News from the DISARM Committee
Published on July, 30 2022
Hiroshima survivor Hideko Tamura Snider. Photo taken from WILPF US webinar recording.
by Ellen Thomas & Cherrill Spencer
July 2022
Various ways to commemorate the 77th anniversaries of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
This 2020 resource guide describes in detail activities WILPF branches or individual WILPFers can do during the period August 6th-9th to to commemorate the anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Activities include the invitation to fast in the name of nuclear disarmament, and ringing public church or temple bells in your community on August 6-9th
Another action you can take from home is to watch the recording of the 2020 interview we did with WILPF member and Hiroshima bombing survivor Hideko Tamura Snider.
Hideko is the author of "One Sunny Day" and "When A Peace Tree Blooms” and describes her experiences before, during and after the Hiroshima bomb, appealing to us all: "I depend on all of your energy, please continue what you are doing to rule out violent means, especially this inhumane, horrible weapon…we are not barbarians, we are humans, and let us be truly and fully human."
Another stay-at-home activity is to look again at the timeline the DISARM committee created of the major events in 1945 that led to the bombings.
Write emails to your own Representative to support People Over Pentagon Act HR-8040
We know that Congresspeople prefer to hear from their own constituents about topics of importance to the constituent, so we ask you to contact your Congressperson and ask them to co-sponsor a newly-introduced House Bill: HR-8040, called the “People Over Pentagon Act”, which would begin to rein in unchecked military spending : “to reduce the amount authorized to be appropriated for the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2023, and for other purposes.” Here are the details. We need you to take action before the end of July while the National Defense Authorization Act is still wending its way through Congress. You can find some sample sentences here.
Speaking of the National Defense Authorization Act, HR-2850 has been submitted as an Amendment!
Good news! On June 28, 2022, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton has introduced an amendment to the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act using the language of HR-2850, this session’s version of the "Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act" that WILPF US members have been supporting each session since it was first introduced in 1994. Here is what the amendment says:
AMENDMENT TO RULES COMMITTEE OFFERED BY MS . NORTON OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
At the end of subtitle B of title XXXI add the following:
SEC. 31ll. REQUIREMENT FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS ABOLITION AND ECONOMIC AND ENERGY CONVERSION.
(a) IN GENERAL .—The United States Government shall—
(1) provide leadership by signing and ratifying the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons or any other international agreement
that provides for—
(A) the dismantlement and elimination of all nuclear weapons in every country; and
(B) strict and effective international control of such dismantlement and elimination;
(2) redirect resources that are being used for nuclear weapons programs to use—
(A) in converting all nuclear weapons industry processes, plants, and programs, and retraining employees, to shift to a constructive, ecologically beneficial peace economy, which includes strict control of all fissile material and radioactive waste; and
(B) in addressing human and infrastructure needs, including development and deployment of sustainable carbon-free and nuclear-free energy sources, health care, housing, education, agriculture, and environmental restoration, including long-term radioactive waste monitoring; and
(3) actively promote policies to induce all other countries to join in the commitments described in this subsection to create a more peaceful and secure world.
(b) E FFECTIVE DATE .—Paragraph (2) of subsection (a) shall take effect on the date on which the President certifies to Congress that all countries possessing nuclear weapons have begun the elimination of such weapons under established legal requirements comparable to those described in paragraph (1) of such subsection.
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If you have questions about any of the above, please write to disarmchair@wilpfus.org! We hope to see you at our DISARM Committee zoom meeting on Sunday July 31st.
