From: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com (abolition-usa-digest) To: abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: abolition-usa-digest V1 #22 Reply-To: abolition-usa-digest Sender: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk abolition-usa-digest Thursday, October 1 1998 Volume 01 : Number 022 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 08:54:28 -0400 From: Peace through Reason Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews: India/Pakistan Trip Cancellation - Clinton Lies Again? This strikes me as another lie. I think Clinton doesn't want to talk to India/Pakistan about global abolition of nuclear weapons. If you decide to write a letter to the editor of the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/front.htm#letters), or to the president , I'd sure appreciate a copy! Ellen Thomas prop1@prop1.org - -------------------------------------------- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-09/30/025l-093098-idx.html Clinton Set to Cancel Scheduled Trip to India, Pakistan By Peter Baker Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, September 30, 1998; Page A18 President Clinton has decided to cancel his November trip to India and Pakistan after concluding that the two nations have not done enough to rein in the nuclear arms race they started with a series of atomic tests in the spring, administration sources said yesterday. Clinton scrubbed the long-planned visit even though prime ministers of both countries last week said they were prepared to sign a worldwide treaty banning nuclear testing. U.S. officials described the move as a positive step, but insufficient to undo the damage caused by the exchange of underground nuclear explosions. "You don't want to look like you're doing anything that rewards them for breaking out of the international [arms control] regime," said a senior administration official. "But at the same time you want to use a presidential visit to coax the nonproliferation agenda ahead." The decision, while widely expected, is the latest setback in attempts to forge closer relations with the subcontinent, which has long felt neglected by the United States. First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright both have traveled to the region, but this is the second time plans have been put off for the first presidential visit in two decades. Aides said Clinton will try to reschedule next year after more work on regional tensions such as the dispute over Kashmir and on nonproliferation issues such as controlling missile deployment, technology exports and the production of fissile materials used for nuclear weapons. "This isn't cancellation as punishment; this is postponement because of progress," said an administration official. "We have to have more time to lower tensions significantly. We just don't have that between now and November." The White House has not formally announced the decision and the governments in New Delhi and Islamabad were being notified this week. But sources confirmed the decision after White House press secretary Michael McCurry all but said so during a briefing yesterday. "It's been widely reported that there's not likely going to be a trip," he said. "I don't have any reason to dispute that." The Pakistanis expressed measured disappointment. "Pakistan was eagerly awaiting President Clinton's visit," said embassy spokesman Malik Zahoor Ahmad. "We hope that he would be able to visit us at the first available opportunity." The Indian Embassy did not return a telephone call, but during a speech in New York this week Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee lashed out at the United States for its "reluctance to accept us as a responsible member of the international community." Both Vajpayee and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif indicated at the United Nations that they would sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty if the other does. But Sharif conditioned his approval on the lifting of U.S. sanctions imposed after the nuclear tests. A provision attached to an appropriations bill and approved by a congressional conference committee this week would grant Clinton the ability to waive most of those sanctions. The trip had been scheduled to coincide with Clinton's Nov. 17-18 visit to Malaysia for the annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. In scrapping India and Pakistan, the White House also put off a visit to Bangladesh. _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 14:36:46 -0400 From: Peter Weiss Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) the new abolition campaign Dear Kevin et all: Sorry Cora and I can't be in Chicago for the big meeting. Previous family engagement. I agree with everything you say and offer a few additional thoughts: 1. It's going to be difficult to organize around nuclear weapons abolition as a single issue, particularly for the under 30 crowd. Conncections need to be made to the folly of nuclearism in a comprehensive way, including the unsolved problem of nuclear waste disposal (See the feature article, "Nuclear Spoons", in the current Progressive). 