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abolition-usa-digest     Wednesday, June 23 1999     Volume 01 : Number 142




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

Date: Sat, 19 Jun 1999 02:38:58 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: jhurd_newparty: Re: Clampdown in Southern Serbia

Since this post stirred several responses, I think we should be clear on two
things (which are factual, not just my opinions). First, Milosevic is NOT a
dictator. He won three free elections. They were NOT good elections. Worse
than ours. But there are opposition parties, and he nearly lost of the
elections. Second, Milosevic plays very rough, he has goon squads, and if he
pulled some the stunts here that he pulls there we'd say he was worse than
Giuliani.

Those are facts. The opinion is that he isn't a socialist as I'd use that
term, but represents what Djilas called "the new class" which has enriched
itself at the expense of the working people in Serbia.

Fraternally,
David McReynolds

<< Subj:     jhurd_newparty: Re: Clampdown in Southern Serbia
 Date:    6/18/99 8:51:07 PM Eastern Daylight Time
 From:    [e-mail] (Dazey)
 Sender:    [e-mail]
 To:    [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail]

 I don't understand how they can call Slob-bo a socialist. He's a dictator.

 LR... who hates it when people equate socialism with communism...

 "Liberty will not descend to a people, a people must raise themselves to
 liberty."
 Emma Goldman (1869-1940)



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

Date: Sat, 19 Jun 1999 17:38:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: Timothy Bruening <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) War Crimes Letter

Below is my draft of a letter about NATO war crimes against Yugoslavia.
Please suggest ways to improve this letter.

On May 27, Yugoslav President Milosevic was indicted for war crimes by the
UN War Crimes Tribunal.  I believe that the US/NATO has also committed war
crimes, and that President Clinton and other NATO leaders should be indicted
on the following charges:

I. That the US/NATO attacked a sovereign nation (Yugoslavia) at a time when
it wasn't attacking any other nation.  This violates the UN Charter [Article
2.3. (All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful
means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice,
are not endangered.) and Article 2.4. (All Members shall refrain in their
international relations from the threat or use of force against the
territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any
other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.)].

II. That the US/NATO has bombed many civilian targets, including bridges
(including bridges with trains and buses on them and/or "human shields"
under them), refugee convoys, hospitals, homes, schools, universities, TV
stations, power and water treatment plants, factories, oil refineries
(dumping oil into the Danube) and the Chinese Embassy.  In the past few
days, (May 30-31), US/NATO has bombed a sanitarium, a retirement home, and a
crowded bridge near a market.

III. That the US/NATO has continued to recklessly bomb urban areas in spite
of all the accidental bombings of civilians.

IV. That the US/NATO has dropped cluster bombs on Yugoslavia. These have
hundreds of shrapnel-like
metal fragments which enter the body and cannot easily be removed, causing
unbearable pain. Serb children have picked up unexploded bombs and been
mutilated as they exploded.

V. That the US/NATO has dropped bombs containing depleted uranium (DU) on
Yugoslavia.  DU is Uranium-238 (non-fissionable) left over after the
Uranium-235 (the type used for nuclear fission and nuclear bombs) has been
removed.  At a Pentagon briefing on May 4, a Major General Ward said that US
planes had fired DU in Kosovo.  DU, being very heavy, is great at
penetrating armor, but it is both radioactive and a chemical poison.  When
bombs containing DU hit, the DU ignites on impact, releasing a toxic and
radioactive dust.  According to Dan Fahey of Swords to Plowshares, "This
dust will contaminate its target, the area around it, ground water supplies,
and it can be blown by the wind.  This poses a great risk to civilian
populations."  I believe that DU violates international law against poisoned
weapons.

