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abolition-usa-digest      Monday, October 5 1998      Volume 01 : Number 025




----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 09:29:02 -0700
From: Shundahai Network <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Prayers for a great Chicago meeting!

Dear Friends,


This is Reinard Knutsen with some personal thoughts on the upcoming Chicago meeting and the discussion that has taken place. These thoughts are not the official comments of Shundahai Network but of my self as an abolition organizer.


I hope that every one has a safe journey to Chicago and that the discussions are fruitful and the abolition movement comes out of the meeting energized and excited about the future.


On the name change discussion: I feel like this could be a major energy drain and a one day organizing meeting is not the time or place to effectively discuss this. I would advise that we keep "Abolition 2000" or mild change to "Abolition Now!" or "Nuclear Abolition Now!" I feel that we need to keep abolition in the title. We have worked hard over the past few years to make this a catch phrase and I even hear the mainstream media using this now days.


I feel like it is important to connect nuclear energy and nuclear waste to the abolition movement.


I feel like closing down the Nevada Test Site and halting stockpile stewardship and management programs should be as important as nuclear disarmament negotiations.


I feel that the groups and individuals who will be at the Chicago meeting are not exactly representative of the movement as a whole and that you remain open and accepting of all the different types of organizations and strategies involved.


I hope that you accept the strategies that do not involve electoral work as part of the big picture. I feel that we all have a part in this movement and that it should include public education and outreach, legislative lobbying and education, electoral strategizing and work, and nonviolent direct action. Not every one has to participate in all of these facets but at least we need to accept that other groups will be plugged in their own ways and capabilities.


As a person who believes in nonviolent direct action as an important part of  this movement, I hope that you can continue to be accepting of what many perceive as the "more radical fringe" of the movement. I hope that you will understand that we play a part in the abolition movement just as electoral groups.


And I truly hope that more people will decide that this issue is important enough that they are willing to take risks and make some sacrifices to see it through.


Please remember all of us gathering at the Nevada Test Site this coming weekend. We will be planning a huge creative and exciting gathering for Mothers Day weekend next year (may 7-10, 99). This gathering will celebrate and honor mothers and our connection to Mother Earth. It was the mothers that really provided the needed pressure to get the limited test ban treaty (though it should have been a (CTBT).  In your planning for 99 I hope that you will use this date as part of the larger campaign.


I wish and pray for success for all of our efforts.


Peace and love, Reinard

><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><<
><<><< ><<><<


                       SHUNDAHAI NETWORK

                 "Peace and Harmony with all Creation"

                5007 Elmhurst St., Las Vegas, NV 89108-1304

<paraindent><param>out,out</param>
Phone:[phone] (FAX)647-9385

                     Email: [e-mail]

</paraindent>
<underline><color><param>0000,0000,fefe</param>http://www.shundahai.org


</color></underline>            Shundahai Network is proud to be part of:


    Healing Global Wounds Alliance, a multi-cultural alliance to

    foster sustainable living and break the nuclear chain; and


    Abolition 2000: A Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons


><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><<
><<><< ><<><<




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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 10:04:41 -0700 (PDT)
From: Nevada Desert Experience <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re:  (abolition-usa) Prayers for a great Chicago meeting!

Dear Abolition Network,                October 5, 1998
This is David Buer, ofm at the Nevada Desert Experience just wanting to
underline, Reinhard's comments to the Abolition 2000 meeting in Chicago.
NDE
NDE has been working more closely with the Shundahai Network and Healing
Global Wounds these last few years to bring folks out to the Nevada Test
Site, many who risk arrest to protest the ongoing nuclear testing and
planned dumping of nuclear waste from around the country.  Also, NDE
would like to encourage the gathering in Chicago to consider helping
promote NDE's planned event for the new millennium.  From December 29,
1999 to January 2, 2000, NDE will host Millennium 2000, Walking the Ways
of Peace.  There will be workshops, theater, music, prayer and protest in
the NDE tradition.  We ask Abolition 2000 to endorse and promote this
event.  Tonight I leave for our Board Meeting where we will finalize much
of the event's schedule.  So we will soon be getting that information out
in flyers, camara ready ads and a brochure.  Please consider coming to
Millennium 2000, where we will have a candlelight procession onto the
Nevada Test Site at midnight, January 1, 2000.  Thanks for your
consideration.
            Sincerely,
                    David Buer, ofm
                    NDE Interim Director

