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abolition-usa-digest    Thursday, September 9 1999    Volume 01 : Number 179




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

Date: Thu, 09 Sep 1999 07:53:34 -0400
From: Peace through Reason <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Today! 1 pm 9/9/99 Las Vegas NV, Nuclear Projects Commission Mtg.

Company Press Release

State of Nevada Commission on Nuclear Projects Meeting

CARSON CITY, Nev.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept.
8, 1999--Governor Kenny Guinn has been invited to
attend the Thursday, September 9, 1999, meeting of
the State of Nevada Commission on Nuclear
Projects. The Commission will meet at 1:00 p.m. at the Clark County
Commission Chambers in Las Vegas.

Additionally, Wendy R. Dixon, Assistant Manager, U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) Office of Environment, Safety & Health will present an
update of DOE's draft Environmental Impact Statement.

Staff from the State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects will furnish
updates of the Agency's oversight program. Also, Local Government and
Tribal Leaders may be present to provide program updates.

The public is invited to attend and welcome to comment.

Contact:

     State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects
     Robert R. Loux, 800/366-0990 (toll free in Nevada) or
                     775/687-3744

September 8, 11:03 am Eastern Time

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/990908/nv_commssn_1.html


____________________________________________________________

* Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org -Convert the War Machines! *
____________________________________________________________

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

Date: Thu, 09 Sep 1999 13:25:51 -0400
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: WAND Capitol Hill Action Alert

Dear Friends,
Below is an urgent request for you to make some phone calls demanding that the
US take immediate action against the terrible slaughter in East Timor.  Please
take a few minutes to call Congress, Cohen, the White House and tell them to
stop playing real politique with human lives!!  Thanks.  Alice Slater

>Date: Thu, 09 Sep 1999 11:03:26 -0400
>Subject: WAND Capitol Hill Action Alert
>From: [e-mail] ([e-mail])
>
>Welcome to the WAND Capitol Hill e-mail action for the week beginning
>September 13, 1999.
>
>East Timor Action Network (ETAN)
>URGENT ACTION ALERT
>
>U.S. Government Inaction Results in More Death
>as Wave After Wave of Violence Sweeps East Timor
>
>Call Today to Demand an End to the Killing.
>
>Your action can save lives!
>
>Less than 24 hours after the UN announced that more than
>78% of registered voters in East Timor voted to reject
>Indonesia's autonomy package, Indonesian military and
>paramilitary forces sharply escalated their campaign of terror.
>
>All observers from the International Federation for East Timor
>Observer Project (IFET-OP) have been forced to evacuate
>East Timor due to rampant violence by both paramilitary
>forces and TNI (Indonesian military forces), including the
>Kopassus Special Forces, known for its atrocious human rights
>abuses.
>
>Dili is burning; the streets are deserted and refugees are
>amassing in churches and other relief centers.
>
>Many children are among the dead.  Paramilitary forces roam
>the streets of Dili unimpeded, while joint militia/army roadblocks
>block entrance to and exit from the capitol. The paramilitaries
>and TNI are systematically targeting buildings which house
>refugees.
>
>With the evacuation of UN staff and media from outlying towns,
>foreign observers are unable to confirm the extent of violence
>outside Dili, but it is believed to be severe.
>
>Hundreds of houses have been burned and dozens killed in
>Maliana alone.
>
>Reports have come in of mutilated bodies littering the road to
>West Timor. Thousands more East Timorese are now
>refugees, many of them forced onto trucks headed for
>unknown destinations.
>
>TNI must withdraw immediately from East Timor.
>
>The U.S. must offer full support for increased UN personnel
>and an expanded UN mission mandate. The UN must be
>granted control of administration and security in East Timor.
>
>The U.S. must cut off all military and financial assistance
>immediately!
>
>** CALL Defense Secretary William Cohen at 703-692-7100
>(fax: [phone]). Demand that the United States cut off all
>remaining military aid to Indonesia until it removes its troops
>from East Timor and disbands the paramilitary groups roaming
>the streets.
>
>** CALL World Bank President James Wolfensohn at
>202-458-2907 (fax: [phone]).  Urge him to suspend
>financial assistance to Indonesia unless it complies immediately
>with UN demands to end the violence in East Timor.  Also call
>the Executive Director for the United States to the World
>Bank, Ms. Jan Piercy at 202-458-0110 (fax: [phone]).
>Demand that the U.S. support the suspension of assistance to
>Indonesia.
>
>** CALL your senators and representative.  Urge them to call
>Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, President Clinton, and
>Secretary of Defense William Cohen directly.  The
>Congressional switchboard number is 202-224-3121
>or check http://www.congress.gov for contact information
>on individual offices.
>
>** CALL Assistant Secretary of State Stanley Roth at
>202-647-9596.  Don't let the staff transfer you to the
>Indonesia desk. You want this message to reach Roth himself.
> The Indonesia desk officers are already doing what they can.
>
>For more information, contact Karen at the New York ETAN
>office at 914-428-7299 or [e-mail], or Brad Simpson
>at IFET at 773-255-7949.
>
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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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 9 Sep 1999 10:58:58 -0700 (PDT)
From: [e-mail] (marylia)
Subject: (abolition-usa) sign-on letter/DOE weapons "megastrategy"

