From: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com (abolition-usa-digest) To: abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: abolition-usa-digest V1 #129 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 Wednesday, May 12 1999 Volume 01 : Number 129 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 20:48:06 -0400 From: News Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: Why did NATO bomb Chinese Embassy? At 12:44 AM 5/12/99 +0200, >schwann wrote, >>JaredI@aol.com wrote: : >>HOW NATO & THE MEDIA MISREPRESENTED THE >>CHINESE EMBASSY BOMBING >> >>Clearly, he said, the goal was to punish China for sympathizing >>with the Yugoslav people against NATO. More specifically, the >>intention was to terrorize Chinese newspeople in Yugoslavia, >>thus silencing yet another non-NATO information source. >> >>Does that seem too nightmarish to be true? >You know that conspiracy theories can easily be put forward, but even >though I've critised the USA/NATO involvement in Yugoslavia I cringed when >I read your post. Even those warmongers aren't so stupid not to know what >the Chinese represent. > >Just so you know who's side I'm on I'll paste in below the article that I >posted to Usenet....but Puleeeze!!! Gee, schwann, although your criticism of USA/NATO ivolvement is indeed eloquent, you didn't address even one of the (what certainly seemed to me to be) very significant points raised by JaredI@aol.com. Could it be that you've got a very good heart, but you're just too totally brainwashed to deal with factual allegations? Thomas ____________________________________________________________ * 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: Tue, 11 May 1999 17:57:49 -0700 From: "David Crockett Williams" Subject: (abolition-usa) NIX MOX/ATOMIC TRAIN ACTION DAY--May 17 Subject: [Fwd: NIX MOX/ATOMIC TRAIN ACTION DAY--May 17] May offers you an "Atomic Issue Buffet" and we invite you to join a national and international focus day of education, action and media work. May 17 is INTERNATIONAL NIX MOX ACTION DAY 1999!!!!!!!!!!!!! MOX (mixed oxide plutonium fuel) for use in commercial power reactors that were not designed for them, initiates plutonium as an element of commerce, undermines nonproliferation policy and will give the international plutonium cartel billions in U.S. taxpayer money. (more info follows) May 17 is also the second night of a 2 day NBC mini-series called "Atomic Train" which will feature as an out-of-control train carrying nuclear weapons and commercial nuclear waste near Denver. It promises to be one of the biggest ads ever on the dangers of nuclear transport (we haven't seen it, but it is not a rosy ending). Atomic Train is airing just as nuclear shipments are traveling to New Mexico to the WIPP site and as Congress debates Mobile Chernobyl legislation (AGAIN) that would trigger an even larger nuclear waste shipping campaign, expediting commercial and military high-level nuclear waste travel to Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Mobile Chernobyl (HR 45 sponsored by Upton R-MI and Towns D-NY and S 608, sponsored by Murkowski R-AK) -- would send 20,000--100,000 shipments of high-level military and civilian waste across 43 states to Yucca Mountain, Nevada beginning in 2003 and continuing for 30 years! This is the 4th year that the nuclear industry has tried to push, bribe and beg their way to changing nuclear waste law. Transport remains the key issue to turn heads on the Hill, since the routes cross over 300 Congressional districts. We already know Yucca is such a bad site that if the waste is moved there, it would have to be moved again in order to meet the goal of nuclear waste isolation. The Department of Energy (DOE) has illegally begun plutonium shipments to WIPP (Waste Isolation Pilot Plant) -- the salt repository in southern New Mexico. The DOE does not have authority to do this since they do not yet have a permit for mixed waste, and in order to prove that they are sending waste that is not mixed radioactive and chemical waste, these first shipments are waste from the fabrication of the Cassini probe. It is expressly excluded from WIPP since it is not military waste. WIPP shipments will travel across 22 states and are a key issue in Colorado where the NBC drama is set. MAY 17 ACTION DAY -- So, this is an invitation to pick your focal point -- MOX, Mobile Chernobyl and Yucca or WIPP --- or maybe weave them together if you happen to be on a cross-roads for one or more...though for outreach and press work it is best to be focused and have no more than 3 points you are trying to get across. WHERE THE ISSUES INTERSECT: MOX fuel fabrication will produce more plutonium laced wastes that might eventually find their way to WIPP. MOX also complicates any geologic repository for irradiated fuel since it is hotter and has both more fission products and more long-lived elements heavier than uranium, including more plutonium that irradiated uranium fuels. MOX will also increase the number of shipments since fewer MOX fuel rods can be packaged together for shipment. Meanwhile the opening of WIPP is a huge booster for the international nuclear industry since it is the first big hole in the ground accepting waste for permanent disposal on a large scale. It is a big boost of morale for DOE to open Yucca too. And Yucca is the king pin for the MOX program since both tracks of plutonium disposition depend