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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 13:45:39 -0400
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Chicago

At the 1997 NPT PrepCom meeting in NY, Zia Mian, a Pakistani physicist at
Princeton, and a founding member of Abolition 2000, proposed to the delegates
at the prepcom during the NGO presentations that the NPT itself provides
for an
amendment process which should be used to amend the NPT to become a
negotiating
forum for a nuclear weapons convention.  I have his full proposal, if you
would
like to see it.
Alice Slater

>>>Internationally, the NPT will be meeting again in New York this spring.
>>It
>>>was an utter disgrace last time.  Maybe this is the time to have a
>>>parallel PrepCom and bring up Zia Mian's amendment proposal.  We need to
>get >some friendly governments to participate.  Perhaps MPI can help us
>here.
>
>What is Zia's amendment proposal?
>
>
>-
> To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
> with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
> For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send
> "help" to the same address.  Do not use quotes in your message.
>
Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment
15 East 26 St.
New York, NY  10010
212-726-9161(tel)
212-726-9160(fax)

GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000: A Global Network for the Elimination
of Nuclear Weapons



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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 15:37:47 -0400
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Chicago

Dear Friends,
When we organized Abolition 2000 in 1995, there was no speaking of the "A"
word.  One of the major accomplishments of the Network to date has been the
progress we can see in making abolition an idea whose time has come. Today, it
is in everyone's vocabulary--from Generals, to world leaders, to the tireless
grassroots campaigners.  I propose that we call ourselves the US Abolition
Campaign with some tag line beneath, ie to ban nuclear bombs, or some such,
but
keep Abolition in.  I hate to give up 2000--because I think it stands for the
millenium and has a certain excitement.  I'm not troubled by the
literalness of
whether or not we get a treaty by the end of 2000 or by 2001, 2002, or 2003.
It's certainly not a pipedream to me.  We have treaties to eliminate
biological
and chemical weapons--this is not an unrealistic goal.  But it looks like a
"deal breaker" so I'm willing to keep it at US Abolition Campaign. I just hope
we don't fritter away our time in Chicago deciding on a name.  There's so much
organizing we need to accomplish in our one day together.

I urge us also not to get hung up on whether the US Abolition Campaign
includes
nuclear power.  The Abolition Statement recognizes that the two are
"inextricably linked".  See the first two paragraphs of the statement below.
The statement also calls for the establishment of an international energy
agency for the promotion of safe clean sustainable energy.  India and Pakistan
have demonstrated all too well that we can't stop the proliferation of nuclear
weapons without getting a handle on nuclear power.  I think our campaign must
be focussed on getting the US President to be willing to negotiate a treaty.
Whatever we can do in our campaign to stop the production of nuclear materials
and nuclear pollution and to join forces with our friends on the civilian
power
side, can only help our Campaign. Indeed the separation of military and civil
issues was an artificial one and only served to keep us less empowered than if
we had all been viewing it as two sides of the same coin all along.
Regards, Alice Slater

>
> Abolition Statement
>          A secure and livable world for our children and grandchildren and
> all future generations requires that we achieve a world free of nuclear
> weapons and redress the environmental degradation and human suffering that
> is the legacy of fifty years of nuclear weapons testing and production.
>
>          Further, the inextricable link between the "peaceful" and warlike
> uses of nuclear technologies and the threat to future generations inherent
> in creation and use of long-lived radioactive materials must be
> recognized. We must move toward reliance on clean, safe, renewable forms
> of energy production that do not provide the materials for weapons of mass
> destruction and do not poison the environment for thousands of centuries.
> The true "inalienable" right is not to nuclear energy, but to life,
> liberty and security of person in a world free of nuclear   weapons.


Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment
15 East 26 St.
New York, NY  10010
212-726-9161(tel)
212-726-9160(fax)

GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000: A Global Network for the Elimination
of Nuclear Weapons



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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 15:57:23 -0400
From: Bob Tiller <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Comments in preparation for Chicago meeting

Comments about Next Steps in the Abolition Campaign

by Bob Musil and Bob Tiller
Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR)
October 1998

I.  PSR WILL SUPPORT THE FOLLOWING:

    Undertaking a major campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons which
emphasizes additive efforts, not duplicative efforts.  The campaign
should include sharing of information, coordination of the initiatives
of various groups, a speakers bureau of prominent spokespersons, public
service announcements, possibly a nationwide toll-free telephone number,
and many other campaign activities.  The political objectives should be
clear but not rigid.

    Setting up a campaign structure, not a new organization.  We now have
many organizations doing solid work on abolition.  Linking us together
in a campaign would increase effectiveness and move us closer to the
goal.  We do not need to set up a new board, seek new grants, hire new
staff, find office space, and so forth.

    Setting up a campaign coordinating committee, not a management
committee.  In keeping with our judgment that we need a campaign, not an
organization, we believe that any ongoing committee should have
coordinating responsibility only.  Each major national organization with
grassroots activities should be represented on the coordinating
committee.

    Obtaining a coordinator, not a director nor a staff.  This coordinator
would coordinate the efforts of a "virtual staff," comprised of those
already working on abolition and would not hire additional staff.  This
coordinator would work with the coordinating committee, relying
primarily on telephone and e-mail communication.  This is based on the
model of the environmental "Green Group" that has one person to
coordinate the activities and initiatives of existing groups.

    Respecting the efforts of every individual and organization striving
for abolition of nuclear weapons.  Organizations working on such steps
as de-alerting, ending the Stockpile Stewardship program, and CTBT
entry-into-force should be welcome in the campaign for nuclear
abolition.

    Setting up a Web site for abolition with links to all other Web sites
and pages dealing with abolition.  The details of how this will work
need to be developed.

II.  PSR WILL UNDERTAKE THE FOLLOWING OVER THE NEXT 15 TO 18 MONTHS,
WHICH WE OFFER AS OUR CONTRIBUTION TO THE CAMPAIGN:

    Abolition Brochure: The abolition movement needs
easily-read-and-understood literature in order to build a broader base
and more popular support.  Presently there is a dearth of such popular
brochures.  Therefore, in early 1999 PSR will help to fill that void by
developing and distributing a popular, multi-color brochure about
abolition, covering the basic concepts and answering key questions,
including: why abolition is a reasonable and appropriate policy, how it
can be achieved, and so forth.  This brochure will be designed primarily
to educate the public on nuclear abolition and recruit people to join
the broad citizen effort.

    Abolition Slide Show:  In October 1998 PSR will complete production of
a slide show on abolition, which will be suitable for general audiences
as well as physicians.  It will include sections on the medical effects
of a nuclear attack, CTBT, de-alerting, and Stockpile Stewardship,
drop-in modules for special audiences, and concrete action suggestions
for every audience.  It will be available for purchase by anyone.

    Activist/Organizing Packet:  In order to facilitate the broad range of
abolition activities by physicians and other activists, PSR will produce
and distribute an activist/organizing packet on nuclear weapons.

    Field Organizer: If adequate funding is obtained, PSR will hire a new
staff person to work with PSR activists, chapters and other groups on
building grassroots support for abolition.  This new staff person would
(a) build relationships with physicians who have a mild interest in
nuclear weapons but have not so far become activists in grassroots
abolition work, and (b) perform additional recruitment and mobilization
with new constituencies and new individuals.

