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abolition-usa-digest    Wednesday, October 27 1999    Volume 01 : Number 206




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

Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 14:53:29 -0400
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: LA Times column on Test Ban Treaty

- ---------------------------------------------------
>
>Monday, October 25, 1999
>
>DIGITAL NATION
>
>Supercomputers Central to Nuke Test Ban's Failure
>
>By Gary Chapman
>
>Copyright 1999, The Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved.
>
>If the 20th century is remembered for anything, it may be for the
>invention of two technologies: computers and nuclear weapons.
>
>In the minds of most people, these technologies are distinctly
>different -- one ubiquitous and "personal," the other remote and
>frightening. But computers and nuclear weapons have had a symbiotic
>relationship for more than 50 years, beginning with the world's first
>digital computer, ENIAC, which was used to perform calculations
>necessary for development of the first hydrogen bomb.
>
>The relationship between computing and nuclear weapons has been
>brought to the forefront in the last few weeks because of the debate
>over ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which the
>U.S. Senate rejected Oct. 13. That was a catastrophe for nuclear arms
>control and a vote condemned all over the world.
>
>The argument of the Clinton administration, which supported
>ratification, was that advanced supercomputers will allow "virtual
>testing" of nuclear warheads through computer simulations, replacing
>the need to conduct explosive underground nuclear tests. The U.S.
>Department of Energy is currently implementing the largest computer
>research and development program in the world, the Accelerated
>Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI), to develop supercomputers and
>software programs that can conduct such virtual testing.
>
>This argument was a "huge mistake," said Dr. Chris Payne, a senior
>researcher at the National Resources Defense Council in Washington
>and a former nuclear weapons expert for the Senate. Payne called the
>administration's strategy for defending the treaty "a shot in the
>foot, a self-inflicted wound."
>
>"The ASCI program is not necessary for protecting the reliability and
>safety of the U.S. nuclear arsenal," said Payne, who wrote an article
>on virtual testing of nuclear weapons for the September issue of
>Scientific American. Payne believes we already have engineering
>techniques that can verify the reliability of current nuclear weapons
>without great advances in computer simulation.
>
>Payne said President Clinton was convinced by advisors from the
>Department of Energy that advanced computer simulations must replace
>underground explosive testing to guarantee the reliability and safety
>of U.S. nuclear weapons.
>
>The problem is that the Department of Energy's radically ambitious
>ASCI program could take 10 to 15 years to complete. When DOE
>officials told senators about this timetable during the treaty
>ratification hearings, even the Republican moderates backed off
>supporting the treaty, Payne said.
>
>"We're into a new world here," he said. "We have met the enemy, and
>he is us. The national weapons laboratories are so detached from the
>needs of international security that our policy becomes
>self-defeating."
>
>The U.S. nuclear weapons complex, which involves the three national
>weapons laboratories of the Department of Energy -- Sandia and Los
>Alamos in New Mexico and Lawrence Livermore in Northern California --
>as well as several universities, especially the University of
>California, have long planned for a world without underground nuclear
>weapons explosions.
>
>Nuclear weapons engineers rely on software codes for simulating the
>behavior of nuclear weapons, and each of these code packages
>typically runs to millions of lines of software programming. Weapons
>designers and "stewards" attempt to model and simulate the explosion
>of a specific nuclear warhead, an event that lasts about a millionth
>of a second. The U.S. codes, the most advanced in the world, are
>highly classified and the product of decades of experience with
>nuclear explosions, both real and virtual.
>
>As computer processing power has increased, the need for actual
>nuclear explosions for testing has receded. Scientists have acquired
>more data to refine the bomb codes, progressing from one-dimensional
>studies to two-dimensional simulations. Even those require days of
>intensive computation on the world's fastest computers.
>
>The current goal of the weapons laboratories is to develop
>three-dimensional modeling capabilities, which will require
>supercomputers very much faster than we have now -- on the order of
>100 teraflops, or 100 trillion floating operations per second. Right
>now, we have machines that can perform in the range of 3 to 4
>teraflops, such as IBM's "Blue Pacific" supercomputer at Livermore
>and Silicon Graphics' "Blue Mountain" supercomputer at Los Alamos.
>
>Both facilities expect to have 100-teraflop machines by 2003, an
>extraordinarily ambitious benchmark.
>
>"This program is equivalent to the Manhattan Project or the Apollo
>Project, in terms of its ambitions and its financial cost," Payne
>said.
>
>On Oct. 8, the University of California, the prime contractor for Los
>Alamos National Laboratory, announced a contract to build the world's
>largest and most powerful computing facility at Los Alamos, a
>three-story laboratory that will house a 30-teraflop supercomputer
>and more than 300 nuclear weapons engineers.
>
>The issue is whether any of this is necessary to guarantee the safety
>and reliability of our current nuclear arsenal.
>
>Payne and other scientific critics think the primary purpose of the
>ASCI program is not to maintain the U.S. arsenal -- he believes that
>can be done with what we know today -- but to develop new nuclear
>weapons.
>
>The Department of Energy insists that no new nuclear weapons are
>under development today. But the ASCI program might give us that
>capability even in the absence of underground nuclear testing.
>
>The jury is still out on whether computer simulations alone can be
>used to design and test new nuclear weapons, Payne said.
>
>"We know that the weapons labs are modifying, improving and
>certifying nuclear warheads using only computer simulations," he said.
>
>The shift to virtual design and testing of nuclear warheads also has
>grave implications for nuclear proliferation. The massively parallel
>supercomputers now used by the weapons labs are essentially large
>collections of commercially available computers networked to perform
>parallel, simultaneous computation. Nuclear weapons codes are being
>rewritten to run on these machines. That makes national security
>concerns about exports of high-performance business computers even
>more acute.
>
>A January 1998 NRDC report on supercomputers and nuclear weapons says
>the link between computers and bombs implies "that an equivalent curb
>on the arms race" -- equivalent to a test ban -- "could have been
>achieved, and in theory could still be achieved, by placing
>limitations on weapons computing."
>
>That's not on the table yet, but perhaps it should be. How long will
>we have to "run in place" to cope with weapons that should never be
>used?
>
>Gary Chapman is director of the 21st Century Project at the
>University of Texas at Austin. He can be reached at
>[e-mail].
>
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: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 15:22:55 -0400
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: NAC sign-on deadline

>Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 12:19:28 -0400
>Subject: NAC sign-on deadline
>X-FC-MachineGenerated: true
>To: [e-mail]
>From: [e-mail] ([e-mail])
>
>Dear friends,
>
>The deadline has been extended to Friday, October 29. If you haven't signed
>on, please do so as soon as possible. As the First (Disarmament) Committee
>of the U.N. General Assembly gets underway, now is the time for us to show
>our support for two important resolutions under consideration. Most of you
>will remember from previous years the resolutions supporting the "New
>Agenda" and International Court of Justice advisory opinion. We are seeking
>*organizational* signatures, not individuals. If we get your organization's
>signature by Friday, October 29, the letters can be distributed in advance
>of the early November votes. The letter will go to every delegation of the
>First Committee. When we did this last year, we got 92 signatures, and one
>of the New Agenda Coalition delegations told us that this was quite
>helpful.
>
>Please let me know if you have any questions.
>
>Many thanks,
>Tracy Moavero
>Peace Action International Office
>
>
>Sign-on Letter to Support the New Agenda and ICJ Resolutions:
>
>Your Excellency,
>
>As citizens=92 organizations working to end the threat of nuclear war, we
>urge
>your government to support two important resolutions which are before the
>United Nations General Assembly First Committee for consideration.
>
>The =93New Agenda=94 resolution reflects our concerns about the urgent need=
 for
>complete nuclear disarmament. The concrete steps in it lay important
>groundwork for moving stalled processes and creating new opportunities for
>progress. Far from hindering any existing efforts, this resolution
>strengthens them by taking them out of isolation and bringing them together
>to create momentum. The sponsors=92 commitment to building consensus is=
 clear
>this year=92s text, which take into consideration concerns raised by some
>delegations when this resolution was considered last year.
>
>We also support the resolution affirming the 1996 advisory opinion of the
>International Court of Justice that there exists a legal obligation to
>pursue and conclude nuclear disarmament negotiations. As the United Nations
>becomes increasingly important in enforcing the rule of law to build and
>keep peace, this resolution strengthens the position of the U.N. in that
>regard. Anything less than a strong affirmative vote would send an
>ambiguous
>message about the respect for international law.
>
>The timing of these resolutions is crucial. We are distressed not only by
>the slow pace of progress toward disarmament, but even more so by
>disturbing
>signs that nuclear arsenals are becoming even more entrenched in the
>security policies of some nations. Failure of the U.N. General Assembly to
>strongly support these resolutions at this time would send a dangerous
>signal to those who are trying to invigorate nuclear weapons programs.
>
>We recognize the vital role of the United Nations in fostering nuclear
>disarmament and see ourselves as partners in those efforts. While the
>undersigned organizations are from many different parts of the globe, we
>are
>working together to build support for these resolutions. NGO
>representatives
>will be using the Internet to send up-to-the-minute updates, allowing
>organizations around the world to closely follow First Committee
>proceedings
>and plan their work accordingly.
>
>We were pleased that the fifty-third session of the General Assembly
>overwhelmingly adopted these resolutions, confirming the broad support =AD
>among both civil society and governments =AD for swift and concerted action
>for complete nuclear disarmament. We await similar and even stronger
>results
>this year.
>
>Nuclear disarmament is often noted as an =93ultimate goal.=94 The time has=
 come
>for that =93ultimate goal=94 to be realized.
>
>
>Sincerely,
>
>[your organization]
>
>__________________________
>Tracy Moavero
>Peace Action International Office
>866 United Nations Plaza, #4053
>New York NY 10017-1822
>USA
>Tel + 1 212 750 5795
>Fax + 1 212 750 5849
>[e-mail]
>www.peace-action.org
> =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.=20

