By Guest Contributor, Lawrence Wittner Two related events—the 75th anniversary of the January 24, 1946 UN General Assembly Resolution 1 (which established a commission to plan for the abolition of nuclear weapons) and the January 22, 2021 entry into force of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (designed to finally implement that goal)—should be a cause for worldwide celebration. In fact, however, they are a cause for shame. The nine nuclear powers have refused to sign the treaty and, instead, today continue to engage in a nuclear arms race and to threaten nuclear war—a war capable of […]
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MLK: Going to the Heart of Nonviolence
Every year Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action honors the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. around the anniversary of his birthday. Just what does an organization working to abolish nuclear weapons have in common with Dr. King? Perhaps this quote from Dr. King sums it up best: “When scientific power outruns moral power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men”. Dr. King speaks to the root – or what could be called the taproot – of violence in the hearts of human beings that spurs “scientific power” to “outrun moral power,” thereby holding all humanity under the […]
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Ground Zero honors MLK with a vigil at Bangor
A small group of dedicated peacemakers bundled up on Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday to honor his legacy with a peaceful vigil at the Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor Main Gate. Bangor is homeport to the largest concentration of deployed nuclear warheads in the U.S. The nuclear warheads are deployed on Trident D-5 missiles on SSBN submarines and are stored in an underground nuclear weapons storage facility on the base. There are eight Trident SSBN submarines deployed at Bangor. Six Trident SSBN submarines are deployed on the East Coast at Kings Bay, Georgia. One Trident submarine carries the destructive force of over 1,200 Hiroshima bombs (the Hiroshima bomb […]
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Nonviolence NOW more than EVER!!!
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 […]
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Ground Zero issues Appeal to Navy Personnel at Trident Base: Refuse illegal orders; Refuse to launch nuclear missiles
On Sunday, January 3rd, a full-page ad was published in the Kitsap Sun newspaper, speaking to military personnel at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor. The ad is an appeal to Navy personnel to resist orders to launch nuclear weapons. The appeal with supporting signatures is posted at our website. The Appeal to Navy Personnel specifically requests that members of the armed forces – Resist illegal orders. Refuse to kill innocent civilians. Refuse the order to use nuclear weapons. Our proximity to the largest number of deployed strategic nuclear weapons puts us near a dangerous local and international threat. When citizens become aware of […]
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