    Physicians Statement: We will circulate an international physicians
statement on abolition of nuclear weapons, first seeking sign-ons in the
U.S., then working with International Physicians for the Prevention of
Nuclear War to obtain sign-ons from doctors in other countries.  It will
be presented to the President of the U.S. and the leaders of the other
nuclear powers in some type of formal way.  We will also place it as an
advertisement in certain publications.

    Medical Society Resolutions:  Building on steps already taken in
1997-98, PSR will continue facilitating the adoption by state medical
societies across the country of a resolution calling for nuclear
abolition.

    Videos:  PSR will use two new videos as grassroots
education-and-organizing tools: one is the stirring speech on abolition
given by Gen. (Ret.) George Lee Butler to 300 participants at the 1998
PSR national conference.  The other is a Lifetime cable program about
the risks and dangers of nuclear weapons, featuring PSR's Executive
Director, Robert K. Musil.

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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 13:06:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: Joseph Gerson <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Chicago/President Candidates & John Kerry

10/5

First, I am doubtful about putting our hopes on finding a presidential
candidate. If we could, that would be wonderful.

Having struggled with John Kerry when he was Lieutenant Governor of
Massachusetts in the mid-1980s, when he served as point man in Ted Kennedy's
efforts to make Boston the homeport for the nuclear armed Battleship Iowa
Task Force, and having met with him on several occasions during his reign in
the Senate, I am quite certain that he will not be a standard bearer for
abolition. A mass movement might eventually be able to win him over, but we
have to organize it first. These days he's more likely to run as "an old
Navy hand" than one of the co-founders of VVAW.

Joseph Gerson



At 03:14 AM 10/4/98 -0700, Timothy Bruening wrote:
>At 12:30 PM 10/2/98 -0400, ASlater <[e-mail]> wrote:
>>Thanks Peter for lots of great suggestions.  I think we need to come out of
>>Chicago organized as a national campaign geared to the 2000 elections.  I
>>hope we can come out of this meeting with a Campaign Manager, who has had
>>experience managing a US Presidential Campaign.  I think we need to
>>organize by Congressional Districts, and try to establish a minimum contact
>>network by State.
>>
>>I don't think Gore will have smooth sailing to the nomination.  In the
>>wings are Gebhardt, Wellstone, Kerry, and Bradley (who has been dropping
>>hints).  I hope we can set up a process at the meeting to reach each one of
>>them, and whoever else appears, and ask them to champion the abolition
>>banner--much like Gene McCarthy helped the country to organize politically
>>to end the war in Vietnam.  If none of them will do it, we need to get our
>>own candidate.(Jackson?, Brown?)
>
>General Lee Butler for President!
>
>>Internationally, the NPT will be meeting again in New York this spring.  It
>>was an utter disgrace last time.  Maybe this is the time to have a
>>parallel PrepCom and bring up Zia Mian's amendment proposal.  We need to
>get >some friendly governments to participate.  Perhaps MPI can help us
here.
>
>What is Zia's amendment proposal?
>
>
>-
> To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
> with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
> For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send
> "help" to the same address.  Do not use quotes in your message.
>
>


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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 13:28:52 -0700 (PDT)
From: john burroughs <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) MEETING PROCESS SUGGESTIONS

Here are some suggestions regarding the process for the October 9 Chicago
meeting, inspired partly by the fact that it is only a one-day meeting(!),
and also by experiences at similar meetings.

1.  Prioritize the initiatives to be discussed, and discuss only a few (say
three or four) in depth. We don't need to spend significant time on a long
laundry list of what has been done, is being done, might be done, we wish
would be done, and who is doing/will do these things. We can keep track of
various activities in ongoing communication. This meeting is an opportunity
to have in-person, creative, thorough discussion of a few projects. For
example, how could speaking tours best be organized to get the vision
across, reflect our diversity, find new audiences, etc.? Getting into
colleges/universities one way or the other seems important to me.

