Photo credit: Michael Kerr
August 6 and 9 marked the 81st anniversaries of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Organized by a coalition of S.F. Bay area groups, on August 6, peace activists gathered at the West Gate of the Livermore Nuclear Weapons Laboratory, 47 miles east of San Francisco, to remember the victims of the atomic age and to urgently call for the global elimination of nuclear weapons. Livermore Lab, one of two sites where all U.S. nuclear weapons are designed, is currently developing new warheads for Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, for surprise nuclear attacks to be launched by airplanes, and for small submarines that do not presently carry such weapons.
The last nuclear arms control agreement between the world’s two largest nuclear powers, the U.S. and Russia, expired this year. Those same two nuclear powers are waging wars against states without nuclear weapons. All of the nuclear armed states are spending billions to upgrade their arsenals, and nuclear threats are becoming normalized.
Under the banner, “Nuclear Abolition or Extinction? The Choice is Yours,” rally speakers focused on the illegality and immorality of nuclear weapons, as well as their unacceptable environmental and economic costs, and called for the redirection of resources to meet human needs.
The program featured speakers John Burroughs of the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy and Western States Legal Foundation, Tanvi Kardile and Anoushka Raj of Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment (CAREs), Grace Morizawa of Asian Americans for Peace and Justice, and Fr. Thomas Bonacci of The Interfaith Peace Project, as well as Taiko drummers led by Gregory Wada. Patricia St. Onge, of Haudenosaunee (Mohawk) and Quebecoise descent and adopted Cheyenne River Lakota, gave the land acknowledgement, and Patricia Ellsberg, widow of Pentagon Papers whistleblower and nuclear abolition advocate Daniel Ellsberg delivered the call to action. Speakers connected the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the nuclear dangers we face today, including the development of new nuclear weapons, enormous federal spending on the weapons complex, and the continuing environmental and human consequences of nuclear weapons production.
The rally was followed by a “die-in” and a traditional Japanese Bon dance inviting the ancestors, including the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to join them. At the conclusion of the Bon dance, people joined hands to form a human chain and nonviolently blocked the road leading to the Lab. An “unlawful assembly” was declared, and thirteen people were cited for failure to disperse.
Photos of the event by Michael Kerr can be viewed here.
Watch a recording of the August 6 Livermore Lab commemoration and action here.
On August 9, the coalition of groups hosted a showing in Oakland of “An Ordinary Insanity,” a powerful new short documentary film featuring Daniel Ellsberg in his final interview, who warns about the urgent need for renewed public action to avert nuclear war. The film showing was followed by a panel including Patricia Ellsberg and the film director, Judith Ehrlich. Learn more and watch “An Ordinary Insanity” here.
The co-sponsoring organizations were: Asian Americans for Peace & Justice; Ecological Options Network; Ecumenical Peace Institute; Fr. O’Donnell Social Justice Committee; Fresno Center for Nonviolence; Las Vegas Catholic Worker; Livermore Conversion Project; Nevada Desert Experience; No Nukes Action; Peace and Freedom Party; Sacramento Area Peace Action; S.F. Bay Chapter Physicians for Social Responsibility; The Pacific Life Community; Tri-Valley CAREs; Veterans For Peace—East Bay Chapter; Western States Legal Foundation; and Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom – S.F. and East Bay Chapters.