VI.  That the US/NATO bombing of Yugoslavia has damaged the environment in
the Balkans.  Ecologically, there are several factors to be concerned about:
(1) The type of bomb, e.g. with depleted uranium (DU) warheads, and the
barbarous cluster bombs, will cause significant harm well beyond the war
period. NATO admitted that it is dropping bombs containing depleted uranium.
This DU is carried in the wind and scatters radioactive particles across the
region. In
humans as well as other animals, DU may penetrate the lung tissue and the
blood stream, storing in the liver, kidney and bone. The increased radiation
can initiate or promote cancers, as well as other illnesses.

(2) The bombing of industrial targets: oil refineries, fuel depots,
fertilizer plants, pharmaceutical complexes, electrical power stations
(possibly containing PCB's), chemical plants (with releases of chlorine,
ethylene dichloride, vinyl chloride), etc, is creating large-scale
contamination of air, soil and water. Large quantities of highly toxic
chemicals are released through burning. A range of unidentified pollutants,
including carcinogens are being released into the Danube River, which is a
source of drinking water for some 10 million people.

(3) The effect on nature: National parks, protected areas and the general
countryside are being bombed. Little is known of how this bombing and the
pollution are affecting wildlife.  Toxics in the rivers will have serious
consequences for aquatic organisms, such as the sturgeons now on their
spawning run, or water-dependent birds like pelicans and herons. Already
there are reports of dead dolphins being washed up in the Black Sea, into
which the Danube discharges its waters. And we hear of domestic animals
killed by bombing or by starving when people flee. Apart from any immediate
effects, the long-term build-up of toxins in the food chain, both on land
and in the water, will cause illnesses in people and wildlife. Exposure to
toxins can lead to the inability of some species to reproduce.


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

Date: Sun, 20 Jun 1999 15:15:43 +0100
From: Karen Rivron <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) T Bruening's  Letter: information on DU weapons

From: Dominic Rivron

Re Timothy Bruening's letter 19.6.99

Part V of the letter deals with depleted Uranium weapons. Great, but
could possibly be more specific. The use of DU weapons contravenes UN
Resolution 1996/16, which "urges all states to be guided in their
international policies by the need to curb the production and spread of
weapons of mass destruction and indiscriminate effect" - the latter
includes DU weapons, and incidentally, cluster bombs - also used against
Serbia.

The US voted against the adoption of this Resolution.

The quote from Dan Fahey is a good one - but perhaps a quote from a
worthy, yet obviously anti-DU source will not appeal to sceptical
readers? One could always back it up with a quote from Dr Rosalie
Bartell, a renowned epidemiologist, author No Immediate Danger, and
President of the International Institute of Concern for Public Health
(Toronto, Canada): eg:

"These aerosols [of heated Uranium] are very light and can travel more
than 42km (26 miles) from the release point... When in bone, the uranium
can irradiate the sensitive stem cells which form the white blood
cells... Clinical manifestations of this toxicity and irradiation
include kidney and liver damage, anaemia, depressed cellular immune
system and general heavy metal poisoning. Uranium can pass into the
placenta, causing congenital malformations and can be carried to the
infant in mothers' milk. It can damage the ovum and sperm, causing
genetic damage."

Hope this is of help. You can get a lot of good information from CADU,
the Campaign Against Depleted Uranium - e-mail [e-mail]


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

Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 10:53:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: [e-mail] (marylia)
Subject: (abolition-usa) New Lab Nuke Waste Treatment Plant

Hi. This article is for all those who care about state environmental laws
and/or nuclear weapons facilities. Happy reading...

Lab to Build Nuclear Waste Complex Without Environmental Review

by Marylia Kelley
from Tri-Valley CAREs' June 1999 newsletter, Citizen's Watch

Despite Livermore Lab's long history of toxic and radioactive spills,
leaks, accidents and releases, the state of California has just given the
Lab a green light to build a huge, new nuclear waste treatment complex in
Livermore.

Further, the state regulatory agency, called the Dept. of Toxic Substances
Control (DTSC), rebuffed Tri-Valley CAREs' request that it undertake a
stringent, independent environmental review of the Livermore Lab's
hazardous waste practices before making its decision. Our goal was
two-fold: to ensure that the affected community had ample opportunity to be
heard in the decision, and, equally important, to improve conditions at the
Lab in order to protect workers, the public and the environment from
additional contamination.