2.  Give adequate time and thought to coming out of meeting with minimal but
effective structure, communication, and continuity. I am concerned that this
topic apparently is last on the agenda. Too often I have seen this critical
matter discussed superficially at the end of a meeting. Perhaps at least
there could be an early presentation of ideas regarding structure and
continuity so they can be absorbed during the day and people are prepared to
discuss them. Thanks to Bob Tiller of PSR for his message addressing this
point among others. One issue: how will the US abolition organizer that
several groups are planning to hire relate to the campaign? Another: funding
for projects and any staff/office.

Looking forward to seeing you all -


        *********************************************
        John Burroughs
        Western States Legal Foundation
        1440 Broadway, Suite 500
        Oakland, California, USA  94612
        Tel: [phone]
        Fax: [phone]
        E-mail: [e-mail]
        Western States is part of Abolition 2000:
        A Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons
        *********************************************


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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 16:29:07 -0400
From: War Resisters League <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) A Day Without the Pentagon

Join internationally acclaimed artists and activists Odetta and Jaleo with
David Dellinger, Hala Maksoud, Allan Nairn, Mandy Carter, Daniel Ellsberg,
Pam Africa, Alyn Ware, Barbara Smith, Luis Nieves-Falcon, Clare Hanrahan,
David McReynolds, Greg Payton at A Day Without the Pentagon on October 19!

Buses are leaving from New York City on Sunday October 18 and Monday
October 19.  Reserve your ticket now.

Committees are also organizing in more than two dozen cities.  Next New
York City meeting, Tuesday October 6 at 6:30, 841 Broadway.  Call
212-228-0450 for more information.

See you at the Pentagon,

Chris Ney
**********
War Resisters League
339 Lafayette St.
New York, NY 10012
212-228-0450
212-228-6193 (fax)
1-800-975-9688 (YouthPeace and A Day Without the Pentagon)
[e-mail]
web address: http://www.nonviolence.org/wrl

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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 21:25:45 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: Oct. 19th anti-militarism rally in D.C.

In a message dated 10/5/98 8:02:13 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
[e-mail] writes:

<< Subj:     Re: Oct. 19th anti-militarism rally in D.C.
 Date:    10/5/98 8:02:13 AM Eastern Daylight Time
 From:    [e-mail] (Sue Wheaton)
 To:    [e-mail]
 CC:    [e-mail]

 Dear David McReynolds:

 This is to inform you that, by vote of the Alliance Council, the Alliance
 for Democracy endorses "A Day Without the Pentagon."

 Our Alliance chapter in the Washington area,  the Metro DC Alliance for
 Democracy, also voted to endorse the event and to send $35 for a table at
 it.  I am in touch with John Judge on that.

 If there is time, please add both the national and the DC Alliances to
 the list of endorsing organizations.

 Thank you and I hope to meet you on Oct. 19th.

 In alliance,

 Sue Wheaton
 Co-Chair
 Alliance for Democracy





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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 22:06:32 -0400
From: Peter Weiss <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Prayers for a great Chicago meeting!

As somebody who can't be in Chicago this weekend, but who has made his
living as a trademark lawyer for the past 45 years, I have a small piece
of advice: DON'T CHANGE THE NAME! Any phrase that has acquired "name
recognition", as Abolition 2000 has, is a valuable asset which should be
jettisoned only for very good reasons. I haven't heard one in our chat
room so far. That doesn't mean you can't have buttons saying NO NUKES,
or NO NUKES - ABOLITION NOW. But the name of the campaign should remain.
                    Peter Weiss

