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abolition-usa-digest   Wednesday, September 1 1999   Volume 01 : Number 175




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

Date: Fri, 31 Aug 1990 15:38:23 -0400
From: hcaldic <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Star Wars Test News Release

Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space wrote:
>
> Friends:  Please help us by copying and sending this news release to your
> local media.  Thanks.  Bruce Gagnon
>
> STAR WARS MISSILE TEST
> DRAWS INTERNATIONAL OPPOSITION
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> CONTACT:  BRUCE GAGNON [phone]
>
>
> The Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space is organizing an
> international effort on September 13-15 to oppose the revitalized Star Wars
> plans of the Clinton administration and the U.S. Congress.  Calling it the
> Star Wars International Call-In Days, activists around the world will be
> speaking out in opposition to a scheduled Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD)
> test planned in September over the Pacific Ocean by the Pentagon.
>
> Congress has voted to allow the BMD system to move forward  as "soon as
> technically feasible".  The Clinton administration is now beginning to
> consider circumventing the 1972 ABM Treaty that outlaws the development of
> weapons systems like the BMD.  Clinton is scheduled to make a final
> deployment decision on the BMD in June, 2000.
>
> According to Global Network Coordinator Bruce Gagnon, "With Democrats and
> Republicans recently voting to allow early deployment of BMD, the door has
> been opened wide for the deployment of space-based weapons.  We are talking
> about moving the arms race into space!  The cost in tax dollars will be
> staggering and the threat to world peace will be enormous. People understand
> that putting lasers in space is an offensive strategy. We are organizing a
> global response to this craziness."
>
> Global Network organizers are calling on the public to contact the White
> House and Congress between September 13-15 with the message No BMD, No Star
> Wars.  Activists in other parts of the world will be contacting the U.S.
> Embassy in their country with the same message.
>
> The Star Wars International Call-In Days will mark the beginning of a year
> long campaign being organized by the Global Network.  Throughout 2000 a
> series of events will target the Star Wars issue.  Included in these actions
> will be a demonstration at the Treasury Department on April 14 highlighting
> the $100 billion that has been spent on Star Wars development to date and an
> International conference on the subject the following day.  On October 7,
> 2000 an International Day of Protest to Stop the Militarization of Space will
> be held.
>
> Check the Global Network website at:  http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk
>
>
>                                #                                #
>                   #                                 #
>
>
> -
>  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.

    Bruce, here is an article which was published recently in the Sydney
Morning Herald by me, Love Helen



- -
 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.

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

Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 21:25:57 -0700
From: "David Crockett Williams" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: Invitation to the October Meeting of the US Campaign to AbolishNuclear Weapons

What kind of opportunity would there be at this meeting to present and
network about the Global Peace Walk 2000, being conducted in response to the
call to this nuclear abolition 2000 coalition by Proposition One?  I am
asking because of only nominal feedback all this year from those on this
list about this first great transcontinental peace march of the new
millennium being initiated by Rev. Yusen Yamato in response to this call
which has apparently not yet been heeded by many others on this list but
which has this summer gained the support of many indigenous spiritual
leaders and pratitioners to take part (presented in Costa Rica at World
Summit on Peace and time in June at University for Peace, and received
proclamation of support from mayor of Rome NY on stage at Woodstock'99, GPW
participants took part in Sundances at Big Mountain and South Dakota, etc.)
and now we need your support for outreach and financial help for this major
and historic effort for Nuclear Abolition and to unite all survival issues
in the prayer for "Global Peace Now!" as a universal human resolve and for a
worldwide Global Peace Zone2000.

Global Peace Walk2000 http://www.globalpeacenow.org
[e-mail]

- -----Original Message-----
From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail] <[e-mail]>
Date: Tuesday, August 31, 1999 12:43 PM
Subject: (abolition-usa) Invitation to the October Meeting of the US
Campaign to AbolishNuclear Weapons


