“Trump in the White House, Nato, war, nukes... what should we expect?” features speakers including newly announced keynote speaker, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Vijay Prashad from the Tricontinental Institute, CND General Secretary Sophie Bolt, China Specialist Keith Bennet, former student leader Jess Barnard now a member of the Labour Party NEC, and the Green Party’s Jenny Jones.
The link for the full programme can be found here
Join us today as we bring together experts, activists, and policymakers to discuss these pressing issues and the prospects for peace and security worldwide.
Conference outline
Keynote speech: PROSPECTS FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
Jeremy Corbyn MP, introduced by Murad Quereshi
Opening Plenary: NATO, WAR, NUKES: OUTLOOK FOR 2025
Jess Barnard on Israel’s war on Palestine
Sophie Bolt on nuclear weapons in Britain
Keith Bennett on Asia-Pacific developments
Vijay Prashad on the likely impact of Trump’s presidency
Carol Turner on NATO and Ukraine
Chair Christine Shawcroft, London CND
Information session: WAR: THE TESTING GROUND FOR NEW TECH WEAPONS
Peter Burt, Drone Wars UK, on new tech being trialled in Ukraine & the Middle East
Dave Webb, Convenor of Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, on the role of Menwith Hill and Fylingdales in the US-NATO network
Chair: Cllr Emma Dent Coad, London CND
Closing plenary: PEACE MOVEMENT PRIORITIES
Baroness Jenny Jones, Green Party on war and peace issues on the parliamentary agenda
Tony Staunton, CND Vice Chair on CND’s priorities for 2025
Angie Zelter, Lakenheath Peace Alliance on campaigning against US nuclear weapons coming to Britain
Chair Hannah Kemp-Welch, London CND
Speakers in alphabetical order include:
Jess Barnard is a member of the Labour Party National Executive Committee, and a Palestine campaigner. She is a Community Organizer and a workplace trade union representative. Jess is a former chair of Young Labour. Before moving to London, she lived in Norfolk and takes part in actions to stop the return of US nuclear weapons to Lakenheath.
Keith Bennett is a China specialist and co-editor of the Friends of Socialist China platform. He has worked as an advisor to both Chinese and British companies and was previously the Political Editor of the Asian Times newspaper.
Sophie Bolt is CND’s General Secretary. She has a long experience of campaigning and has been part of CND’s leadership for over 20 years.
Peter Burt is a researcher for Drone Wars UK and former Nuclear Information Service research manager, who has published numerous reports on artificial intelligence, autonomy and emerging new military technologies. He is a biological sciences graduate and freelance consultant on environmental and nuclear policy.
Jeremy Corbyn is MP for Islington North and founder of the Peace and Justice Project, which campaigns on social and economic justice, peace and human rights in Britain and across the world. He was leader of the Labour Party from 2015-2019, and now sits as an independent MP.
Emma Dent-Coad is an independent councillor for Kensington and Chelsea and a Vice President of London CND. She was Labour MP for Kensington and Chelsea, 2017-19, the first and to date the only candidate to win the parliament seat for Labour. During her time as an MP Emma was a Vice Chair of Parliamentary CND and is currently a directly elected member of CND’s National Council.
Jenny Jones is one of two Green Party peers. A former Chair of the Green Party. She was a member of the Greater London Assembly from 2000-16 and was Deputy Mayor of London in 2003-4. Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (she took her name from the Brighton council estate she grew up on) campaignson the dangers of climate change and the need to reduce greenhouse emissions.
Hannah Kemp-Welch is a Vice Chair of London CND. She is a sound artist researching socially engaged art at University of the Arts, London. She represented CND at the 2019 World Congress Against A&H Bomb in Japan, and curated London CND’s Time, Memory, and Nuclear Weapons online exhibition. Hannah has exhibited internationally, and her body of work includes projects with Japanese Hibakusha.
Murad Qureshi is a Vice President of London CND and a member of CND’s National Council. A former London Assembly Member, Murad is also a member of Stop the War Steering Committee and a former chair of the Coalition. An economist whose family hails from Bangladesh, Murad maintains a keen interest in South Asia, especially the potential for nuclear conflict between Pakistan and India.
Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, commentator, and author of many books. He is a senior non-resident fellow at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China, and Director of Tricontinental Institute for Social Research.
Christine Shawcroft is a Vice Chair of London CND and represents the Labour Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament on CND’s National Council. She is a trade unionist, secretary of Tower Hamlets Co-operative Party and editor of Labour Briefing, a non-partisan magazine of the labour movement left.
Tony Staunton is a Vice Chair of CND, a member of CND’s Trade Union Action Group, and campaigns to scrap the Trident programme at the Devonport nuclear dockyard. Tony is a life-long trade unionist and anti-fascist, and a Campaign Against Climate Change organiser.
Carol Turner is Chair of London CND, a CND Vice Chair, and Coordinator of CND’s International Advisory Group. A long-time nuclear disarmament and anti-war campaigner, she is also a member of Stop the War’s National Officer Group. Carol was a foreign policy advisor to UK parliamentarians for more than 15 years and is author of Corbyn and Trident: Labour’s continuing controversy and Walter Wolfgang a political life.
Dave Webb is Convenor of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, a former Chair of CND and a past Vice President of the International Peace Bureau. Daveis a space physicist and Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies at Leeds Beckett University.
Angie Zelter is a founder of Lakenheath Action for Peace which campaigns with CND and others to stop US nukes returning to Britain. She is a non-violent civil resister who confronts abuses of corporations, governments, and the military. Angie has been arrested around 200 times, mostly in the UK, and has spent time in jail for her activities. She is the author of several books and recipient of the 1997 Sean McBride Peace Prize and other awards.