Southeast Action Camp Workshops, August 19-21, 2011

Southeast Action Camp Workshops, August 19-21, 2011

I participated in the Southeast Action Workshop in Zirconia, NC the weekend of August 19-21, 2011.  Forty-plus people from not only the southeast, but as far away as Chicago and British Columbia, came together for a series of workshops (I presented the videography workshop, and planted seeds about Proposition One in other workshops).  I videotaped several of the workshops, and interviewed several participants.  I've uploaded these videos to YouTube.  Here is the list:

Nuclear:

Atomic Appalachia Workshop presented by  Linda Modica, Asheville contact for Christian Peacemakers Team
1- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IopgQP4Kn7E
2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dJ7Wnhf6NU
3- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLXslqdHy_g
4- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDBYY4SEgPo
5- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7podgF8lAk

Mary Olson of Nuclear Information and Resource Service and Bill Fisk, formerly with FEMA, about probable results of a nuclear accident in Western North Carolina highways between Oak Ridge and Savannah River nuclear weapons/power facilities:
1- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbK3U_asw1w
2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tQy2BTi4SQ
3- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg6N0Siq5cs
4- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLmw1DHI6-M

Fukushima Update by Mary Olson of NIRS:
1- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfEfIJtTwV8
2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79jqNybvk1w

Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future by Mary Olson of NIRS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbK3U_asw1w

Canary Coalition's Avram Friedman on Coal and Nuclear and alternatives
1- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDUnRFViKp8
2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caLKY1DVJ8A
3- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4D3kGfo8uU
4- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKjhtuC3Oug

 
Other:

Nonviolence Workshop, conducted by Clare Hanrahan and Coleman Smith
 1- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0O3IzafwAE
2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmc4WQerdJE
3- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jqAu0jdWd8

Immigration Workshop presented by Esther Chavez
1- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAk4v4xABzM
2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1IA399m00k
3- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_KD-XAqbjo

Clean Water Workshop by Katie Hicks
1- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5ELxc43HrI
2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qVsUH7PLEQ
3- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j1rD2zl6w0
4- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C6vl4qKLbM

Interviews:

Katuah Earth First - Ed Stein
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpFnxefQ3fg

Kasha Baxter of Veterans for Peace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnqWUqNV5cM

Interviews by videography workshop attendees
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kMa-V1JM4k

Jessica Kettler re organic networking
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaz30SjLOYc

Joe Sharkey of Critical Mass on bike.tour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1KVp1uEuHY

Original Songs by
Cathy from Canada, accompanied by Sam from Asheville
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1ATZFdMspg

You can go to the entire list of videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/ActionSouth1

Radiation Blues - new song

Here is "Radiation Blues"(sung by singer/songwriter Courtney Dowe).  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YqVOIIOaSk

This song is dedicated to Fukushima victims who are twice-nuked -- Hiroshima or Nagasaki survivors who are already suffering health problems, and now have been exposed for the second time -- and to ALL victims of radiation since 1945.  It is also dedicated to the Proposition One Campaign for global nuclear weapons abolition, and conversion of the nuclear weapons and nuclear energy economies toward carbon-free, nuclear-free energy and environmental restoration from the radioactive mess.  See http://prop1.org/prop1/ .

I wrote the song in April 1986 after Chernobyl while I sat at my anti-nuclear signs outside the White House, and Courtney and I updated it for the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability DC Days this first week in April 2011. Women's International League for Peace and Freedom DISARM Committee will be promoting it.  You are invited to do so also.

If you would like Courtney to perform, please email her at courtney.dowe@gmail.com

Ellen Thomas
et@prop1.org
202-210-3886 (cell)

Yes, We Can ...
Convert the War Machines ...
Provide for Human Needs ...
IN OUR LIFETIMES!
LET THE VOTERS DECIDE!!!

About Proposition One: Economic Conversion of War Machines

Great News! DC's Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton has just introduced the "Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act" for the first time ... an important improvement to the nine-times-introduced "Nuclear Disarmament and Economic Conversion Act" which she has promoted ever since 1994 (see below). We will be posting the bill number and text in the next few days. We of the Proposition One Campaign thank Ms. Norton for her vision, courage, and patience over these many years. We hope you will thank her, too. We also hope you will join the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, among others, in calling on your members of Congress to co-sponsor this bill QUICKLY.