Instead, DTSC approved a permit for Livermore Lab to construct and operate
a new hazardous and radioactive waste treatment complex, and to do it
without undergoing an Environmental Impact Report (EIR), the appropriate
review procedure for this type of state-level decision.

Specifically, on May 27, 1999, DTSC issued a final "Hazardous Waste
Facility Permit," also referred to as a Part B permit, in essence giving
its blessing to the nuclear waste facility, after conducting only a
preliminary "Initial Study" on Livermore  Lab's permit application.
According to DTSC records, the Initial Study relied on an old 1992 Lab
report - which had been done by the Dept. of Energy, the Lab's parent
agency. On that flimsy, and hardly independent, basis, DTSC issued a
"negative declaration," certifying that a new nuclear waste facility at the
Lab could not possibly have a negative impact. The permit is a "federal
equivalent," meaning DTSC, as the state agency, has the final authority.

                        Our "watchdog" efforts

Tri-Valley CAREs has been active on this issue since 1985, when we offered
comments to the state at the first public meeting ever held on hazardous
waste at Livermore Lab. Since that time, our research has uncovered
numerous volumes' worth of evidence- showing the dangers, contamination
incidents and worker injuries that have happened as a result of the Lab's
waste treatment and storage operations. While our monitoring efforts have
led Livermore to curtail certain practices, such as the use of a
semi-trailer for dumping "unknown chemicals," many problems remain
unresolved. These present and future health threats are why we must
continue to insist that a comprehensive, independent review be performed
before a new waste complex is built.

In 1997, Tri-Valley CAREs, with 40 of its members and friends, commented
extensively on the Lab's proposed new waste facility. DTSC has now released
its "Response to Comments" from that public hearing and comment period. We
are in the process of studying the 170-page response document carefully,
but some things stand out immediately. Nearly every member of the public
offered clear and compelling reasons why DTSC should do an Environmental
Impact Report before making a permit decision.

Shockingly, this DTSC response, found on page 7, is typical: "An EIR is not
appropriate where an Initial Study has determined no significant impacts to
the environment. It is speculative to assume that the management of
hazardous waste in storage and treatment units will be a potential source
of releases..."

Hardly. Tri-Valley CAREs members presented ample evidence that DTSC should
consider just such a situation. Our testimonies listed dozens of recent
accidents involving hazardous or radioactive wastes, including: an
underground tank leak sending radioactive tritium into the soil and
groundwater; a worker who lost part of his thumb when doctors extracted a
sliver of plutonium; two workers who were contaminated with tritium while
packaging radioactive wastes; three workers contaminated during a filter
shredding operation, including one who received internal contamination;
twenty five workers who had to be evacuated when a waste bulking operation
resulted in reddish fumes filling the room; fourteen hazardous releases
above wastewater permit levels to the City's sewage treatment plant over a
one year period, and on and on.

DTSC responded that, "these accidents do not support a fair argument that
significant impacts to the environment may occur from the permitting of the
specific hazardous waste management facilities covered by the Part B
Permit" (page 69). The state comes very close to saying the accidents would
have had to occur in a facility that hasn't been built yet in order for
them to be deemed relevant.

Specifically regarding the filter shredding accident, DTSC says: "The
shredder involved in this occurrence has been taken out of service because
it was heavily contaminated with radioactivity. A new shredder will be
installed  as part of the Project." (page 73). DTSC misses the point, here.

In the end, DTSC made only a few changes in the permit language to address
what are truly major problems.

                        What the Permit Allows

According the "Hazardous Waste Facility Permit" signed by DTSC, Livermore
Lab will be able to store up to 808,000 gallons of hazardous and
radioactive mixed waste on-site at any given time (page 12). Further,
Livermore would be allowed to build new facilities and "treat" about
300,000 pounds of solid and 400,000 gallons of liquid hazardous and
radioactive mixed waste each year of operation (Table 1).