 * IMPORTANT SIGN ON LETTER *
Dear peace and enviro allies: Please take a minute to look at this sign on
letter, and get your organization to sign on PLEASE. We are looking for
sign ons from all public interest groups -- large and small -- across the
country and around the globe. We need your name, your title (or an
indication you are empowered to sign on your group's behalf) and your
group's complete address (including state and/or country). The purpose of
this letter is to oppose the DOE's "megastrategy," which is a plan to
EXPAND U.S. nuclear weapons activities at the labs and the test site,
including by building new facilities, enlarging several weapons programs
and moving some of them around to new sites. The three original sponsors of
this letter are Tri-Valley CAREs of Livermore, CA USA, Western States Legal
Foundation of Oakland, CA USA and Physicians for Social Responsibility -
Greater San Francisco Bay Area  Chapter in Berkeley, CA. We WELCOME your
sign-on. We are hoping to get many, many groups!!!! Yours can help!!!!
Reply to my address on this message, or to Tri-Valley CAREs' nuclear
program analyst Sally Light at <[e-mail]>  Here is the
letter...

                                                September 21, 1999

US Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20585

Attn: Gilbert Weigand, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Weapons Research &
Development

Re: Department of Energy's Plans for Major Changes in Nuclear Weapons Complex


Dear Mr. Weigand,

We are writing on behalf of Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a
Radioactive Environment), Western States Legal Foundation and Physicians
for Social Responsibility - Greater San Francisco Bay Area Chapter.  All
three organizations have a long-time interest in public health and safety
issues concerning Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and other
facilities within the nuclear weapons complex.

Tri-Valley CAREs is a 16-year-old environmental group that "watchdogs"
LLNL.  Among other things, it holds two US Environmental Protection Agency
Technical Assistance Grants to monitor environmental cleanup at LLNL.
Western States Legal Foundation has been deeply involved in monitoring
nuclear weapons programs and environmental activities at LLNL since 1982.
The San Francisco Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility has kept
watch over LLNL worker and community issues for a number of years.

Further, this letter represents the interests and concerns of the public
interest organizations who have joined us in sending this letter, listed on
signatory pages that follow.

We have recently obtained information concerning the Department of Energy's
(DOE) plans to reconfigure, expand, enhance and/or move certain aspects of
the nuclear weapons program carried out by the various facilities within
the nuclear weapons complex.  This information is from briefing papers,
obtained from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which we
understand you used to brief high-level Clinton administration officials on
the DOE plan.

Changes proposed by DOE include the following:

1.  DOE will "move promptly" the W80 nuclear warhead workload from Los
Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory.  This would involve more plutonium pit work at LLNL.  The
briefing papers reveal what appear to be changes in the warhead that go
far, far beyond any maintenance procedures that may be necessary to
preserve the existing weapon's "safety" or "reliability" while it remains
in the arsenal.

2.  DOE will also "move promptly" the plutonium pit surveillance mission
and workload from LANL to LLNL.   DOE expressly says that one goal is to
give Livermore Lab more plutonium workload, which means that pits from
weapons, in addition to those of the W80 program discussed in #1 above,
will come to Livermore.  Further, the plan suggests that some or all of the
surveillance work for each of the US weapon types will come to Livermore
Lab, which means nuclear weapons components would be taken apart and
"destructively tested" at Livermore.