2. Another necessary connection, which could greatly enlarge the circle, is with militarism; not just because of bloated defense budgets, which many people are against, but because the time has come to oppose war as an institution. But as long as people believe that war is in human nature and that the world is crawling with enemies, seen and unseen (thanks a lot, Colin Powell), they'll believe that those who have the most powerful weapons must hold on to them. 3. Organize around specific projects: The Markey and Woolsey resolutions, opposition to subcritical tests, Sierra Blanca, citizen inspections of nuclear weapon sites, support for Plowshares defendants. 4. Make Arundhati Roy's piece required reading. Get somebody to write as powerful a piece from the U.S. viewpoint. 5. As she says: "We have to reach within ourselves to find the strength to think. To fight." Let me take this opportunity to call attention to two very important and useful recent publications: One, which I'm sure will be on hand in Chicago, is the MPI Briefing Book, "Fast Track to Zero Nuclear Weapons". It's to be launched officially in New York October 27, but is already available. The other is a pamphlet by the Institute for Policy Studies and Transnational Institute, "Testing the Limits: The India-Pakistan Nuclear Gambit." It contains the full text of Roy's essay, as well as articles by Phyllis Bennis, Praful Bidway & Achin Vannik, Eqbal Ahmad, Marcus Raskin and myself. Contact Susan Pearce at MPI, ph 617 492 9189, fx 617 868 2560, =20 mpi@igc.org about the briefing book and Phyllis Bennis at IPS,=20 ph 202 234 9382, fx 202 387 7915, ipsps@igc.org about the pamphlet. Have a great meeting. Peter =09 =09 ilpeace@igc.apc.org wrote: >=20 > A few thoughts on organizing the new national campaign to abolish nucle= ar > weapons > --Kevin Martin, Illinois Peace Action, 9/23/98 >=20 > The organizers of the October 9th and 10th meetings on nuclear abolitio= n in > Chicago invited subscribers to the U.S. abolition list serve to start > circulating proposals and ideas in preparation for those meetings, both= to > begin the discourse on important issues ahead of time, and to allow tho= se > who won't be coming to Chicago to participate in the discussion of how = to > build a U.S. campaign to abolish nuclear weapons. Since only one perso= n has > posted something on this (thanks Jack Cohen-Joppa!), I guess as the hos= t for > the 9th and 10th I'll throw a pebble in the pond and see if any ripples > spread. Nothing brilliant, I promise, just a few thoughts to get discus= sion > going. >=20 > IMPORTANCE OF GRASSROOTS ORGANIZING >=20 > For many of us on the list serve, the importance of grassroots = organizing > is self-evident. And so far, the talk of how this new campaign (for wh= ich > we need a name, and soon) will knit together elite, "opinion leader", p= olicy > analysis work with grassroots organizing and a sustained media campaign= is > very promising. >=20 > I recently saw a quote by one of my heroes, Cesar Chavez. He said, "The= only > way I know to organize is to talk to one person, then another, and then > another=85" I think if we are honest about it, we don't do enough of t= his. > We talk to ourselves endlessly (which is of course what I'm doing right > now), but not to enough regular folks. >=20 > I want to underscore a point made by Paul Warnke, former U.S. a= rms control > negotiator, and by former U.S. Senator Alan Cranston, who has done fant= astic > work organizing at the policy elite level: we'll only get real progress > toward abolition when we are able to make it a political issue, and tha= t > means organizing regular old voters to pressure the politicians. >=20 > Most grassroots organizations working for abolition - the ones = whose > members will pass the petitions, bird-dog and lobby the politicians, > organize the demonstrations, commit civil disobedience, etc. -- live on= a > shoestring budget (and a gnarly old fraying shoestring at that). So if= this > new campaign is serious about the grassroots component, there will have= to > be plans made to get some resources ($) to the grassroots organizations= that > can translate the excellent policy recommendations from the opinion lea= der > level into real political pressure on the powers that be. There have > already been discussions about this, and obviously, the more integrated= and > coordinated a strategy we come up with for this campaign, the more > successful we'll be in raising money from individuals and foundations. >=20 > THE NEED FOR A LONG-TERM STRATEGY >=20 > The short-term goal of forcing abolition onto the political agenda for = the > presidential and congressional elections in 2000 is good, as are many o= ther > projects already underway, but we also need to think about the long