Shundahai Network wrote:
>
> Dear Friends,
>
> This is Reinard Knutsen with some personal thoughts on the upcoming Chicago meeting and the discussion that has taken place. These thoughts are not the official comments of Shundahai Network but of my self as an abolition organizer.
>
> I hope that every one has a safe journey to Chicago and that the discussions are fruitful and the abolition movement comes out of the meeting energized and excited about the future.
>
> On the name change discussion: I feel like this could be a major energy drain and a one day organizing meeting is not the time or place to effectively discuss this. I would advise that we keep "Abolition 2000" or mild change to "Abolition Now!" or "Nuclear Abolition Now!" I feel that we need to keep abolition in the title. We have worked hard over the past few years to make this a catch phrase and I even hear the mainstream media using this now days.
>
> I feel like it is important to connect nuclear energy and nuclear waste to the abolition movement.
>
> I feel like closing down the Nevada Test Site and halting stockpile stewardship and management programs should be as important as nuclear disarmament negotiations.
>
> I feel that the groups and individuals who will be at the Chicago meeting are not exactly representative of the movement as a whole and that you remain open and accepting of all the different types of organizations and strategies involved.
>
> I hope that you accept the strategies that do not involve electoral work as part of the big picture. I feel that we all have a part in this movement and that it should include public education and outreach, legislative lobbying and education, electoral strategizing and work, and nonviolent direct action. Not every one has to participate in all of these facets but at least we need to accept that ot her groups will be plugged in their own ways and capabilities.
>
> As a person who believes in nonviolent direct action as an important part of this movement, I hope that you can continue to be accepting of what many perceive as the "more radical fringe" of the movement. I hope that you will understand that we play a part in the abolition movement just as electoral groups.
>
> And I truly hope that more people will decide that this issue is important enough that they are willing to take risks and make some sacrifices to see it through.
>
> Please remember all of us gathering at the Nevada Test Site this coming weekend. We will be planning a huge creative and exciting gathering for Mothers Day weekend next year (may 7-10, 99). This gathering will celebrate and honor mothers and our connection to Mother Earth. It was the mothers that really provided the needed pressure to get the limited test ban treaty (though it should have been a ( CTBT). In your planning for 99 I hope that you will use this date as part of the larger campaign.
>
> I wish and pray for success for all of our efforts.
>
> Peace and love, Reinard
> ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><><
>
> SHUNDAHAI NETWORK
> "Peace and Harmony with all Creation"
> 5007 Elmhurst St., Las Vegas, NV 89108-1304
> Phone:[phone] (FAX)647-9385
> Email: [e-mail]
> http://www.shundahai.org
>
> Shundahai Network is proud to be part of:
>
> Healing Global Wounds Alliance, a multi-cultural alliance to
> foster sustainable living and break the nuclear chain; and
>
> Abolition 2000: A Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons
>
> ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< ><><
>
> - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.
>
> $*$*$*$*$ 3 LINES REFORMATTED BY POPPER AT igc.apc.org $*$*$*$*$



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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 05 Oct 1998 21:56:14 -0400
From: Peter Weiss <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) [Fwd: Nuclear legacy in Semipalatinsk]

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From: Sanho Tree <[e-mail]>
Subject: Nuclear legacy in Semipalatinsk

Hi Peter,
I hope your talk with the South Asian journalists went well and that the
pamphlets arrived OK. I thought you might be interested in this horrifying
story about Kazakhstan.
Best,
Sanho


Sunday October 4, 1998    The Guardian (UK)=20

A secret nuclear tragedy=20

David Harrison reports from Kazakhstan, where the former Soviet test site
has left an awful legacy of diseased and deformed bodies=20

As a young man in the Fifties, Eleugazy Nurgaliev used to hear explosions
near his home in eastern Kazakhstan. He would feel the house shake and see
huge mushroom clouds rising menacingly above the vast steppe.

Puzzled and frightened, he asked what was going on. Officials assured him it
was 'important scientific research'. Far from being worried, they said, he
should be proud that such work was being carried out so near to Kainar, his
village in the foothills near the city of Semipalatinsk.

Many years and hundreds more explosions passed before Nurgaliev, now 67,
learnt that Semipalatinsk was the Soviet Union's site for testing nuclear
bombs. It was only then that he realised why he had suffered from a serious
skin disease since the early days of testing.

