Convention Schedule

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Explore a full lineup of keynote sessions, panels, workshops, and community gatherings throughout the convention.

Additional sessions, speakers, and event details will be added as the program develops.

Please note: Unless otherwise noted, all convention schedule times are listed in Central Time (CT).

Thursday

August 6, 2026

Registration

Time:       11:00 am – 7:00 pm
Location:     Outside Rm 401/Student Union

Welcome reception

Time:       5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Location:    Student Union – Rm 401

Poetry Gathering

Time:       7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Location:    Student Union – Rm 401

Gathering together to share our poetry at the start of the convention is a longstanding VFP tradition. This year we are in for a treat with Vietnam veteran poet Strong Buffalo joining us in person to enliven the space with his words, and Vietnamese American poet Teresa Mei Chuc introducing works, including her own, from the recently published anthology, Convergence: Poetry on Environmental Impacts of War, which she co-edited. VFP cofounder and first poet laureate Doug Rawlings will be joining us onscreen to read a few of his wonderful poems, and to introduce Teresa. As always, there will be time for others to read, both in person and virtually. (Sign up ahead of time and let us know if you will be reading in person or virtually, by emailing editor@veteransforpeace.org)

Music DJ

Time:       8:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Location:    Student Union – Rm 401

Film – Special Report from Tokyo Broadcasting System:  Storage of Nuclear Weapons on Okinawa during Cold War with center on China

Time:       10:00 pm – 11:30 pm
Location:    Student Union – Rm 401

Friday

August 7, 2026

Meditation/Yoga

Time:       7:00 am – 8:00 am
Location:    Student Union – RM 402

AA Meeting

Time:       7:00 am – 8:00 am
Location:    Student Union – RM 413

Tabling

Time:       8:00 am – 8:00 pm
Location:    Student Union – 4th Floor

Breakfast

Time:       8:30 – 9:30 am
Location:    Student Union – Dining Hall (2nd floor)

Welcome

Time:       9:30 am – 12:00 pm
Location:    Student Union – Rm 401

Check-in Registration

Time:       9:00 am – 10:00 pm
Location:    Outside of Rm 401/Student Union

Box Lunch

Time:       12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Location:    TBD

Panel: The Two Faces of Genocide – Repression And Resistance

Time:       1:00 pm – 2:15 pm
Location:     Student Union – Rm 401

Joy Metzler (Moderator) Zahed Rahman and Zeeyad Kadur

The genocide in Gaza has garnered international attention and outrage, but in the West Bank, Palestine, a slower, quieter form of genocide has taken hold. Hear from two panelists – one who has been to Gaza during the genocide as a nurse, and one whose family is from the West Bank and continues to be targeted by Israel – about the accelerated massacres in Gaza and the deadly apartheid in the West Bank. The story of Palestine is one of colonialism, settler violence, and displacement, but it is also a story of resilience, community, and an international movement for liberation, all centered in on a land called Palestine.

Panel: Emancipatory Internationalism

Time:       2:45 pm – 4:00 pm
Location:   Student Union – Rm 401

The three panelists will engage in a conversation on theme/s related to racial capitalism (especially in relation to war and peace), people’s movements/organizing, and international solidarity, in line with the 2026 convention theme. Margaret Stevens will serve as moderator as well as a participant in the conversation.

Dinner

Time:       5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Location:     Student Union – Dining Hall (2nd floor)

Speakers

Time:       6:00 pm – 6:45 pm
Location:     Student Union – Rm 401

Panel

Time:       7:15 pm – 8:30 pm
Location:     Student Union – Rm 401

Film: Gaza Is Our Home  – by Monear Shaer

Time:       8:45 pm – 10:15 pm
Location:     Student Union – Rm 401

“In 2023, the project began as a simple, auto-generated slideshow on Monear’s phone, created after a visit to his family in Gaza. As life there became increasingly unbearable and his family faced unimaginable loss, that collection of images and videos grew into an urgent act of preservation.