ter= m. > If we're really good, and a bit lucky, this campaign will take 10, 12, = 15 > years. Many of us have already worked for nuclear disarmament for much > longer than that, so that long of a timeline shouldn't scare us, but we > might not all be around to see the glorious day when the scourge of nuc= lear > weapons is removed from the Earth. Where is the next generation of > abolition organizers going to come from? This issue isn't exactly on t= he > radar screen of activists under 30. >=20 > At the upcoming meeting in Chicago, we will need to focus mostly on > near-term strategy in order to build support for a coordinated U.S. > abolition campaign. However, I hope we can spend at least some time on > long-term strategy, or at least discussing a process to come up with on= e. >=20 > STRUCTURE >=20 > To me, the structure of this abolition campaign is less importa= nt than a > clear commitment to a coordinated strategy. I think the U.S. Campaign = to > Ban Landmines is a fine structural model, though from where we at Illin= ois > Peace Action sit as a grassroots member of USCBL, I think it has not ha= d a > strong, coordinated strategy that its members are bought into. Obvious= ly, > the Abolition 2000 network, which hundreds of groups have already signe= d > onto, needs to be built upon and strengthened, and can play a crucial r= ole > in building the national abolition campaign. >=20 > If we are clear that we are not creating a new organization, an= d I hope we > are, we need a structure that promotes identification with and commitme= nt to > the new national abolition campaign (boy, do we need a name soon - how = about > "Jane" for now) while also allowing member organizations to build thems= elves > -- recruit new members, raise more money, etc. - through participation = in > the campaign. > Check out our website at http://www.webcom.com/ipa >=20 > - > To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.= com" > 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. - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 23:32:14 EDT From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) the new abolition campaign A very good (and brief) post from Peter Weiss. Excellent points. Peace, David McReynolds - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 14:01:59 +0100 (BST) From: Janet Bloomfield Subject: (abolition-usa) INDIA/PAKISTAN: How to send educational materials APPEAL FOR EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS ON NUCLEAR ISSUES FOR GROUPS IN SOUTH ASIA. October Ist, 1998. Dear Friends, we have finally been able to co-ordinate with colleagues in India and Pakistan for them to receive educational material from groups around the world. The movement in South Asia for nuclear disarmament is growing and this is something very practical that can be done to support it. The main need is for educational material on nuclear weapons and nuclear power, in the form of videos, slides, pamphlets, books, .... anything and everything that can be used by activist groups directly or after translation. Material that can be used by schools and colleges would be particularly welcome. We are therefore putting out this appeal to groups everywhere asking for them to donate whatever educational material they have, or are willing to collect, buy etc. to help support South Asian peace movement activity. Nobody is asking for money, nor should money be sent. If people want to spend a little of their money to buy a video or a book that they can send, that would be great. Please forward this appeal to anyone you know of who may be able to help. Thanking you in anticipation. Yours in peace, Zia Mian, M.V.Ramana and Janet Bloomfield. p.s Abolition 2000 UK is preparing two packages of the same material, one for our Indian contact and one for our Pakistan contact. Perhaps you might consider doing the same. FOR MATERIALS TO INDIA: Praful Bidwai, on behalf of MIND (MOvement in INdia for Nuclear Disarmament) has agreed to take responsibility for handling any material you have for them. His address: Praful Bidwai 1 Jaipur Estate Nizamuddin East New Delhi 110 013 Tel: +11 469 7278 Fax: +11 464 2886 e_mail: pbidwai@pb.unv.ernet.in FOR MATERIALS TO PAKISTAN. The address to send material to in Pakistan is Dr. Shahrukh Rafi Kahn Executive Director Sustainable Development Policy Institute Peace Education Resources P.O. Box 2342 Islamabad Pakistan Tel: + 92-51 278134, SDPI is on the web at www.sdpi.org. It would be very useful if the material could be in Pakistan in time for planned travelling exhibition of pictures from Hiroshima and hibakusha (a-bomb witness survivors) testimonies (Dec 26-Jan 5) and the public meetings in a number of cities probably around that time. There is also a discussion of a national peace movement conference to follow this up. ******************************************************** Janet Bloomfield 25, Farmadine, Saffron Walden, Essex, CB11 3HR, England. Tel/Fax: 44 (0)1799 516189. e-mail: jbloomfield@gn.apc.org - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 14:06:44 -0400 From: Kathy Crandalll Subject: (abolition-usa) Interactive Action Alert Nuclear Abolition Advocates: Don't miss CNN's "Cold War Experience" Special web coverage Go to: http://cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/experience/the.bomb/ You can join discussions on topics such as: Are you worried about Russia's nuclear arsenal considering that country's political crisis? Did the U.S. spend too much money to "win" the arms race? Should research and developpment of nulcear weaponry continue? What will be the next nuclear flashpoint? Kathy - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 12:56:06 -0700 From: Shundahai Network Subject: (abolition-usa) our computers were down Hello Friends, The day after "Bagpipe" was exploded our email computer exploded as well. Unfortunately we lost over a years archive of computer email messages and three months of our SHUNDAHAI E-NEWS and ACTION ALERT lists. We were not following the golden rule of weekly back ups. Everyone out there, please back up your work on a regular basis. And do not become so dependant on your computer or email. Anyhow we are just getting going here on a borrowed computer and will have to switch everything over to our permanent computer once that becomes available. If any one signed up on our SHUNDAHAI E-NEWS and ACTION ALERT since August, could you please res-subscribe by sending a blank email message to shundahai@shundahai.org with "Subscribe SHUNDAHAI E-NEWS" or "Subscribe ACTION ALERT" in the subject. E-NEWS subscribers will receive a monthly newsletter of action alerts and updates concerning nuclear weapons and waste, Native rights, environmental, peace and justice issues. ACTION ALERT subscribers will receive the monthly e-news as well as more detailed action alerts throughout the month. Your email addresses will be kept strictly confidential. Thanks for all of your dedicated efforts! ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< SHUNDAHAI NETWORK "Peace and Harmony with all Creation" 5007 Elmhurst St., Las Vegas, NV 89108-1304 out,out Phone:(702)647-3095 (FAX)647-9385 Email: shundahai@shundahai.org 0000,0000,fefehttp://www.shundahai.org Shundahai Network is proud to be part of: Healing Global Wounds Alliance, a multi-cultural alliance to foster sustainable living and break the nuclear chain; and Abolition 2000: A Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< ><<><< - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 13:53:06 -0700 (PDT) From: Jackie Cabasso Subject: (abolition-usa) FOR CHICAGO MEETING; PLEASE REVIEW (2 of 3) Dear US Abolitionists (part 2), Following is the text of the Moorea Declaration, which was adopted by consensus of the participants to the January 1997 annual meeting of Abolition 2000 in Tahiti, as a supplement to the Abolition 2000 Statement. (About 100 people from 20+ countries participated in the meeting. The Moorea Declaration was drafted by NGOs from the Pacific Island nations.) The Moorea Declaration can help us in our outreach efforts to diverse constituencies in the US. - -- Jackie ===================================================================== Abolition 2000 MOOREA DECLARATION Supplement to the Abolition 2000 Founding Statement Adopted at the Abolition 2000 Conference, Moorea, Te Ao Maohi (French Occupied Polynesia) 25 January 1997 This conference reaffirms the commitments and the vision of the Abolition 2000 Founding Statement initiated in 1995 - the 50th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - to work for the definite and unconditional abolition of nuclear weapons, and redress the environmental degradation and human suffering that is the legacy of fifty two years of nuclear weapons usage, testing, and production. However, this meeting, held in Te Ao Maohi a year after the end of French nuclear testing, has highlighted the particular suffering of indigenous and colonised peoples as a result of the production and testing of nuclear weapons. The anger and tears of colonised peoples arise from the fact that there was no consultation, no consent, no involvement in the decision when their lands, air and waters were taken for the nuclear build-up, from the very start of the nuclear era. Colonised and indigenous peoples have, in the large part, borne the brunt of this nuclear devastation - from the mining of uranium and the testing of nuclear weapons on indigenous peoples land, to the dumping, storage and transport of plutonium and nuclear wastes, and the theft of land for nuclear infrastructure. The founding statement of Abolition 2000 states that "the participation of citizens and NGO's in planning and monitoring the abolition of nuclear weapons is vital." We reaffirm this, in spirit and action, but also state that indigenous and colonised peoples must be central to this process. This can only happen if and when they are able to participate in decisions relating