upon a permanent repository for final disposition. ACTION DAY SUGGESTIONS -- Does your community know about the key issue and what it means locally? If not, this is a chance to begin the educating process. Press conference? Teach-In? Flyers or articles/letters to the paper? An International NIX MOX ACTION DAY packet of materials is available, along with many web sites with information ready to be printed --- start with http://www.nirs.org, http://www.nci.org and http://www.ieer.org and follow the links from there. E-mail to maryo@nirs.org for the packet -- put NIX MOX ACTION in the subject line. (or call Mary Olson at NIRS 202-328-0002) Last year grassroots activists in the U.S. and Russia joined together to send the NIX MOX message to Clinton and Yeltsin, people in England, Canada and other parts of the plutonium empire also took action. Let's build on last year's initiative. Mobile Chernobyl -- the plan is to release once again to the press the projected transport routes and information on the status of the legislation at that time. It has been 4 years since over 100 groups released the project route maps from the nation's nuclear reactor to Nevada. It is time to do it again, and Atomic Train will give us the perfect entree. NBC affiliate stations will be hungry for local angles. We find that focusing on the projected routes to be the most powerful. NIRS can provide basic maps projecting the shipment routes of civilian and military waste to Yucca Mountain. They are available in the Don't Waste America section of NIRS' website (http://www.nirs.org) or e-mail to maryo@nirs.org and put "Yucca Maps" in the subject line. (or call Mary Olson at NIRS 202-328-0002) WIPP -- we will network you to groups who are working on this issue intensively. If your community is already aware of the issue(S) and you have news then a press conference is the way to go. Have one near a major rail or highway transport route. Or maybe it is time to make some news. A peaceful demonstration outside a nuclear utility? A caravan along a projected transport route? Hang a banner on the route a that irradiated fuel or plutonium would travel? Start a petition drive? Introduce a resolution before your town or county opposing plutonium fuel use or use of tax dollars for plutonium economy, or the Mobil Chernobyl bills (HR 45 and S 608). YOUR IDEA HERE! Do share it and we will circulate it back out with the next ALERT on this Action Day. PLEASE DO CONTACT US IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE TAKING ACTION OF ANY KIND ON MAY 17...let us know what your issue focus is too. A list will be compiled of all the actions, and distributed so that each site is aware of the other sites and interested media and the industry can see that it is not a small world, but we are a BIG FAMILY! To get on this list and get a copy of it, once again, e-mail maryo@nirs.org or call 202-328-0002 ask for Mary Olson. We know that this is short notice, and apologize. We hope that people nationwide will join in in some way. Why May 17? Not only is NBC doing its broadcast, but the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is hosting a 3 day meeting in Vienna on MOX, starting May 17. Let's send a loud message -- NIX MOX! STOP MOBILE CHERNOBYL -- STOP WIPP BACKGROUND NIX MOX The international nuclear cartel is promoting the use of MOX plutonium fuel in current power reactors worldwide that were designed for uranium fuel. In the U.S. and Russia, the conversion of warhead plutonium to plutonium reactor fuel is the opportunity for these same plutonium promoters to receive a huge a U.S. taxpayer subsidy, in the name of surplus plutonium disposition. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has just awarded a contract to a group of corporations to develop MOX fuel in the U.S. This contract has been awarded prior to the final environmental analysis or official decision to pursue MOX as the disposition for surplus plutonium from warhead dismantlement. The contract went to these corporations: Duke Engineering, Cogema Inc., Stone and Webster, Belgonucleaire, Framatome Cogema Fuels, Nuclear Fuel Services, Duke Power and Virginia Power. The United States has had a policy in the past of at least superficial separation between military and civilian nuclear activities. The U.S. MOX program demolishes even the thin veil that has been there. By promoting, and indeed paying for use of plutonium fuel in Russia, the U.S. is also supporting the development of a plutonium economy there. Cogema is the primary beneficiary of the U.S. federal MOX contact, and British Nuclear Fuels is the primary contractor at the Savannah River site in South Carolina where the plutonium processing and MOX fuel fabrication is supposed to occur. It is clear that the plutonium promoters of Europe will benefit from the U.S./Russia program even while their homeland plutonium businesses are facing serious economic and environmental challenges. Mobile Chernobyl This nick-name for legislation openly authored by the commercial nuclear power industry raises the specter of the worst case scenario for a nuclear waste transport accident: a cask damaged to expose nuclear fuel, engulfed in a high temperature fire which spreads particles of the lethal waste in the smoke plume. This is similar, on a smaller scale, to what happened when the fire burned out of control at Chernobyl. The two bills, HR 45 and S 608 are variations on