Dear Friends of a world free of nuclear weapons,
This is a dark day in the history of our young and fragile experiment in democracy. The insurrection that has paralyzed Washington, D.C., was incited by the President of the United States, and is meant to distract us from the fact that millions of Americans turned out to reject the last four years of divisive, racist policy. President Trump and his supporters in Congress have empowered those who are now committing vigilante violence in an effort to stop the lawful certification of the election.
Whether or not the President’s acts are treasonous will have to be answered by legal experts. The one thing of which I am certain is that he has incited violence, and this is unconscionable and immoral. As always, we at Ground Zero Center reiterate our commitment to nonviolence, and will do all we can to promote nonviolent responses to current events. The next fourteen days will be tenuous, as the President is demonstrating unstable behavior, and beyond his fomenting of domestic violence, he is laying the groundwork for military action against Iran, which would be an unmitigated disaster and could potentially involve the use of nuclear weapons, if not by the U.S., then by Israel.
As for Ground Zero Center, we are staying focused on our work in our small corner of the world where you can find the larg
est deployed concentration of nuclear weapons in the U.S. – Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, the West coast home-port of the nation’s Trident ballistic submarine fleet. And we are already moving quickly and thoughtfully into this New Year. Our January 2021 Ground Zero Newsletter is hot off the presses and ready to read, focusing attention on the Ban Treaty that will enter into force later this month. This treaty is of huge importance, and we will be one of many groups that will be raising the call for our government to sign and ratify it.
We have already published our first Paid Public Service Announcement of 2021 in The Kitsap Sun newspaper that serves the area surrounding the Bangor Trident submarine base. The January 3rd PSA is our updated Appeal to Navy Personnel. With Trump’s bluster and apparent instability, the Appeal is more important than ever, calling on Navy personnel to “resist illegal orders” of the Commander in Chief to launch nuclear weapons.
We will publish two 
additional PSAs in The Kitsap Sun later this month – on January 15th honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., and remembering his legacy of nonviolence and opposition to nuclear weapons; and on January 22nd recognizing the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. If you don’t get the Kitsap Sun, both of these will be posted on our website as well.
Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action and World Beyond War are paying to deploy four billboards in Seattle in January announcing the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) and reminding citizens of the Trident ballistic nuclear submarine force based in nearby Kitsap County.
On January 15th, the anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr., Ground Zero will host a vigil at the Bangor Trident submarine base, honoring Dr. King’s legacy of nonviolence and opposition to nuclear weapons.
Finally, Ground Zero members will be holding banners over area highways and freeways on January 22nd announcing the entry into force of the TPNW. You can find details of times and locations at our website on the Events page.
Although a new administration will not be able to wave a magic wand and abolish nuclear weapons, it will at very least bring with it a sense of stability and an opportunity to repair the damage done by the current administration. We will need to stay focused and work hard to move forward once again toward a world free of the threat of nuclear annihilation (for the sake of future generations). Please join us!
On behalf of Ground Zero Center,
Leonard Eiger
P.S. – Please check out our website; you will find new and important content on our homepage. We are also on Facebook.