The permit's Table 2, "Typical Waste Streams," includes: radioactive acidic
rinse waters, radioactive halogenated solvents, scrap metals with
transuranic (plutonium) activity, highly dissolved solids from cleanup of
chemical spills and leaky drums, and so on in a list that goes on for 13
pages.

Typical treatment facilities, according to the permit, will include such
things as: Solidification Unit, Shredding Unit, Centrifuge Unit, Freezer
Unit, Roll-Off Bin, Tank Farm, Reactive Waste Processing, Pressure Reactor,
Water Reactor, Amalgamation Reactor and Uranium Bleaching Unit, among
others.

The new Waste Treatment Facility will be built just north of the National
Ignition Facility construction site, near Greenville Road, and will involve
about a dozen buildings, storage pads etc.

The DTSC permit covers hazardous and mixed radioactive wastes caused by Lab
operations. Livermore  Lab also generates "purely" radioactive wastes that
are not counted in the numbers listed above because they are regulated by
the Dept. of Energy, and not by the state. DTSC, in its public statement,
notes that the Lab has been generating these wastes for years. While true,
the state again begs the point.

The Lab's history of problems, combined with the continuing dangers, should
compel DTSC to conduct additional environmental review, not reward bad
practice with a permit!

Tri-Valley CAREs is evaluating its next course of action. If you are
interested in helping - whether you can hand out leaflets, use a law
library or offer financial support - call Marylia at [phone].



++ Please note that my email address has changed to <[e-mail]>
on 3/1/99 ++

Marylia Kelley
Tri-Valley CAREs
(Communities Against a Radioactive Environment)
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA USA 94550

<http://www.igc.org/tvc/> - is our web site, please visit us there!
Our web site will remain at this location. Only my email address has
changed on 3/1/99.

[phone] - is our phone
[phone] - is our fax

Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley
CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear
Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the
international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear
weapons.



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 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
 with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 10:59:00 -0700 (PDT)
From: [e-mail] (marylia)
Subject: (abolition-usa) Report from the Hague

Hi nuclear abolition advocates. Here is a short report from the Hague
Appeal for Peace and the Abolition 2000 international meeting that
followed...

On the Job: A Report From the Hague

by Sally Light
from Tri-Valley CAREs' June 1999 newsletter, Citizen's Watch

While NATO's bombs were falling on Yugoslavia, about 9,000 people from
around the globe attended the Hague Appeal for Peace (HAP), May 10-17,  in
the Netherlands, a NATO member nation. Ironically, just across the
courtyard from HAP, the UN World Court was simultaneously hearing opening
arguments by Yugoslavia as to why the bombing violates international law.
Many of us at the HAP felt a grave responsibility as peace delegates to
address the war, and to denounce all of its forms of violence. We hoped
that, while at the HAP, we could make a statement by holding a
demonstration. Our peaceful yet strong rally did take place but
unfortunately, with the chaos of multiple panels and sessions, not all of
the delegates got the message in time to participate.

It was an intense week of more than 400 planned workshops, panels and
cultural events, as well as a multitude of last-minute events. I saw many
familiar faces including some from the Bay Area, and was also glad to meet
many international activists I'd only known before via e-mail. Copies of
our book on Livermore Lab's National Ignition Facility were very popular --
all those I brought were gone within 3 days!

The international petition prepared by myself and two colleagues (from the
U.S. and France), opposing both NIF and the French Laser Megajoule, was
also well received. Additionally, I spoke about NIF on a panel devoted to
stopping the modernization of nuclear weapons. (The petition is enclosed,
please sign and circulate.)