proposals first introduced in 1994, which would remove current law and authorize an interim "parking-lot" style dump next door to the one site under study for a permanent high-level nuclear waste dump. This would trigger the largest nuclear waste shipping campaign in history. Over 95% of the radioactivity of the nuclear age is in this irradiated fuel. It would travel on interstates and highways, on common carrier freight trains, traveling through nearly every U.S. city since the commerce routes would be used. This most deadly waste -- lethal radiation exposure in less than a minute if it is unshielded -- would travel within 1/2 of the homes of 50 million people. It would continue for 30 years, or more. Why now? The utilities claim it is because DOE missed the deadline to begin taking this waste off utility property by 1998, transferring liability from the private industry to the taxpayer. It is also the case that with utility deregulation, many nuclear utilities have lost their monopoly and are facing competition. They are seeking to expedite this transfer. The proposed legislation (particularly the House version) sets terrible precedents, gutting environmental protection, forbidding EPA to set a radiation standard for Yucca Mountain permanent repository, instead legislating one (100 millirems) that is 4-100 time less protective than other country's waste disposal standards, and threatening to preempt EVERY other law except for the Atomic Energy Act! HR 45 and S 608 take us many steps further away from a sound nuclear waste policy. Lets be clear and strong. Together we will NIX MOX and Stop the Dumps! - - 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: Tue, 11 May 1999 19:05:35 -0700 From: "David Crockett Williams" Subject: (abolition-usa) "UNINTENTIONAL" BOMBING REPEATS A FAMILIAR PATTERN Subject: Peter Dale Scott: "UNINTENTIONAL" BOMBING REPEATS A FAMILIAR PATTERN Date: Tuesday, May 11, 1999 5:34 PM Actual heading: Bombing of Chinese Embassy Content-Length: 5242 Status: R COMMENTARY-720 WORDS "UNINTENTIONAL" BOMBING REPEATS A FAMILIAR PATTERN EDITOR'S NOTE: NATO forces and President Clinton have expressed regret over the fact that the Chinese embassy in Belgrade was destroyed just as there was word of a possible peace initiative, calling the incident unfortunate and unintentional. But the timing and nature of the bombing brings to mind a number of similar actions during the Vietnam War era. PNS contributor Peter Dale Scott, a former Canadian diplomat, has authored numerous books and articles on U.S. foreign affairs. BY PETER DALE SCOTT, PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE The recent bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade looks like a replay. During the Vietnam War era, U.S. forces hit political targets, specifically embassies, just when international peace initiatives looked promising. Congress should insist on a thorough accounting from those responsible for the bombing. The attack on the Chinese Embassy came one day after Russia and leading NATO nations agreed to a set of general principles for ending the conflict over Kosovo. NATO has called the incident unintentional, but the Chinese claim that three separate precision missiles hit the Embassy. Eyewitness reports appear to corroborate the Chinese version. The threat to the peace process is obvious. The draft plan calls for approval by the U.N. Security Council, where China, a bitter opponent of the bombing, exercises a veto. This recalls December 1966, when the Rumanian Premier visited Hanoi in support of a secret Polish peace initiative dubbed "Marigold." Mid-December saw U.S. bombing of downtown Hanoi at unprecedented levels, after months when the city's center had been off-limits to American planes. During the raids one U.S. rocket damaged three adjacent Embassies -- the Rumanian, the Polish, and the Chinese which effectively terminated "Marigold." The U.S. called the Embassy bombings unintentional. But such correlations occurred repeatedly. In April 1966, just as a Polish diplomat was arriving in Hanoi to initiate "Marigold," bombs dropped near a Polish vessel in a Vietnamese harbor. In June 1967, just after the White House-Kremlin hot line was first used in a search for a diplomatic solution, the Soviet freighter Turkestan was bombed by two U.S. fighter planes. Three times, in almost identical circumstances, other Polish and Soviet vessels were later attacked. When in 1967 two French emissaries bearing a U.S. peace message arrived in Hanoi, the city experienced yet another surge in the bombing. My 1972 book, "Conspiracy" analyzed more than a dozen such incidents. The habit of timing bombs to peace initiatives apparently began as a deliberate policy of Lyndon Johnson, who habitually balanced concessions to hawks and doves. Thus Johnson authorized the December 1966 raids at the LBJ ranch in November, one day after he learned of "Marigold" from his roving ambassador Averell Harriman. In this way Johnson ensured that, if the North Vietnamese did negotiate, it would be in a context of humiliating air strength. But by June 1967 a different pattern emerged -- one involving military attacks which the President had forbidden. When activating the Washington-Moscow hot line in late May, Johnson ordered U.S. pilots to stay away from Hanoi and Haiphong, where there were Soviet ships. The two pilots who had attacked the Turkestan knew they were violating