Global Guide to Disarmament and

Non-Proliferation Education

Individuals

JAPAN

Ms. Junko Abe, interpreter and translator specializing in issues related to disarmament and Hibakusha activities in Hiroshima.  Ms. Abe has worked a translator at five international conferences related to nuclear weapons disarmament in Hiroshima City.  She is one of two translators for Robert Green’s book The Naked Nuclear Emperor, and has translated the text for Yuko Yamaguchi’s book The Fire of Hiroshima.  From this text, Ms. Abe has made a ‘picture telling book’ with photographs and music.  She describes her personal story of the resistance she has encountered in Japanese society when speaking about the experiences of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the sometimes oppressive environment that anti-nuclear activists endure (such as being watched by authority figures and being wrongfully arrested).  Through her work in the community and involving communications and language she aims to “spread the anti-nuclear message directly to [the] people.”  The recommendation that she makes to the study is as follows, “we surely need to have conferences and talks at the higher level but we also need some means for ordinary citizens to listen to our calls [for nuclear disarmament].”

United States

Dr. Diane Perlman, clinical and political psychologist, Vice President of the Philadelphia Project for Global Security.  Dr. Perlman argues for a disarmament education that recognizes the “basic knowledge of the psychological dimensions, which underlie conflict.”  She defines an educational agenda informed by psychology as divided into two distinct areas of study.  “The first part of the educational agenda would focus on understanding the human psyche as it relates to relationship, conflict, and life and death issues.  The second part would use that knowledge to inform new, healthy, adaptive, psychologically informed strategies to foster a quantum shift in consciousness as a basis to build institutions that can creatively reduce tension and fear, prevent or effectively address the most extreme forms of conflict and violence.”  Dr. Perlman then proposes a program of study that could be used for course curriculum development.

Dr. Joseph P. Smaldone, Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. and former U.S. State Department official.  He teaches graduate-level courses on war, peace, U.S. defense policy, and Third World security and development, all of which address weapons proliferation and nonproliferation/disarmament issues.  An internationally recognized expert in these and related fields, he has published several books and monographs, and dozens of journal articles, chapters, and professional conference papers.  His current research interests include the relationships among arms proliferation, conflict, and arms control in Africa, and the role of arms control in conflict prevention, management, and resolution.  Contact information: Tel: 410-757-4771.  smal@erols.com.

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