>***********************************************************************
>US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS -  NATIONAL MEETING
>***********************************************************************
>
>TO: All activists who are working for the abolition of nuclear weapons and
a
>positive peace and justice policy in the United States
>
>FROM: The Facilitator's Group and Working Group Convenors of the US
>CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS (partial list depleted by August
>vacations, including but not limited to):
>John Burroughs, Lawyer's Committee on Nuclear Policy, New York; Jackie
>Cabasso and Andy Lichterman, Western States Legal Foundation,  California;
>Alan Haber, Peace and Environment Coalition for the Abolition of Nuclear
>Weapons and Megiddo Peace Project,  Michigan; Odile Haber, Women's
>International League for Peace and Freedom, US Section; Jan Harwood,
>Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, US Section and
>Abolition 2000 Coalition, Santa Cruz, California; Sally Light, Tri-Valley
>Communities Against a Radioactive Environment, California; Pamela Meidell,
>The Atomic Mirror, California; Bob Musil and Bob Tiller, Physicians for
>Social Responsibility, Washington, DC; Carah Ong, Abolition 2000 Global
>Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons; Esther Pank, Peace Links, Washington,
>DC; Richard Salvador, Pacific Island Association of NGOs, Hawaii; Susan
>Schaer, Women's Action for New Directions, Washington, DC; Alice Slater,
>Global Resource Action Center for the Environment, New York
>
>WE CORDIALLY INVITE YOU to participate in a national meeting of the US
>CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS which will take place on October 9, 10
>and 11, 1999, in Ann Arbor, Michigan in connection with a nuclear abolition
>teach-in and community forum at the University of Michigan.  We also
>encourage you to come early and stay late for the teach-in and related
>community forum activities! (see below)
>
>We are continuing to develop plans for a coordinated US campaign in
>furtherance of the MISSION STATEMENT and DECLARATION adopted at the
>February 1999 meeting of some 60 organizations in Santa Barbara,
>California, (see enclosed), and in recognition of the linkages between
>democracy, power and nuclear weapons. The campaign will utilize the working
>groups identified in Santa Barbara and resources provided by the
>cooperating organizations. A brief outline of the working groups is
>included.  We encourage you to contact the convenors if you are interested
>in getting involved.
>
>We hope that you and your organization will join us in this unified effort
to
>eliminate nuclear weapons and build towards a more peaceful and just
future.
>Please return the enclosed registration form right away! If you have
questions
>or would like to offer proposals for the agenda or the campaign's structure
or
>activities, or if you'd like to submit a working paper, please respond to
Carah
>Ong by September 15, if possible.  A follow-up mailing is planned, which
will
>include a meeting agenda, proposals, and final teach-in schedule. (Carah's
>contact information can be found on the registration form.)
>
>**********************************************************************
>TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
>UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN COMMUNITY FORUM/TEACH-IN
>**********************************************************************
>
>FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1999
>12:45 p.m. - Panel: Nuclear Proliferation Peace Science Society
>             Panelists: Russell Leng, Middlebury College; Mike Simon,
>University
>                        of Iowa
>             Moderator: J. David Singer, University of Michigan.
>
>2:45 p.m.- Presentation: Chances of Accidental Nuclear Launch
>           Speaker: Bruce Blair, Brookings Institution
>
>3:30 p.m. - Presentation: Environmental and Public Health Hazards of
Nuclear
>                          Weapons Production
>            Speaker: Arjun Makhijani, Institute for Energy & Environmental
>                     Research
>
>4:15 p.m.-  Presentation: Serpent River First Nation People (tentative)
>
>7:15 p.m.-  Presentation: The Case Against Nuclear Weapons Abolition
>            Speaker: Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Hoover Institution at
Stanford
>                     University
>
>8:15 p.m.- Presentation: The Need for International Agreements to Abolish
>                         Nuclear Weapons.
>           Speaker: Merav Datan, International Physicians for the
>Prevention of
>                    Nuclear War
>
>9:00 p.m.- Panel Discussion
>           Panelists: Blair, Makhijani, Bueno de Mesquita, and Datan
>
>For information on the October 8 Community Forum:
>www.nuclearabolition.research.umich.edu
>
>************************************************************************
>US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS - NATIONAL MEETING
>************************************************************************
>
>SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9: 9 a.m. - meeting activities begin; meeting continues
all
>day.  Agenda will include introductions, updates and reports, including
>from the working groups, and reflections on the responses of the government
>to questions from the community. The goal of the meeting is to lay the
>foundation for and develop a national campaign for the abolition of nuclear
>weapons. A full agenda will follow in a separate mailing. An informal
>reception is scheduled in the evening at an historic building in downtown
>Ann Arbor
>
>SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10: meeting continues all day
>
>MONDAY, OCTOBER 11/INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S DAY: 2 p.m. - meeting ends
>(afternoon activity may follow)
>
>************************************************************************
>COMMUNITY FORUM WITH LYNN RIVERS
