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PAX CHRISTI METRO NEW YORKANNUAL 40-DAY FAST FOR CHRISTIAN NONVIOLENCEJULY 1ST – AUGUST 9TH STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
Jesus and the early church stated clearly
that violence is not the Christian way, that violence is not the Apostolic way, that violence is not the way of God.
Yet, since the Third Century, most Christians have not proclaimed this message. Our nation is in
the midst of an undeclared war on the people of Iraq; our media, entertainment, and language are filled with violence; and
our country is ready to annihilate millions of years of evolution and thousands of years of history with nuclear weapons. It is because of this tragic and shameful reality that this 40-Day Fast is being undertaken. It
is a call to the individual Christian to repent and return to the truth that violence is not the way of Jesus. BACKGROUND ON THE FAST:
The annual 40-Day Fast was begun by
the Agape Community in Massachusetts several years ago. Individuals and communities from all over the country
are now participating in it. The Fast begins on July 1st and ends on August 9th.
On August 9th, 1942, Edith Stein was killed at Auschwitz; on August 9th, 1943, Franz Jaegerstatter
was beheaded for refusing to serve in Hitler’s army (the army of a “Christian” nation); and on August 9th,
1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, destroying the largest and oldest Christian community in
that country, and killing 140,000 people. PAX CHRISTI METRO NEW YORK’S
FAST: Individuals: All members of PCMNY and friends are invited to fast
in whatever way they choose. Some possibilities are choosing one day a week for the 40-Day period, choosing
one single day, or choosing a block of days. Groups: Each PCMNY local group will take one day a week.
One member of the group will fast on each of the six days assigned to you. Others can also fast,
of course, but at least one member will be fasting. Having one specific member be responsible for each
of the days ensures that, during the 40 days, there will be a Pax Christi member in New York fasting at all times.
Please organize who will be fasting from your group on each of the days assigned to your group. Please
make copies of these guidelines for the members of your group. INSTRUCTIONS FOR THOSE ON FAST:
- This fast is, traditionally, a fast from all solid foods from the time you get up until the time you retire
in the evening. We suggest that you drink fruit or vegetable juices. Drinking caffeinated
beverages is not recommended. If the traditional fast is not feasible for you, you can replace one, two,
or all three meals with bread and water.
- Try to attend Mass on your fast day.
- Try to pray at least once during the day that the Church
might return to Christ’s nonviolent love.
- During one of the 40 days, try to go to Confession.
- Try to refrain from television, etc.,
on the day you fast.
- As much as possible, during the 40 days, occupy yourself with prayer and works of mercy.
- An excellent book
on fasting is Fasting Rediscovered by Thomas Ryan, published by Paulist Press.
sponsored
by: Pax
Christi Metro New York 371 Sixth Avenue New York, NY 10014 212-420-0250; nypaxchristi@igc.org; www.nypaxchristi.org
Dorthy Day on Hiroshima Nagasaki
Just War Principles
Nuclear Fact Sheet
Mayors For Peace Sign on
Summer Camp Anti Nuke Projects
Dear peacemaker, Over the last few weeks, there have been a number
of statements regarding the NPT Conference held in NYC during May. This one comes highly recommended. I hope you will have
time to read it and appreciate the results after all the work that LI peace groups did to promote the Conference.
NPT Conference Outcome A SuccessBy:
Sayre Sheldon, WAND delegate to the United NationsJune 3, 2010Dear Friends of WAND;
By this time you will know that the month-long review conference of
the Non-Proliferation Treaty ended successfully Friday afternoon when all 189 nations present reaffirmed their commitment
to the treaty. Five years ago the conference ended without consensus and this time around there was concern up to the last
hours that Iran would not agree to sign.
My earlier report was gloomy as I followed the daily bulletins from Reaching Critical Will, WILPF's excellent project
on nuclear disarmament. Reaching Critical Will presented a much more realistic estimate of the problems the delegates were
wrestling with than was available in news accounts. As in previous review conferences the major struggle was between the powerful
nuclear nations on one side and the angry nuclear weapons free zones or undeclared nuclear countries on the other. Non-nuclear
entities feared that once again they would be left with no guarantees of real progress from the nuclear "haves."
There were new commitments, however, and possibly the most important
was the agreement to hold a conference on eliminating weapons of mass destruction from the Middle East countries in 2012.
