Never Sent
OMNI
Nuclear
Free Future Month NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2014.
Compiled by Dick Bennett for Peace, Justice, and the
Environment.
See: Nuclear Abolition Day Newsletter June 2,
Hiroshima Day August 6, Nagasaki Day August 9
OMNI NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
DAYS/MONTHS PROJECT
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blog:
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War Department/Peace Department
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Index:
FREE
WEBINAR ON NUCLEAR ZERO LAWSUITS: See
Below
WEDNESDAY,
AUGUST 6
Contents
Nuclear-Free
Future Month
WILPF
Endorses N-FFM
Google
Search 2013
UN
vs. Nuclear Weapons
Marshall
Islands Sues Nuclear Powers 2014
Senator
Ron Wyden’s Petition
Nuclear
Industry’s Dishonesty, Oct. 2, 2013
Contact
Pres. Obama
·
Calendar
·
Contact
o Donate
Call To Action
NUCLEAR-FREE FUTURE
MONTH: TIME TO PHASE OUT NUCLEAR POWER AND START NEGOTIATIONS ON A TREATY TO
ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS!
It has been 68
years since the United States
dropped atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki
The U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and the second on Nagasaki Fukushima
All stages of the nuclear
chain, from mining to power production to testing and storage of waste, expose
surrounding populations to extremely long-lived mutagenic radionuclides that
can lead to birth defects, cancers and other devastating diseases. As
recognized in the Moorea Declaration, adopted by the Abolition 2000 Conference
held in Moorea, Te Ao Maohi, (French Occupied Polynesia) in 1997, “colonised
and indigenous peoples have, in the large part borne the brunt of … nuclear
devastation – from the mining of uranium and the testing of nuclear weapons on
indigenous peoples land, to the dumping, storage and transport of plutonium and
nuclear wastes, and the theft of land for nuclear infrastructure.”
Building out from the
Hiroshima-Nagasaki anniversaries, since 2006, United for Peace and Justice has
declared August “Nuclear Free Future Month,” providing an opportunity for
groups opposed to nuclear weapons and power to spread their message and to
stimulate recognition of the relationship between nuclear technologies
and the broader crises engendered by the deepening polarization of wealth and
political power and by economic growth and technology choices that are
ecologically unsustainable. The regime of “security” backed by the
constant threat of nuclear annihilation underscores an urgent need for the
redefinition of human security. Generating the immense amounts of energy
necessary to fuel a society addicted to growth with technologies that risk
lethal contamination of the homes and cities they power, and of the natural
world around them, manifests the unsustainable character of a society that
places endless material accumulation above all.
Nuclear power and
nuclear weapons are extreme examples of technologies chosen not to serve the
common good, but rather to serve the power strategies of immense, unaccountable
organizations that have come to dominate the global economy and society. A
common characteristic of these strategies is that a fraction of the population
grabs most of the benefits while everyone bears the risks. It’s time to end the
nuclear cycle for good, and to make the transition to technologies that work
within the rhythms and limits of the biosphere and within institutions designed
for democracy not for the power of the few.
Our main vehicle for
coordinating activities and disseminating information will be the United for
Peace and Justice Nuclear Free Future web pages at www.nuclearfreefuture.org,
where you will find a variety of action ideas and educational resources. We
encourage you to post your group’s planned activities to the calendar you will
find there. Please share your plans for Hiroshima-Nagasaki memorials this
August, but please think outside the traditional bounds and plan and share
additional educational events and actions throughout the month. Please help us
spread the word!
BACKGROUND
Early in his first
term, President Obama announced his commitment to “seek the peace and security
of a world without nuclear weapons.” Four years later, there has been
little progress towards that goal. The new START treaty with Russia U.S. and Russia China ,
France , India , Israel ,
Pakistan , and the United Kingdom
Today, nuclear-armed
states are involved in conflicts around the globe, confronting one another
directly or indirectly from the war in Syria
to resource-driven territorial disputes in Northeast Asia .
