANITAIRE de Saintes (France)

Michel CHOSSUDOVSKI (Canada)
 Professeur d’économie à l’Université d’Ottawa
 Consultant international (UNDP, African Development Bank, AIEDEP, UNFPA, ILO, WHO/OMS, ECLAC)
 Editeur du Centre for Research on Globalization / Centre de recherches sur la mondialisation

Peter COOPER, dit PEACH (Grande-Bretagne)
 Clown

Rafael DE LA RUBIA (Espagne)
 Président de Mundo Sin Guerras / Monde sans Guerres

Pol D’HUYVETTER (Belgique)
 Conseiller exécutif des « Maires pour la Paix » (« Mayors for Peace »)
 Membre du Conseil mondial d’Abolition 2000

Wayne HALL (Grèce)
 Enouranois Network
 Secrétaire du réseau MN3

John HALLAM (Australie)
 Joint Co-Ordinator, Appeal on Nuclear Weapons Operating Status
 Coordinateur de l’Appel des prix Nobel pour une mise hors d’alerte des armes nucléaires
 Membre du Conseil mondial d’Abolition 2000

Tauqeer HUSSAIN (Pakistan)
 Chercheur, Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI)

Gosman KABIROV (Russie)
 Victime de la catastrophe de Tcheliabinsk

Dadou KEHL (France)
 Président de la Ligue de l’Enseignement Poitou-Charentes

Jacques MARET (France)
 Eleveur et paysan en Poitou-Charentes
 Administrateur du CRIIGEN (Comité de Recherche et d’Information Indépendant sur la Génétique)
 Administrateur de « Sciences Citoyennes »

Jean-Marie MATAGNE (France)
 Professeur de philosophie
 Président de l’Action des Citoyens pour le Désarmement Nucléaire (ACDN)
 Membre du Conseil mondial d’Abolition 2000

Angeline PETALA (Grèce)
 Mediterranean Anti Nuclear Watch / Surveillance antinucléaire de la Méditerranée
 Mediterranean No Nuclear Neighborhood (MN3) / Réseau pour une Méditeranée sans nucléaire

Jacques REY (France)
 Docteur en physique nucléaire
 Ancien chercheur au Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique
 Ancien ingénieur au service d’Etudes générales nucléaires d’EDF

Paolo SCAMPA (Italie)
 Professeur
 Vice-Président de l’Association Internationale pour la Prévention des Radiations Ionisantes (AIPRI)

Ivo SLAUS (Croatie)
 Professeur émérite de physique
 Membre du Conseil mondial de la Conférence Pugwash, président de Pugwash Croatie
 Président l’Académie mondiale des Arts et des Sciences (WAAS) pour l’Europe du Sud-Est
 Président du Réseau international des centres de développement durable (INCSD)

Gideon SPIRO (Israël)
 Journaliste
 Membre du Comité israélien pour un Moyen-Orient sans armes de destruction massive / Israeli Committee for a Middle East without Weapons of Mass Destruction

Ria VERJAUW (Belgique)
 Coordinatrice, International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW)

Alyn WARE (Nouvelle Zélande)
 Coordinateur international PNND, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament / Parlementaires pour le Désarmement et la Non prolifération Nucléaires
 Vice-Président du Bureau International pour la Paix / International Peace Bureau
 Membre du Conseil mondial d’Abolition 2000

PROGRAMME

(As on 12 April 2008, subject to amendment)

3rd INTERNATIONAL RALLY for Disarmament, nuclear, biological and chemical

(3rd RID-NBC)

Saintes, France, 9, 10, 11 May 2008

 Honorary President

 Mr Tadatoshi Akiba

 Mayor of Hiroshima

Disarm in order to live

Thursday 8 May: PROLOGUE to the Rally

Lighting of the Nuclear Disarmament Flame

 2.30pm at Place Foch (Palais de Justice): The Flame leaves for a « Disarmament Race » in stages through the city (details will be in the newspapers)

 4pm Courtyard of Saintonge Building: Arrival and installation of the Flame

Room n° 5: Opening of the "Hiroshima - Nagasaki- Cheliabinsk - Chernobyl" Exhibition

 4pm-7pm Hall of the Auditorium: Welcoming of the public, information and registration for workshop participants

Friday 9 May: OPENING of the Rally

 9am Hall of the Auditorium: Welcoming of the public, information and registration for the workshops

 10am: The Flame visits the city. Beginning of an international multilingual guided city-tour.