This was initially opposed by the U.S. because it would obligate Israel (not present at the conference) to admit to possessing
nuclear weapons. Finally the U.S. did allow the language to remain. Secondly, the U.S. revealed the size of its stockpile
during the conference and Great Britain did the same. Thirdly, non-nuclear states had to agree to more international inspections
from the IAEA. Another positive development was the inclusion of more language reflecting the goal of complete nuclear disarmament,
although the date was pushed ahead.
Credit
should be given to President Obama for providing long-range goals in his speeches, concrete steps in promoting START and holding
the White House conference on nuclear terrorism. toCredit is also shared with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon who
sent a strong letter to the conference when prospects for agreement looked bleak, and with the U.S. negotiating team led by
Ellen Tauscher, Under Secretary of State For Arms Control and International Security, as well as U.S. NPT ambassador to the
U.N., Susan Burk. In her closing statement, Ellen Tauscher said the final document "advances President Obama's vision".Tthe
New York Times wrote that the document "breathes new life" into the non-proliferation treaty. The message for
WAND is clear: groups like ours have much to do if real progress is to be made when we consider the narrow margins of support
in today's House and Senate for the concrete steps our government needs to take. Passage of the New START (New Strategic Arms
Reduction Treaty) and Test Ban (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaties) are essential next steps.
Not everything turned out well. Many compromises had to be made. Iran
and South Korea were left further isolated which was considered positive by the nuclear countries, less so by the non-nuclear
states. Critics of the conference questioned whether the recent agreement to trade nuclear materials for peaceful uses between
Iran, Brazil, and Turkey should have been so completely dismissed and said that other countries may begin to seek new agreements
outside of treaties due to their frustration with lack of progress by the nuclear countries.
But the vision for real change-- the determination to not leave empty-handed
this time-- lasted through the conference. The resulting document conveys the hopes set in motion by a renewed conviction
that the time for vague promises is up and people expect progress before it is too late.
From my point of view one real disappointment was the postponing of
the date of 2025 for getting rid of all nuclear weapons-now I'll have to live to be over one hundred! Sincerely, Sayre Sheldon, WAND delegate to the United Nations Resources
for further information: Summary of the NPT Final Outcome Document by Beatrice Fihn, Reaching Critical Will/ Wilpf
Final Document: Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty Review Conference provided by the Office of the Spokesman, US Department of State
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691 Massachusetts Ave.
Arlington, Massachusetts 02476
United States  -- Judith Le Blanc Field Organizer Peace Action & Peace Action Education
Fund http://www.peace-action.org/Office 646.723.1749 Cell 917.806.8775 Twitter judithleblanc Skype jleblanc12
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All the best,
Mary Beth
Dear Friends, 11
days from now people will fill Riverside Church for the historic International Conference for a Nuclear-Free, Peaceful, Just and Sustainable
World. And on Sunday, May 2, we will fill the streets in Times Square to proclaim, “No Nukes, No Wars, Fund Human
Needs, Protect the Planet!” April 30-May 2 promise to be truly inspiring days. The General-Secretary of
the National Council of Churches Michael Kinnamon will be joining us at the rally. 100 Hibakusha (survivors of the bombings
in Hiroshima and Nagasaki) as well as the mayors of those towns will be boarding planes along with 1900 of their Japanese
brothers and sisters. Yes, these days promise to be truly inspiring. Our organization is proud to be a part of this
incredible international effort. You hopefully by now have been to the Peace and Justice Now website for all the details. BUT THIS CANNOT HAPPEN WITHOUT YOU! Without
a dedicated team of volunteers, people would be wandering aimlessly around Riverside Church trying to find their workshops.
On Sunday, we could not ensure the safety of the 100 Hibakusha or smoothly usher the throngs of people at the rally onto the
march route. Planning organized, inspiring, successful events takes all of us working together! Our organization
has made a commitment to help to fill the volunteer teams. WE
NEED YOU TO SIGN UP TODAY to represent Pax Christi Metro New York #1 NEED – Security Marshal Team. The
Security Marshals Team is crucial to the success of any major demonstration. Security Marshals keep the peace, provide
information and logistical aid to our sister and brother demonstrators, help coordinate the ebb and flow of the various parts
of the events, and allow for the march to proceed peacefully and apace. #
2 NEED – Conference Volunteers and Money Collectors for Sunday. Conference volunteers will help with
registration, direct participants and answer questions. Collecting money sounds daunting, but inspired pitches from
the stage will have people pulling out their wallets clamoring to put money into the buckets! #3 NEED – Festival Set-Up and Clean-Up. This entails a couple of hours of
moving tables and chairs at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. Please
fill out the volunteer form or call 646-723-0980 to sign up. And let us know as well so we can know that we are fulfilling
our commitment by emailing __________________.