Those who hold power on all sides see such conflict as inevitable, as something
that at best can be “managed” in the ways they always have: in elite
negotiating forums that exclude the vast majority of humanity from decisions
that affect us all, and by endless preparation for war. Endless
preparation for war, what we now call “deterrence,” always has failed,
spiraling into rounds of great power wars each of which proved more savage and
destructive than the last. In a world bristling with atomic weaponry, human
civilization likely will not survive another.
This one-sided focus on
nuclear weapons proliferation rather than disarmament has led to deepening
discontent outside the nuclear-armed states. Frustrated by the lack of
progress in traditional negotiating forums such as the Conference on
Disarmament and Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conferences, coalitions
of countries have joined in new initiatives. The 2012 session of the United
Nations General Assembly adopted resolutions to hold a High-level Meeting on
Nuclear Disarmament, and to establish an Open Ended Working Group (OEWG) “to
develop proposals to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations
for the achievement and maintenance of a world without nuclear weapons.” In
March of this year the government of Norway Mexico in Mexico
City
These new initiatives
give cause for hope, but the nuclear-armed states—where half the people in the
world live and where the most powerful military-industrial complexes exert
enormous influence– have resisted them. The U.S. ,
together with Russia , the United Kingdom , France
and China – all of the
nuclear armed permanent members of the United Nations Security Council –
boycotted the Oslo U.S. the U.K. North Korea United
States
There also is cause for
hope in the struggle to end the dangerous practice of generating electricity
with nuclear energy. The immense and continuing disaster at Fukushima Japan U.S.
For example, a Canadian
corporation, Energy Fuels Inc., has recently purchased several U.S.-based
uranium mining companies and is reopening mining shafts 17 miles south of the
Grand Canyon National Park on land which is sacred to the Havasupai Indians who
have been in the region for 800 years, and is upstream and upwind of their
homes. The implication for the health of the local population is
significant.
The inextricable
connection between nuclear weapons and nuclear power always has run both
ways. The capacity to sustain a nuclear fuel cycle and to operate
reactors provides much of the technological base for the production of nuclear
weapons. But the potential to acquire nuclear weapons also provides
a political base for an expensive and dangerous technology that otherwise would
be hard pressed to compete with other ways to generate electricity. The common
technology and materials base provides a rationale for governments to shroud
the development of nuclear technology in secrecy, concealing both the risks and
the full costs. “Civilian” applications of nuclear technology then provide a
glamorous, high-tech gloss over the underlying deadliness of the entire
enterprise: “Atoms for Peace,” and promises of electricity “too cheap to
meter.”
This drama is playing
out again in countries with elites striving to join the top tier of a
stratified global economy, where large scale, centralized electricity
generation is a first priority to power privileged new enclaves of production
and consumption. This time around, however, there is a globalized nuclear
industry, centered in the original nuclear weapons states and in Japan India to Turkey
to Vietnam
ENDORSE THE CALL
This call was initiated
by the United for Peace and Justice Nuclear Disarmament/Redefining
Security Working Group. We invite other groups to endorse this Call
and participate in Nuclear Free Future Month. If your organization would like
to be added to the following list of endorsers to help work for a nuclear free
future, please follow this link to fill out the endorsement form. Circulate the Call among progressive
organizations in your community and connect with others who are organizing
against the war machine. Seek peace, be part of the solution. No Nukes! No Wars!
JOIN
THE PLANNING GROUP
Groups
planning Nuclear-Free Future month through the United for Peace and Justice
Nuclear Disarmament/Redefining Security Working Group include the following. If
you’d like to get involved please send an e-mail message to Jackie Cabasso,
working group convener:wslf (at) earthlink.net .
Please
consider joining these groups by making a donation of $25, $50 or $100 (or
more!) to support the
Nuclear Free Future Month website and related resources. Or volunteer your time
and skills.Donate online or
make your check payable to United for Peace and Justice and mail it to PO Box 607New York , NY 10017
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Home » categories » Issue
Committees » Disarm
Nuclear Free Future Month
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Disarm
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EndWars
Nuclear
Free Future Month
By Carol Urner,
DISARM/End Wars Issue Committee
United for Peace and
Justice Nuclear Weapons and Human Security Working Group in which WILPF
DISARM- End Wars actively participates.
