Original Child Bomb - August 6

by the Just Peace Committee of Peace UCC

In remembrance of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Just Peace Committee of Peace United Church of Christ, together with the Community of the 3rd Way, invite you to a showing of the film Original Child Bomb on Sunday, August 6th at 7pm at Peace UCC (1111 N 11th Ave E).


Inspired by Thomas Merton's poem, Original Child Bomb shows the human cost of nuclear weapons. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are depicted through declassified footage, photographs, drawings and testimonies of mothers, brothers and soldiers. Ordinary people gaze upon the nuclear past and its terrifying present. They expose the political rhetoric surrounding "security" and "weapons of mass destruction." The film is a wake-up call and an invitation to action. 


This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Penny at 218-727-2972.

Celebrate 30 years of Nukewatch

NAWC coalition partner Nukewatch is 30 years old! The Wisconsin-based nuclear watchdog was formed in the wake of the Progressive magazine's 1979 lawsuit against the federal government for attempted censorship of its story "The H-Bomb secret." Since then, Nukewatch has been exposing all sorts of nuclear secrets and agitating for a nuclear-free world. Among other accomplishments over the years, Nukewatch volunteers:

• --Created the first land map of US nuclear missile silos;
• --Tracked and mapped secret radioactive waste shipments through US cities and towns;
• --Helped lead the 30+ year campaign to shut down the Navy's Project ELF transmitters in Clam Lake, WI and Republic, MI.

To celebrate its anniversary, Nukewatch invites us all to Tennessee over the July 4 weekend for workshops, networking and nonviolent direct action against the US nuclear arsenal at the Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Complex. So mark your calendars now and plan to join hundreds of Nukewatch's closest friends for celebration and resistance!

RESISTANCE for a
NUCLEAR-FREE FUTURE

CELEBRATING 3 DECADES OF
THE NUCLEAR RESISTER AND NUKEWATCH

July 4th weekend, 2010
At Maryville College, Maryville, Tennessee
and the Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Complex, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

The Nuclear Resister, Nukewatch and the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREPA) invite you to join us for a national gathering, culminating with nonviolent anti-nuclear direct action, July 3-5, 2010, to declare our independence from nuclear weapons and nuclear power. The gathering will be held at Maryville College in Maryville, Tennessee, with protest and action at the Y-12 nuclear weapons complex in nearby Oak Ridge, where OREPA has sustained a nonviolent campaign for over 20 years.

At a critical time in the movement for a nuclear-free future, and to mark the 30th anniversaries of Nukewatch and the Nuclear Resister, we are coming together to increase awareness and action around nuclear issues, and advance the role of nonviolent direct action and civil resistance in this movement. We will also be marking the 30th anniversary of the Plowshares movement and the inaugural Plowshares Eight direct disarmament action of September 9, 1980.

Come and meet with hundreds of activists from around the U.S., as we educate and energize ourselves throughout a weekend of networking, music, speakers, celebration, workshops, community, nonviolence training and nonviolent action. Because long-lived radioactive waste makes this a multi-generational campaign, we envision a gathering where new and seasoned activists can meet and strategize for the future - a nuclear-free future!

We will gather two months after the 2010 Nonproliferation Treaty review conference and before the mid-term elections - a time when public attention needs to be focused on nuclear disarmament and a nuclear- and carbon-free energy future. It will also take place on the eve of the 14th anniversary of the July 8, 1996 World Court advisory opinion on nuclear weapons.

Join us:
* Become a sponsoring or endorsing individual or organization
* Pre-register for the gathering
* Volunteer to help
* Help spread the word about the celebration
* Send us your photos of anti-nuclear actions over the years

This gathering is for people who advocate, practice and/or support nonviolent direct action, civil resistance and civil disobedience in the struggle to stop nuclear power and abolish nuclear weapons.

We hope to see you there!

For more information, or to make a donation, please visit http://nukewatch.com/30th/index.htm

Check out our facebook page - Resistance for a Nuclear-Free Future.

