EDITOR’S NOTE: This news release from the Veterans for Peace Golden Rule Project on July 29th announces the Golden Rule’s journey to the Pacific Northwest; it’s on its way! Check it out. AND – You can literally follow the Golden Rule as it makes its way North; just click here.
Contact: Gerry Condon, 206-499-1220
Helen Jaccard, 206-992-6364
Historic Peace Boat Is Touring the Pacific Northwest
“Golden Rule” Sailboat Supports UN Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons
The storied Golden Rule peace boat departed from northern California’s Humboldt Bay early Sunday morning, headed for the Pacific Northwest, where it will make stops in 16 ports in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia over the next two months. The 34-foot wooden ketch brought worldwide attention to the health risks of radiation in the atmosphere in 1958, when four Quaker peace activists attempted to sail it into the Marshall Islands to get in the way of U.S. nuclear bomb testing. Now a national project of Veterans For Peace, the Golden Rule is once again sailing for a nuclear-free world.
“We are on an educational voyage to raise awareness about the growing danger of nuclear war,” says Golden Rule project manager Helen Jaccard. “We are building support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.”
The “Nuclear Ban Treaty,” which makes it illegal to possess, to use, or to threaten to use nuclear weapons, was overwhelmingly approved by the UN General Assembly in 2017 and came into force in 2021. Neither the U.S. nor any of the nine nuclear-armed nations have yet to sign it.
The Golden Rule’s voyage throughout the waters of the Pacific Northwest will include protests at the Bangor Trident Submarine Base, 25 miles west of Seattle, and at the Boeing Seafair Air Show in Seattle’s Lake Washington, where it will arrive later this week. The historic 34-foot wooden ketch, which was built in 1956-58, will also make appearances in boat shows in Victoria, British Columbia and Port Townsend, Washington.”
“We are sailing for a nuclear-free world and a peaceful, sustainable future,” says Gerry Condon, former president of Veterans For Peace. “Our mission is all the more urgent now that the two nuclear superpowers, the U.S. and Russia, are confronting one another in Ukraine, and nuclear-armed Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza. These wars must end if we are to be spared from nuclear war.”
The public is invited to see this historic peace boat, to learn about nuclear issues today, and to discuss what local communities can do to reduce the threat of nuclear war. Groups can schedule a presentation by calling Helen Jaccard at 206-992-6364 or Michelle Marsonette at 541-971-9077, or by emailing vfpgoldenruleproject@gmail.com.
Media Interviews can be arranged by calling Gerry Condon at 206-499-1220
or Helen Jaccard at 206-992-6364, or by emailing vfpgoldenruleproject@gmail.com
See the Golden Rule’s Pacific Northwest Schedule at www.vfpgoldenrule.org
History of Golden Rule
From 1946 to 1958 the U.S. detonated 67 nuclear bombs in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific, displacing the Indigenous inhabitants and spreading cancer-causing radiation around the globe. Concerned citizens called on the government to stop the nuclear weapons testing, but their letter-writing, protests and lobbying efforts went unheeded.
Finally, in 1958, four Quaker peace activists tried to sail the Golden Rule to the Marshall Islands to interfere with the atomic bomb tests. They departed from San Pedro Harbor in Los Angeles but were stopped in Honolulu, where the crew was arrested and prevented from completing their voyage. Their planned voyage was thwarted, but their mission was successful beyond their dreams. The arrests of the crew brought worldwide concern about the highly poisonous radiation that was even getting into mothers’ milk. In 1963, President Kennedy, along with leaders of the UK and the USSR, signed the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, banning nuclear testing in the air, in the water, or in space, but allowing it to continue underground.
The Rebirth of a Peace Boat
In 2010 Golden Rule was found in northern California’s Humboldt Bay. It had a sunk in a storm and had a big hole in its side. Over the following five years, the historic wooden sailboat was lovingly restored by members of Veterans For Peace, along with Quakers and wooden boat lovers.
The Golden Rule’s original mission was also restored – sailing for a world free of nuclear weapons. Since 2015 theGolden Rule has plied the waters of the West Coast – from British Columbia, Washington, Oregon to California and Mexico, and even sailed to all the Hawaiian Islands. Last year, 2023, was the Golden Rule sailed on the “Great Loop,” all over the Midwestern, Southern and Northeastern United States, stopping in over 100 ports, including Havana, Cuba and Toronto, Canada.
Her 2024 voyage throughout the waters of the Pacific Northwest will include protests at the Bangor Trident Submarine Base 25 miles west of Seattle and at Seattle’s Fleet Week, as well as appearances in wooden boat shows in Victoria, British Columbia and Port Townsend, Washington.
Media Interviews!
Golden Rule crew members are available for Radio, TV and Newspaper Interviews.
Please call Gerry Condon at 206-499-1220
or Helen Jaccard at 206-992-6364
or email vfpgoldenruleproject@gmail.com.
For more information about the Golden Rule, please see the website, vfpgoldenrule.org.