August's Nuclear Free Future month opened
with WILPF women across the country recommitting themselves to work for a
Nuclear Free Future. Send your August NFF news tocarol.disarm@gmail.com.
Boston and Cape Cod Branches sponsored community meetings with
Cecile Pineda and Hattie Nestel, discussing Cecile’s powerful new book, Devil’s Tango: How I learned the Fukishima Step by StepDISARM
is helping our members Hattie and Cecile do ten book signings in communities
seeking to shut down nearby nuclear reactors in Massachusetts, New York,
Vermont and New Hampshire.
The wide variety of grassroots and national peace groups
(including Peace Action, AFSC, Western States Legal Foundation and WILPF)
that organize together within the UFPJ Nuclear Weapons and Human Security
Working Group facilitated by Jackie Cabasso, regard August as Nuclear Free
Future month. After
August is often a difficult month for organizing events but can
be a good month for planning future ones. Refer to our DISARM Nuclear Free
Future Resources in the July
eNews for
program and action project resources on Depleted Uranium, Mayors
for Peace Cities, and phasing
out nuclear power.
And watch for our updated web page later this month with a
report on WILPF participation in Hiroshima-Nagasaki observances and a list of
DVDs that could and should be shown in high school and college classrooms
everywhere.
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New material posted at the Cuba and
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GOOGLE
SEARCH, FIRST PAGE, AUGUST 5, 2013.
1. Nuclear Free Future Month
NUCLEAR-FREE
FUTURE MONTH: TIME TO PHASE OUT NUCLEAR ... The U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on
Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and the ...
2. Nuclear-Free Future Month « United for Peace & Justice – Bay Area
Aug 7, 2011 - United for Peace and Justice has declared August Nuclear Free Future Month – a month of education and action for a world free of
nuclear ...
3. Nuclear-Free Future Month - Reaching Critical Will
5 days ago - Nuclear-Free
Future Month. 01 - 31 August 2013. Nuclear-Free
Future Month is geared
toward stimulating action to raise awareness about the ...
4. August is Nuclear
Free Future Month - Voices
For Peace
Jul 15, 2011 - NUCLEAR-FREE
FUTURE MONTH: TIME TO PHASE OUT NUCLEAR POWER AND START NEGOTIATIONS ON A
TREATY TO BAN THE ...
5. August is Nuclear-Free Future Month! - California District CPUSA ...
Aug 5, 2012 - United for Peace and Justice is marking Aug. 6 and 9, the 67th
anniversaries of the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki
6. Candlelight Vigil for a Nuclear
Free Future : Indybay
Jul 23, 2013 - For more info about this event: pup [at]
skyighway.com. United for Peace and Justice has declared August "Nuclear
Free Future Month" You can ...
7. Nuclear
Free Future Month==August, 2009 :: Oregon Progressive ...
Apr 6, 2009 - United for Peace and Justice has declared August "Nuclear-Free
Future Month." The specter of nuclear weapons in the hands of
"rogue" states ...
8. United For
Peace and Justice | From the local to the global ...
Dec 9, 2011 - Last week UFPJ brought you information
about Nuclear
Free Future Month with
opportunities to phase out nuclear power and start negotiations ...
UN AND
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
GOOGLE
SEARCH AUGUST 6, 2013, FIRST 3 ENTRIES
1. UNODA
- Nuclear Weapons Home
Nuclear weapons are the most dangerous weapons on earth.
One can destroy a whole city, potentially killing millions, and jeopardizing
the natural environment ...
2. UNODA - Secretary-General's five point proposal on nuclear ...
Or they could consider
negotiating a nuclear-weapons convention, backed by a strong system of
verification, as has long been proposed at the United Nations.
3. News for UN
Nuclear Weapons Program
Student Operated Press
GlobalPost - 21 hours ago
The international
community must not give up on ridding the world ofnuclear
weapons, U.N. General Assembly President Vuk Jeremic
said ...