>************************************************************************
>
>MONDAY, OCTOBER 11:
>
> Forum on Nuclear Weapons - Monday evening October 11, 7-9 p.m. at the
>community college.  This not part of our program but a separate event
hosted by
>Representative Lynn Rivers. Questions about the Monday evening forum should
be
>directed to Lynn Rivers office, [phone]; [e-mail]
>
>The local Peace and Environmental Coalition for the Abolition of Nuclear
>Weapons is working to organize other events and activities prior to and
during
>the weekend of October 8-10.
>Beginning October 4, programs are projected to include the politics of
>abolition, the international abolition movement, nukes in space, stockpile
>stewardship, new weapons,  weapons and energy, ethics, the environment,
>affected peoples,  international law and terms of an abolition treaty, low
>level radiation, health questions, depleted uranium, Israel, the bomb and
>Mordechai Vanunu, India-Pakistan, Korea, Russia, NATO, new frontiers of
peace
>research,  the science of peace, and others.  Many schools and departments
of
>the University have been asked to host programs relevant to their areas of
>knowledge. A film and video program is also being planned. (Suggestions
>welcomed.)  Opportunities will be sought for the various working groups of
the
>US CAMPAIGN to 'report to the community' the state of thought and work on
>particular aspects of the nuclear question, such as direct action, civil
>society, and indigenous people's concerns.  For further information and
>inquiries about participation, please contact Alan Haber, [phone],
>[e-mail]. A fuller schedule will be circulated in our follow up
>letter.
>
>************************************************************************
>LODGING IN ANN ARBOR
>************************************************************************
>
>HOTEL: A limited number of rooms have been reserved at the Hampton Inn at
the
>rate of $65 + tax per night, either single or double occupancy, including
>continental breakfast. A shuttle will provide transportation to and from
the
>conference.
>
>HOME STAYS: The local coalition is arranging home stays. Those
>who would like to stay as a guest in the home of an Ann Arbor peace
activist
>should contact Shana Milkie by e-mail at [e-mail] or by phone at
>734-332-1106.  E-mail is preferred.
>
>A $25 suggested minimum donation is requested to help cover material and
>location expenses, although no one will be turned away for inability to
>contribute to conference costs.  Please include a check or money order with
>your registration form. Make your check payable to the Nuclear Age Peace
>Foundation or NAPF, and write "conference fee" on the memo line.
>
>
>**********************************************************************
>US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS OCTOBER 9,10 and 11, 1999
>            MEETING REGISTRATION FORM
>**********************************************************************
>
>
>__  Yes, I plan to attend the meeting in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  I have
enclosed
>a check or money order for $25 and my complete registration information is
>below.
>--- Yes, I plan to attend the meeting in Ann Arbor and am enclosing an
>additional contribution of  $__ to help expand diversity at the meeting and
>defray additional meeting expenses.
>
>---  No, I cannot attend the meeting, but enclosed is my contribution of
$___
>for a successful meeting and campaign launch.
>
>Name                  ______________________________
>Organization          ______________________________
>Address               ______________________________
>                      ______________________________
>Phone                 ______________________________
>Email                 ______________________________
>
>__ Please reserve a room for me at the group rate of $65.00 s/d at the
Hampton
>Inn.  I understand that there is limited availability at the group rate so
I
>have provided my credit card number to reserve my room.  I understand that
>there will be no charges to my credit card until I check
>into my room but there is a 72 hour cancellation policy, so I must send
Carah
>Ong my cancellation notice at least three days prior to my scheduled
arrival.
>
>__ I would like to share a room with:
>
>(name)____________________________________________.
>
>__ Please help me find a room mate, if possible.
>
>I plan to arrive on (date)________ and leave on (date)________.  Please
reserve
>my room for (number)_____ nights.
>
>Credit Card (circle one):  Visa  Mastercard  American Express  Discover
>Diner's Card
>
>Number______________________________________
>
>Expiration Date___________________
>
>Authorized Signature______________________________________
>
>__ I will contact Shana Milkie by E-mail [e-mail] or by phone at
>(734)332 -1106 and let her know I am interested in a home stay arranged by
the
>local coalition of Ann Arbor peace activists.
>
>__ I will make my own arrangements for accommodations.
>
>PLEASE RETURN THIS COMPLETED FORM, WITH YOUR VOLUNTARY
>CONTRIBUTION, TO:
>
>Carah Ong
>Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
>1187 Coast Village Rd., Suite 1
>Santa Barbara, California 93108
>Phone [phone]
>Fax [phone]
>E- mail: [e-mail]
>
>
>
>
>************************************************************************
>US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS
>************************************************************************
>
>MISSION STATEMENT
>
>To ensure a just, secure, healthy and sustainable world for our children,
>grandchildren, all future generations and all living things, we aim to
educate
>public opinion and mobilize persistent popular pressure to move the  United
>States government to take prompt and unequivocal actions to eliminate
nuclear
>weapons.
>
>These actions must include halting continued development of new and
modified
>nuclear weapons, de-alerting nuclear forces, addressing the environmental