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

Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 14:49:25 -0500
From: "Boyle, Francis" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Trident2 Condemned: Scottish Parliament motion

- -----Original Message-----
From: Scottish CND [mailto:[e-mail]]
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 1999 1:51 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Scottish Parliament motion


*S1M-220 Dennis Canavan: Illegality of Nuclear Weapons-That the Parliament
hails the decision of Sheriff Margaret Gimblett on 21 October at Greenock
Sheriff Court to order the acquittal of Ellen Moxley, Ulla Roder and Angie
Zelter on charges of causing damage to a Trident vessel in Loch Goil;
salutes the courage of all four women; recognises that this historic
decision in effect rules that the deployment of nuclear weapons is illegal
under international law, and calls upon Her Majesty's Government to show a
lead to other nuclear powers by removing all nuclear weapons from British
soil and British territorial waters and pursuing a non-nuclear defence
strategy.


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

Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 14:19:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Alert from Save Ward Valley

 Delivered-To: [e-mail]
From: "Save Ward Valley" <[e-mail]>
To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;@silcom.com>
Subject: ALERT! STOP NUKE INCINERATOR
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 13:15:22 -0700
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Priority: 3

Apologies to those who may be receiving this from other servers and
individuals.

ALERT!  TOXIC CATASTROPHE IN THE MAKING!

Please!  We need your help.  Yellowstone National Park and its 4 million
annual visitors are being threatened by one of the most dangerously foolish
and ill-conceived plans ever proposed by our government and its agencies.

Unless it is stopped immediately, The United States Department of Energy's
Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) will
construct a nuclear waste incinerator to burn 200,000 tons of radioactive
waste imported into Idaho from all over the world.  This facility will
become the nuclear garbage dump to the world.  Deadly fumes will be
exhausted into the air and blown 90 miles downwind to southeast Idaho and
northwest Wyoming.  This area is home to both Yellowstone and Grand Teton
National Parks and Jackson Hole.  Here is where millions of people a year
enjoy unique scenic wonders and the largest herds in existence of buffalo
and elk.  Here is where the Snake and Yellowstone Rivers support incredible
fish and wildlife including Bald Eagles and Grizzly Bears.

Without so much as one legal notice provided to the residents of Wyoming,
this deadly incinerator has been rushed through the approval process.
Within months, construction permits could be issued to British Nuclear Fuels
Ltd., a company with a reported history of emission accidents, hidden safety
records, and falsified documents.  Nuclear experts say microscopic ashes
will escape from this burner.  These ashes will cause cancer and other
horrible diseases for hundreds of miles downwind and will kill off entire
species of wildlife.