presidential orders. They and their commander tried to conceal the incident, the latter by destroying the planes' flight film. In his memoir former Defense Secretary McNamara recalled the "scathing denial" he erroneously issued after this incident, blaming "an outright lie by a military officer." He added that the colonel responsible for the bombing "was later court-martialed and fined." McNamara did not mention that the colonel's conviction and $600 fine were soon set aside. The two pilots were acquitted and remained on active duty, even though their unauthorized action had killed a Soviet seaman. This suggests that the bombing had high-level military support. A similar Air Force action in 1971 temporarily ended the series of secret meetings which Kissinger had been holding with North Vietnam's Le Duc Tho. To help the meetings President Nixon had limited air strikes against North Vietnam to "protective reaction" after enemy attacks. But the USAF general in charge of the air war, John Lavelle, continued to target North Vietnam, instructing the pilots to suppress the fact that there had been no enemy provocation. Thus Kissinger was caught off guard when Le Duc Tho broke off the talks in November, insisting (over Kissinger's misinformed denials) that the bombing went beyond "protective reaction." In short, it is clear that in the past, U.S. military commanders have bombed without authorization at times of significant peace initiatives, of which they apparently did not approve. The recent attack on the Chinese embassy should be investigated. It is of course too early to analyze with confidence how it occurred. But history demonstrates unequivocally that such incidents frustrate diplomacy and prolong war. (05101999) **** END **** =A9 COPYRIGHT PNS - -- Sandy Close Pacific News Service (415) 438-4755 - - 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, 12 May 1999 03:00:56 -0700 From: "David Crockett Williams" Subject: (abolition-usa) Ted Turner: Nuclear War in Future From: Hilary A. Thomas To: InTheShawdows@onelist.com Subject: [InTheShadows] Ted Turner: Nuclear War in Future Date: Sunday, May 09, 1999 8:32 AM From: "Hilary A. Thomas" Ted Turner: Nuclear War in Future Saturday, May 8, 1999; 9:05 p.m. EDT ATHENS, Ga. (AP) -- Ted Turner told University of Georgia graduates today to keep thinking and learning, then rained on their parade by suggesting that NATO bombing in Yugoslavia could lead to nuclear war. ``Here's the class of '99, and y'all are just starting out. Wouldn't it be terrible to have nuclear war in the next week or two and mess up y'alls careers befor= e they have gotten started?'' Turner said in a commencement address to 5,00= 0 graduates. Turner, who founded CNN, said that as a child during the Cold War he worried that he wouldn't live to see the end of the millennium. At age 60, he said he has the same worries. Referring to the NATO bombing o= f China's Embassy in Belgrade, Turner said: ``If we drop a bomb on the Russian Embassy, we could be at war with Russia and China tomorrow, and they both got lots of nuclear weapons. We might not even get to see the millennium.'' =A9 Copyright 1999 The Associated Press - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What's "Grow to Give"? http://www.onelist.com It's a new incentive program at ONElist. See homepage for details. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ InTheShadows is a discussion list dedicated to keeping up-to-date with ne= w technologies, advancements in medicine, environmental concerns, 'conspira= cy theories', politics, and, of course, UFO stuff. Discussion is encouraged. Bashing and soapboxing will get you bounced off the list. To subscribe send a blank email to: InTheShadows-subscribe@onelist.com To unsubscribe send a blank email to: InTheShadows-unsubscribe@onelist.com List Moderator: Hilary Thomas InTheShadows-owner@onelist.com 4=08 - - 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, 12 May 1999 07:15:59 -0400 From: prop1 Subject: (abolition-usa) Confronting the Speaker This is a multi-part message in MIME format. - --------------F70199FC71ACA73656C91FF5 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/12wed1.html - --------------F70199FC71ACA73656C91FF5 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii; name="12wed1.html" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline; filename="12wed1.html" Content-Base: "http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/edito rial/12wed1.html" Content-Location: "http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/edito rial/12wed1.html" Confronting the Speaker

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May 12, 1999

Confronting the Speaker
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    The fate of campaign finance reform is in the hands of a few dozen Republican moderates afraid to stand up for what they believe. That much is clear from the refusal of House Republicans who support the Shays-Meehan "soft money" ban to sign a petition forcing the bill to the floor. At a meeting with Speaker Dennis Hastert last week, many of these Republicans asked for a vote before midsummer. The Speaker said he would think about it. A week has gone by, and he has not gotten back to them. With 191 Democrats on board to bring the legislation to a vote, it would take only 27 Republican signatures, out of 59 Republican supporters of the bill, to let the vote take place.