to the nuclear weapons cycle - and especially in the abolition of nuclear weapons in all aspects. The inalienable right to self-determination, sovereignty and independence is crucial in allowing all peoples of the world to join in the common struggle to rid the planet forever of nuclear weapons. Therefore this conference agrees that this Moorea Declaration becomes a supplement to the Abolition 2000 Founding Statement. ******************************************** WESTERN STATES LEGAL FOUNDATION 1440 Broadway, Suite 500 Oakland, CA USA 94612 Tel: (510)839-5877 Fax: (510)839-5397 wslf@igc.apc.org ********** Part of ABOLITION 2000 ********** Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 13:53:09 -0700 (PDT) From: Jackie Cabasso Subject: (abolition-usa) FOR CHICAGO MEETING; PLEASE REVIEW (3 of 3) Dear US Abolitionists (part 3), A national petition drive has been proposed by several groups as an element of our US Abolition Campaign. Following is the existing Abolition 2000 Petition, which was carefully thought through and circulated widely for input before being finalized. This petition is already being used by local Abolition groups around the US, and by many groups in other countries. It is currently the centerpiece of a national petition drive in France. Amazingly, in just 3 months, groups in Japan collected 13 million signatures on this petition! (Those signatures were presented to the President of the NPT Preparatory Committee meeting in Geneva this spring.) Note that point #1 is relevant to both "dealerting" and stockpile stewardship; point #2 concerns the treaty; and point #3 is useful in making the link between nuclear abolition and issues of concern to other constituencies. -- Jackie ===================================================================== ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS! Abolition 2000 International Petition Missiles to Sunflowers: A New Commitment for a New Century We call upon all states, and particularly the nuclear weapons states, to make the following commitments: 1. END THE NUCLEAR THREAT. End the nuclear threat by dealerting all nuclear weapons, withdrawing all nuclear weapons from foreign soil and international waters, separating warheads from delivery vehicles and disabling them, committing to unconditional no first use of nuclear weapons, and ceasing all nuclear weapons tests, including laboratory tests and "subcriticals." 2. SIGN THE TREATY. Sign a Nuclear Weapons Convention by the year 2000, agreeing to the elimination of all nuclear weapons within a timebound framework 3. REALLOCATE RESOURCES. Reallocate resources to ensure a sustainable global future and to redress the environmental devastation and human suffering caused by nuclear weapons production and testing, which have been disproportionately borne by the world's indigenous peoples. Name:____________________________________________________Email*:______________ Address:______________________________________________________________________ Name:____________________________________________________Email*:______________ Address:______________________________________________________________________ Name:____________________________________________________Email*:______________ Address:______________________________________________________________________ Name:____________________________________________________Email*:______________ Address:______________________________________________________________________ Name:____________________________________________________Email*:______________ Address:______________________________________________________________________ Name:____________________________________________________Email*:______________ Address:______________________________________________________________________ *To sign the petition electronically go to http://www.wagingpeace.org/intlpetition.html The results of this petition will be delivered to the United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conferences, the Human Rights Commission, and the governments of nuclear weapons states and nuclear threshold states. Please return Abolition 2000 International Petitions to: Abolition 2000, c/o Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, 1187 Coast Village Road, Suite 123, Santa Barbara, CA 93108 Tel: (805) 965-3443 ; Fax: (805) 568-0466; E-mail: wagingpeace@napf.org Web site: http://www.wagingpeace.org ******************************************** WESTERN STATES LEGAL FOUNDATION 1440 Broadway, Suite 500 Oakland, CA USA 94612 Tel: (510)839-5877 Fax: (510)839-5397 wslf@igc.apc.org ********** Part of ABOLITION 2000 ********** Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 13:52:58 -0700 (PDT) From: Jackie Cabasso Subject: (abolition-usa) FOR CHICAGO MEETING; PLEASE REVIEW (1 of 3) Dear US Abolitionists (part 1), In preparation for the October 9 Organizing Meeting on a US Campaign for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, and on behalf of the planning