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MARSHALL
ISLANDS SUES NUCLEAR POWERS
FREE
WEBINAR ON NUCLEAR ZERO LAWSUITS:
WEDNESDAY,
AUGUST 6
Nuclear Zero
Lawsuits
Please join
us on Wednesday, August 6 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time for a webinar hosted by
Women's Action for New Directions (WAND). The webinar is free and open to the
public, but you must pre-register at this link.
On April 24,
2014, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) filed landmark cases in the
International Court of Justice and U.S. Federal District Court against the nine
nuclear-armed nations.
Speakers on
the Webinar:
Rick Wayman
is Director of Programs at the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. He will give an
overview of the lawsuits and their current status in the courts, as well as a
report on the civil society campaign that is happening in support of the
lawsuits.
Neisen Laukon
is originally from Rongelap Atoll (part of the Republic of the Marshall
Islands). She works with the Marshallese Educational Initiative to share her
story across the United States about the health effects she and her community
suffered following the Castle Bravo nuclear bomb test by the U.S. military on
March 1, 1954. Neisen was not on Rongelap on the day of the test, but was
returned to the heavily contaminated atoll by the United States with her family
in 1957.
Erica Fein,
Nuclear Weapons Policy Officer at WAND, will introduce the speakers and
moderate the hour-long webinar.
The webinar
takes place on August 6, the 69th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of
Hiroshima. Please join us to learn about this important campaign to ensure that
nuclear weapons are never used again. Click here to register.
For more
information about the Nuclear Zero Lawsuits and to sign the petition in support
of the Marshall Islands' courageous action, visit www.nuclearzero.org.
Find Us On Facebook YouTube Twitter
Marshall
Islands launches case against the Nuclear-Armed States in the International
Court of Justice
Cover
photo: Anti-nuclear campaigners greet the New Zealand Attorney-General at the
International Court of Justice 1995 hearings on nuclear weapons
April 24,
2014
The Republic
of the Marshall Islands today filed lawsuits in the International Court of
Justice (ICJ) against the nine nuclear-armed states holding them accountable
for flagrant violations of international law with respect to their nuclear
disarmament obligations. The Marshall Islands, which was used for 12 years as a
testing ground for nuclear bombs by the United States, says the five original
nuclear weapon states – U.S., Russia, UK, France and China – are continuously
breaching their legal obligations under the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT). The lawsuits also contend that all nine nuclear-armed nations are
violating customary international law.
'Baker' nuclear weapon test in the Marshall Islands
“The nuclear
armed States have an obligation – affirmed by the International Court of
Justice in a 1996 Advisory Opinion – to achieve the complete elimination of
nuclear weapons under strict and effective international control’, says Alyn
Ware, Consultant for the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear
Arms and the United Nations Coordinator for the World Court Project which
launched the 1996 ICJ Advisory Opinion. “They have flagrantly violated this
obligation by not even commencing the required negotiations.”
The Marshall
Islands was one of the leading countries arguing against nuclear weapons in the
1996 ICJ Advisory Opinion, along with a number of other countries including
Australia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand,
Philippines, Qatar, Samoa, San Marino and the Solomon Islands. Based on
testimony placed before the ICJ in 1996 by the World Health Organisation, the
Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Marshall Islands and others, the ICJ
stated that the destructive effects of nuclear weapons could not be contained
in time or space, and that the threat or use of nuclear weapons was thus
generally illegal under international law applicable in wartime including
international humanitarian law.
Tony de Brum, Foriegn Minister of the Marshall Islands
In a press release announcing the lodging of the lawsuits
against the nuclear-armed states today, Marshall Islands Foreign Minister Tony
de Brum said “Our people have suffered the catastrophic and irreparable damage
of these weapons, and we vow to fight so that no one else on earth will ever
again experience these atrocities. The continued existence of nuclear weapons
and the terrible risk they pose to the world threaten us all.”