>degradation and human suffering arising from testing, production,
deployment
>and use of nuclear weapons, and undertaking negotiations with other
countries
>on a treaty for their elimination.
>
>Our objective is nothing less than the universal, complete, verifiable, and
>enduring abolition of nuclear weapons.
>
>SANTA BARBARA DECLARATION
>
> From all corners of this land, representing diverse constituencies and
>traditions, including indigenous nations, we have come together in common
>cause, determined to end the threat to all life posed by nuclear weapons.
>
>We recognize that nuclear weapons and the nuclear fuel cycle have caused
>widespread suffering, death and environmental devastation.  We further
>recognize that resources used for nuclear arms need to be redirected to
meeting
>human and environmental needs.
>
>The United States bears special responsibility as the only country to use
>nuclear weapons in war.  It continues to spend vast sums on its massive
nuclear
>weapons complex, and its current policies would upgrade and maintain a huge
>nuclear arsenal far into the future.
>
>The conference has initiated a campaign tailored to address the unique
>obstacles in the United States to achieving nuclear weapons abolition.  Our
>campaign builds upon the foundations laid by Abolition 2000 and other
efforts
>to abolish nuclear arms.  We commit our hearts, our spirits, and our energy
to
>achieving a world free of nuclear weapons and invite all people of
>goodwill to join us.
>                                           --  Santa Barbara, February 14,
1999
>
>************************************************************************
>WHY THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN?
>************************************************************************
>
>STATEMENT BY ALAN HABER, US CAMPAIGN LIAISON TO THE MICHIGAN PEACE AND
>ENVIRONMENTAL COALITION FOR THE ABOLITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS
>
>Our purpose in initiating and hosting this community forum, teach-in and
>national action meeting is to assert the relevance and urgency  of public
>education and policy change on the nuclear question.
>
>We seek to bring the full intellectual, and knowledge resources of the
>university and the community generally to the consideration of the nuclear
>question, especially the urgency to embrace a policy change, directed to
the
>elimination of nuclear weapons, their removal from the world's arsenals,
>along with all other weapons of mass destruction, as well as adopting  more
>affirmative peacemaking policies.
>
>Leading work has gone on at the university in the study of peace and war,
>conflict resolution, and transformation, general systems theory, social
>organization, etc. an opportunity should be made available, in and of
itself to
>showcase this work, and  especially so in the  context of considering
changes
>in America's current strategic defense policies
>
>The weapons side of the nuclear question is our first focus. Ultimately all
>aspects of the nuclear question are related.  The University of Michigan is
>eminent in nuclear engineering; our previous president is a nuclear
engineer.
>The post war  idea of "atoms for peace" virtually began at the University
>of Michigan  and continues in the Phoenix laboratories on north campus.
>This is an appropriate,  knowledgeable environment in which to consider and
>debate the nuclear question.
>
>Nuclear waste is a byproduct of nuclear weapons, a well as of nuclear
energy.
>And how to deal with nuclear waste and clean it up is a matter of national
>debate and  made especially urgent and relevant by the continuing concern
about
>nuclear waste and leaky kegs by Lake Michigan, and  the distressed,
dangerous
>Fermi2 plant by Lake Erie,  and also  the citizen initiative for restoring
the
>Great Lakes nuclear free zone embracing the whole great lakes area in which
>Michigan is central.
>
>The first "teach-in" occurred at the University of Michigan, March 24,
1965,
>and spread the debate about foreign policy, then concerned with the Vietnam
>war,  across the country's campuses, and then to Washington, to debate the
>government.  The high government officials we sought to reach  subsequently
>acknowledged in their memoirs and tapes that the questions, the
>inter-university committee for debate on foreign policy, as it had come to
>be called, were asking were the right questions  and they, the government,
>should have faced them more honestly, and directly then.
>
>We hope this occasion also will propel debate across the country, and a
>continuing interrogation of the government, on why it holds to a dangerous
>destabilizing deterrence policy of nuclear and space age high tech weapons
in
>violation of treaty obligations , common sense and common humanity. We
>believe the end of the cold war gives us a gift of time to get rid of these
>weapons, before they somehow or other, bring catastrophe. Holocaust still
>haunts the horizon.
>
>The overwhelming leadership of the United States gives us opportunity here
to
>turn the tide.  America now is the main block to adopting a comprehensive
>convention for the elimination of nuclear weapons.  We call on the United
>States government to take a leadership in the world campaign for the
abolition
>of nuclear weapons.
>
>************************************************************************
>US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS WORKING GROUPS
>************************************************************************
>
>STAR WARS/ABM WORKING GROUP: This group was formed initially to respond
quickly
>to the legislation pending at the time of the Santa Barbara meeting
authorizing
>further research and limited  deployment of an anti-ballistic missile
>system by the United States.  Ballistic missile defense continues to be a
>key issue of concern for advocates of nuclear weapons abolition, due to
>continuing development of the system, its potential to revive a