From these fragments emerged a deeply personal documentary—one that traces family memory, everyday moments, and grief—offering audiences a way to see Gaza not as an abstract conflict, but as a home: full of relationships, history, laughter, and love, even amidst the struggle.”

Saturday

August 8, 2026

Meditation/Yoga

Time:       7:00 – 8:00 am
Location:     STUDENT UNION – RM 402

AA Meeting

Time:       7:00 – 8:00 am
Location:     STUDENT UNION – RM 413

Breakfast

Time:       7:00 – 8:00 am
Location:     Student Union – Dining Hall (2nd floor)

Tabling

Time:       8:00 am – 4:00 pm
Location:     Student Union – 4th Floor

Business Meeting

Time:       8:30 – 10:30 am
Location:     Student Union – Rm 401

– Executive Committee Reports
– Resolutions/Bylaws Discussion

SESSION #1

Time:       11:00 am – 12:15 pm
Location:     Student Union

Save Our VA/ Labor Working Group – Rm 401

Resisting Illegal Orders/MFSO – Rm 402

Box Lunch

Time:       12:15 – 1:00 pm
Location:     Student Union

SESSION #2

Time:       1:00  – 2:15 pm
Location:     Student Union

Climate Crisis and Militarism:  Student Union – Rm 401

The Impact of Machine War on Civilian and Military Personnel – Rm 402

SESSION #3

Time:       2:45 pm – 4:00 pm
Location:     Student Union

Resisting the US & Israeli War on Iran, Palestine and Lebanon – Rm 401

Latin American and “Donroe Doctrine:” Resisting US intervention in Cuba, Venezuela and Throughout the hemisphere – Rm 402

Special Meetings

Time:       4:15 – 5:15 pm
Location:     Student Union

– Post 911 Caucus
– Organizing Session
– Stop the Bleed
– VAVA Reception

“The Event” Banquet

Time:       5:30 – 9:00 pm
Location:     Student Union – Rm 401

– Presente
– Speaker: Rev Yearwood

Reverend Yearwood will share his thoughts and dynamic energy, emphasizing that we have the strength and community wisdom within us to build a much better world as we turn back the rising fascism, hate, and threats to real democracy.

History, Resistance, and the Road From Chaos to Community
From labor organizing and anti-war activism to the fight against authoritarianism and racism, this session will reflect on history, strategy, and the organizing needed to move from chaos to community.

– Speaker: Mitch Walking Elk
– Awards
– Fundraising

Film:  doctrine of discovery

Time:       9:15 – 11:00 pm
Location:     Student Union – Rm 401

Sunday

August 9, 2026

Meditation/Yoga

Time:       7:00 – 8:00 am
Location:     Student Union

AA Meeting

Time:       7:00 – 8:00 am
Location:     Student Union

Breakfast

Time:       8:00 – 8:30 am
Location:     STUDENT UNION DINING HALL (2nd Floor)

SESSION #4

Time:       8:30 – 9:30 am
Location:     Student Union

The US vs Asia – Rm 401

Language & Media – Rm 402 

Closing Plenary

Time:       10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Location:     Student Union – Rm 401

Dorm Checkout

Time:       4:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Location:    Oak Street Hall Dorms

Nagasaki Commemoration

Time:       1:00 – 2:30 pm
Location:     Student Union – Rm 401

Presenters:  ROBIN ANDERSON, KATERINA CANYON, SPENCER GRAVES

Veterans for Peace conventioneers are invited to a Hiroshima-Nagasaki remembrance event 1-2:30 PM August 9 after the closing plenary, followed by a picnic across the street, organized by PeaceWorks Kansas City, which has been organizing such remembrance events since 2010. The program includes local and national conventioneers plus locals affiliated with the No Nukes KC Coalition, including Atsuki Mori, a nurse living in Warrensburg, MO, who was raised in Japan and whose grandmother lost her fiancé from the Hiroshima bombing.

Concert / Lemonade Park

Time:       5:00 – 11:00 pm
Location:     TBD