Background: Proposition One Campaign is a grassroots movement for disarmament of nuclear weapons and the conversion of nuclear and other arms industries to provide for human and environmental needs. The concept was proven viable by the victory of DC Initiative 37 in 1993. 

As a result, the "Nuclear Disarmament and Economic Conversion Act" was introduced each session between 1994 and 2009 into the U.S. House of Representatives by Eleanor Holmes Norton. During 2009 and 2010, Proposition One co-founder Ellen Thomas and a team from DC traveled 30,000 around the country learning about the entire nuclear chain, from uranium mines (reclaimed and not), to nuclear power and weapons plants, to radioactive storage facilities, and promoting voter initiatives everywhere. During that time they became convinced that we will never be sure of abolishing nuclear weapons until there are no longer nuclear power plants, which for sixty years have been producing weapons-grade uranium and plutonium. The travelers received excellent suggestions for improving the language of the proposed bill, which up till now hasn't been getting much respect from Congress. They proposed revisions which Ms. Norton accepted.

The bill was first introduced in 1994, then 1995, 1997, and 1999, when U.S. Representative Lynn Woolsey (CA) joined Ms. Norton and several experts on nuclear disarmament issues to announce active support for the legislation, and again in 2001, 2003, and 2005 (when Representative Woolsey, plus John Lewis and Cynthia McKinney of Georgia, and Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas, quickly signed on). In 2007 there were no co-signatories, but in 2009 John Lewis and Lynn Woolsey's aides repeatedly told us that they signed on to HR-1653, although you'd never know about it by searching Congressional bills. (See Ms. Norton's 2009 announcement, which she timed to recognize Proposition One co-founder William Thomas, who died on January 23, 2009.)

Other co-sponsors over the years have included Fortney Pete Stark (California), David Minge and James Oberstar (Minnesota), Charles Rangel (New York), Al Wynn (Maryland), and Earl Hilliard (Alabama). As each Congressional session ends, all unvoted-on legislation expires and must be re-introduced. Your help is needed in obtaining LOTS of co-sponsors in this Congress! Bipartisan support would be very helpful.


Contact Proposition One Committee for more information.

---

PROPOSITION ONE CAMPAIGN
P.O. Box 27217 * Washington, D.C. 20038
(202) 682-4282 or (202) 210-3886
e-mail: et@prop1.org

Peace Walking through Pennsylvania and New Jersey

April 27, 2010 - I haven't had a chance until now to blog (and I really shouldn't do it now - I'm illegally parked, and the (now) seven walkers just passed me at the steady pace of three miles per hour), but I have a few minutes to say hello from The Road again on behalf of the Proposition One In 2010 Crew.

Photo: The Walkers, on day 6 of our Interfaith Peace Walk to New York  for Nuclear Abolition, which began at Independence Mall in Philadelphia on Earth Day - Thursday, April 22nd.

Now, as we head towards Staten Island, NY, from "Tent State" (an "Education Not War" demonstration & encampment) on the Rutgers campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey, people are tooting their horns, waving, shouting encouragement, stopping to talk.  Some know about the Footprints for Peace Walk from Tennessee (joined for a week by Noritaka Matsuura of our crew). I suspect that a lot of New Jersey folks will be with us in New York on Sunday, May 2nd, starting at 2 pm at Times Square, when we rally and march to the UN to call for global nuclear abolition.  Yes We Can!

We hope we'll see you there, or earlier at Riverside Church for the International Peace Conference on April 30 and May 1, where we will be part of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF.org) workshop, as well as helping with logistics for the Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors from Japan).

We've been hosted by wonderful Quaker Meetings (Society of Friends) in Philadelphia, Camden, Trenton, and New Brunswick, and a kind friend in Princeton.   On Sunday we enjoyed a break at Laurenceville Presbyterian Church (pictured here) . 

We've been joined by several people, walking for a few hours, even days. 

Especially helpful, besides friends and the Friends, have been the Coalition for Peace Action (Delaware Valley) and individual WILPF members along the way.

Ethan Genauer, our walk organizer, created two great banners explaining our action and our mission while in Philadelphia, with the help of local artist/activists Spiral Q.  Someone always carries the WILPF banner and our colorful peace flags.  With Jay drumming along, we make a lively and cheerful spectacle along the road. 

We've been handing out WILPF applications and information, and have already recruited a couple of terrific women!

