Tri-Valley CAREs Press Release: August 6 Livermore Lab Rally & National Broadcast

Media Alert

Annual Livermore Lab Protest Goes Virtual
“From Hiroshima to a Healthy Tomorrow: Embracing Our Common Humanity”
on the 75th Anniversary of the U.S. Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

For immediate release: Monday, August 3, 2020

Contacts:
Marylia Kelley, Tri-Valley CAREs, Livermore; cell, 925.255.3589, marylia@earthlink.net

Jackie Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation; cell 510-306-0119, wslf@earthlink.net

Grace Morizawa, gmorizawa@yahoo.com

WHAT: From Hiroshima to a Healthy Tomorrow: Embracing Our Common Humanity—Annual protest and rally held at the gates of Livermore Laboratory, this year broadcast virtually. There will be taped presentations, up-to-the-minute reports at the gates of the Livermore nuclear weapons lab, music, and more!

WHEN: Hiroshima Day, Thursday, August 6 from 8 am to 9:30 am Pacific Time.

WHERE: The Livermore rally program will kick off two days of nationally broadcast, virtual programming on this historic 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing. To view the Livermore rally on the national broadcast directly, media and the public alike can access it using this link on August 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_8qpE8RPJo

NOTE: The Livermore rally is part of an unprecedented national broadcast. Running on August 6 and 9, national coverage is organized by more than 160 organizations working together through the Hiroshima Nagasaki 75 collaboration. The organizers of the Livermore rally are part of this coalition. Find out more at: www.HiroshimaNagasaki75.org

WHO: Our Livermore rally speakers include noted historian and author Gar Alperovitz, Pentagon planner and whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, and Nagasaki A-bomb survivor Rev. Nobuaki Hanaoka and Marylia Kelly, Tri-Valley CAREs (Photos and short bios for all speakers and musicians follow the text of this release.)

WHY: On the Historic 75th Anniversary of the U.S. Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we are joining the survivors to abolish nuclear weapons.

We live in a time of growing nuclear peril. This year the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ iconic Doomsday Clock, designed in 1947 to show the risk of existential nuclear danger, was moved to 100 seconds to midnight. This is the closest to annihilation that it has ever been set.

Moreover, less than a month ago, on the anniversary of the Trinity Nuclear Test, President Trump declared, “In order to continue protecting America’s vital security interests, I have directed my Administration to revitalize and modernize America’s nuclear security complex... We are investing in the capability to produce plutonium pits to support our stockpile needs and to improve the infrastructure of the weapons ecosystem.”

Tri-Valley CAREs

Stopping nuclear weapons where they start.

4049 First Street, Suite 243, Livermore, CA 94551. Ph. 925-443-7148

www.trivalleycares.org

This is the latest proclamation of Trump administration policies that are pouring gasoline on the flames of a new global arms race. Funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons programs in the President’s fiscal 2021 budget is 20% higher than last year and more than 50% higher than the annual funding level when Trump took office. Other nuclear-armed states are following suit. Recently, too, major media outlets have reported that the White House is considering a return to nuclear testing, which ceased in 1992. Livermore Lab is central to the escalating the nuclear dangers we face. Eighty-eight percent of the funds for Livermore Lab in the coming year are slated for nuclear weapons activities. Less than two percent of the budget is allocated for civilian science. Rally speakers will illuminate these connections to help the public understand why action is needed now to change the course of national policy. Rally participants will pledge their actions on this historic anniversary to the Hibakusha (survivors) and say with them “never again.” In the midst of the pandemic and the struggle for racial equity, we must not overlook this historic 75th anniversary. Our rally speakers will cut through the historical and current propaganda that surrounds the bomb, state its dangers, discuss the prospects for a more just and peaceful future, and make a stand for global nuclear disarmament. The Berkeley City Council joins us. On July 28, 2020, the City Council unanimously adopted a resolution On the 75th Anniversary of the U.S. Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; A Call to Prevent Nuclear War. The resolution resolves that “the City of Berkeley calls on the President and Congress to step back from the brink and to lead a global effort to prevent nuclear war by renouncing the option of using nuclear weapons first; ending the sole, unchecked authority of any president to launch a nuclear attack; taking U.S. nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert; cancelling the plan to replace its entire arsenal with enhanced weapons; and actively pursuing a verifiable agreement among nuclear armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals.” Bios and Photos for Livermore Rally speakers and music follow. They are also available on the national website at https://www.hiroshimanagasaki75.org/aug-06

Launch of Global Campaign: #SupportPeaceBoat

Participate in online campaign events- We will be holding a series of exciting online events throughout this month with many of our partners, guest educators, former staff members and friends from around the world. Please follow our dedicated social media accounts to keep up to date with the latest information and see how you can get involved!