The Department of Energy, an agency that has lied to and misled the public
for 50 years regarding nuclear waste, says, "Trust us, this process is
safe."  Regarding INEEL's nuclear incinerator, however, scientists at the
Livermore Nuclear Lab in California have declared the proposed technology to
be "a violation of the cardinal principal of radioactive waste treatment:
namely, containing radioactivity rather than spreading it around."

Residents downwind of INEEL and people who care about saving Yellowstone
have raised over $500,000 and have filed a lawsuit to stop this nuclear
waste incinerator.  Nationally known litigator Gerry Spence, the man who
successfully sued in the famous Karen Silkwood nuclear case, is volunteering
his time and is spearheading the efforts of our legal team.

Besides attorneys, we need additional help.  If you have ever visited
Yellowstone or want to preserve it for generations to come please send no
more than $10 to:

Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free, a Wyoming Nonprofit Corporation PO Box 4838
Jackson, Wyoming 83001 Even if you can't send money, please sign your name
below instead of mine and forward a copy of this letter to 10 of your
friends who might be willing to support our efforts.  In 8 days we will
reach 100 million people.
With your help, we can stop the insanity of nuclear waste incineration and
protect America's first and greatest National Park.  This fight belongs to
all of us.

Russell and Susan Magarity Jackson Hole, Wyoming PS For more information,
see http://www.yellowstonenuclearfree.com
____________________________________________________________________
Bogorad/Wyler Productions [phone]tel [phone]fax
=============================================================
The Global Anti-Nuclear Alliance (GANA) -- is a member of The Abolition 2000
Network, A Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons Address: c/o Ak
Malten Irisstraat 134 Tel:[phone]
2565TP The Hague Fax:[phone] The Netherlands E-Mail:
[e-mail] GANA's website:

http://www.cornnet.nl/~akmalten/welcome.html The ICJ Advisory Opinion on
Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons,
**including ALL the Separate Opinions of ALL the Judges**, the Canberra
Report, the CTBT Text and Protocol, the NPT text and the 1925 Gas Protocol,
the Nuremberg Principles and the MODEL Nuclear Weapons Convention can be
found at:

http://www.cornnet.nl/~akmalten/docs.html
=============================================================

Save Ward Valley
107 F Street
Needles, CA  92363
ph. 760/326-6267
fax [phone]

http://www.shundahai.org/SWVAction.html
http://earthrunner.com/savewardvalley
http://www.ctaz.com/~swv1
http://banwaste.envirolink.org
http://www.alphacdc.com/ien/wardvly4.html
http://www.greenaction.org



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 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 18:07:22 -0400
From: Bob Tiller <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) US Campaign email list and Congressional working  group: appeal

I would like to be part of the list.  Thanks.

Bob Tiller
Physicians for Social Responsibility
1101 14th Street N.W., suite 700
Washington, D.C. 20005
phone [phone], ext.220
fax [phone]
e-mail:  [e-mail]




Ellen Thomas wrote:

> Here's the e-mail list of the people who registered for the Ann Arbor
> meeting October 8-11.  If you would like to consider yourself part of the
> U.S. Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, please send me your email and
> other addresses and I'll update the list.
>
> At the organizing meeting I became Convenor of the Congressional working
> group.  If you'd like to plug in, please reply to me with "Ellen" at the
> beginning of the subject line, for prompt response.  Please tell me your
> vital statistics (name/org/addresses), what you think the Congressional
> working group should do, and how you'd like to participate.  Like all of
> us, I have limited time, but serious commitment to helping make it easy for
> people to communicate with Congress.  You can start with
> http://prop1.org/prop1/letter.htm
>
> Ann Arbor meeting list:
>
> [e-mail] (John Burroughs-LCNP),
> [e-mail] (Jackie Cabasso-WSLF),
> [e-mail] (Anabel Dwyer),
> [e-mail] (Matteo Ferreira and Michelle Xenos-Shundahai),
> [e-mail] (Bruce Gagnon-Global Network-Space),
> [e-mail] (Tom Goldtooth-Indigenous Enviro Network),
> [e-mail] (Anthony Guarisco-Alliance of Atomic Vets),
> [e-mail] (Alan and Odile Haber-Megiddo Project and WILPF-Ann
> Arbor), [e-mail] (Jan Harwood-WILPF),
> [e-mail] (Will Hathaway-U.Michigan),
> [e-mail] (Ralph Hutchinson-Oakridge EPA),
> [e-mail] (Fern Katz-WAND),
> [e-mail] (Stephen Kent),
> [e-mail] (Andrew Lichterman-WSLF),
> [e-mail] (Sally Light-TVC),
> [e-mail] (Kevin Martin-FFF),
> [e-mail] (Bruce Martin-AFSC),
> [e-mail] (Pamela Meidell-Atomic Mirror),
> [e-mail] (Masaya Nishio-Akahata),
> [e-mail] (Carah Ong-Abolition 2000),
> [e-mail] (Claudia Peterson),
> [e-mail] (Cindy Pile-Nevada Desert Experience),
> [e-mail] (Oakrdige EPA),
> [e-mail] (Dave Robinson-Pax Christi),
> [e-mail] (Gouri Sadhwani-Hague Appeal for Peace),
> [e-mail] (Ibrahim Abdil-Muiid Clayton Ramey-FOR),
> [e-mail] (Alice Slater-GRACE),
> [e-mail] (Ellen Thomas-Proposition One),
> [e-mail] (Joan L. Wade-Disarmament Clearinghouse),
> Ellen Thomas
> Proposition One Committee
> PO Box 27217, Washington DC 20038
> 202-462-0757 -- fax [phone]
> [e-mail]  --  http://prop1.org
>
>               ***
>
>      BAN AND BURY ALL RADIOACTIVE BOMBS
>             * depleted uranium, fission, neutron *
> About NucNews: http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm
>
> -
>  To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
>  with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
>  For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send
>  "help" to the same address.  Do not use quotes in your message.


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 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1999 10:01:42 PDT
From: "Abolition2000 Pacific Region" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Cora Weiss on TV in Hawaii!!

Aloha and Greetings from Sunny and Warm Hawaii!!

Just sharing news from Paradise, where it is sunny, warm, and beautiful as
always.

Last night, we put Cora Weiss on the TV where she was interviewed for over
an hour about what the Hague Appeal for Peace is all about! The TV program
was a live broadcast all over the State of Hawaii and people watched and
called in with questions. Cora, as always, was wonderful and shared as much
information as she could about HAP. She is in Hawaii for the Peace Child
International's Millennium Young Peoples' Congress which started Sunday and
will continue for one week.

David Woollacombe (spelling?) from Peace Child International in London is
here hosting several hundreds of young peoples from around the world! They
are 18 years old and young, and getting a daily dose of advice and education
about peace-making, inspiration for working to create peace in communities,
etc, etc. We have young peoples from Africa and from land-locked Eastern
European nations who proudly proclaimed they will be jumping into an ocean
(the warm Pacific Ocean) for the first time in the life! They have been put
to work planting trees on peace gardens, picking up thrash from the beaches,
and learning from each other, and listening to Cora Weiss talk about HAP.

In addition to Cora Weiss's appearance on TV last night, we have invited her
to address the University of Hawaii community about HAP this morning (see
program below). And one day after her presentation, we are putting on a more
focused HAP presentation titled, "Pacific Hague Roundtable: Pacific Report
from the Hague Appeal for Peace," where members of the Pacific delegation to
the Hague will report again. Cora has also been a guest speaker for the UN
Association-Hawaii Division so she has spoken around Honolulu, educating
peoples about HAP.

I should also say that the Government of the Cook Islands followed up with
UNESCO's program on the creation of culture(s) of peace which was endorsed
by the South Pacific Forum as a crucial and urgent area of work for the
Pacific. So we are hoping to take the lead in our community education and
advocacy of the four HAP themes in Hawaii and the Pacific.  If any of you
good peoples are planning to visit Hawaii in the future and want to be given
a chance to speak to our communities, please let us know. We will put you to
work! We want to take as much opportunity to share the Aloha Spirit!

Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much) and hope to see you all in the Islands.