Concerning both # 1 and #2 above, Livermore Lab already has about 880
pounds of plutonium, and also has a history of accidents, spills, leaks and
plutonium safety violations.  In fact, its plutonium facility was recently
shut down on the recommendation of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety
Board, and is only now "restarting."  We are worried that the DOE's
proposed changes will result in increased risks to worker and public health
and safety.

3.  LANL's Appaloosa program would be expanded.  Appaloosa is the code-name
for a  hydrodynamic test program wherein high explosives and surrogate bomb
cores, called pits, (including with plutonium 242) are detonated in
above-ground tanks.

4.  DOE will consolidate its hydrodynamic program at LANL, although the
Clinton administration has been informed that LLNL will still keep its
hydrodynamic program, including the new "Contained Firing Facility" now
under construction at Livermore.

5.  A huge proton accelerator is to be constructed at LANL.

6.  DOE will conduct additional underground subcritical nuclear tests for
the W80 and W88 programs.  The briefing papers also indicate that
additional subcritical tests will involve "weapon relevant shapes."

7.  DOE will move the ATLAS and Pegasus programs from LANL to Nevada.
(ATLAS is a new fusion facility under construction at LANL, and Pegasus an
older machine.)  These two programs would be used to develop the technology
allowing for "explosively driven pulse power for future SNM [special
nuclear material - i.e., plutonium] experiments in U1A."  U1A is the
underground complex of tunnels and rooms where subcritical nuclear
experiments are now detonated at the Nevada Test Site.

8.  DOE will build a new "infrastructure for weapons microsystems
components ... MESA" at Sandia Lab in New Mexico, supporting "future AF&F
(arming, firing and fusing) needs."  This aspect of the plan is reported to
cost $300 million.

Although these are major moves and expansions of nuclear weapons
activities, the DOE has failed to discuss technical or policy
justifications for them.  DOE also fails to discuss overall proliferation
impacts, costs or environmental impacts.   Nor does DOE indicate any
intended public disclosure or process for public review and comment.

This plan has gone forward in secret, and the public has been
inappropriately excluded from any knowledge or decision-making role.
Earlier this year, DOE and Livermore Lab held a public meeting at which
officials testified that no major changes were contemplated to Livermore
Lab's operations over the next 5 years.  Based on this, DOE and Livermore
Lab decided on March 10, 1999 not to conduct a new site-wide environmental
review.  In view the above proposed changes, it is difficult for us not to
think that DOE and LLNL may have acted in bad faith at that public meeting.

We are outraged by these decisions and demand that a new Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS) for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory with
full public hearings and disclosure be part of the process to decide
whether any funding should be requested/expended.  Certainly, this EIS must
be done before any of these changes occur, and before anything is moved.
There should be no repeat of the situation at Paducah and Portsmouth, where
both workers and the public were misled for years, and revelations about
plutonium contamination are just now becoming public.

Further, the DOE has completed a Stockpile Stewardship & Management
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (SSM PEIS) which is silent on
this plan.  In fact, some of the SSM PEIS' siting elements actually ran
contrary to the latest DOE scheme described above.  OMB is on record
stating that DOE must undertake a revision of the SSM PEIS before moving
forward.  DOE, however, has already requested initial monies from Congress
to begin, according to a Senate report.  It appears to us that a
Supplemental EIS, with public hearings held across the country, is
necessary as well.

We hope to have your response in the very near future.  If you should have
any questions, please do not hesitate in contacting us.

Sincerely,

Marylia Kelley
Executive Director,
Tri-Valley CAREs


Robert Gould, M.D.
President,
Physicians for Social Responsibility, Greater San Francisco Bay Area


Jacqueline Cabasso
Executive Director,
Western States Legal Foundation



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!

[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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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 09 Sep 1999 15:26:41 -0400
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) sign-on letter/DOE weapons "megastrategy"

Hi Marylia,
Please sign me on.  Hope it helps!!  Alice
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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 with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 09 Sep 1999 18:34:38 -0400
From: Bob Tiller <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Job announcement

We have a job opening at the national PSR office.   Please circulate and
repost the following job announcement as widely as you can.