At least Nurgaliev is still alive. Thousands of other villagers and their
children have died from cancer, including rare forms of tongue and eye
cancer, as a result of radiation from the tests. Ninety per cent of
inhabitants are suffering from immune deficiency syndrome, according to the
latest figures.

Every family in the village has lost at least one member to cancer since the
tests started in 1949.

When doctors recognised the pattern of symptoms - tumours, weakened immune
systems - they called it 'Kainar syndrome'. But their Soviet masters forbade
them to link the diseases to the tests. Under Kremlin rules nobody could be
made ill by radiation. And Kainar was just one village.=20

A total of 470 tests were carried out at the site - 116 of them on or above
ground - and they have affected more than 1.2 million people still living in
the region.

According to a United Nations report, to be published this month, more than
100,000 people over three generations have been directly affected by
radiation; 67,000 receiving the heaviest doses have passed genetic defects
on to their children and grandchildren. Hundreds of thousands have suffered
from diseases ranging from cancer to mental illness. Last year, nearly
nearly 500 of every 1,000 babies born in Semipalatinsk, 100 miles from the
test site, had a defect or health problem. Forty-seven died.

The report, to be presented to the UN General Assembly next month, concludes
that immediate and long-term help is needed and urges rich nations to set up
an emergency conference to discuss raising $40 million to ease the crisis.

"This is a hidden catastrophe and it is time the world woke up to it," said
Herbert Bridgstock, the UN's co-ordinator in Almaty, the former capital of
Kazakhstan. "People notice sudden disasters but this one has lasted over 40
years and we are only just beginning to realise the scale of it. It is a
regional and global disaster."

Another UN official said: "This is like 116 Chernobyls. It is a consequence
of the Cold War and its aftermath. There is international responsibility to
sort it out."

The more obvious victims of the quest to perfect nuclear weapons can be seen
in and around Semipalatinsk, people of all ages with horrible deformities.
Yuri Kuidin, a photographer and anti-nuclear campaigner, has captured many
of them for his recently published book, Kazakhstan Nuclear Tragedy.

The pictures do not make comfortable viewing: a hideously deformed foetus,
now on display at a medical museum, children with grotesque growths on their
faces. The man born armless, who uses his feet to paint scenes of nuclear
horror. The calf with six legs.

The UN believes the book can help to highlight Kazakhstan's plight and plans
to distribute it at the General Assembly.

The UN report was commissioned 12 months ago when officials became aware of
the gravity of the situation. It was compiled by UN agencies, the Kazakhstan
government and more than 20 international experts from countries including
Britain, the United States, Japan and Russia.

It claims hospitals in Semipalatinsk cannot cope with even the most
immediate problems, because there is a shortage of beds and medicines, and
equipment is decades old. Most treatment is curative and stop-gap.

There is no money for prevention. Cases of breast and other forms of cancer
are increasing without a screening programme. The area has also seen huge
rises in the incidence of TB and Hepatitis A and B, linked to breakdowns of
the immune system.

Cancer rates are a third greater than elsewhere in Kazakhstan. Other health
problems include circulation, digestive, respiratory and non-cancer blood
diseases.

Infant mortality has grown 10-fold since 1950. Suicide rates, especially
among the young, have also increased, with impotence cited as a common
reason. The crisis has been made worse by appalling environmental and
economic problems - both part of the legacy of the Soviet nuclear bomb=
 industry.

"It is the combination of these crises - health, environmental and economic
- - and the fact that they have grown over so many years, that makes this such
a terrible disaster," said Bridgstock.

Lakes and rivers were polluted and huge areas of land contaminated by the=
 tests.

The 352 underground tests, which started after the ground/atmospheric test
ban treaty signed with the US and Britain in 1963, did further damage,
opening huge fissures in the ground and allowing radioactive gases to
escape. 'Atomic lakes' such as Lake Balapan are among the consequences.