Together we can make this happen! Signed ______________________ Peace, Rosemarie
**************************************************** Dear Pax Christi friend, Here is another wonderful event taking place on May 2nd in NYC. -----
Original Message -----
According
to Archbishop Dolan's Secretary, Archbishop Takami of Nagasaki will be celebrating mass at 10:15 Sunday in St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Archbishop Dolan will not be there. In addition to Bishop Takami of Nagasaki concelebrating, the Mayor
of Nagaski will speak and a Japanese music group will perform. Takami is also bringing the damaged stature of Mary from
the Cathedral in Nagasaki--a very powerful image that I saw when I was there in May.
Dave Robinson, PCUSA
**************************************************************************
Dies Irae Hiroshima Nagasaki
Friends,
Here is a message from a living prophet, John
Dear, SJ.
PEACE,
Paul
Dear Friends, Peace be with
you! Just a little update here.
As
you may know, I was scheduled in February to give a few church talks on Jesus in Kansas, but the bishops there banned me—“because
of my support for women and for peace.” During Holy Week, while I was working on the U.S.-Mexico border, (leaving gallons
of water in the desert for the immigrants who cross into the Tucson sector), I heard from the Archbishop of New Mexico that
he had removed my priestly faculties---because of my stand against nuclear weapons.
Turns out, he continues to get complaints about me from the pastor, parish and people of Los Alamos.
The people who build the nuclear weapons are all devout Christians and Catholics, and do not like being told that this is
sinful work, apparently. (By the way: Don’t listen to Obama’s rhetoric; he has poured more money into new nuclear
weapons development at Los Alamos and elsewhere than anyone since Reagan. Business is booming at Los Alamos. He is building
a state of the art plutonium bomb factory, the CMRR, which the people of Los Alamos are thrilled about.) By not being able
to serve as a priest, I think the Jesuits will probably transfer me out of NM, and most of my speaking invitations around
the country would be canceled.
I don’t
want to move, so I appealed to the archbishop and he said he would give me my faculties back (and allow me to serve as a priest)
on condition that I promise never to go to Los Alamos again. This is so absurd! But after talking with Jesuit officials and
friends, I’m probably going to agree.
The archbishop said to me--we need nuclear weapons, he is glad we have them, etc. I argued that they are bad for
the economy, our health, the environment, that they do not make us more secure, etc.—and even so, I said, we have to
help people see that God will protect us, we have to be the people who do what Jesus says and love our enemies, not support
preparations to kill them. No, the archbishop said. The church supports the nuclear deterrent, and I do not want you upsetting
the church in Los Alamos! How sad.
I’m
just writing to share this latest episode with my friends, and ask for your prayers and support as I discern my journey to
Peace. Later this year, I will stand trial in Las Vegas on Sept. 14th for last year’s protest at Creech Air
Force Base (headquarters of the US drones). My new book is out, “Daniel Berrigan: Essential Writings.” I continue
to travel and speak across the country, continue to write my weekly online column for the “National Catholic Reporter,”
and try to spend time each month in D.C. with my father who is rapidly declining with dementia. It’s
a terrible time for the church and the world, so I know it’s a blessing to be in trouble for speaking out for peace
and justice, for trying to defend the Gospel of Jesus and pursue the vision of a new world of nonviolence.
Thanks for all you do for peace and justice, and for
your support and friendship. God bless you.
John
__________ www.centerforchristiannonviolence.org
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Manhattan College is pleased to host survivors of the bombing
of Hiroshima, who are in NY to take part in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Review Conference.
They
will be speaking, about their memories of the Hiroshima bombing, and their efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons, at Manhattan
College on Monday May 3rd, at 7:00 p.m, in the Rodriguez Room, (Miguel 311).
Manhattan College
is located at 4531 Manhattan College Parkway, near W 242nd Street and Broadway in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. For
directions to our campus by public transportation or car, please see http://www.manhattan.edu.