Richard Salvador
Honolulu, Hawaii


- ---

Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 12:11:11 -1000
From: University of Hawaii Institute for Peace <[e-mail]>

Subject: Wed. Oct. 27 10:00 a.m. Cora Weiss, The Hague Appeal for Peace

Pi Sigma Alpha, the Political Science Honorary Society, together with the
Political Science Department,  Matsunaga Institute for Peace, Globalization
Research Center, and the Center for Futures Studies at the University of
Hawaii at Manoa present


CORA WEISS

PRESIDENT, HAGUE APPEAL FOR PEACE
speaking on
"THE HAGUE APPEAL FOR PEACE"

Wednesday, October 27, 1999
10 - 11:30 a.m.
Social Science Building 704F
University of Hawaii at Manoa

The first Hague Peace Conference was held in 1899 to negotiate disarmament
measures and to create alternative methods for bringing about security. It
created the predecessor of what has become the International Court of
Justice, a principal organ of the United Nations, located in the Hague. The
Hague Appeal for Peace was held in 1999 in commemoration of this event to
delegitimize war.  The Hague Agenda has been presented to the UN and has
four strands:
    - Root Causes of War/Culture of Peace
    - International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law and Institutions
    - Prevention, Resolution and Transformation of Violent Conflict
    - Disarmament and Human Security

Cora Weiss, President of the Hague Appeal for Peace, has been well known as
a peace activist since the early 1960s, when she was a co-founder of Women
Strike for Peace, which helped end nuclear testing in the atmosphere.  She
played a pivotal role in getting organizations to protest the war in
Vietnam.  She was Co-Chair and Director of the Committee of Liaison with
Families to Prisoners Detained in Vietnam.  As a trustee of Hampshire
College, she started the campus campaign to divest stocks in companies doing
business in South Africa.  She has a long record of support for the United
Nations, starting in the 1950s when she hosted colonial Africans who were
petitioning for independence.  She has devoted most of her life to the peace
movement, the movement for the advancement of women, and the civil rights
movement.  In May 1998 she and William Sloan Coffin were honored at the
Riverside Church of NY, on the 20th anniversary of their founding of the
Riverside Disarmament Program, which she directed for 10 years. This year
she was honored by the Phelps Stokes Fund for Africa for her work in the 50s
and 60s on Africa.  As President of the Hague Appeal for Peace she is
leading a campaign dedicated to the delegitimization of war, with a vision
of a world in which violent conflict is publicly acknowledged as
illegitimate, illegal, and fundamentally unjust.


______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

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

Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1999 13:36:57 -0400
From: "Joan Wade" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) NAC Sign-on: More U.S. Groups Needed!

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

- ------=_NextPart_000_0093_01BF2080.571EC400
Content-Type: text/plain;
    charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable



Dear Abolition-USA Friends,

Below you will find a brief note and organizational sign on letter from =
Tracy Movaero of the Peace Action International Office in support of the =
New Agenda Coalition and ICJ Resolutions on disarmament negotiations in =
the U.N.  As you will read, this sign-on requires a fairly quick =
turnaround time (the deadline has now been adjusted to this Friday, =
October 29).  I urge you to seriously consider signing onto this letter =
of global importance.  Simply sign-on by replying to this message or =
otherwise sending a message to me at [e-mail].  Include your =
organization name and appropriate signatory.  Please feel free to =
contact me with any questions or concerns. =20

Sincerely,

Joan L. Wade
Disarmament Clearinghouse Coordinator
1101 14th Street, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC, 20010
Ph: [phone] x232
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
Web: http://www.disarmament.org


Dear friends,

As the First (Disarmament) Committee of the U.N. General Assembly gets
underway, now is the time for us to show our support for two important
resolutions under consideration. Most of you will remember from previous
years the resolutions supporting the "New Agenda" and International =
Court of
Justice advisory opinion. We are seeking *organizational* signatures, =
not
individuals. We need your organization's signature by Monday, October 25 =
so
the letters can be distributed in advance of the early November votes. =
The
letter will go to every delegation of the First Committee. When we did =
this
last year, we got 92 signatures, and one of the New Agenda Coalition
delegations told us that this was quite helpful.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Tracy Moavero
Peace Action International Office


Sign-on Letter to Support the New Agenda and ICJ Resolutions:

Your Excellency,

As citizens' organizations working to end the threat of nuclear war, we =
urge
your government to support two important resolutions which are before =
the
United Nations General Assembly First Committee for consideration.

The "New Agenda" resolution reflects our concerns about the urgent need =
for
complete nuclear disarmament. The concrete steps in it lay important
groundwork for moving stalled processes and creating new opportunities =
for
progress. Far from hindering any existing efforts, this resolution
strengthens them by taking them out of isolation and bringing them =
together
to create momentum. The sponsors' commitment to building consensus is =
clear
this year's text, which take into consideration concerns raised by some
delegations when this resolution was considered last year.

