On August 2, 2010, the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space announced that its upcoming annual international space organizing conference has been blocked by the Indian Government’s External Affairs Ministry. The peace group, which has successfully organized similar events internationally for the past 17 years, had been planning to meet in Nagpur, India, from October 9-11.

 

Despite this stunning setback, the Global Network still plans to stage local events and public education sessions in the U.S. and throughout the world during its "Keep Space for Peace Week" which will be held October 2-9.

“In its 18th year of organizing such international space conferences, the Global Network has never had this experience of one particular country essentially blocking us from holding an educational conference,” said Global Network Coordinator Bruce Gagnon. “It is good that our Indian members plan to keep expanding the consciousness in their nation about the dangerous and provocative plans and consequences of India joining the U.S. Star Wars program.”

The Global Network’s international conference in India aimed to call attention to efforts by the United States and India to develop and deploy space warfare technologies that are to the detriment of international peace. This prohibition of the Global Network by the Indian government comes on the heels of announcements that U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to India in November, and India’s call for the U.S. to remove the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the Defense Research Development Organization (DRDO) from its Denied Entities List (DEL) – also known as the “Black List.” India’s removal from this list would allow for the acquisition of sensitive military space- and terrestrial-based weapons technologies from the United States.

About

The Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space was founded in 1982 with the mission to build an international constituency and movement to prevent the arms race from moving into space.  The Global Network currently has 150 affiliated member groups around the world.  See more at www.space4peace.org