We welcome you to attend this event, and we encourage you to share the attached flyer with
others.
--
Margaret Groarke
Director, Peace Studies Program
Associate Professor, Government
Manhattan College
4513 Manhattan College Parkway
Bronx, NY 10471
718-862-7943 (office)
718-862-7943 (office)
**************************************
Revisiting Hiroshima
& Nagasaki PeaceWork
invites you to a talk by Takashi Morita & Junko Watanabe These hibakusha, survivors
of the American bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, will talk about their experience of “the day the sun fell”
and their life since then. Date: Thursday, April 22 Time: 11:30 to 12:45 Place: F129, NCC Hear the testimony from victims of a major
historical calamity of the 20th century perpetrated in our name and its implications for our ongoing struggle to achieve peace
through imagining and working toward a world without weapons. Please come and urge your students to attend. Also, kindly circulate this information among
your friends. For more information contact Ralph Nazareth at 203 322 5438 or ralphnazareth@mac.com *****************************************************************************
May 2nd Anti-Nuke Rally Times Square
For a Nuclear Free, Peaceful, Just, Sustainable World Conference
Riverside Church New York City – April 30 – May 1,
2010Registration Form: Please fill out the attached form and email to Conference@peaceandjusticenow.org and put “ATTN: Registration” in the subject line. Name __________________________________________________________
(Given name)
(Family Name) Address
_________________________________________________________ City/Town ______________________State/Province
_____________________ Postal Code _____________________Country _______________ Organization you belong to or represent________________________________
E-mail Address _____________________________ Phone ___________________________________
Workshop Preferences: Session #1 ______________________________________________________
Session #2 ______________________________________________________ Conference Registration
Fee & Contributions:Students with I.D: $20. For all
others, conference registration is $30.Endorsing
organization contribution: $50 - $500 Additional contributions will be deeply appreciated as we work to raise the necessary funds for our
campaign! Credit card information: Credit Card number: Credit Card Security Code (3-digit
number on back of card):Expiration date:Name on card:Billing Address: Checks can be made out to the Peace Action Fund of New York State, our fiscal
sponsor, Mail to: P.O. Box 600, JAF Station, New York, NY 10116. Please fill
out the attached form and email to nptorganizing@gmail.com
NUCLEAR CALENDAR
 |  |  |  |  | | | | | | | | | Nuclear Calendar | | | | | | |
| March 9-? | Assistant Secretary of State for
Verification and Compliance Rose Gottemoeller and Russian Foreign Ministry's Security and Disarmament Department director
Anatoly Antonov hold a 10th round of negotiations on a strategic nuclear arms reduction treaty. Geneva. | | March 19-22 | Ecumenical Advocacy Days. Doubletree Crystal City-National Airport Hotel, Arlington, VA (March 19-21), and Lutheran Church of the Reformation,
212 E. Capitol St., NE, Washington (March 22). | | March
21-22 | Friends Committee on National Legislation spring lobby weekend. Friends Committee on National Legislation, 245 Second St., NE, Washington. For information, contact Matt Southworth
by email or at (202) 547-6000, ext. 2501. | | March 21-23 | American Israel Public Affairs Committee annual policy conference. Washington Convention Center, Washington. Registration online. | | March 22 | 2:30 p.m.,
Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Thomas D'Agostino, Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration, dedicate the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility. Oak Ridge, TN. | | March 23 | 6:00-7:00
p.m., Amb. Jayantha Dhanapala, U.S. Institute of Peace, "Nuclear Weapon-Free Zones: Affirmative Action by Non-Nuclear Weapon States in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty." George Washington University, 1957 E St., NW, Room 213, Washington. RSVP online. | | March 24 | 9:30 a.m.,
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, hearing on the Defense Department budget, with Defense Secretary Robert Gates; Join Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen; and Defense Department Comptroller Robert
Hale. 2359 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington. Video webcast on the committee website. | | March 24 | Noon-1:30
p.m., Miles Pomper, Seong Won Park, and Lawrence Scheinman, Monterey Institute, "The Domestic and International Politics of Spent Nuclear Fuel in South Korea: Are We Approaching Meltdown?" Korea Economic Institute, 1800 K St., NW, Suite 1010, Washington. RSVP online. | | March 24 | 2:00 p.m.,