 2.30pm Saintonge Auditorium: Official Opening Ceremony attended by elected representatives, personalities and diplomatic representatives

 3.30pm Auditorium: Panel discussion: « The position of states regarding nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation »

With the participation of diplomatic representatives

 6pm Prairie de la Pallu: Planting of the ’’Nagasaki Tree’’ close to the ’’Hiroshima’ Tree’

 8.45pm, Theatre Geoffroy Martel: Concert by Gabriela Barrenechea, a Franco-Chilean singer

(Tickets on sale at the Office de Tourisme, Cours National ; at the ACDN office, Maison des Associations ; at the Theatre on 9 May from 8.15 pm )

- Saturday 10 May: « Disarmament and Life, the state of play »

 9am Saintonge Building: Workshops A

 A1 - Countries at war, regions in crisis
 A2 - "DU" munitions and genocidal weapons
 A3 - Threats to the Planet and how to defend ourselves
 A4 - Civilian and military nuclear technology : what alternatives ?

 11am Saintonge Courtyard: humorous interlude

 11.30am Auditorium: Plenary session (bringing together the workshops)

 2.30pm Auditorium: « The Nuclear Threat : past, present and what future ? »

Panel Discussion, with Michel Chossudovsky (Canada), Pol d’Huyvetter (Belgium), John Hallam (Australia), Jean-Marie Matagne (France), and Alyn Ware (New Zealand)

 6pm: Special Event

 8.45pm Saintonge Auditorium: Documentary Films

Sunday 11 May: « Perspectives on action for peace and disarmament »

 9am Saintonge Building: Workshops B

 B1- For a different globalisation
 B2- The political and information battle
 B3- Diplomatic and judicial actions
 B4- The role of Europe

 11am: Interlude

 11.30am (Auditorium): Plenary Session (bringing together the workshops)

 2pm (Auditorium) : Panel Discussion and Plenary: final discussion and resolutions

 4.30pm: Closing of the RID-NBC

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

- Venue : Saintonge Auditorium and rooms, 11 Rue Fernand Chapsal (near the Hôtel de Ville)

 The Rally is open to the public

 Participation is open and free, but seats are limited

 Prior registration is strongly advised

Participants and speakers are expected from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Spain, USA, Finland, France, Greece, UK, Italy, India, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan and Russia.

All French citizens are invited to welcome them and to join in the thinking and the festivity.

Functioning of the morning workshops and plenaries :

Each workshop lasts 2 hours, and has two stages :

 An introduction by one or more speakers

 Discussion between speakers and all participants

Each workshop is the subject of a report to all Rally participants, in the plenary session.
Speeches are in French or English, with the texts diffused on paper or translated simultaneously within the limits of our resources.

Recommendations

The number of seats and the options for accommodation are limited. It is wise to register for the Rally and book a hotel room as soon as possible.

Information, reservations, registrations :

 ACDN - 31 Rue du Cormier
 17100 - Saintes
 www.acdn.net
 acdn.net
 ++33 (0)5 46 92 38 27 ou (0)6 73 50 76 61

The ACDN office is staffed from Monday to Friday from 9am to 12 noon and 2pm to 5pm: in the Maison des Associations, 31 Rue du Cormier, Saintes

REGISTRATION and/or DONATION to the 3rd RID-NBC

RESPONSE FORM to fill in and return quickly to :

ACDN - 31, Rue du Cormier - 17100 - SAINTES

or by email to : contact@acdn.net

 FAMILY NAME

 Given Name

 Address :

 Post code :

 City :

 Country :

 Phone :

 Mobile :

 Fax :

 E-mail :

(_) I hereby register for the 3rd RID-NBC (Rally for International Disarmament, nuclear biological and chemical)

(_) I support the Rally with a donation of .................. ¤uros (make out cheques to « ACDN »)

(_) Enclose a stamped addressed envelope to that I can receive:

 (_) a tax receipt (donation tax-deductible for 66 %)

 (_) confirmation of my registraton

 (_) list of accommodation options

(_) I offer to lodge one or......... foreign speaker(s), preferably of ....................language

(_) I will be able to assist (_) in welcoming participants (_) at the workshop secretariat

 (_) in English->French translation (_) written (_) oral - and or French->Engish (_) written (_) oral

 (_) in translating other languages : .............................................................

(_) I am particularly interested in the following questions:

(_) I would like to speak on the following subject :

I will come to the RID registering desk (11 Rue Fernand Chapsal, Saintes), where I will receive a name-badge :

 (_) On Thursday 8 May between 4pm and 7pm

 (_) On Friday 9 May after 9am

 (_) on...................at......

(_) I intend to join the city tour that will leave the Saintonge Building on Friday 9 May at 10am

Signed on.....................................at.................. .... Signature :