    The Speaker has been all over the calendar in predicting when a vote could come. First he said next year, then the end of September. Yesterday the House majority leader, Dick Armey, said it should come in late July. That would still be too late. There is no reason a vote on campaign reform cannot be scheduled this month or next. But if the House leaders insist on July, they must guarantee that a vote takes place then, not just a debate. The need is urgent because the legislation, which would ban unregulated soft-money donations to parties by corporations, unions and rich individuals, must be passed quickly to leave time to block a Republican-led filibuster in the Senate.

    Mr. Hastert is cultivating an image of openness, flexibility and putting the House "back on track," as Alison Mitchell reports in The Times today. But he should not be given more than a few more days to make up his mind about scheduling a vote. He made his own parochial interests clear when he said last week that he had "serious concerns" about the Shays-Meehan bill. Translation: He fears it would cut off a large chunk of special-interest funds that have corrupted both parties in the last several years. But the Speaker's obligation now is not to his own party's narrow financial interests. It is to let the majority of the house give Americans the reforms they have yearned for since the fund-raising scandals of 1996.

    Mr. Hastert keeps saying that appropriations bills must be taken up before campaign finance reform. But the appropriations bills will probably stir up a time-consuming battle and may not get approved until the end of the year. The Speaker is also reported to have told fellow Republicans that he regrets his passivity in failing to push for passage of a resolution supporting the use of military action in Yugoslavia. He can demonstrate true leadership this time by letting the principled members of his party have the vote they want.

    The main Republican sponsor of the reform bill, Christopher Shays of Connecticut, has taken a back seat in the drive to press the Speaker. Two other respected Republicans, Marge Roukema of New Jersey and Zach Wamp of Tennessee, have taken the initiative. Mrs. Roukema was right to say that Mr. Hastert would be inviting a "big problem" if he did not yield. These declarations are not threats. They are a restatement of principle. Without the tenacity of these few dozen Republican lawmakers, campaign reform will die. It is that simple.



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    - --------------F70199FC71ACA73656C91FF5-- - - 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, 12 May 1999 07:20:45 -0400 From: News Subject: (abolition-usa) Question Re: "Confronting the Speaker" Sorry, folks, I accidentally sent you a news article, "Confronting the Speaker" (NY Times, 5/12/99 editorial) without explaining why. The article mentions a petition to force the speaker to bring legislation to the floor for a vote. There are several important nuclear abolition bills/resolutions languishing in House committees. Does anyone know what such a petition would look like, the number of signatures required, etc.? Thanks for advice.... Ellen Thomas PROPOSITION ONE COMMITTEE P.O. Box 27217, Washington, DC 20038 USA 202-462-0757 (phone) | 202-265-5389 (fax) http://prop1.org | prop1@prop1.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: Wed, 12 May 1999 08:36:21 -0400 From: Bob Tiller Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Question Re: "Confronting the Speaker" The mechanism is formally known as a "Discharge Petition" because it discharges the bill from any committee to which it was referred. When joining a Discharge Petition, House Members actually physically sign a piece of paper. A majority of the House, i.e. 218 signatures, is required for the discharge to occur. (It rarely happens.) When the 218 number is reached, the bill must come to the House floor within a specified time period (something like seven days, I think, but it could be some other number of days). There are House rules about length of debate and permissible amendments. Shalom, Bob Tiller News wrote: > Sorry, folks, I accidentally sent you a news article, "Confronting the > Speaker" (NY Times, 5/12/99 editorial) without explaining why. The article > mentions a petition to force the speaker to bring legislation to the floor > for a vote. There are several important nuclear abolition > bills/resolutions languishing in House committees. Does anyone know what > such a petition would look like, the number of signatures required, etc.? > > Thanks for advice.... > > Ellen Thomas > > PROPOSITION ONE COMMITTEE > P.O. Box 27217, Washington, DC 20038 USA > 202-462-0757 (phone) | 202-265-5389 (fax) > http://prop1.org | prop1@prop1.