| Dear Friends of a nuclear weapons-free world,Today, August 9th, marks the 73rd anniversary of the day the United States dropped an an atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki, Japan. This was the second bomb used by the US, against a primarily civilian population, before the Japanese government could fully grasp what had happened at Hiroshima just three days before.
History books in the US tell us that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary to end the war, and few ever question this narrative. Yet the truth is far from the accepted American mythology. The high priests of Los Alamos had worked long and hard, spending a massive $2 billion (in 1940 dollars), and produced three bombs for their military masters. There was no way anyone would stop the momentum of such a sacred project.
The scientists were doing what scientists do, and most were anxious to conduct the ultimate experiment on a real city. The military was gung-ho to drop the bomb. As Gary Kohls tells it, “The US military and political leadership – as did many ordinary Americans – had a tremendous appetite for revenge because of the Pearl Harbor “surprise” attack. Mercy wasn’t in the mindset of the US military, the war-weary populace or even of average American Christians and their churches.”
Seventy three years later, the work to make people aware of the truth continues. Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action was one of countless groups around the world that faithfully remembered the anniversary of the atomic bombings this year. It was part of our effort to tell the stories and make people aware of the truth about nuclear weapons and the very real threat they pose to humanity.
PEACE FLEET
We held the fourteenth annual Peace Fleet, a water-based nonviolent protest against the glorification of weapons of war at the Seattle Seafair festival. Activists in sailboats, motor boats and kayaks met the US Navy fleet in Elliott Bay, while other activists held a simultaneous nonviolent protest at Pier 66 overlooking Elliott Bay.
We were there for the unrepresented and forgotten victims of these weapons of war and to call attention to the crimes of our nation, and because the celebration of warships in our harbor helps bring about the normalcy of modern war. The fleet arrival at Seafair is a public relations and recruiting event for the U.S. Navy, paid for by our tax dollars.
This was the eighteenth year for the Peace Fleet, which began on August 2, 2000 when the Trident submarine, USS Alabama, arrived in downtown Seattle for Seafair, complete with up to 192 nuclear warheads.
INTERFAITH PEACE WALK
Monks from the Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Temple on Bainbridge Island led their annual interfaith peace walk, beginning in Eugene, Oregon, and arriving at Ground Zero Center for the weekend of remembrance of the atomic bombings. The theme of this year’s walk was “No More War – A World Without Nuclear Weapons.” Participants stopped in cities along the way, listening, and sharing the voices of the victims of warfare. This was the fourteenth year of the August Peace Walk.
WEEKEND OF REMEMBRANCE
After welcoming the Interfaith Peace Walk, vessels from the Peace Fleet and other vessels, including kayaks, sailed past the Bangor Trident submarine base on Hood Canal in the annual Boats by Bangor nonviolent demonstration.
Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern gave a presentation titled “Miracle and Myth: We Have Not Yet Blown Up Our Planet = Miracle. Our Luck Will Hold Indefinitely = Myth”. McGovern explained that, “It is a myth that attacking Japanese cities with atomic bombs was needed to end WWII (though that’s what we were told). Six of the United States’ seven five-star officers who received their final star in World War II — Generals MacArthur, Eisenhower, and Arnold and Admirals Leahy, King, and Nimitz — rejected the idea that nuclear bombs were needed to end the war. Sadly, though, there is little evidence that they pressed their case with then-President Truman before the fact. So why did Truman do it? How much had to do with the fact that he and Secretary of State Jimmy Byrnes were incorrigible bigots? Does white supremacy still play a role today?” Click here to watch the video of Ray’s talk (with thanks to Ed Mays of Pirate TV Seattle).
Bill Moyer, co-founder of the Backbone Campaign, presentation, gave a presentation titled “Love Wins – Grand Strategy in a Battle of Paradigms,” weaving principles from Sun Tzu’s “Art of War” and Col. John Boyd’s “Grand Strategy Briefings” into lessons learned from 14 years of artful activism. Moyer explored the protection of things that are beyond price, against forces that seek to commodify everything and everyone. He brought in key concepts from Backbone’s Theory of Change with case studies that lay the foundation for growing a robust, vibrant, and sustainable social change that transcends “mere resistance to the profanities of corporatism, to deliver victories for our communities and future generations.”