Thank you.  Shalom,
Bob Tiller

*******************************************
JOB ANNOUNCEMENT

Physicians for Social Responsibility, a national membership organization

committed to the abolition of nuclear weapons, is seeking an Associate
Director of Security Programs, who will have responsibilities in two
broad areas:

Research and Policy:
     *Provide research and expertise on a broad range of nuclear weapons

issues, including: plutonium disposition, MOX fuel, cleanup of  DOE's
nuclear weapons complex, nuclear waste disposition, nuclear
weapons-related public health matters, the Stockpile Stewardship
program, tritium production, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty,
and the ABM treaty.
     *Monitor and report on legislative matters and executive branch
developments in issue areas.
     *Prepare fact sheets, articles and other materials for
decision-makers and for activists.
     *Assist in developing action strategies and advocacy initiatives.
     *Conduct special projects.

Organizing and Education:
     *Enlarge and strengthen PSR's activist network on nuclear issues.
     *Produce educational materials for activists and chapters,
including voter education materials and a bimonthly newsletter.
     *Maintain regular communication with PSR chapters, activists and
physician experts.
     *Mobilize activists for action.
     *Assist in coordinating national advocacy campaigns.
     *Maintain and update the nuclear portion of PSR's website.
     *Assist in drafting media statements.
     *Assist in planning and organizing conferences, training programs
and other education events.

Qualifications:
     -Commitment to abolition of nuclear weapons
     -Knowledge of nuclear weapons issues
     -Experience in working with grassroots activists
     -Strong writing and speaking skills
     -Ability to handle multiple tasks and to meet deadlines
     -Ability to work both independently and cooperatively
     -Minimum Bachelor's degree, Master's degree preferred
     -Minimum of three years of relevant experience

To apply, send resume to Robert Tiller, Physicians for Social
Responsibility, 1101 14th St. N.W., Washington D.C. 20005.  E-mail
<[e-mail]>
Deadline is October 1, 1999.



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

Date: Thu, 9 Sep 1999 19:37:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) STAR WARS PROTEST AT VANDENBERG NEWS RELEASE

PROTEST PLANNED AT VANDENBERG AGAINST STAR WARS TEST



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                      =
  =20
                                        SEPTEMBER 7, 1999


    CONTACT:   Bruce Gagnon [phone]  (Global Network)
               Andrew Page [phone]  (Northern Ca. Peace Action)
               Danielle Babineau [phone]  (Southern Ca. Peace=20
               Action)


The Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space has announced a=
=20
demonstration at Vandenberg AFB, California on Saturday, September 25 to=20
oppose the first-ever test of the National Missile Defense (NMD) system.  T=
he=20
non-violent demonstration will begin at 1:00 PM and be held at the Vandenbe=
rg=20
main gate (Route 1).

The missile test is scheduled to be launched from Vandenberg on September 2=
9=20
and is supposed to be impacted by a second missile launched from a Kwajalei=
n=20
island in the Pacific Ocean.  Data during the test will be gathered by=20
orbiting Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) and fed to the Battle Manageme=
nt=20
Center, which will send steering commands via satellite.

Congress has voted to allow the NMD system to move forward as "soon as=20
technically feasible".  The Clinton administration is now beginning to=20
consider circumventing the 1972
ABM Treaty that outlaws the development of weapons systems like the NMD. =
=20
Clinton is scheduled to make a final deployment decision on the NMD system =
in=20
June, 2000.  Over $120 billion has been spent to date on Star Wars planning=
=20
by the Pentagon.

Coming from Florida for the protest will be Global Network Coordinator Bruc=
e=20
Gagnon who said, "We are holding this important action at Vandenberg becaus=
e=20
Star Wars must be stopped.  People all over the planet are now organizing=
=20
against this launch.  We cannot allow the U.S. to unilaterally decide to mo=
ve=20
the arms race into space.  U.S. Space Command documents say they intend to=
=20
=91control and dominate space=92.  We intend to organize to keep space for =
peace."

Among the California groups endorsing and participating in the September 25=
=20
protest are:  California Peace Action; Southern California Federation of=20
Scientists; Grandmothers for Peace International; American Friends=20
Service Committee (Pacific S.W. Office); Ventura County Green Party; and
Abolition 2000.

Check the Global Network website at:  http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk

                   #                                #                      =
  =20
  #                                   #

                    =20





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

Date: Thu,  9 Sep 1999 17:34:42 -0700 (PDT)
From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS-NATIONAL MEETING

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.)









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)


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












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 "Abolition USA", and
write "conference donation" 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
PMB 121, 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: 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

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