I also attended the annual meeting of Abolition 2000, the global movement
to eliminate nuclear weapons, of which Tri-Valley CAREs is a co-founder.
The day after HAP ended, I and 500 others walked  together from The Hague
to Delft (about 10 miles) on the first leg of the great Abolition 2000
peace march organized by For Mother Earth  (from Belgium). This was a
favorite part of my trip, as we were able to mix and mingle while walking
along. We were accompanied by two Dutch mounted policemen riding large,
beautiful horses -- a breed specific to Holland. I amused myself by
imagining this kind of police security at Bay Area demonstrations!

The peace march then proceeded to the NATO Headquarters in Brussels, some
200 miles away. Although I had to say good-bye at Delft, at least the cloth
and bamboo flag I had made continued on with the marchers.

++ Please note that my email address has changed to <[e-mail]>
on 3/1/99 ++

Marylia Kelley
Tri-Valley CAREs
(Communities Against a Radioactive Environment)
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA USA 94550

<http://www.igc.org/tvc/> - is our web site, please visit us there!
Our web site will remain at this location. Only my email address has
changed on 3/1/99.

[phone] - is our phone
[phone] - is our fax

Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley
CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear
Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the
international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of 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
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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 11:06:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: [e-mail] (marylia)
Subject: (abolition-usa) More Accidents at Livermore Lab

Newly Discovered Accidents Give Lie to Lab Safety Claims

by Marylia Kelley
from Tri-Valley CAREs' June 1999 newsletter, Citizen's Watch

Just as our California state regulators hand Livermore Lab the go-ahead to
construct a major, new nuclear waste treatment and storage facility,
Tri-Valley CAREs has discovered two previously unpublicized accidents, both
involving violations of regulations governing the handling of hazardous
wastes. These accidents belie the state's claim that everything is safe at
the Lab, and that, therefore, giving the Lab a final permit without doing
an environmental report is all right. (See related story  -- Lab to Build
Nuclear Waste Complex -- also in this month's newsletter.)

We believe these incidents further demonstrate the presence of ongoing
problems at the Lab and underscore our call for an Environmental Impact
Report.

The first accident came to our attention when we received the May 6, 1999
issue of Operating Experience Weekly Summary, (published by the Dept. of
Energy's Office of Nuclear and Facility Safety).  The section titled "Final
Report - Chemist Receives Chemical Burns When Container Overpressures and
Ruptures," outlines the incident. To quote directly from the report:

"On April 1, 1998, at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a chemist
received chemical burns to his head when a plastic bottle ruptured and
sprayed its contents on him and throughout the hazardous waste radiological
laboratory he was working in. The injured chemist was one of two chemists
assigned to work on the samples. The previous day, they began mineral acid
digestion of six oil samples. While these samples were in the initial
stages of digestion, the chemists realized that they had already been
analyzed.

"One of the chemists added the samples to a transient waste collection
bottle for disposal. This bottle was an empty hydrogen peroxide bottle that
was being used to collect spent acids at the work station... The next
morning, one of the chemists entered the laboratory, noticed that the
bottle was bulging, and heard it hissing. Before he could react, the bottle
ruptured.

"Some of the contents of the bottle splashed on the chemist... The chemist
washed the acid mixture off his face in the men's restroom. He did not use
the safety shower in the room he was working in because the room was filled
with acid vapors... Medical personnel noted that some acid mixture was
still in his hair, so they shampooed and showered him, treating the
chemical burns, and released him..."

The chemical burns resulted in what the report termed "12 restricted work
days" for the injured employee. Lab investigators determined that the
direct cause of the accident was the inappropriate storage of the acid
mixture, and that gas generation caused the container to pressurize and
rupture. Further, the DOE report cited deficiencies in worker training, and
stated the root cause of the accident was the failure of the Lab to follow
proper procedures for waste disposal.

The second accident was caused when the Lab mislableled hazardous wastes,
an all too frequent occurrence. According to an internal Livermore Lab memo
dated March 15, 1999, two containers in storage at the Lab's Hazardous
Waste Material Area last June were both  issued an identical container
number, W131763.

