Helsinki+50 NGO Forum

  HELSINKI+50 On STAGE Watch this page for a developing project we are involved in with Superior Anti-Theatre and KOKO Teatteri based on ngo and other participant experiences at the 50th Anniversary of the Helsinki Peace and Security Conference in July, 2025. A dramatic reading opened the play  by A I Tolvanen on July 12th, 2.30 pm at Helsinki Peace Station directed by Tero Heinämäki starring Janne Suutarinen, Ina Raunio, Ville Pulkki The play is now in rehearsals for a run Aug. 19-23.8.2026 at Upstairs at the Gatehouse during the Camden Fringe in London, UK directed by and starring Janne Suutarinen with Ville Pulkki, Tuija Hanhikoski and Malin Saine. Retired US diplomat Al arrives in Helsinki to revisit the high point of his career-the 1975 conference venue which helped defuse the Cold War and the nuclear arms race. He meets Samantha from the Finnish government assigned to the Jubilee event. She is all frazzeled as her daughter has just been arrested outside the venue for pro...

​ Helsinki University Speech.  Bruce Knotts, President and CEO of the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace, and Security. I want to talk about three things  Peace, Climate Change, and Nuclear Weapons.  There are many wars going on now.  I want to focus on the civil war in Sudan, the Israeli war against Gaza, and the Russian war against Ukraine.  I don’t want to talk about how these wars got started, because that will just lead to an augment.  In fact, in a previous meeting one woman started arguing that NATO caused the war with the Ukraine.  I reminded her that I didn’t want to argue about how wars got started.  Rather I wanted to talk about how to end wars.  I said that wars need weapons and money.  If you can stop the money and the weapons, you can stop the war.  The civil war in Sudan is one between two Sudanese military groups.  One is financed and supported by the United Arab Emirates and the other by Egypt.  If these ...

Kati Juva IPPNW (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War) co-president It’s now 80 years since the nuclear bombings of the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The nuclear era begun, and si nce then, the world has lived under nuclear threat . T he size of the threat has varied but never vanished totally . First only one country had nuclear weapons, then two, and soon there were five nuclear armed states. 1970 the world decided to limit the proliferation and aimed for disarmament . The nuclear non-proliferation treaty, NPT, acknowledged the nuclear arsenals of the US, Soviet Union, China, Britain and France. After NPT still four new countries obtained nuclear weapons.  During the cold war the number of nuclear warheads reached over 60   000 . T here were several severe crises, e.g. the Cuban missile crises and events in Berlin after the wall had been built . Nuclear war was near to breaking out .  At that time all world leaders were aware of the possi...