Nukewatch has a foundation of investigating and divulging the truth about nuclear weapons and power since 1979. The organization has a strong history of drawing people together -- from the missile silo fields, to H-bomb trucks on the highways, to a 15-year-long nonviolent action campaign shutting down the Navy's nuclear submarine transmitter system Project ELF.

The Nuclear Resister began in 1980 to chronicle anti-nuclear and anti-war civil resistance, with a focus on supporting the men and women imprisoned for these actions. The newsletter publishes writings from prisoners, reports on actions, trials and sentencings, provides addresses of imprisoned activists and publicizes future actions.

The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance works to stop nuclear weapons production at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and to build nonviolent community to sustain a lasting movement for peace and justice.

Contact:
Bonnie Urfer and John LaForge
Nukewatch
(715)472-4185
Email: nukewatch1@lakeland.ws
Website: http://nukewatch.com

Felice and Jack Cohen-Joppa
The Nuclear Resister
(520)323-8697
Email: nukeresister@igc.org
Website: http://nuclearresister.org/

Hiroshima-Nagasaki commemorative events

Veterans for Peace Chapter 80 and several local churches are hosting Hiroshima/Nagasaki commemoration events this week.

Thursday, August 6, 7pm, UU Congregation
(835 College St, Duluth)
Bob Bowman, retired Air Force lt colonel and head of the Star Wars programs under presidents Ford and Carter speaks about the weaponization of space.

Friday, August 8, 7pm, Peace Church
(1111 N 11th Ave East, Duluth)
Film: "White Light Black Rain."

Sunday, August 9, 7pm, Duluth Congregational Church
(3822 E Superior St, Duluth)
Nagasaki remembrance service

The Real Nuclear Bullies

by Bob Kosuth
Published in the Reader Weekly 6/18/09

The Reader's May 28 article on North Korea's nuclear ambitions immediately reminded me of a 1981 collection of essays entitled Protest and Survive (Monthly Review Press), in which Daniel Ellsberg makes the point that the US has in fact used nuclear weapons repeatedly since 1945 just as one uses a gun pointed at someone's head regardless of whether the trigger is pulled or not. Since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the utility of nuclear weapons is not in the application but the threat.

Obviously, this is what the North Koreans are trying to accomplish as well. What has made it so sensitive and unacceptable is that the nuclear prerogative is one that the US wants to preserve only for itself and its intimate friends.
One of the best buddies of the US in the nuclear club is the state of Israel, which is in possession of a sizeable number of nuclear weapons. Unlike North Korea, Israel has never opened itself up to international inspections or signed any non-proliferation agreements.

The North Koreans have stated publicly that their intention in developing nuclear weapons is to call attention to US/Western/Israeli hypocrisy on nuclear weapons issues and demand direct state to state talks and full diplomatic relations with the US.

The situation with Iran is similar. It's ok for the US and Israel to be able to threaten Iran with nuclear weapons but the reverse is not acceptable. It's encouraging that many young Iranians have rejected the idea of being pawns in this game as evidenced in the recent election even though their voices are now being stifled. Similarly, both in Israel and around the world many Jews have begun to separate their Jewish identities from Zionist colonialism in Palestine. Unfortunately, in both places there still exist powerful elites who manipulate fear and nationalism to stay in power.

The North Korean situation brings all of this to the fore. The media pundits and academics are having a field day debating who's on first in Pyongyang and why, calibrating whether North Korean missiles can reach Sara Palin in Alaska (Can US missiles reach North Korea? Can Israel bomb Iran? Duh!), and whether or not North Korea can eventually become another China, quietly buying US debt and supplying cheap goods to Walmart.

All of this frenetic media and State Department bluster is, of course, intended to drown out any honest examination of who wrote and continues to enforce the nuclear weapons game rules in the first place. Any re-evaluation of these issues will have to start on Main Street because it will surely not be forthcoming from any addresses on Pennsylvania Avenue.