One container was filled with a federally-listed hazardous waste and the
other with a different, not federally-listed, waste. According to the memo,
the two containers were accidentally combined via a bulking process into a
roll-off bin. The federally-listed hazardous waste (now mixed with other
waste) was then mistakenly sent to a disposal facility where it was placed
into a landfill without treatment.

The pre-bulking concentrations of lead and chromium in the federally-listed
waste exceeded both hazardous waste limits and land disposal restriction
(LDR) treatment standards, according to the memo. However, when the
container number duplication was detected eight month later, the Lab
recalculated the concentrations based on the total weight of solid waste in
the roll-off bin and found them in aggregate to be below LDR treatment
standards.

On March 5, 1999, Livermore Lab held a management meeting to review this
event. To quote the memo, "Upon review, the consensus of upper management
and legal counsel regarding the inadvertent and inappropriate consolidation
was that no further notifications are required or warranted." Thus, the Lab
management intentionally failed to notify regulatory agencies or the public
of the mixing incident, or of their improper disposal of hazardous waste.

These kinds of accidents at Livermore Lab, and management's resulting
attempts to cover them up, are not isolated incidents. Instead, they are
sadly familiar. Workers are hurt, the environment is polluted, and the
community is continually at risk.


++ Please note that my email address has changed to <[e-mail]>
on 3/1/99 ++

Marylia Kelley
Tri-Valley CAREs
(Communities Against a Radioactive Environment)
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA USA 94550

<http://www.igc.org/tvc/> - is our web site, please visit us there!
Our web site will remain at this location. Only my email address has
changed on 3/1/99.

[phone] - is our phone
[phone] - is our fax

Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley
CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear
Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the
international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of 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
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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1999 09:04:32 -0400
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: [gffp] Fwd: New Progressive Website

=20
>Dear Sir of Madam,
>
>I thought you would be interested in checking out a new online resource
>for political progressives called www.ProgressivePubs.com
>
>Here=92s what we=92ve got already:
>
>    - An online database of more than 500 progressive foundations, which
>you can use for free to find out about their funding priorities, program
>officers, trustees, and contact information.
>
>    - A bookstore featuring books, studies, and reports produced by
>progressive nonprofits, where you can do one-stop shopping on hot
>political issues.  (If you belong to an organization that wants help
>marketing all that good work you=92ve got sitting on the shelf, let us
>know.)
>
>In addition, we=92re developing =AD hopefully, with your assistance =AD=
 online
>databases of progressive professors, politicians, and organizations.
>
>Please visit us at www.ProgressivePubs.com
>
>You can also reach us by phone [phone]), fax [phone]), or
>mail (P.O. Box 11335, Washington, DC  20008).  Other details about
>ProgressivePubs can be found on our web site.
>
>                     - Tad Williams, Marketing Director
>
>
>P.S. =AD In case you=92re wondering, we got your e-mail address from one of
>the multiple-address e-mails we=92ve received in recent months about one
>progressive cause or another.  This is a one time announcement (we hate
>spamming as much as you do!).
>
>*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
>       [e-mail] -- The email list for the=20
>            GRACE Factory Farming Project Team
>See draft web site at http://209.69.134.203/~p-nowak/FFIP/
> =20
Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)
15 East 26th Street, Room 915
New York, NY 10010
tel:  [phone]
fax:  [phone]
email:  [e-mail]

GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty
to eliminate nuclear weapons.

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

Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1999 11:41:01 -0400
From: Joan Wade <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Introduction

To:  abolition-usa
From:  disarmament
RE:  Introduction
Date:  6/23/99

*Please excuse cross postings

 Greetings Activists and Friends,

I would like to introduce myself to you as the new Coordinator for the
Disarmament Clearinghouse, a project of Friends Committee on National
Legislation, Peace Action, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Women's
Action for New Directions, and 20/20 Vision.  Within the next few months
I will be working on a variety of disarmament projects including
organizing a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Call-In Day in July, updating
the Clearinghouse website, and getting to know many new activists
dedicated to disarmament.