>multilateral nuclear arms race,  and the controversy over its possible
>extension in the Western Pacific.
>
>*Convenor: Janet Michelle Cuevas (Promoting Enduring Peace, New York)
>   [e-mail]
>
>=====================================================================
>
>CIVIL SOCIETY CAMPAIGN TO ENROLL ORGANIZATIONS IN A BRIEF ABOLITION
STATEMENT
>AND CITY DIALOGUES ON NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT WITH PROMINENT MOVERS AND SHAKERS
>WORKING GROUP: This working group covers several related efforts aimed at
>mobilizing opinion via existing groups in civil society and campaigns aimed
at
>elected officials in municipalities.  It includes various efforts to get
mayors
>and city and town governing bodies to endorse abolition statements, as well
as
>similar efforts aimed at non-governmental civic groups.  Campaigns
represented
>within this working group include A campaign aimed at creating discussion
>forums among "opinion leaders" in major cities on nuclear weapons and their
>abolition; a campaign aimed at convincing a wide range of civic groups to
>endorse an abolition statement; and the campaign to obtain endorsement of
the
>Abolition 2000 statement by municipalities.
>
>*Convenors: Pamela Meidell (The Atomic Mirror) [e-mail];
[phone];
>Ed Aguilar (Lawyers Alliance for World Security, Philadelphia)[phone]
>
>=====================================================================
>
>CONGRESSIONAL FOCUS (Originally Congress and Administration, now split in
>two):        This working group will focus on initiatives relevant to
nuclear
>weapons abolition in the US Congress.  Examples include the pending Markey
>and Woolsey resolutions, aimed respectively at scaling back US nuclear
>weapons research and production programs and at encouraging the
Administration
>to engage in meaningful negotiations to achieve abolition. Its work
encompasses
>grassroots efforts to mobilize widespread attention to particular measures
and
>issues pending in Congress.
>*Convenors: to be determined.
>
>=====================================================================
>
>ADMINISTRATION FOCUS:  This group will work to focus attention on the
nuclear
>weapons policies and activities of the Executive branch, trying in
particular
>to create forums for discussion and criticism of nuclear weapons policies.
Its
>current initiative is a teach-in at the University of Michigan on nuclear
>weapons issues, with the organizers hoping to get administration officials
to
>participate and to publicly debate critics of existing nuclear weapons
>policies.  If the teach-in model works the hope is to extend it to other
>campuses.
>
>*Convenor: Alan Haber (Michigan Coalition of Peace and Environmental
>Organizations)  [e-mail]; [phone]
>
>====================================================================
>
>YOUTH/CAMPUSES: This working group aims to raise the level of awareness
among
>young
>people about nuclear weapons and efforts to abolish them.  It will work on
the
>teach-ins discussed in the Administration focus working group above.  It
will
>also attempt to gather and broaden the distribution of existing nuclear
weapons
>abolition materials aimed at a youth and campus audience.
>
>*Convenor: Odile Haber  (Michigan Coalition of Peace and Environmental
>Organizations) [e-mail]; [phone]
>
>=====================================================================
>
>DIRECT ACTION:  Nonviolent direct action long has been a central part of
the
>movement
>to abolish nuclear weapons.  Despite a lack of media coverage, direct
action
>continues at weapons and government  facilities around the country, from
the
>Nevada Test Site, to the weapons laboratories in Livermore, California and
Los
>Alamos, New Mexico, to Washington D.C. and the  newly opened Waste
Isolation
>Pilot Plant, also in New Mexico.   This working group will be a place for
>people involved in particular direct action campaigns to raise national
>awareness of their activities and  to exchange ideas and information.  It
also
>will try to provide resources which will be broadly useful, for example
>nonviolence training materials and lists of nonviolence trainers.
>
>*Convenor: Matteo Ferreira (Shundahai Network) [e-mail];
>[phone]
>
>====================================================================
>
>INDIGENOUS PEOPLE ORGANIZING AND CONCERNS: The cycle of nuclear materials
>mining and nuclear weapons testing and production always has had a
>disproportionate impact on indigenous people world-wide.  Nuclear weapons
>testing has occurred for the most part on the
>lands of indigenous peoples, without regard for their sovereign rights, and
>with devastating effects on people and their lands.  Indigenous people have
>taken the lead in many parts of the globe both in making the connections
>between nuclear weapons and the effects of the entire cycle of nuclear
>materials, nuclear power, and nuclear weapons production, and in advocating
for
>nuclear weapons abolition.  This working group will provide a focus for
making
>these voices heard both inside and outside the movement.
>
>*Convenors: Michele Xenos (Shundahai Network), [e-mail];
>[phone]; Richard Salvador (Pacific Islands Association of NGOs)
>[e-mail]; [phone]
>
>====================================================================
>
>NATO: This working group initially focused on the NATO 50th anniversary
meeting
>in Washington, D.C. in April, and the likelihood that NATO nuclear weapons
>policies would be debated there. There has been interest in continuing this
as
>a working group, since the controversy over NATO nuclear weapons policies,
>including a refusal to renounce first use, a potential
counter-proliferation
>role for nuclear weapons, and the expansion of NATO's
>military scope to include broad out-of-area combat roles is likely to
continue
>for a long time.
>
>*Convenors: to be determined
>
>=====================================================================
>
>INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS AND ISSUES: This working group aims at