There are 'safe' areas in the region but research is needed to identify and
develop them. "Until that happens there will be uncertainty and fear," says
Bridgstock. That uncertainty - not knowing whether the water, the food, the
air are safe - is another factor behind the rise in mental health problems
and suicides in Semipalatinsk, according to the report.=20

It calls for a detailed land use programme and warns that changing the use
of the test site could release more radiation.

But if the presence of the test site devastated Kazakhstan, the end of
testing and the closure of the site in 1991 dealt the region an economic
blow , bringing unemployment - 400,000 people worked at the site - poverty
and massive social problems.

In the Fifties, the Soviet Union built a secret city 10 miles from the test
site. The city housed all the scientists, other experts and support staff
needed for the tests and its population grew rapidly.=20

The city's name was changed from Moscow-400 to Semipalatinsk-21, Konechnaya
and finally to Kurchatov, after Igor Kurchatov, the founder of the Soviet
nuclear industry.

His statue still stands in the town centre. Residents benefited from better
food and services than many other parts of Kazakhstan and the rest of the
Soviet Union.

But the price of comfort was secrecy: the city never appeared on maps.
Everybody who entered had to sign a statement pledging not to reveal
anything about it.

'The break-up of the Soviet Union means the region, which had previously
been at the geographical centre of a market of 340 million found itself
suddenly on the margins of a market of 17 million,' says the UN report. A
Kazakhstan official put it more bluntly: "The Soviets destroyed our country
twice."

The Kazakhstan government has no funds to tackle the crisis of
Semipalatinsk. Its resources are already stretched by demands from other
poor regions in a country the size of western Europe, where up to 80 per
cent of the population live below the poverty line. A project to move the
capital from Almaty, near China, to Astana, nearer Russia, is a further
drain on resources.

Russia says it would like to help but is preoccupied with the collapse of
its own economy. Possession of some of the world's largest remaining oil and
gas reserves offer Kazakhstan hope for the future but Western diplomats say
it will be at least 15 years before they start to generate serious wealth.

The first Soviet nuclear bomb was exploded on 29 August 1949 at
Semipalatinsk. "From that day the Soviet military-industrial complex waged
an undeclared war against the people of Kazakhstan," says Kuidin.

12 August 1953 saw the first thermonuclear device tested. Two years later
the physicist Andrei Sakharov, who later became a celebrated dissident, had
developed the hydrogen bomb. People who lived in nearby villages were given
no warnings about imminent tests and only those closest to the test area
were evacuated - to be returned between one and three weeks later.

For the first 14 years the scientists conducted tests of uranium, hydrogen
and plutonium bombs. The population had no protection from radiation and was
given no medical tests. Falling ill brought no guarantee of treatment. In
the notorious Anti-Brucellosis Dispensary Number 4 doctors watched patients
die from the effects of radiation before compiling secret reports for their
masters. Many documents were taken to Moscow, which has hindered research
into the problems.

After the 1963 test ban treaty the tests continued apace, at secret sites
known only as Site G, Site 300, Site Sh and Site M.

Now the Russians have gone and Kazakhstan is left with the consequences. The
weak have collapsed under the strain of living in a nuclear wasteland. Now
the strong are slipping too. 'People who were capable and contributing
citzens,' the report says, 'are now joining large numbers who have fallen
between the cracks, who are unable to support families or provide for their
own most basic needs and who can no longer turn for support to a government
in the midst of difficult economic reforms.'

"The message is clear," said one UN official. "The world can help these
innocent victims of the mad race for nuclear superiority. Or it can look the
other way."

  =A9 Copyright Guardian Media Group plc.1998 =20


***************************************************************************
Sanho Tree=20
Project Director,                        202/234-9382 ext. 266 (voice)
Citizen Truth Commision                  202/387-7915 (fax)
Institute for Policy Studies             202/234-6854 (home)
733 15th St., NW, #1020             E-mail: [e-mail]
Washington, DC 20005             Website: www.ips-dc.org
***************************************************************************


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