In addition to speakers, nonviolence training, and action preparations, we are grateful for the musical entertainment provided by The Irthlingz Duo. Sharon Abreu and Michael Hurwicz bring a deep social conscience and creative talents to their music. In 2017, they released “Songs to Save the Salish Sea” to raise awareness about the local communities’ efforts to prevent coal, oil and gas projects in the Salish Sea. Also in 2017, they provided music for the BlueGreen Alliance “Clean and Fair Economy Summit” in Olympia, Washington, and the “War and the Environment” conference in Washington, D.C.
Activists held an overnight vigil at the Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor Main Gate beginning on the evening of August 5th and continuing into the morning of August 6th, the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Approximately sixty activists showed up for the morning vigil, and twelve participated in a nonviolent direct action in which participants blockaded the base at the peak of the morning shift change by carrying a banner onto the roadway of the main entrance gate. The banner read, “Trident is the Auschwitz of Puget Sound – Archbishop Hunthausen.” The activists stopped traffic entering the base for ten minutes before being removed from the roadway by Washington State Patrol Officers, cited for being in the roadway illegally, and released on the scene. Click here to read the news release on the gate action.
Raymond Hunthausen, retired archbishop of Seattle, died on July 22nd at age 96. Frank Fromherz, author of the the soon to be released book, “A Disarming Spirit: The Life of Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen,” said of Hunthausen:
“It was in the early 1980s that Archbishop Hunthausen denounced the Trident nuclear submarine fleet harbored in his archdiocese, famously calling it ‘the Auschwitz of Puget Sound.’ His opposition inspired Catholics worldwide, but gained him powerful opponents in the U.S. government during the era of President Reagan’s military buildup. Catholic peace activist Jim Douglass, a native of British Columbia, introduced Archbishop Hunthausen to the practice of contemplative nonviolent direct action.”
“Douglass once described his longtime friend as ‘a holy prophet of nonviolence in the nuclear age.’ In what would become a truly historic address on June 12, 1981 at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Hunthausen spoke these prophetic words: ‘Our security as people of faith lies not in demonic weapons, which threaten all life on earth. Our security is in a loving, caring God. We must dismantle our weapons of terror and place our reliance on God.’”
As journalist Terry Messman describes it, “In the immediate aftermath of the archbishop’s uncompromising call to resistance, many Catholic bishops, Protestant ministers and Jewish rabbis were moved to speak out against nuclear weapons. And the peace movement found new hope. At last, someone with the power to make his voice heard had the courage to call the Trident nuclear submarine what it truly was: an oceangoing Holocaust, an underwater death camp loaded with weapons of mass incineration that could ignite a firestorm and slaughter millions. Most importantly, Hunthausen didn’t merely call for a lukewarm set of reforms. He called for immediate nuclear disarmament and massive civil disobedience because of his conviction that nuclear weapons are criminal and immoral.”
Messman also described how, “Ground Zero’s adherence to nonviolence and its sincere and friendly attempts to communicate with base workers influenced many naval base employees to resign for reasons of conscience. This led to the highly visible resignation of the chaplain of the Trident base, Father Dave Becker, who decided he could no longer attempt to be ‘the chaplain of the Auschwitz of Puget Sound.'”
The US government has been calling for the complete denuclearization of North Korea, while it continues to modernize and upgrade its own nuclear weapons and delivery systems, among them the Trident system. The Navy continues moving forward with development of 12 new Trident (aka: Columbia Class) ballistic missile submarines. It has declared, along with some other nuclear weapon states, that it will never sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), also known as the Ban Treaty.
The continuing preparation and threat of use of nuclear weapons is not only in contravention of international law, it is immoral and an affront to every religious tradition. As Father Richard McSorley once said, “The taproot of violence in our society today is our intent to use nuclear weapons. Once we have agreed to that, all other evil is minor in comparison. until we squarely face the question of our consent to use nuclear weapons, any hope of large scale improvement in public morality is doomed to failure.”
And so we will continue to resist and bear witness against nuclear weapons until the day that not a single one is left ready to incinerate masses of our fellow human beings.
We say Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Never Again!
On behalf of Ground Zero Center,
Leonard Eiger |