coordinating
>the abolition campaign in the United States with efforts world-wide,
including
>Abolition 2000 and other efforts in particular nations and regions to
eliminate
>nuclear weapons.  With the emergence of a new nuclear weapons and ballistic
>missile race in South Asia, growing controversy over possible theater and
>domestic ballistic missile deployments, and the stagnation of arms control
>negotiations, this working group will help the abolition campaign in the US
>remain aware of the effects US nuclear weapons and military policies have
on
>efforts to achieve abolition in other nuclear weapons states and globally.
>
>*Convenors: Alice Slater (Global Resource Action Center for the
Environment)
>[e-mail]; [phone]; Richard Salvador (Pacific Islands
>Association of NGOs) [e-mail]; [phone]or 3691; David
Krieger
>(Nuclear Age Peace Foundation) [e-mail]; [phone]
>
>====================================================================
>
>AFFECTED COMMUNITIES:  Communities across the country have been affected by
>half a century nuclear weapons research, testing, and production. They
range
>from workers at
>DOE facilities to people who live downwind from those facilities to armed
>services veterans exposed to nuclear tests.  Many of these groups already
have
>organized to put pressure on the Federal government to clean up the
>environmental damage, to perform meaningful health and environmental
studies,
>and to provide compensation.  These groups share many of our concerns, and
>often already are committed to abolition of nuclear weapons.  This working
>group will focus attention on the destructive legacy of nuclear weapons,
and
>will work to integrate these communities and their concerns into the
broader
>campaign.
>
>*Convenor: Joseph Gerson (American Friends Service Committee)
[e-mail];
>
>[phone]
>
>=====================================================================
>
>RESEARCH FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF THE NUCLEAR WEAPONS COMPLEX: This group will
>focus on the activities of the nuclear weapons and production complex, and
will
>explore the impacts of continuing nuclear weapons research on the global
test
>ban and nonproliferation regime and on efforts to achieve abolition.   It
will
>also examine the overlap between nuclear weapons research technologies and
>other emerging arms races which affect chances for
>abolition, including anti-ballistic missile technologies, space weaponry,
and
>possible next-generation nuclear weapons.  The group will be both a means
to
>coordinate research efforts and to distribute relevant information within
the
>campaign and to a wider public.
>
>*Convenors: Jackie Cabasso  (Western States Legal Foundation),
>[e-mail],
>[phone]; Sally Light (Tri-Valley CAREs), [e-mail],
>[phone]
>
>=====================================================================
>
>MEDIA/CAMPAIGN LAUNCH:  This working group will be a place to develop and
share
>media strategies.  An initial  focus will be efforts to coordinate a
campaign
>launch that is cohesive and nationally visible.
>
>*Convenor: Steve Kent (Kent Communications) [e-mail];
>[phone]
>
>====================================================================
>
>BOTTOM UP ORGANIZING (local movement building and making the connection to
>other issues):  Through discussing and organizing around the way nuclear
>weapons are connected to other social ills and injustices, from local
>ecological
>devastation, distorted government spending priorities,  and a culture of
>violence which stretches from the state to the street to global inequality,
we
>can deepen our own understanding of what must be done to achieve abolition
of
>nuclear weapons,  as well as the understanding of those we hope to
persuade.
>We then open up the possibility that we will become part of a larger
movement
>which can make the changes which could make abolition possible.   This
working
>group will explore ways to make connections on the local level with other
>organizing efforts which share some of our concerns, and by doing so to
help
>create the social movement needed to achieve the abolition of nuclear
weapons.
>
>
>*Convenor: Andrew Lichterman (Western States Legal Foundation),
>[e-mail]; [phone]
>
>====================================================================
>
>DEMOCRACY, POWER AND NUCLEAR WEAPONRY DRAFTING COMMITTEE: This working
group
>has taken responsibility for following through on the commitment made in
Santa
>Barbara to develop a carefully thought out statement on the relationships
>between democracy, power and nuclear weapons. A draft statement is
currently
>being prepared, to be circulated for comment in the near future.
>
>*Temporary convenor: Carah Ong (Nuclear Age Peace Foundation),
>[e-mail];  [phone]
>
>
>Carah Lynn Ong
>Coordinator, Abolition 2000
>Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
>1187 Coast Village Road PMB 121, Suite 1
>Santa Barbara CA 93108
>
>Phone [phone]  FAX[phone]
>Email: [e-mail]
>Website http://www.abolition2000.org
>
>Join the Abolition-USA or Abolition-Global Caucus list serve to regularly
>receive updates about the Abolition movement.  Both caucus' also provide a
>forum for conversation on nuclear-related issues as well as they are used
>to post important articles and information pertaining to nuclear abolition.
>
>
>To subscribe to the Abolition-USA listerve, send a message (with no
>subject) to:
>[e-mail]
>In the body of the message, write:
>"subscribe abolition-usa" (do not include quotation marks)
>
>To post a message to the Abolition-USA list, mail your message to:
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>
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>
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>
>
>
>-
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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 15:55:04 +1000
From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) TAKE N-WEAPONS OFF ALERT FOR Y2K: FAX YELTSIN, CLINTON NOW