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water, hearing on the Energy Department budget, with Energy Secretary Steven Chu. 2359 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington. Video webcast on the committee website. | | March 24 | 2:30 p.m.,
Senate Armed Services Committee, hearing on the U.S. Strategic Command budget, with Gen. Kevin Chilton, Commander, U.S. Strategic Command, and with other Commanders covering other budgets. 216 Hart
Senate Office Building, Washington. Video webcast on the committee website and audio webcast on CapitolHearings.org. | | March 25 | Noon,
David Culp, Friends Committee on National Legislation, "The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and START Follow-on Agreement." Sponsored by the Louisville Committee on Foreign Relations. Vincenzo's Restaurant, 150 S. Fifth St.,
Louisville, KY. | | March 25 | Noon-2:00
p.m., Benoit Pelopidas, Monterey Institute, "Comparative Analysis of Extended Deterrence as Nonproliferation Tool." Monterey Institute, CNS Seminar Room (D-100), 400 Pacific St., Monterey, CA. | | March 25 | 1:00-5:00 p.m., Blue Ribbon Commission
on America's Nuclear Future meeting. Willard Intercontinental, Washington. | | March 25 | 1:30 p.m., House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, hearing on the Energy Department's budget for atomic energy defense activities, with Thomas D'Agostino, Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration, and
other witnesses. 2118 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington. Video and audio webcast on the committee website. | | March 25 | 2:00 p.m.,
Senate Appropriations Committee, hearing on the war supplemental request, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense
Secretary Robert Gates. G-50 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington. Audio webcast on CapitolHearings.org. | | March 26 | 8:30
a.m.-noon, Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future meeting. Willard Intercontinental, Washington. | | March 26 | 7:00 p.m., Bishop Gerald Kicanas; Lawrence Krauss, Arizona State University; and John Steinbruner,
University of Maryland, "Unreasonable Danger: Revisiting the Moral Implications of Nuclear Weapons." St. Thomas
More Catholic Newman Center, University of Arizona, 1615 E. Second St., Tucson, AZ. | | March 26 | Conference on Disarmament first session for 2010 ends. Geneva. | | March 27-April 12 | House and Senate spring recess. (Senate recess is through April 11.) | | March 28 | 1:00-4:30 p.m., Granny Peace Brigade Forum,
"The U.S. and the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons" Riverside Church, Assembly Hall, 490 Riverside Dr., New York. | | March 29 | 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Sam Nunn Bank of America Policy
Forum, "Path Toward a World Free of Nuclear Weapons: The Euro-Atlantic Challenge." Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. RSVP online. | | March 29 | 5:00-7:00
p.m., Jim Walsh, MIT, "Iran, the Bomb, and What I Learned from Four Dinners with Ahmedinejad." George Washington University, 1957 E St., NW, Room 505, Washington. RSVP online. | | March 29 | Passover
begins at sundown. Through April 6. | | March 29-30 | Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attends the G-8 foreign ministers meeting. Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. New U.N. Security Council sanctions on Iran will be on the agenda. The START follow-on agreement
may be discussed on the sidelines. | | March 29-April 16 | U.N. Disarmament Commission annual meeting. United Nations. | | March 31 | 3:00-5:00 p.m., Amb. Susan Burk, U.S. Special Representative for Nuclear Nonproliferation; Deepti
Choubey, Carnegie Endowment; and Daryl Kimball, Arms Control Association, "Toward a Successful NPT Review Conference." Carnegie Endowment, 1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington. RSVP online. | | March 31 | Energy
Department submits an annual report to Congress on its plutonium "pit" production plan (Senate Report 108-105, p. 110). | | March | Kim Kye
Gwan, North Korean Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, visits San Francisco and New York (possible). | | March or April | Senate floor vote
on the nominations of Philip Coyle to be Associate Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (possible). | | April 1 | 10:00 a.m.-noon, Alexei
Arbatov, Carnegie Moscow Center, and George Perkovich, Carnegie Endowment, "U.S.-Russian Security Relations." Carnegie Endowment, 1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington. RSVP online. | | April 2 | Good Friday.
| | April 4 | Easter.