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. - - 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, 12 May 1999 09:59:17 -0400 From: Bob Tiller Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) REPORT FROM US ABOLITION CAMPAIGN; JOIN A WORKING GROUP! Jackie, It only SEEMED like 12 days. We weren't really in Santa Barbara that long. Shalom, Bob Tiller Jackie Cabasso wrote: > Dear friends -- For those who were at the Feb. 12 - 24 Santa Barbara meeting, > and for those who weren't, following are the notes from the April 13 > Facilitators' Group conference call. Please note that after the introductory > section you will find a list of Working Groups, descriptions and convenors. > You are cordially invited to contact the convenors if you'd like to get > involved.! (Or let us know if you'd like to convene a group on another topic). > The Facilitators' Group has been meeting by conference call every few weeks. > We are tentatively planning a follow-up meeting in August, and will keep you > posted. Many of us are off to The Hague and the NPT PrepCom meeting in New > York, so things will probably be on hold till the end of May. -- Jackie Cabasso > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ----------------------------------------- > > US ABOLITION CAMPAIGN FACILITATORS GROUP CONFERENCE CALL 4-13-99 > > Present on call: Jackie Cabasso, Matteo Ferreira, Alan Haber, Jan Harwood, > Sally Light, Pamela Meidell, Jo Peterson, Dave Robinson, Alice Slater, John > Burroughs, Esther Pank, Andrew Lichterman, Robert Manning, Tad Daley > > Facilitator: Jackie Cabasso > Note taker: Andrew Lichterman > > It was noted at the outset that two facilitators' group members, Gordon > Clark and Clayton Ramey, were no longer receiving e-mails at their known > addresses. Dave Robinson will get their new addresses if possible. > > As agreed at the end of the last call, the agenda was devoted mainly to > how to move forward with discussion and formation of strategies. The group > decided that the means for now should be the strategy working groups identified > at the end of the Santa Barbara meeting, and that the first step would be > circulation of working group descriptions, contact points, and a general > invitation to participate in the working groups to the Abolition lists.-serves. > The working group descriptions and contact people are listed following these > minutes. > > In general, people thought that the conference calls were working as a > means to exchange information, and thought that the working groups could extend > and improve the network function of the Abolition campaign as it now stands. > Several people expressed concern, however, that the campaign was not moving > forward in terms of formulating common strategies which would make a national > campaign visible. The view also was expressed that > our next gathering should not be just a repeat of the general discussion at > Santa Barbara, but instead that we would have progressed to the point of having > a name, and some cohesive common strategies/activities, to propose, so that we > could move forward with the launching of a campaign. The working groups were > viewed as a first step towards this end. > > Tad Daley reported that the video Sleepwalking to Armageddon is nearing > completion, and may be shown on 60 Minutes 2. The groups producing the video > are considering either large town hall style viewings or distributing it for > use in house parties, with the particular aim of reaching new people rather > than just the existing constituencies of anti-nuclear groups. Tad asked for > input on what we should be asking viewers to do as a follow-up action. Several > people asked for preview copies or scripts of the documentary to determine > whether their organizations would be interested in participating in this part > of the campaign. At least a fact sheet is likely to be available, and in > general the video makes the case that the danger of a nuclear conflagration has > increased in some ways since the end of the Cold War, with a focus on Russian > "loose nukes" and the dangers they present. Several people expressed concern > that the particular dangers posed by the nuclear weapons policies of other > nuclear weapons states might receive too little attention, and stressed again > the desire for more information about the film's content. > > Next conference call: Tuesday, April 27, 10 am PDT/1 pm EDT. Jackie will set > up the call and post an agenda. > > We will pick up our old business, report back on the working > groups, and > move forward with our other designated responsibilities. > ================================================================== > BELOW ARE THE ABOLITION CAMPAIGN WORKING GROUPS. PLEASE CONTACT THE LISTED > CONVENERS IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN WORKING WITH A GROUP OR OBTAINING MORE > INFORMATION ABOUT IT. FOR THOSE GROUPS WITHOUT IDENTIFIED CONVENORS, PLEASE > RESPOND TO THE LIST IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING FOR THE JOB. > > -- STAR WARS/ABM WORKING GROUP > > This group was formed initially to respond quickly to the legislation > pending at the time of the Santa Barbara meeting authorizing further research > and limited deployment of an anti-ballistic missile system by the United > States. Although there is currently no convener for this group, those on the > conference call agreed that ballistic missile defense continues to be a key > issue of concern for advocates of nuclear weapons abolition, due to continuing > development of the system, its potential to revive a multilateral nuclear arms > race, and the controversy over its possible extension in the Western Pacific. > > Conveners: To be determined. > > --CIVIL SOCIETY CAMPAIGN TO ENROLL ORGANIZATIONS IN