Nuclear-Free-Future Tour Report Plus Invitations to DC (Nov.) & NY (April)
Published on October, 32 2019
Ellen Thomas, Baltazar Lopez of Anna Eshoo’s office in Palo Alto, Cherrill Spencer, Alan Shorb & Nuri Ronaghy, photographed by Eshoo staffer on 7/17/19.
By Ellen Thomas
Disarm/End Wars Issue Committee
Ellen Thomas has posted a report on the July 12-31, 2019 California Nuclear-Free-Future Tour which has oodles of photos, contact info, and links to the individual speeches given by Nuri Ronaghy, Alan Shorb, Cherrill Spencer, Marylia Kelley, and Ellen Thomas in Sacramento, Palo Alto, Fresno, and San Luis Obispo.
The names and contact information of the legislative aides of Representatives Doris Matsui, John Garamendi, Zoe Lofgren, Jackie Speier, Anna Eshoo, Ro Khanna, and Jim Costa, and Senator Diane Feinstein, are also provided.
Anna Eshoo’s aide, Baltazar Lopez, strongly recommended that we contact all of the members of the Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee to ask that they allow HR-2419 out of Committee and to the floor for debate and a vote. John Garamendi, Ro Khanna, and Jackie Speier, whose staffs we met with in Davis, Santa Clara, and San Mateo, are on that subcommittee, as are Susan Davis and Salud Carbajal (CA), Seth Moulton and Bill Keating (MA), Kendra Horn (OK), Jim Cooper (TN), Rick Larsen and Adam Smith (WA), all Democrats.
Let’s Go to DC in November!
It's now time to set up meetings with the legislators themselves.
I’ve contacted the folks who hosted the tour to ask, “If you haven't been able to meet personally with your Representative to ask for co-sponsorship of HR-2419 yet, can you help me get a face-to-face appointment in DC in November?” I've learned that DC Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton may not run again next session, in which case we need to find other Representatives to introduce the legislation, in addition to getting co-sponsors this session.
Please contact me if you have news or can help get an appointment, either locally with you, or in DC with me. Without the help of a constituent, the staff will consider me a lobbyist and probably won't set up a face-to-face meeting. In my experience, that's the only way to get a co-sponsor.
Code Pink House has promised us four or five beds the nights of November 11-15. (Lobbying begins on November 12, but we will arrive November 11). Want to come help lobby? Know someone who does?
This is a call-out for folks who want to spend a few days in DC with Ellen Thomas, meeting with Representatives to ask them to co-sponsor HR-2419, and for folks who are willing to set up face-to-face meetings with their legislators, especially those in the Progressive Caucus, or who serve on the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces. (Read the report for more information.)
More details, including other housing possibilities, will be in the special mid-October eNews, due out the week of Oct. 15-18.
Important links:
NucNews on Facebook
WILPF-US Facebook page
WILPF SMART! Facebook blog (for any and all WILPF members - it's easy to join! at http://wilpfus.org)
Please sign and share online:
Petition to House
Petition to Senate
April 2020 in New York: World Conference for Disarmament, Peace, Climate & Justice
Photo: At the World Conference Against A & H Bombs in Hiroshima, Japan, in August 2019. Front row, from left: Jun Hamamoto, Nuri Ronaghy, Emily Rubino, and Yuki Sato; back row, from left: Alan Shorb, Joseph Gerson, Shinji Yamamoto, and Ellen Thomas. Taken on Ellen’s iPhone.
We received this message from Joseph Gerson, organizer of this New York event:
This is a save the date notice (April 24-26, 2020), urging you to plan to come to New York for a major disarmament, peace climate and justice event on the eve of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference.
Campaign for Peace, Disarmament & Common Security, with major Japanese, European and other peace, climate and justice organizations, will be holding a major World Conference in New York City and organizing a major rally, march, and petitions presentation on April 24-26, 2020. That's the eve of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference.
We've reserved the prestigious Riverside Church to accommodate the 800+ Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) and activists coming from Japan and an equal number or more coming from across the U.S., Europe and beyond. We'll be a remarkable mix, Nobel Peace Laureates leading national and grassroots movement leaders & activists, and we expect a very high U.N. official to accept our invitation.
There will be NO registration fee, but contributions will be greatly appreciated.
We're going to need about 40 volunteers to pull this off. Please write to me at JGerson80@gmail.com if you will be able to help or if you have questions or suggestions.
Finally, the bones of our website have been created, with details to be filled in in the coming months:
So, plan to join us if you can in April 2020, and please spread the word.
NOTE: The WILPF US petitions gathered around the country supporting the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will be delivered to the United Nations at this event. Thanks to all of you who are continuing to collect names, most recently Linda Modica of Jonesborough, Tennessee!
Update from NuclearBan.US by Vicki Elson
Since the publication of Warheads to Windmills: How to Pay for a Green New Deal, we've gotten deep into the intersection of climate and nuclear weapons. Timmon Wallis has been following trends, and he discovered that wind capacity surpassed nuclear power capacity (but not delivery, yet) in the US on the very day that so many of us were in the streets about the climate crisis. Story here.
Our dear friend and mentor, and loooooongtime WILPFer, Frances Crowe, passed peacefully away at age 100. We visited her in her last days — she was still giving support and suggestions, and she thanked us for carrying on her mission. What a person, what a teacher, what an activist! http://www.nuclearban.us/frances-crowes-legacy-lives-on
In other news, Congressman Mark Pocan, chair of the Progressive Caucus, signed the ICAN Parliamentary Pledge to support the Nuclear Ban Treaty.
Timmon tried to straighten out Elizabeth Warren: http://www.nuclearban.us/its-time-to-tell-the-truth-nuclear-weapons-must-never-be-used-again/
And here are two articles about the INF treaty, one by WILPF's excellent Alice Slater, one by Timmon Wallis (they are together in New York as I write, attending treaty and climate events at the UN). This is timely and urgent again in light of impeachment hearings. Please feel free to share these with your legislators!
Hiroshima Unlearned: Time to Tell the Truth About US-Russia Relations and Finally Ban the Bomb
Trump Broke US Law in Destroying INF Treaty
Vicki Elson, MA, CCE, CD
www.NuclearBan.US
Watch this new report -- free download:
"Fresh Hope: Warheads to Windmills" (6 minute video)