| | April 5 | Anniversary
of President Obama's Prague speech on nuclear weapons. | | April 5 | 12:30
p.m., Col. Richard Klass (retired), Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, and Dr. Ira Helfand, Physicians
for Social Responsibility, "Military and Medical Perspectives on the Current Nuclear Threat." Sponsored by Physicians for Social Responsibility, Maine Chapter, and USM Political Science Department. University
of Southern Maine, Wishcamper Center, Room 133, Portland, ME. | | April
5 | 3:30 p.m., Col. Richard Klass (retired), Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation,
and Dr. Ira Helfand, Physicians for Social Responsibility, "Military and Medical Perspectives on the Current Nuclear Threat." Bates College, Chase Hall Lounge, Lewiston, ME. | | April
5 | 7:30 p.m., Col. Richard Klass (retired), Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation,
and Dr. Ira Helfand, Physicians for Social Responsibility, "Military and Medical Perspectives on the Current Nuclear Threat." Sponsored by Physicians for Social Responsibility, Maine Chapter, and the League of Women Voters of the Brunswick
Area. At the Curtis Memorial Library, 23 Pleasant St., Brunswick, ME. | | Week of April 5 | President Obama and Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev sign a START follow-on agreement. Prague, Czech Republic, on the anniversary of President Obama's Prague speech on nuclear weapons (possible). | | Week of April 5 or 12 | State Department issues an interim Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (estimate). | | April 6 | Noon,
Col. Richard Klass (retired), Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, and Dr. Ira Helfand, Physicians for Social Responsibility,
"Military and Medical Perspectives on the Current Nuclear Threat." Sponsored by Physicians for Social Responsibility, Maine Chapter, and the Mid-Maine Global Forum. At The Center, 93 Main St.,
Waterville, ME. | | April 6 | Noon-2:00
p.m., Matthew Bunn, Harvard University; Kenneth Luongo, Partnership for Global Security; Alexandra Toma, Connect U.S. Fund;
and Libby Turpen, Booz Allen Hamilton, Nuclear Security Pre-Summit Press Briefing. Sponsored by the Fissile Materials Working Group. National Press Club, Holeman Lounge, 529 14th St., NW, 13th Floor,
Washington. RSVP to Sean Harder by email or at (563) 264-6880. | | April 6 | 3:00 p.m., Col. Richard Klass (retired), Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, and Dr. Ira Helfand,
Physicians for Social Responsibility, "Military and Medical Perspectives on the Current Nuclear Threat." Sponsored by Physicians for Social Responsibility, Maine Chapter, and the UM School of Policy and International Affairs.
University of Maine, Little Hall, Room 120, Orono, ME. | | April
6 | Florida special election to replace former Rep. Robert Wexler (FL-19). | | April 8 | 9:00-11:00
a.m., Gregory Koblentz, George Mason University; Jens Kuhn, Fort Detrick; and Lynn Klotz, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation,
"Discussion of Three New Books on Biological Weapons Science and Policy." Sponsored by the Monterey Institute and
George Washington University, At the Stimson Center, 1111 19th St., NW, 12th Floor Conference Room, Washington.
RSVP to Kirk Bansak by email. | | April 8-9 | Center
for Strategic and International Studies, Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI) Spring Conference. Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1800 K St., NW, Washington. | | April 8-29 | Walk for Nuclear Disarmament. Washington to New York. | | April 9 | National Day of Nuclear Technology. Iran. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will announce the kind of centrifuges to be used at Iran's new nuclear enrichment
plants. Tehran. |
An email version of the Nuclear Calendar is published every Monday
morning when Congress is in session. Subscribe on FCNL's website. Unsubscribe on FCNL's website, or send an email to nuclearcalendar-unsubscribe@fcnl.org. © 2009 Friends Committee on National Legislation, 245 Second Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002 | 202-547-6000
| www.fcnl.org The editor is David Culp. The publication is made possible by generous contributions from the Colombe Foundation, the Educational Foundation of America, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Lippincott Foundation, the Nuclear Threat Initiative the Ploughshares Fund, and the individual contributors and supporters of the Friends Committee on National Legislation and the FCNL Education Fund. |
| | | | | |
|
Dear friends, The
purpose here is to continue to work for nuclear disarmament by supporting the march and rally in NYC on
May 2nd. Set
up a Facebook page. Contact
religious orders to gather signatures on the petition (attached and on the web). Contact Senior groups, Board of Education, Town Council
meetings and try to get on the agenda for a few minutes, bring the petition. Distribute petition outside churches or places of
worship or wherever you can find a good opportunity Try to find groups or clubs at
a college or high school where you could talk for a few minutes, get on the campus website etc.