APPEAL: THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE IN THE WORLD BETWEEN NOW AND DECEMBER31

=46AX YELTSIN, CLINTON TO TAKE N-WEAPONS OFF ALERT OVER Y2K NOW.

SIGN THE NUKE WEAPONS DE-ALERTING LETTER TO YELTSIN/CLINTON
(TEXT at http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html to sign
email [e-mail])

PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, [phone],
PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, [phone],

Dear All,

You will be getting many messages of this kind because this is possibly the
most important single issue that can ever come your way between now and the
next year.

=46ollowing this appeal there are two sample letters, one from FOE Australia
and one from Bob Tiller of PSR USA.

I urge you to act on them. The fax campaign starts Sept 1, TODAY!

I am writing to urge you to fax Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton from today
onwards to take strategic nuclear weapons off alert before December, and to
ask that the de- alerting of strategic nuclear weapons be discussed at the
coming September 21 meeting of the G8.

Also if you are an organisation or a 'prominent' person, please sign the
big sign - on letter to Yeltsin and Clinton. It's already been faxed a few
times, and will be faxed again and again as it grows before December. The
text is on the website at
http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html

To sign email THIS ADRESS. ([e-mail])

This is of absolutely vital importance.   Getting 5000 nuclear missiles off
alert status before the Y2k bug plays havoc with their command and control
systems is just about the most important thing anyone can possibly do.

Arguably there is simply no other issue this important between now and
December/January.
It might  be literally a matter of survival.

Can you get this appeal and the two sample letters out to your networks as
fast as you can and ask them to fax it immediately?

If people wish to customise from the two letters that is best.

It's important I think, to get it out as fast as possible.