The press
release notes that three of the nine states, the UK, India, and Pakistan,
have accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the World Court when the opposing
state equally has done so, as has the Marshall Islands. As to the other six
states, the Marshall Islands is calling on them to accept the jurisdiction of
the Court for this particular case and explain to the Court their positions
regarding the nuclear disarmament obligations.
“The failure
of these nuclear-armed countries to uphold important commitments and respect
the law makes the world a more dangerous place,” said Archbishop Desmond Tutu,
a vocal backer of the lawsuits. “We must ask why these leaders continue to
break their promises and put their citizens and the world at risk of horrific
devastation. This is one of the most fundamental moral and legal questions of
our time.”
"The
nuclear-armed states continue to peddle the myth that they are committed to
multilateral disarmament initiatives, while squandering billions to modernise
their nuclear arsenals," said Kate Hudson, General Secretary of the
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. "The UK government's plans to replace
Trident make a mockery of its professed belief in multilateral frameworks – and
now in addition to huge public opposition in the UK, it will also face an international
legal challenge to expose its hypocrisy." (See Marshall Islands sues nine nuclear powers over failure to
disarm, The Guardian).
The lawsuits
filed today in the International Court of Justice in The Hague are accompanied
by a related lawsuit brought in U.S. Federal District Court in San Francisco
against the United States.
For further
information contact: Shineh Rhee Phone: 646-477-5790 Email:srhee@fenton.com
Alyn Ware
Consultant, International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms
Director, Basel Peace Office
alyn@lcnp.org
Consultant, International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms
Director, Basel Peace Office
alyn@lcnp.org
NUCLEAR
INDUSTRY’S DISHONESTY
Fukushima
Autumn
William Boardman, Reader Supported News, October 2013
Boardman writes: "Dishonesty of the Abe sort has characterized the nuclear industry (weapons and power) since its earliest days when its spokespersons were telling us radiation was more or less good for us."
READ MORE
William Boardman, Reader Supported News, October 2013
Boardman writes: "Dishonesty of the Abe sort has characterized the nuclear industry (weapons and power) since its earliest days when its spokespersons were telling us radiation was more or less good for us."
READ MORE
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Have you
heard of the “
It’s a
bill – passed recently by the House of Representatives – that was
supposed to protect Americans from
the type of unwarranted domestic surveillance that the NSA has been carrying
on for years.
But guess
what – instead, it was watered it down so much it doesn’t get the job done.
The version
passed by the House would still allow for mass collection of data on innocent
Americans so long as the NSA uses a so-called “selection term” to narrow
their results. What does that mean? It means that they could
collect data on anyone in a particular state or a particular zip code.
That
isn’t good enough – not by a long shot.
What we
need is an end once and for all to the broad terms and loopholes that the NSA
uses to spy on the American people. In the U.S. Senate, I’m working to
move forward with much tougher legislation – but we need the House moving in
the same direction to make it happen.
I’ve worked
on issues of privacy and consumer protection for decades. This isn’t about
Democrat or Republican – it’s about the fundamental rights of all Americans.
I’m not
going to let this slide. Thanks for joining.
Ron
Wyden
The
President Wants to Hear from Us
From the
White House: Write or Call
President
Obama is committed to creating the most open and accessible administration in
American history. That begins with taking comments and questions from you,
the public, through our website.
Call the
President
PHONE
NUMBERS
Comments:
202-456-1111
Switchboard:
202-456-1414
TTY/TTD
Comments:
202-456-6213
Visitor's
Office: 202-456-2121
Write a
letter to the President
Here are a
few simple things you can do to make sure your message gets to the White
House as quickly as possible.
1. If possible, email
us! This is the fastest way to get your message to President Obama.
2. If you write a letter, please consider typing it on an 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet of paper. If you hand-write your letter, please consider using pen and writing as neatly as possible. 3. Please include your return address on your letter as well as your envelope. If you have an email address, please consider including that as well. 4. And finally, be sure to include the full address of the White House to make sure your message gets to us as quickly and directly as possible:
The
White House
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END NUCLEAR-FREE MONTH NEWSLETTER #1 AUGUST 2014
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