Prepare a mailing to Faith Leaders.
Include a letter of explanation, a flyer re May 2nd, and a petition. Schedule a meeting and invite these Faith Leaders. Try to prepare some special video and/or materials for that meeting in the hopes
that some people will accept the invitation. Here's a refection that was written about
the Trident about 30 years ago. This sums up why we are working on this issue. What
is Trident? TRIDENT is a nuclear submarine being built now which will be able to destroy 408
cities or areas at one time, each with a blast five times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb.
TRIDENT is 2,040 Hiroshimas. One TRIDENT
submarine (30 are planned) can end
life on earth. How can anyone understand that? Begin with a mediation:
To understand TRIDENT, say the word “Hiroshima”. Reflect on its meaning for one second. Say and understand
“Hiroshima” again. And again. And again. 2,040 times. Assuming you are ale to understand “Hiroshima” in one second, You will be able to understand TRIDENT in 34 minutes. That is one
TRIDENT submarine. To understand the destructive power of the whole TRIDENT fleet, It would take you 17 hours, devoting one second to each “Hiroshima”. Your mediation
is impossible. To understand “Hiroshima” alone Would take a lifetime.
-from LIGHTNING EAST TO WEST
by Jim Douglass
********************************************************************
PETITION TO PRESIDENT OBAMA ONABOLITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS
One
nuclear weapon exploded in one city -- be it New York or Moscow, Islamabad or Mumbai, Tokyo or Tel Aviv, Paris or Prague --
could kill hundreds of thousands of people. And no matter where it happens, there is no end to what the consequences might
be -- for our global safety, our security, our society, our economy, to our ultimate survival.
President Barack Obama, Prague, April 5, 2009 Dear President Obama, We applaud you for declaring in Prague, “I state clearly and with conviction
America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons”. We commend you for your courageous and historic recognition that "as the only nuclear power to have
used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act." We call
on you to make good on that commitment and fulfill that responsibility by announcing at the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty Review Conference your initiation of good faith multilateral negotiations on an international agreement to abolish
nuclear weapons, within our lifetimes. PLEASE! PRINT CLEARLYNAME
ADDRESS
EMAIL
PHONE ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In
collaboration with Peace Action NYS www.panys.orgReturn petitions to:LI Alliance, 38 Old Country Road, Garden City NY 11530516-741-4360 email: longislandpeace.org www.longislandpeace.org
A New Moment
for Nuclear Disarmament “…true and lasting peace among nations
cannot consist in the possession of an equal supply of armaments, but only in mutual trust.” Pacem in Terris, # 113 Let’s begin with an image: a beautiful blue- green orb spinning in space, made up of a complex,
harmonious web called life. That would be Earth. Yet an awareness of its beauty comes
with concern about its fragility. A terrible imbalance, human-made, threatens its health. In
our time, the consciousness of climate change and the need to move to sustainable living has entered into the popular mind.
We need to restore balance, and fashion an economy that supports life. “Go green,” we say.
But there is sister slogan that must be added if our planet it to survive. It is, “Disarm
now!” The
need to rid the planet of nuclear weapons is inextricably linked to every hope and dream we have of saving the planet and
restoring the balance of life. Although governments’ secrecy makes a precise number hard to
pin down, there are still tens of thousands of active nuclear weapons on Earth: more than 7,000 in the United States, more
than 4,000 Russia, and still more in seven other countries that possess nuclear weapons: China,
France, The United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea. As President Obama himself has
said, “One nuclear weapon exploded in one city -– be it New York or Moscow, Islamabad or Mumbai, Tokyo or Tel
Aviv, Paris or Prague –- could kill hundreds of thousands of people.” So the question arises,
how can we name and frame this issue so that people all over the world insist that nuclear weapons be abolished, once and
for all? The good news is that the issue has already been named through the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The treaty, which binds its 189 signatories to eliminate their nuclear
arsenals, is a concrete framework that could bring about disarmament. This spring, an
extraordinary opportunity for civil society—a.k.a. “ ordinary people” to participate in making the terms
of the treaty a reality will come about through the NPT Review Conference to take place at the United Nations in New York.