Join our First Special Event: Traveling through Peace Boat's voyages, past to present

August 3, 8 pm New York / August 4, 9 am Tokyo

The event will be streamed live both on our Facebook page and on Youtube:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/supportpeaceboat/videos/322063358979848/

YouTube: https://youtu.be/zlBPf8eN41A

This is a difficult period for many people, not only Peace Boat, and we appreciate anything you can do to help. With your support, we will all be able to overcome this great challenge and continue to sail for a more peaceful and sustainable future!

Warm regards,

Peace Boat US

Maryland Peace Action: Mourn first, then act

Beginning on Thursday, Aug. 6, and continuing through Sunday, Aug. 9, we commemorate the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki of 75 years ago. Here is how you can participate:

• Check out the local vigils in communities throughout Maryland and DC, on our Web site.  We list those that are following socal distancing.  Try to participate, if you can.
• Join our Zoom webinar at 7 pm on Aug. 9. The extraordinary Vincent Intondi will discuss connections between Black Lives Matter and the 1945 bombings.  Register now as space is limited —and invite your friends.  When Prof. Intondi spoke at our conference in Nov. 2018, several people commented that they had never heard such an outstanding plenary speech! We will also livestream the webinar on our Facebook page, here.
• The Web site HiroshimaNagasaki75 has collected multiple events to watch at home, for up to 9 hours each day, on Aug. 6 and 9.  Some are being livestreamed, others are pre-recorded.  There are an amazing number of extremely interesting options to choose from.  Check out the schedule, and watch what you can--for the inspiration you will gain.

And now, a small ask:  Survivors of the Japanese attacks who are still living, the Hibakusha, have created a petition that they will present to the United Nations in support of the treaty to ban nuclear weapons.  They hope to bring to the UN millions of signatures, showing worldwide support for the treaty.  You can sign the petition here, and then your name will be added to those of others throughout the world who understand the insanity of such weapons.

Finally, we quote from the evocative vision statement of the Ribbon, a project we love and are promoting because it enables us to share our hopes and fears while we advocate for profound change:

We come to confront the cumulative violence within ourselves and our institutions. We seek a transformation that will nourish a social, economic, political and ecological balance that can ensure a future for our children and ourselves. 

Such a future requires abolishing nuclear weapons. May we all, like the Hibakusha, work diligently towards that goal.

In solidarity,

Jean Athey:  Maryland Peace Action
Dat Duthinh: Western Maryland Peace Action

Lucy Duff: Prince George’s County Peace and Justice Coalition

Tony Langbehn:  MD United for Peace and Justice
Erinn Mansour: Howard County Peace Action

Michael Keller:  Anne Arundel Peace Action
Susan Kerin: Peace Action Montgomery

Richard Ochs:  Baltimore Peace Action

 

Maryland Peace Action
P.O. Box 27001
1220 Race St
Baltimore, MD 21230-9998
United States

PEAC: SAVE THE DATES, for Hiroshima & Nagasaki commemorations

24-Hour Global Broadcast Honoring the 75th Memorial of Hiroshima & Nagasaki

Save the Date | August 6th

This August 6th & 9th are the 75th Memorials of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki. A number of UN organizations, as well as the city of Hiroshima, have come together for a 24-hour global broadcast of massage of peace, hope, and reconciliation. We will be focusing on America’s legacy of ”othering”, and the violence which is born of it. In this historic memorial, Japanese, Black, Brown, and Indigenous Peoples share an understanding and agenda as radical change agents for peace knowing that our challenges are linked and none of us are free until all of us are free!

Here are just a few of the revolutionary participants you can check out over ten hours from 8 AM to 6 PM on August 6, 2020. We invite you to tune in and watch the different acts throughout the day. There are 3 seminars where we will have live Q & A with some of our participants. You can register for them below.

https://www.midheaven.network/ 
for the full list of participants and schedule!

REMEMBERING PAUL NITZE'S COMPLETE REJECTION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Email from John LaForge, Nukewatch Wisconsin:

AS WE APPROACH THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TWO U.S. ATOMIC BOMBINGS ...

a clear, authoritative warning of how to insure that Hiroshima and Nagasaki never happen again was made by Paul H. Nitze, the arch-conservative presidential advisor to Ronald Reagan and former Navy Secretary. Nitze explained in the New York Times his complete rejection of nuclear weapons (reversing his decades of pro-nuclear advocacy), even disavowing and rebutting the military's rationale for keeping them, 'nuclear deterrence.' Nitze wrote in part:

“It would be safe now to dispose, unilaterally, of our nuclear arsenal. … I can think of no circumstances under which it would be wise for the United States to use nuclear weapons, even in retaliation for their prior use against us....

"In view of the fact that we can achieve our objectives with conventional weapons, there is no purpose to be gained through the use of our nuclear arsenal." See Nitze's complete statement:

Opinion | A Threat Mostly to Ourselves

Opinion | A Threat Mostly to Ourselves Former arms control negotiator Paul H Nitze Op-Ed article contends that US should unilaterally get rid of its nu...