A BRIEF ABOLITION STATEMENT > AND CITY DIALOGUES ON NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT WITH PROMINENT MOVERS AND SHAKERS > WORKING GROUP > > This working group covers several related efforts aimed at mobilizing > opinion via existing groups in civil society and campaigns aimed at elected > officials in municipalities. It includes various efforts to get mayors and > city and town governing bodies to endorse abolition statements, as well as > similar efforts aimed at non-governmental civic groups. Campaigns represented > within this working group include A campaign aimed at creating discussion > forums among "opinion leaders" in major cities on nuclear weapons and their > abolition; a campaign > aimed at convincing a wide range of civic groups to endorse an abolition > statement; and the campaign to obtain endorsement of the Abolition 2000 > statement by municipalities. > > Conveners Pamela Meidell (The Atomic Mirror) pmeidell@igc.org; (805)985-5073; > Ed Aguilar (Lawyers Alliance for World Security, Philadelphia)(610)668-5470 > > --CONGRESSIONAL FOCUS (Originally Congress and Adminsitration, now split in > two) > > This working group will focus on initiatives relevant to nuclear > weapons > abolition in the U.S. Congress. Examples include the pending Markey and > Woolsey resolutions, aimed respectively at scaling back U.S. nuclear weapons > research and production programs and at encouraging the Administration to > engage in meaningful negotiations to achieve abolition. Its work encompasses > grassroots efforts to mobilize widespread attention to particular measures and > issues pending in Congress. > Conveners: to be determined. > > --ADMINISTRATION FOCUS > > This group will work to focus attention on the nuclear weapons policies > and activities of the Executive branch, trying in particular to create forums > for discussion and criticism of nuclear weapons policies. Its current > initiative is a teach-in at the University of Michigan on nuclear weapons > issues, with the organizers hoping to get administration officials to > participate and to publicly debate critics of existing nuclear weapons > policies. If the teach-in model works the hope is to extend it to other > campuses. > > Convener: Alan Haber (Michigan Coalition of Peace and Environmental > Organizations) od4life@aol.com; (734)761-7967 > > --YOUTH/CAMPUSES > > This working group aims to raise the level of awareness among young > people about nuclear weapons and efforts to abolish them. It will work on the > teach-ins discussed in the Administration focus working group above. It will > also attempt to gather and broaden the distribution of existing nuclear weapons > abolition materials aimed at a youth and campus audience. > > Convener: Odile Haber (Michigan Coalition of Peace and Environmental > Organizations) od4life@aol.com; (734)761-7967 > > --DIRECT ACTION > > Nonviolent direct action long has been a central part of the > movement to > abolish nuclear weapons. Despite a lack of media coverage, direct action > continues at weapons and government facilities around the country, from the > Nevada Test Site, to the weapons laboratories in Livermore, California and Los > Alamos, New Mexico, to Washington D.C. and the newly opened Waste Isolation > Pilot Plant, also in New Mexico. This working group will be a place for > people involved in particular direct action campaigns to raise national > awareness of their activities and to exchange ideas and information. It also > will try to provide resources which will be broadly useful, for example > nonviolence training materials and lists of nonviolence trainers. > > Convener Matteo Ferreira (Shundahai Network) shundahai@shundahai.org; > (702)647-3095 > > --INDIGENOUS PEOPLE ORGANIZING AND CONCERNS > > The cycle of nuclear materials mining and nuclear weapons testing and > production always has had a disproportionate impact on indigenous people > world-wide. Nuclear weapons testing has occurred for the most part on the > lands of indigenous peoples, without regard for their sovereign rights, and > with devastating effects on people and their lands. Indigenous people have > taken the lead in many parts of the globe both in making the connections > between nuclear weapons and the effects of the entire cycle of nuclear > materials, nuclear power, and nuclear weapons production, and in advocating for > nuclear weapons abolition. This working > group will provide a focus for making these voices heard both inside and > outside the movement. > > Conveners: Michele Xenos (Shundahai Network), shundahai@shundahai.org; > (702)647-3095; Pilulaw Khus (Coastal Band, Chumash Nation), pilulaw@jps.net; > (805)771-8922; Richard Salvador (Pacific Islands Association of NGOs) > salvador@hawaii.edu; (818)956-8537 > > --NATO AND NATO 50TH ANNIVERSARY MEETING, APRIL 23 > > This working group initially focused on the upcoming NATO 50th > anniversary meeting in Washington, D.C. and the likelihood that NATO nuclear > weapons policies would be debated there. There has been interest in continuing > this as a working group, since the controversy over NATO nuclear weapons > policies, including a refusal to renounce first use, a potential > counter-proliferation role for nuclear weapons, and the expansion of NATO's > military scope to include broad out-of-area combat roles is likely to continue > for a long time. > > Convener: Mark Mebane (Fourth Freedom Forum) mmebane@fourthfreedom.org; > (219)543-3402 > > --INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS AND ISSUES > > This working group aims at coordinating the abolition campaign in the > United States with efforts world-wide, including Abolition 2000 and other > efforts in particular nations and regions to eliminate nuclear weapons. With > the emergence of a new nuclear weapons and ballistic missile race in South > Asia, growing controversy over possible theatre and domestic ballistic missile > deployments, and the stagnation of arms control negotiations, this working > group will help the abolition campaign in the U.S. remain aware of the effects > U.S. nuclear > weapons and military policies have on efforts to achieve abolition in other > nuclear weapons states and globally. > > Conveners: Alice Slater (Global Resource Action Center for the Environment) > aslater@gracelinks.org; > (212)726-9161; Richard Salvador (Pacific Islands Association of > NGOs)salvador@hawaii.edu; (818)956-8537or > 3691; David Krieger(Nuclear Age Peace Foundation) wagingpeace@napf.org; > (805)965-3443 > > --AFFECTED COMMUNITIES > > Communities across the country have been affected by half a century > nuclear weapons research, testing, and production. They range from workers at > DOE facilities to people who live downwind from those facilities to armed > services veterans exposed to nuclear tests. Many of these groups already have > organized to put pressure on the Federal government to clean up the > environmental damage, to perform meaningful health and environmental studies, > and to provide compensation. These groups share many of our concerns, and > often already are committed to abolition of nuclear weapons. This working > group will focus attention on the destructive legacy > of nuclear weapons, and will work to integrate these communities and their > concerns into the broader campaign. > > Convener: Joseph Gerson Jgerson@afsc.org; (617) 661-6130 > > --RESEARCH FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF THE NUCLEAR WEAPONS COMPLEX > > This group will focus on the activities of the nuclear weapons and > production complex, and will explore the impacts of continuing nuclear weapons > research on the global test ban and nonproliferation regime and on efforts to > achieve abolition. It will also examine the overlap between nuclear weapons > research technologies and other emerging arms races which affect chances for > abolition, including anti-ballistic missile technologies, spece weaponry, and > possible next-generation nuclear weapons. The group will be both a means to > coordinate research efforts and to distribute relevant information within the > campaign and to a wider public. > > Convener: Jackie Cabasso (Western States Legal Foundation), > wslf@earthlink.net, (510)839-5877 > > --MEDIA/CAMPAIGN LAUNCH > > This working group will be a place to develop and share media > strategies. An initial focus will be efforts to coordinate a campaign launch > that is cohesive and nationally visible. > > Convener: Steve Kent (Kent Communications)kentcom@highlands.com; ((914)424-8382 > > --BOTTOM UP ORGANIZING (local movement building and making the connection to > other issues) > > Through discussing and organizing around the way nuclear weapons are > connected to other social ills and injustices, from local ecological > devastation, distorted government spending priorities, and a culture of > violence which stretches from the state to the street to global inequality, we > can deepen our own understanding of what must be done to achieve abolition of > nuclear weapons, as well as the understanding of those we hope to persuade. > We then open up the possibility that we will become part of a larger movement > which can make the changes which could make abolition possible. This working > group will explore ways to make > connections on the local level with other organizing efforts which share some > of our concerns, and by doing so to help create the social movement needed to > achieve theabolition of nuclear weapons. > > Convener: Andrew Lichterman (Western States Legal Foundation), > alichterman@worldnet.att.net 510-839-5877 > > --DEMOCRACY, POWER AND NUCLEAR WEAPONRY DRAFTING COMMITTEE > > This working group has taken responsibility for following through > on the > commitment made in Santa Barbara to develop a carefully thought out statement > on the relationships between democracy, power and nuclear weapons. A draft > statement is currently being prepared, to be circulated for comment in the near > future. > > Convener: David Krieger (Nuclear Age Peace Foundation), wagingpeace@napf.org; > (805)965-3443. > > ****************************************************** > Jacqueline Cabasso, Executive Director > WESTERN STATES LEGAL FOUNDATION > 1440 Broadway, Suite 500 > Oakland, California USA 94612 > Tel: +(510)839-5877 > Fax: +(510)839-5397 > E-mail: wslf@earthlink.net > ****************************************************** > Western States Legal Foundation is part of 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. 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