Peninsula/Palo Alto Coordinates Several Treaty Honoring Events

A special vigil was held by the Peninsula/Palo Alto branch on January 22, 2021, to mark the TPNW’s entry into force.

By Judy Adams
Member, Peninsula/Palo Alto Branch’s DISARM/Peace Issues Committee

February 2021

WILPF’s Call for Peace Campaign began with the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), so it naturally occurred to me to organize a modest vigil to honor the treaty’s entry into force on January 22, 2021, and to coordinate our local efforts with a number of activist groups in the area.

We invited local peace & justice, environmental, and faith-based groups who also organize around nuclear disarmament issues to cooperate on a calendar of vigils and other actions on the weekend the TPNW entered into force (January 22-23). We tried to coordinate the timing of the events as one would schedule a “progressive dinner,” with events separated by enough time for interested people to at least participate in two events at different locations a short car trip apart in the counties where most of our members live (Santa Clara and San Mateo). Together with other groups, we ended up holding a “time-coordinated” series of six events: four vigils on the 22nd and one on the 23rd, and one virtual Zoom event on the evening of the 22nd.

View a slideshow of pictures from these events here.

I committed to widely publicize the events since I coordinate our branch email and outreach/publicity. The former director of our local Peninsula Peace and Justice Center in Palo Alto provided a related video interview with Jackie Cabasso, nuclear disarmament activist at the Western States Legal Foundation and North American coordinator of Mayors for Peace, on the PPJC YouTube channel, and they included our calendar of events in PPJC online newsletters.

Although it was not located in one of the counties listed, we included a Tri-Valley CAREs “banner holding” event at Livermore National Lab where they keep an eye on the research conducted there (this event was listed in the first WILPF Resource Guide relating to the treaty). We also partnered with the San Mateo Peace Action and Pacific Life/Catholic Worker groups to reciprocate attendance at each other’s TPNW events.

Protests, Vigils, and a Zoom Meeting

The “first course” in our offerings of events had two options: a “banner holding event” at 8 am outside Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (in Alameda County) to protest the lab’s research supporting the development of weapons of mass destruction. This was an RSVP event to ensure there would be sufficient signs and banners for participants. The other early option was a 9 am vigil outside the main gate of Sunnyvale’s Lockheed-Martin facility with members of the Pacific Life Community / Catholic Worker movement from San Jose and Redwood City. Our branch member Cherrill Spencer represented our branch while another volunteer and I set up for our noon vigil. Lockheed is complicit, as is Livermore Lab, in the nuclear weapons industry.

We had welcome rain on Friday as California has been suffering from drought, and the coordinated calendar allowed participants time to dry out a bit before joining WILPFers and other volunteers at our branch-sponsored vigil from noon to 1:30 pm, held at a busy Palo Alto intersection. Fortunately, our banners were waterproof, and volunteers took the precaution the day before to put our signs in protective plastic, including several with QR codes that can take one to the WILPF online petition in support of the Treaty. Our numbers were increased by the Lockheed vigil organizers who joined our vigil after theirs, and other regular supporters of our vigils, along with a core group of WILF members. We were joined by Sharat Lin, the well-known peninsula “Peace Dancer” and photojournalist.

There was a break in the events allowing plenty of time to get to San Jose for the next event, a 5-6 pm peace vigil outside the downtown MLK public library. The “last course” scheduled on the 22nd was a virtual Zoom event from 7-9 pm organized by the San Jose branch. Songs were led by branch member Rev. Rowan Fairchild, Joan Goddard narrated a Powerpoint presentation about the history, details, and ramifications of the TPNW, and participants had an opportunity to ask questions and discuss actions to take in the ensuing campaign to support the treaty. Cherrill and I both attended. Here is a recording of this Zoom session.

Our final event of the TPNW weekend, which I attended, took place under clear blue skies in San Mateo on Saturday, January 23 from 3-4 pm, in front of the Bank of America building, organized by the San Mateo Peace Action group.

The daunting rain forecast on Friday probably kept some away and we were at the height of COVID restrictions for Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, so undoubtedly some people stayed home to limit possible exposure. But we’ll be back, with determination to end the nuclear era and establish a global ceasefire. We hope the wide publicity for this set of events will help raise the participating groups’ visibility for future events.

The slideshow includes one photo for each event that was planned by other groups, and a handful of pictures from our own vigil. The captions include contact information for other organizers. Questions or thoughts? Contact me at wilpf.peninsula.paloalto@gmail.com