My responsibilities will also include maintenance of two listserves;
CTBT-Organize and Disarm-News.  While the first is an open listserve
intended for the sharing of action alerts and other information
pertinent to the goal of CTBT ratification, Disarm-News will feature
current press about disarmament in general, including articles on CTBT,
de-alerting, and missile defense. I encourage all who are not currently
subscribed to do so soon.  Please feel free to contact me with any
questions or suggestions regarding either list.

Previously, I have worked on peace and environmental issues at 20/20
Vision and international cooperation and U.N. reform with the World
Federalist Association.  I look forward to all that is ahead here at the
Clearinghouse and am delighted with the opportunity to work with engaged
citizens like you.

Sincerely,

Joan L. Wade
Disarmament Clearinghouse Coordinator
1101 14th Street, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]



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Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1999 11:55:12 -0400
From: Karina Wood <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Hague Appeal Agenda now a UN document!

Exciting News! The Hague Agenda for Peace and Justice - now a UN
Document!

As of today, Wednesday, June 23, the "Hague Agenda for Peace and Justice
for the 21st Century" (the action plan discussed and launched at the
Hague Appeal Conference) will be available in all of the United Nations
languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

The UN reference for the Hague Agenda is A/54/98.  Because this is now
an official UN document, it will be delivered to all UN delegates and
Secretariat staff upon its release.

If you would like a copy in any of these languages, please contact the
New York office of the Hague Appeal or refer to the United Nations
website (http://www.un.org).  We plan to have a link from our website to
these documents soon so please refer all of your members/ friends/
colleagues to
http://www.haguepeace.org

Thank you,

The Hague Appeal for Peace 1999 - New York Office
c/o WFM
777 U.N. Plaza
New York, NY 10017
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

http://www.haguepeace.org
- -----------------------

- --
Karina H. Wood
Field Coordinator, Project Abolition
and U.S. Outreach Coordinator, Hague Appeal for Peace
85 John St.
Providence, RI 02906
Ph: 401-276-0377
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

For information on Project Abolition: www.fourthfreedom.org
For information on the Hague Appeal: www.haguepeace.org



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 with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1999 15:12:30 -0400
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Russian Abolition 2000 Meeting

Dear Friends,
I just returned from an Abolition 2000 meeting in St. Petersburg, hosted by a
number of Russian organizations, and Finnish, Swedish and German groups,
organized by Xanthe Hall of IPPNW Germany with those groups.  There will be a
full report of the meeting, but I am posting the St. Petersburg declaration
below, adopted by the participants which is being presented this week to the
governmental conference which follows on to the Hague governmental meeting
last
month. It was inspiring to work with NGOs from Eastern Europe, finding common
ground for our mutual goals to abolish nuclear weapons.   Peace,  Alice Slater


ST. PETERSBURG DECLARATION
St. Petersburg, Russia - 19 June 1999

Conference on Nuclear Policy and Security on the Eve of the 21st Century
Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons

In 1899, the Russian Czar Nicolas II took the initiative to convene a general
peace conference which was hosted by the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina in The Hague.
100 years later in St. Petersburg, we, the participants in the Abolition 2000
Conference, summarize our findings on nuclear policy and security on the
eve of
the 21st century.  These will be forwarded to the International Conference
ôCentennial of the Russian Initiative.  From the First Peace Conference, 1899,
to the Third, 1999ö in St. Petersburg 22- 25 June, 1999.

There can be no peace and security with nuclear weapons.  The dogma of
ônuclear
deterrenceö led to the building of ever larger arsenals by the nuclear weapons
states.  It is illegal, immoral and irresponsible; it must be rejected.  For
worldwide security, nuclear weapons must be eliminated.