Photo:  Noritaka Matsuura, Ellen Thomas, and Susan Campbell at Lockheed Martin offices in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

 See you soon, we hope!

Ellen
and Walkers Ethan, Jay, Nori & Jason (& Debbie, Pat, Cathy, Saleema, Sandra, Richard, Jerry, Aaron, Jonah, Liz & . . .)

WILPF-sponsored Walk for Nuclear Abolition begins outside White House

4/8/2010  (Lafayette Park, Washington DC) - The Walk Begins.

The newest phase of the Proposition One Campaign began on Thursday with a hike from Peace Park, DC, to Peace Park in Takoma Park, Maryland.

Above, Jay Marx and Ethan Genauer were interviewed at the White House by a Scripps Howard journalist, as they began the Walk for Nuclear Abolition to New York City.   There were several other journalists present, especially Japanese.  There will be a HUGE Japanese presence at the Non-proliferation Treaty events in New York, April 30 through the first week of May, including 100 Hibakusha (survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs).  We hope there will be an even huger US presence!

Above: Ellen Thomas, holding a Women's International League for Peace and Freedom banner, and Noritaka Matsuura from Kobe, Japan, walking with a huge peace crane, were about to step off in front of the 29-year vigil for nuclear disarmament begun by William "Doubting" Thomas.  This is where Concepcion Picciotto, the world's longest continuous vigiler, continues her world-famous stand.

Above: Reverend Ichikawa of the Nipponzan Myohoji Temple in DC, who led the walk up 16th Street through DC to Takoma Park with her peace drum, is shown the new poster at the bus stop on K Street by Jay Marx.

The poster reads: "Kazakhstan: Working for a Nuclear Weapons Free World.  Kazakhstan, where 1.5 million people suffered from the effects of 500 nuclear explosions, knows the human cost of the nuclear threat better than anyone.  That's why we got rid of our nuclear arsenal, the world's fourth largest.  And that is why we call on the world to follow our example.  There is no other way to build a safer world, free from the nuclear threat.  - President Nursultan Nazarbayev"

We were met in Peace Park, Takoma Park, Maryland by Diane D'Arrigo of Nuclear Information and Resource Service, and Jay Levy of the Takoma Park Nuclear Free Zone Committee. 

Takoma Park was one of the nation's first nuclear free zones, established in 1983.

Next on the agenda:  To make a big noise at the Nuclear Security Summit, which is going to be three blocks from our community The Peace House, telling the 47 world leaders gathering April 12-14 that the only nuclear security is nuclear abolition.  See previous message about Monday's kick-off.

Then, to Philadelphia, for a series of events before we resume walking north at noon on Earth Day, April 22nd, from Independence Mall.  See http://nptwalk2010.org for details, to volunteer to walk, or to help the walkers.

Keep tuned, and ask folks to subscribe ... we're back on the road again, and we hope to see you and your friends! 

And many thanks to Women's International League For Peace and Freedom and Nuclear Watch South for their help -- technical, financial, promotional, and spiritual -- as we continue to work for a world without nuclear weapons, in our lifetime. 

et, currently in dc

U.S. CITIZEN NUCLEAR WATCHDOGS CALLING ON VISITING HEADS OF STATE TO PRESS FOR GLOBAL DISARMAMENT AT NUCLEAR SECURITY SUMMIT

MEDIA ADVISORY: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 

PRESS CONFERENCE TO BE HELD 9 am Monday, April 12th at Peace House, 1233 12th St. NW, Washington, DC with 8:30 am coffee and breakfast (located 3 blocks west of the Washington Convention Center where the Nuclear Security Summit is taking place April 12-13)

U.S. CITIZEN NUCLEAR WATCHDOGS TO CALL ON VISITING HEADS OF STATE
TO PRESS FOR GLOBAL DISARMAMENT AT NUCLEAR SECURITY SUMMIT

Letter to 47 World Leaders Will Express Solidarity Against Nuclear Threat,

 Urge Nations to Demand U.S Leadership Now Toward Global Nuclear Abolition

WASHINGTON, DC – On Monday, April 12, a coalition of American citizen watchdog groups advocating for nuclear abolition “in our lifetime” will hold a press conference welcoming international heads of state to DC, applauding their participation in the Nuclear Security Summit, and urging them to take the next courageous steps toward a nuclear free world.