We also support the resolution affirming the 1996 advisory opinion of =
the
International Court of Justice that there exists a legal obligation to
pursue and conclude nuclear disarmament negotiations. As the United =
Nations
becomes increasingly important in enforcing the rule of law to build and
keep peace, this resolution strengthens the position of the U.N. in that
regard. Anything less than a strong affirmative vote would send an =
ambiguous
message about the respect for international law.

The timing of these resolutions is crucial. We are distressed not only =
by
the slow pace of progress toward disarmament, but even more so by =
disturbing
signs that nuclear arsenals are becoming even more entrenched in the
security policies of some nations. Failure of the U.N. General Assembly =
to
strongly support these resolutions at this time would send a dangerous
signal to those who are trying to invigorate nuclear weapons programs.

We recognize the vital role of the United Nations in fostering nuclear
disarmament and see ourselves as partners in those efforts. While the
undersigned organizations are from many different parts of the globe, we =
are
working together to build support for these resolutions. NGO =
representatives
will be using the Internet to send up-to-the-minute updates, allowing
organizations around the world to closely follow First Committee =
proceedings
and plan their work accordingly.

We were pleased that the fifty-third session of the General Assembly
overwhelmingly adopted these resolutions, confirming the broad support -
among both civil society and governments - for swift and concerted =
action
for complete nuclear disarmament. We await similar and even stronger =
results
this year.

Nuclear disarmament is often noted as an "ultimate goal." The time has =
come
for that "ultimate goal" to be realized.


Sincerely,

[your organization]


__________________________
Tracy Moavero
Peace Action International Office
866 United Nations Plaza, #4053
New York NY 10017-1822
USA
Tel + 1 212 750 5795
Fax + 1 212 750 5849
[e-mail]
www.peace-action.org

- --
Joan L. Wade
Disarmament Clearinghouse Coordinator
1101 14th Street, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC, 20010
Ph: [phone] x232
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
Web: http://www.disarmament.org