Truly the conference matches that held in Copenhagen Conference on climate change. “Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference” or NPT Review for short. That
tongue-twisting title and bland acronym pose a challenge those eager to popularize the event. The treaty
itself is a complex legal structure; only specialists could master the whole. Nevertheless, as the best
hope of achieving nuclear disarmament it behooves us ordinary people to learn its essential elements. We
must press our hesitant governments if disarmament is to become a reality. The NPT is not new. It
was signed in 1970 by 190 countries, and ratified the U.S. Congress. (North Korea withdrew from the treaty
in 2003, bringing the signatories to 189.) The core of the agreement, known as “Article VI” is this:
Non-nuclear nations promised not to acquire nuclear weapons. In exchange, those who already
possessed them-- U.S., Russia, France, Great Britain and China, agreed to negotiate in good faith to eliminate their nuclear
arsenals. “Eliminate” and “good faith” are key words. If
the five nuclear weapon states had heeded them, we’d have a much safer world now. But decade by decade,
fear trumped common sense. The United States did not seriously pursue nuclear disarmament, North Korea
withdrew from the treaty, and three nations who never signed on-- India, Pakistan and Israel--now possess nuclear weapons.
Yet
the NPT still exists as a framework of hope. Every five years, U.N. member nations send delegates to review
its terms and see what forces of persuasion might be brought to bear so that they fulfill the terms they set for themselves
four decades ago. The 2010 review holds more hope than any that preceded it, for at least three important
reasons. First is President Obama position as stated in his major address in Prague, “Today I state
clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”
The support of the American president is seen as crucial to progress in disarmament, since the U.S has
the greatest number of nuclear warheads and remains as the major military power on the planet. Put simply,
other nations are afraid of us, and our nuclear posture functions as a provocation for other nations to acquire these terrible
weapons. Second, the asymmetrical threats-- rogue actors, unknowns in former times are
reasons for the nuclear weapons states to rethink their positions. Both scholars such
as Jonathan Schell and hardened statesmen such as Henry Kissinger agree that world leaders can no longer control nuclear weapons.
Our best hope is to eliminate them. Third, and perhaps most important of all, a global
citizenry is awaking to its role in holding its leaders accountable. An international movement composed
of hundreds of peace organization is alerting this citizenry to press for progress. Plans for a mass rally,
conference and festival in New York City, are well underway. A petition available on the website
www.peaceandjusticenow.org seeks to gather one million names. The Japanese peace movement alone
will send one thousand representatives to New York to partake in the events of May 1st and 2nd.
But
there is a dimension just beyond the NPT Review itself that must understood if the threat to our planet is to be overcome.
It is possible to turn away from the nuclear issue because it is too frightening, too complicated, or too abstract.
In fact, it is all those things. And a threat, no matter how dire, is not as compelling as the here-and-now
reality of suffering. So we must rouse ourselves to connect the dots: there is
great suffering caused by our failure to disarm. We are now 6 billion human beings on the planet. One billion of us go hungry every day.
It is urgent that the resources of our planet be allocated to human needs and the future of Earth. Our
very souls are corroded by the skill and imagination invested in destruction. As long as resources are
tied up in death, all that we hope for is dying too. The U.S. defense budget of 2010 will approach one
trillion dollars when all categories are added together. It is any wonder that human
needs—education, healthcare, housing, employment—are neglected? Is surprising that creative
solutions to climate change are not funded and carried out? Yet every survey of ordinary people affirms
that these are the priorities we would choose if given the chance. We know that safety based on weapons
of mass destruction is a delusion. The international planning committee for events around the May NPT Review
urges “disarm now!” in this elegant statement: “Nuclear disarmament should serve as the leading edge of a global trend
towards demilitarization and redirecting of resources to meet human needs and restore the environment. “
The fate of our beautiful blue-green orb, and all living creatures upon it, rests on the hope that such a global trend
will prevail. Our governments have proven far too cautious and distracted to accomplish this so far.
The NPT Review presents an extraordinary opportunity to harness the political will for the Treaty’s provisions
to be fulfilled It is not too soon to become involved. We must make our voices
heard this May as the nations of the world consider nuclear disarmament. We must disarm now.
Mayors anti-Nuke sign on
Nuclear Disarmamnet
Letters on Nukes
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