Representing over 70% of Americans who support world nuclear disarmament, the groups will announce a joint letter to the leaders of the 47 countries attending the Summit, calling on all nations to pursue nuclear weapons abolition as the truest nuclear security solution.

"To the participating heads of state and their nation's citizens," the U.S. grassroots coalition's letter will say, "we need your determination, and your courage, to strive for nuclear abolition if we are to rid our planet from the risks of nuclear war and terrorism as soon as possible. The world is watching and your urgency on this matter, at this time, can change history."

WHAT:         Press Conference on Global Nuclear Disarmament and Abolition in response to the Nuclear Security Summit

WHO:           Project for Nuclear Awareness, Proposition One Campaign, Peace Action, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom - USA, Hiroshima-Nagasaki Peace Committee of the National Capital Area, Interfaith Peace Walk to New York for Nuclear Abolition.

WHERE:       Peace House, 1233 12^th St NW, Washington, DC (between M and N St, located 3 blocks west of the Washington Convention Center)

WHEN:          9 am Monday, April 12, 2010

At 8:30 am before the press conference, coffee and waffle breakfast with agave maple syrup, clover honey and local apple butter will be on hand for the enjoyment of members of the press.

CONTACT:   
Ethan Genauer, Proposition One Campaign, www.prop1.org
(202) 682-4282 / (856) 535 8547 (c) / ethangenauer@gmail.com
Kim-Thao Nguyen, Project for Nuclear Awareness, www.projectfornuclearawareness.org
(215) 546 3030 / (717) 265.5141 (c) / kimthao.pna@gmail.com 

Press conference RSVPs may be sent to Ellen Thomas at et@prop1.org

Stop the Grand Canyon uranium mines!!

It breaks my heart to think that the Colorado River will once again be polluted with radioactivity, this time by TOTALLY UNNECESSARY uranium mines on the sacred edge of the Grand Canyons.  See news story at http://www.indigenousaction.org/uranium-mining-begins-near-grand-canyon/ . 

Let's figure out a way to stop this!  Ellen Thomas

At last I have returned to the land of the living....

Since I last posted, I've been 'slapped in the face' and 'hit in the solar plexus' (see Jon Stewart, 3/11/2010).

My mother died on 2/28, and my van died on 3/10, just as I'm about to take off for the Walk for Disarmament and Economic Conversion from DC to NY City NPT Review at the UN (see http://nptwalk2010.org).

But I'm soon to be back on the road after a $3,600 resurrection of the "NO WAR" van for the next leg of the Proposition One In 2010 Campaign, the "Walk For Nuclear Disarmament and Economic Conversion from DC to NYC," which is being organized by Jay Marx <marxjay@gmail.com> and Ethan Genauer <nptwalk2010@gmail.com> - 202-682-4282

I have no idea how we'll pay for gas and repairs and food to New York, as we've exhausted all donations with this van repair.  We'll camp when necessary.  But as we have done from the beginning of the vigil in front of the White House, (June 3, 1981 until now, see http://prop1.org), we are moving out on faith and hope.

Our plan after the Non-Proliferation Treaty events is to travel through New England.  We have strong support in Philadelpia, Pennsylvania, and Burlington, Vermont, but we need other venues along the way from DC to Maine.  Please let us know if you're interested in helping.

If you want to contribute with contacts, venues, logistical, financial, or other support to the campaign, please contact Jay Marx at <marxjay@gmail.com>, PO Box 27217, Washington, DC 20038 - 202-682-4282

Ellen Thomas
et@prop1.org

Obama's nuclear-free vision mired in debate

Obama's nuclear-free vision mired in debate

Pentagon officials have pushed back against the president's goals to shrink the U.S. stockpile and reduce the role of such weapons in foreign policy, sources say.

By Paul Richter
January 4, 2010 Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-obama-nuclear4-2010jan04,0,2198537,full.story

About the tour....

Hi!  It's time to bring you up to date.

We've returned from an amazing journey of 24,000 miles of talking to people about the need and right to vote on whether or not we should continue to possess, research, build, maintain, store, or otherwise support the continuing existence of nuclear weapons (which cost US citizens over $52 billion in 2009, and over $7 trillion since the 1940's).