- ------=_NextPart_000_0093_01BF2080.571EC400
Content-Type: text/html;
    charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" =
http-equiv=3DContent-Type>
<META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2314.1000" name=3DGENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Dear Abolition-USA =
Friends,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Below you will find a brief note and =
organizational=20
sign on letter from Tracy Movaero of the Peace Action International =
Office in=20
support of the New Agenda Coalition and ICJ Resolutions on =
disarmament=20
negotiations in the U.N.  As you will read, this sign-on requires a =
fairly=20
quick turnaround time (the deadline has now been adjusted to this =
Friday,=20
October 29).  I urge you to seriously consider signing onto this =
letter of=20
global importance.  Simply sign-on by replying to this message or =
otherwise=20
sending a message to me at <A=20
href=3D"mailto:[e-mail]">[e-mail]</A>.  =
Include your=20
organization name and appropriate signatory.  Please feel free to=20
contact me with any questions or concerns.  </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Sincerely,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Joan L. Wade<BR>Disarmament =
Clearinghouse=20
Coordinator<BR>1101 14th Street, NW, Suite 700<BR>Washington, DC, =
20010<BR>Ph:=20
[phone] x232<BR>Fax: [phone]<BR>E-mail: <A=20
href=3D"mailto:[e-mail]">[e-mail]</A><BR>Web: <A=20
href=3D"http://www.disarmament.org">http://www.disarmament.org</A></FONT>=
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Dear friends,<BR><BR>As the First =
(Disarmament)=20
Committee of the U.N. General Assembly gets<BR>underway, now is the time =
for us=20
to show our support for two important<BR>resolutions under =
consideration. Most=20
of you will remember from previous<BR>years the resolutions supporting =
the "New=20
Agenda" and International Court of<BR>Justice advisory opinion. We are =
seeking=20
*organizational* signatures, not<BR>individuals. We need your =
organization's=20
signature by Monday, October 25 so<BR>the letters can be distributed in =
advance=20
of the early November votes. The<BR>letter will go to every delegation =
of the=20
First Committee. When we did this<BR>last year, we got 92 signatures, =
and one of=20
the New Agenda Coalition<BR>delegations told us that this was quite=20
helpful.<BR><BR>Please let me know if you have any =
questions.<BR><BR>Tracy=20
Moavero<BR>Peace Action International Office<BR><BR><BR>Sign-on Letter =
to=20
Support the New Agenda and ICJ Resolutions:<BR><BR>Your =
Excellency,<BR><BR>As=20
citizens' organizations working to end the threat of nuclear war, we=20
urge<BR>your government to support two important resolutions which are =
before=20
the<BR>United Nations General Assembly First Committee for=20
consideration.<BR><BR>The "New Agenda" resolution reflects our concerns =
about=20
the urgent need for<BR>complete nuclear disarmament. The concrete steps =
in it=20
lay important<BR>groundwork for moving stalled processes and creating =
new=20
opportunities for<BR>progress. Far from hindering any existing efforts, =
this=20
resolution<BR>strengthens them by taking them out of isolation and =
bringing them=20
together<BR>to create momentum. The sponsors' commitment to building =
consensus=20
is clear<BR>this year's text, which take into consideration concerns =
raised by=20
some<BR>delegations when this resolution was considered last =
year.<BR><BR>We=20
also support the resolution affirming the 1996 advisory opinion of=20
the<BR>International Court of Justice that there exists a legal =
obligation=20
to<BR>pursue and conclude nuclear disarmament negotiations. As the =
United=20
Nations<BR>becomes increasingly important in enforcing the rule of law =
to build=20
and<BR>keep peace, this resolution strengthens the position of the U.N. =
in=20
that<BR>regard. Anything less than a strong affirmative vote would send =
an=20
ambiguous<BR>message about the respect for international law.<BR><BR>The =
timing=20
of these resolutions is crucial. We are distressed not only by<BR>the =
slow pace=20
of progress toward disarmament, but even more so by disturbing<BR>signs =
that=20
nuclear arsenals are becoming even more entrenched in the<BR>security =
policies=20
of some nations. Failure of the U.N. General Assembly to<BR>strongly =
support=20
these resolutions at this time would send a dangerous<BR>signal to those =
who are=20
trying to invigorate nuclear weapons programs.<BR><BR>We recognize the =
vital=20
role of the United Nations in fostering nuclear<BR>disarmament and see =
ourselves=20
as partners in those efforts. While the<BR>undersigned organizations are =
from=20
many different parts of the globe, we are<BR>working together to build =
support=20
for these resolutions. NGO representatives<BR>will be using the Internet =
to send=20
up-to-the-minute updates, allowing<BR>organizations around the world to =
closely=20
follow First Committee proceedings<BR>and plan their work =
accordingly.<BR><BR>We=20
were pleased that the fifty-third session of the General=20
Assembly<BR>overwhelmingly adopted these resolutions, confirming the =
broad=20
support -<BR>among both civil society and governments - for swift and =
concerted=20
action<BR>for complete nuclear disarmament. We await similar and even =
stronger=20
results<BR>this year.<BR><BR>Nuclear disarmament is often noted as an =
"ultimate=20
goal." The time has come<BR>for that "ultimate goal" to be=20
realized.<BR><BR><BR>Sincerely,<BR><BR>[your=20
organization]<BR><BR><BR>__________________________<BR>Tracy =
Moavero<BR>Peace=20
Action International Office<BR>866 United Nations Plaza, #4053<BR>New =
York NY=20
10017-1822<BR>USA<BR>Tel + 1 212 750 5795<BR>Fax + 1 212 750 5849<BR><A=20
href=3D"mailto:[e-mail]">[e-mail]</A><BR><A=20
href=3D"http://www.peace-action.org">www.peace-action.org</A><BR></DIV></=
FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>--<BR>Joan L. Wade<BR>Disarmament =
Clearinghouse=20
Coordinator<BR>1101 14th Street, NW, Suite 700<BR>Washington, DC, =
20010<BR>Ph:=20
[phone] x232<BR>Fax: [phone]<BR>E-mail: <A=20
href=3D"mailto:[e-mail]">[e-mail]</A><BR>Web: <A=20
href=3D"http://www.disarmament.org">http://www.disarmament.org</A></FONT>=
</DIV></BODY></HTML>

- ------=_NextPart_000_0093_01BF2080.571EC400--


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