committee, I'm posting the Abolition 2000 Statement for your review. It is our assumption going into this meeting, that the Abolition 2000 Statement reflects our shared goals and vision for a US Abolition campaign, and thus forms the basis for our cooperative strategizing and planning. As of September 28, 1998, 1,122 organizations in 76 countries have endorsed the Abolition 2000 Statement. In the US, 384 organizations have endorsed the Statement, including major national groups such as Peace Action, Physicians for Social Responsibility, American Friends Service Committee, Pax Christi and Womens' International League for Peace and Freedom, and many of their local chapters. It is likely that most, if not all of the groups participating in the October 9 meeting, have signed the Abolition 2000 Statement. A quick overview: The Abolition 2000 Statement calls for immediate negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention (treaty) that requires the phased elimination of all nuclear weapons within a timebound framework, with provisions for effective verification and enforcement. It also outlines a set of specific measures to be undertaken immediately and along the way to abolition. (Note, for example, that point 4, "commence to withdraw and disable deployed nuclear weapons systems," is relevant to the current discussion of dealerting. Also, note that the year 2000 is cited as the target date for completion of the treaty, which will include a timetable for disarmament, not the target date for the actual elimination of all nuclear weapons.) The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF) in Santa Barbara serves as the clearinghouse for the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons, a task which includes updating and maintaining the list of endorsing organizations. You can see who's on the list and find lots of useful information, action suggestions, and organizing tools by visiting the NAPF's Abolition 2000 home page at: www.wagingpeace.org/abolition 2000 I will post the Moorea Declaration, which was adopted as a supplement to the Abolition 2000 Statement at the 1997 meeting in Tahiti, as well as the Abolition 2000 Petition, in separate messages. I look forward to seeing you in Chicago! -- Jackie Cabasso ==================================================================== Abolition 2000 A Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons In April 1995, during the first weeks of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review and Extension Conference at the United Nations in New York, NGO activists from around the world recognized that the issue of nuclear abolition was not on the governments' agenda. Together they drafted the following statement, which became the founding document of the Abolition 2000 Network. By now, over 1,000 NGOs on six continents have signed the Abolition 2000 Statement, and the list is growing every day! ABOLITION 2000 STATEMENT A secure and livable world for our children and grandchildren and all future generations requires that we achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and redress the environmental degradation and human suffering that is the legacy of fifty years of nuclear weapons testing and production. Further, the inextricable link between the "peaceful" and warlike uses of nuclear technologies and the threat to future generations inherent in creation and use of long-lived radioactive materials must be recognized. We must move toward reliance on clean, safe, renewable forms of energy production that do not provide the materials for weapons of mass destruction and do not poison the environment for thousands of centuries. The true "inalienable" right is not to nuclear energy, but to life, liberty and security of person in a world free of nuclear weapons. We recognize that a nuclear weapons free world must be achieved carefully and in a step by step manner. We are convinced of its technological feasibility. Lack of political will, especially on the part of the nuclear weapons states, is the only true barrier. As chemical and biological weapons are prohibited, so must nuclear weapons be prohibited. We call upon all states particularly the nuclear weapons states, declared and de facto to take the following steps to achieve nuclear weapons abolition. We further urge the states parties to the NPT to demand binding commitments by the declared nuclear weapons states to implement these measures: 1) Initiate immediately and conclude by the year 2000 negotiations on a nuclear weapons abolition convention that requires the phased elimination of all nuclear weapons within a timebound framework, with provisions for effective verification and enforcement.* 2) Immediately make an unconditional pledge not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons. 3) Rapidly complete a truly comprehensive test ban treaty with a zero threshold and with the stated purpose of precluding nuclear weapons development by all states. 