In four months we toured in 22 states, talking up Nuclear Disarmament at over 30 sites including five downtown libraries, umpteen churches of various denominations, seven peace centers, multiple community centers, six universities, two youth conferences (Think Outside the Bomb in Albuquerque, NM, and Powershift at UNC Chapel Hill, NC), three casinos, several restaurants and coffee shops, the Venice Beach boardwalk, outdoor festivals in Idaho and Montana, and one Augusta, GA, sports bar where we were on a live radio show.   We were also on radio in Kansas City, MO, and both radio and TV in Portland, OR.

We learned in Missouri that the Progressive (Green) Party of Missouri voted to endorse Proposition One, and Midge Potts, who is running for Senator of Missouri, joined us in Columbia and is now working in Washington, DC.

In Kansas City, Missouri, a video was posted online at http://www.youtube.com/lutherjondo where Ann Suellentrop of Alliance for Nuclear Accountability speaks about the local efforts to shut down the Honeywell nuclear weapons facility, which produces 85% of US nuclear weapons (the non-nuclear components). The plant has polluted the two rivers which converge nearby with toxic chemicals.  This would be a great pilot project for conversion (see http://prop1.org/prop1/).  If local workers begin to trust that they won't lose their jobs, just be retrained while the factory is being rebuilt to produce truly clean energy systems, then there should be a lot more enthusiasm, and if it works in Kansas City, it will give hope to others in the military-industrial complex who fear losing their jobs. Ann and the amazingly creative community in Kansas City are terrific allies. 

During our tour we visited most parts of our nuclear weapons complex, including the two National Weapons Development Labs in Livermore, CA, and Los Alamos, NM; the Trinity test site at Alamogordo, NM; the Nevada Test Site north of Las Vegas, NV, and the Pantex facility in Amarillo, TX, a key place where nuclear weapons are actually dismantled, and the plutonium pits stored in the thousands. 

We saw the massive cleanup sites at Hanford, WA, the Idaho National Labs, and Rocky Flats in Golden, CO, which is only 12 miles uphill and upwind of downtown Denver.  We wonder what the Denver cancer rates are, and weren't surprised Rocky Flats was one of the first nuclear weapons facilities closed (in part thanks to the extreme diligence of Rocky Mountain Peace & Justice Center in Boulder). 

We checked out eight different reactor sites, including the nation's largest, Palo Verde, near Phoenix, AZ, which is the only nuclear power plant in the US which is not on a major river, lake, or the coast, and gets the water for the cooling stations from liquid waste pumped miles across the desert from local communities.  A clever idea, but the pipeline is incredibly vulnerable.

We saw a gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment plant in Paducah, Kentucky, and a geiger counter assembly plant on a commune in Tennessee.

We saw unmanned drones landing at Creech Air Force Base (next to the Nevada Test Site), and vigiled most of the night outside a test launch at Vandenberg Air Force Bace on the southern California coast. 

On August 6, Hiroshima Day, we paid our respects at a WWII era Japanese internment camp, south of Palmer, AZ, and on August 9, Nagasaki Day, we enjoyed the performance and support of WILPF's Raging Grannies in Tucson, AZ.

We joined several different anti-war protests in Oakland and Hollywood, CA, Albuquerque, NM, Carson City, NV, and a Health Care rally in Phoenix, AZ.

We distributed over 200 copies of two videos, "Proposition One: Peace Through Reason" and "The Strangest Dream," and dozens of copies of Arjun Makhijani's seminal book, "Carbon Free, Nuclear Free," and over 500 copies of three fliers. 

We are hoping that we will be able to continue the tour until election day 2010 and perhaps beyond.

Our current plans are to
1) participate in Alliance for Nuclear Accountability actions in Washington, DC and the retreat following DC Days,
2) support a walk/tour during April from Washington, DC to New York City (through Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey), to join the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) actions the first week in May,
3) tour New England after the NPT,
4) tour the northern and midwestern states,
5) return if invited to communities which want to put nuclear disarmament on the ballot.
6) Ellen hopes to tour Florida after the "Alternative New Year" at St. Mary's, Georgia, where she's been invited to speak on New Year's Day 2010.

We need help.  Clearly we can't arrange the events where we'll be speaking.  We need volunteers in Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, etc. who will host an event.

We've spent $10,000 so far, mostly on gas.  Not bad for 24,000 miles, four people and a dog over four months. If we're going to go any further, we'll need some backers.

Please contact us at et@prop1.org or Proposition One Committee, PO Box 27217, Washington, DC 20038 if you want to help, in any way you can.

Hope to hear from you!

Ellen Thomas