We must move to common security based on human and ecological values and
respect for international institutions and law.  NATOÆs recent assertion of
the
right to engage in ôout-of-areaö operations conducted without United Nations
authority is contrary to this imperative.  Future European security
arrangements must comply with international law, encompass all European
countries including Russia, and exclude nuclear weapons.  Genuine and lasting
peace cannot be achieved by building and expanding military alliances.

Despite reductions, the nuclear weapons states still hold enough explosive
power to annihilate the planet.  Nuclear weapons have not prevented war.
Across the world and within Europe, at the end of the millennium, brutal
conflicts rage.  The spirit and the letter of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty have been broken.  By maintaining and modernizing their nuclear
arsenals, the United States, Russia, France, the United Kingdom and China have
encouraged other states including India, Israel and Pakistan to follow their
example.

In the development of nuclear weapons, these governments have brought death
and
suffering to succeeding generations of innocent people and irreversible
environmental destruction.  Vast resources have been devoted to nuclear
warfare
preparations.  In the last 50 years, the gap between rich and poor has grown,
not least within the nuclear weapon states.  Funds have been denied to
international bodies concerned with conflict prevention, especially the United
Nations and its constituent regional organizations including the Organization
for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OSCE).  The OSCE is a pan-European
security organization, representing 54 countries including Russia, the United
States, and Canada, which promotes non-military solutions to conflict.

We call for recognition and implementation of the following principles:

1.      Redefine security in terms of peoples rather than states, where
protection of human health and preservation of the natural environment have
overriding priority;

2.      Support and strengthen the role of the United Nations, which was
created
after World War II to resolve international disputes peacefully;

3.      Place new emphasis on regional security organizations, such as OSCE,
acting under Chapter VIII and the UN Charter and using political rather than
military tools for conflict resolution;

4.      Uphold and apply international law in a consistent and
non-discriminatory manner;

5.      Recognize the link between nuclear energy and proliferation, and give
high priority to energy conservation and development of alternative energy
sources.

The following urgent measures are needed to implement these principles, which
should be taken simultaneously and in parallel:

1.      Massively increased funding and resources for OSCE; transparency and
democracy in the creation of its forthcoming ôCharter for European Security in
the 21st Centuryö with the full involvement of civil society.

2.      Taking all nuclear forces off alert status through coordinated
measures
lowering their readiness for use, including separation of warheads from
delivery systems and withdrawal of nuclear-armed submarines from patrol;

3.      Removal of US nuclear weapons from Europe back to the United States;

4.      Initiation of parallel, reciprocal actions between the United
States and
Russia to de-alert, reduce, and account for warheads and fissile materials,
bypassing the blocked START process;

5.      Commencement of multilateral negotiations on the elimination of
nuclear
weapons to culminate in a comprehensive treaty.  These negotiations could
incorporate or be conducted in parallel with negotiations on interim steps
including no first-use and no modernization pledges and a fissile materials
ban;

6.      Reduction and elimination of nuclear weapons research and development
infrastructures and capabilities.  This process should accompany the reduction
and elimination of warheads and delivery systems.  It will require a new
emphasis on development of societal verification methods;

7.      Reduction and elimination of other weapons of mass destruction and/or
indiscriminate effect, including depleted uranium, cluster bombs, and land
mines.

In conclusion, we strongly endorse the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
as echoed in the words of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan: ôToday security is
increasingly understood not just in military terms, and as far more than the
absence of conflict.  It is in fact a phenomenon that encompasses economic
development, social justice, environmental protection, democratization,
disarmament and respect for human rights.  These goals - these pillars of
peace
- - are interrelated.  Progress in one area begets progress in another.  But no
country can get there on its own.  And none is exempt from the risks and costs
of doing without...  The world today spends billions preparing for war;
shouldnÆt we spend a billion or two preparing for peace?ö

Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)
15 East 26th Street, Room 915
New York, NY 10010
tel:  [phone]
fax:  [phone]
email:  [e-mail]

GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty
to eliminate nuclear weapons.

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

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