4) Cease to produce and deploy new and additional nuclear weapons systems, and commence to withdraw and disable deployed nuclear weapons systems. 5) Prohibit the military and commercial production and reprocessing of all weapons-usable radioactive materials. 6) Subject all weapons-usable radioactive materials and nuclear facilities in all states to international accounting, monitoring, and safeguards, and establish a public international registry of all weapons-usable radioactive materials. 7) Prohibit nuclear weapons research, design, development, and testing through laboratory experiments including but not limited to non-nuclear hydrodynamic explosions and computer simulations, subject all nuclear weapons laboratories to international monitoring, and close all nuclear test sites. 8) Create additional nuclear weapons free zones such as those established by the treaties of Tlatelolco and Raratonga. 9) Recognize and declare the illegality of threat or use of nuclear weapons, publicly and before the World Court. 10) Establish an international energy agency to promote and support the development of sustainable and environmentally safe energy sources. 11) Create mechanisms to ensure the participation of citizens and NGOs in planning and monitoring the process of nuclear weapons abolition. A world free of nuclear weapons is a shared aspiration of humanity. This goal cannot be achieved in a non-proliferation regime that authorizes the possession of nuclear weapons by a small group of states. Our common security requires the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. Our objective is definite and unconditional abolition of nuclear weapons. * The convention should mandate irreversible disarmament measures, including but not limited to the following: withdraw and disable all deployed nuclear weapons systems; disable and dismantle warheads; place warheads and weapon-usable radioactive materials under international safeguards; destroy ballistic missiles and other delivery systems. The convention could also incorporate the measures listed above which should be implemented independently without delay. When fully implemented, the convention would replace the NPT. ==================================================================== If your group or organization wishes to sign on to this statement, please send an e-mail stating contact name, organization name, address, fax, telephone and E-mail address to: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation 1187 Coast Village Road, Suite 123; Santa Barbara, California; 93108; Tel.: (805) 965-3443; Fax (805) 568-0466; e-mail: wagingpeace@napf.org OR sign electronically at: http://www.wagingpeace.org/orgapledge.html ******************************************** WESTERN STATES LEGAL FOUNDATION 1440 Broadway, Suite 500 Oakland, CA USA 94612 Tel: (510)839-5877 Fax: (510)839-5397 wslf@igc.apc.org ********** Part of ABOLITION 2000 ********** Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 20:28:21 -0700 (PDT) From: nukeresister@igc.org (Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa) Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) the new abolition campaign Dear Peter Weiss et al, re your: > few additional thoughts: > 2. Another necessary connection, which could greatly enlarge the >circle, is with militarism; not just because of bloated defense budgets, >which many people are against, but because the time has come to oppose >war as an institution. Yes! > 3. Organize around specific projects: ... citizen >inspections of nuclear weapon sites, support for Plowshares defendants. & perhaps other defendants as well, when citizen inspections and other forms of nonviolent direct action result in trial and/or jail. I appreciate recognition of the necessity to support those who risk arrest at the hands of officials who don't yet understand international law. > 4. Make Arundhati Roy's piece required reading. Well, at least highly recommended. It is superb. But 'requiring' anything of THIS movement's participants would probably trigger some reflexive rejection...! :-) Jack _____________________________________ the Nuclear Resister "a chronicle of hope" P.O. Box 43383 Tucson AZ 85733 - information about and support for imprisoned anti-nuclear and anti-war activists - Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa, editors (520)323-8697 US$15/year/US$20 Canada/US$25 overseas - selections from current issue - updated prisoner addresses - & more can be read at: http://www.nonviolence.org/nukeresister * FREE SAMPLE ISSUE ON REQUEST * (please supply a postal address for samples) _____________________________________ - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" 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. ------------------------------ End of abolition-usa-digest V1 #22 ********************************** - To unsubscribe to $LIST, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe $LIST" 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.