Please use the fax numbers I have provided. The numbers here work. I've
just checked them. If they (especially Yeltsins one) seem not to work be
patient. I tries it just now, got busy then weird type telecommunication
noises, then a fax tone. Be patient. Keep trying. if they take these
numbers out of operation I will supply others but not until I am sure.)

Try and get everyone you know to do it.

If you are a large organisation please try and get all your members to do it=
=2E

Many thanks and may the fax gremlins smile on you!

John Hallam.


DRAFT MODEL LETTER TO YELTSIN AND CLINTON FOR GLOBAL FAX CAMPAIGN STARTING
SEPTEMBER 1

PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN, [phone],

PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, [phone],

Dear Presidents Yeltsin, and  Clinton,
I am writing to you to convey my extreme concern over the possibility that
Y2K -related problems in the computerised command, control, and monitoring
systems of nuclear forces and weapon systems, may give rise to an
unacceptable risk of accidental nuclear war, as a result of incorrect data
and miscalculation.  I therefore urge you to solve the problem by taking
your nuclear forces off alert, or  by standing them down.

I ask that standing down nuclear forces in view of the problems  posed by
the 'Millennium Bug', be a matter for urgent priority discussions at the G8
Summit in Berlin on Sept 21.  As well asY2K considerations, taking nuclear
weapons off alert will increase strategic stability and confidence, and
eliminate  the possibility of accidental nuclear war.

I would remind you that your two countries have some 5000 strategic nuclear
weapons that are able to be fired within a time span of 15-30 minutes.

This must never happen. Should it do so, not only would your two countries
cease to exist, but it is entirely possible that human life  and maybe all
life life on the planet, could be terminated.

Any risk of this happening at any time, Y2K or otherwise, no matter how
small, is unacceptable.

However, the Y2K problem adds another layer of uncertainty to the risk that
already exists.

Taking nuclear forces off alert was strongly recommended by the Canberra
Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons in 1996, and a number of
resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly have urged that it be
done.

Taking nuclear weapons off alert and placing them in a state in which hours
to days rather than minutes or seconds would be required to make them
launch ready, would effectively eliminate the risk of accidental nuclear
war due to the Y2K computer problem.  It would also make impossible the
many non-Y2K related problems that have many times brought us to within
minutes of a possible nuclear exchange.

De-Alerting will cost you nothing, and can be done by a simple executive
order to stand down nuclear forces.

The UK has already altered its 'notice to fire' from minutes to days.

We/I urge you to do likewise.

The stakes involved far outweigh any considerations of national pride,
national interest, or even national security. Indeed, the immediate stakes
are so high, and the potential for global catastrophe so clear that
mutually verified de- alerting must now take precedence over all other
considerations.

Signed...
etc

>-------------------------------------------
>Dear Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton:
>
>The Cold War ended years ago, but the nuclear danger endures, menacing
>us all.  Thousands of nuclear weapons remain on high-alert in the United
>States and Russia.  Although both countries have announced their
>"de-targeting" of the other, that step is virtually meaningless when
>both countries keep their weapons on alert and maintain a
>launch-on-warning posture.
>
>Keeping nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert does not add to the
>security of either nation; indeed it makes all of us less secure.  You
>are well aware of the various occasions when Russia and the U.S. came
>close to launching nuclear weapons because of misunderstanding or poor
>data.  Removing the weapons from hair-trigger alert would eliminate the
>risk of hasty reaction.
>
>Therefore I urge you to lessen the nuclear danger by removing all
>nuclear weapons from high-alert.  This can be accomplished in a matter
>of weeks without treaty negotiation or ratification.
>
>This approach has worked before.  In 1991 President George Bush took the
>bold step of removing hundreds of U.S. nuclear weapons from high-alert
>status, and in response Mikhail Gorbachev did the same with hundreds of
>Soviet weapons.  Now we need similar courageous leadership to finish the
>process that they started.
>
>De-alerting takes on added urgency this year.  When January 1, 2000
>arrives, no one will know if all of the Y2K computer problems have been
>fixed.  Why court disaster by having nuclear warheads on hair-trigger
>alert when we do not know how the computers in the nuclear system will
>function?
>
>Last year the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a
>resolution which calls on the nuclear weapons states to de-alert their
>weapons.  It is wise counsel.  For the sake of our children and
>grandchildren, please de-alert all nuclear weapons now.
>
>Sincerely,

John Hallam
=46riends of the Earth Sydney,
17 Lord street, Newtown, NSW, Australia,
=46ax(61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903

[e-mail]    http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd
http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd/nuclear/bbletter.html






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