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Hiroshima-Nagasaki Weekend
July 31, 2018 @ 10:00 am - 7:00 pm
More: http://www.gzcenter.org/event/hiroshimanagasaki-commemoration/
Mark your calendars now for nearly six days of education, commemoration, and direct action in the service of nuclear abolition.
Tues., July 31: Peace fleet meets the Navy in Elliott Bay, Seattle
Sat., August 4: Buddhist peace walkers arrive at GZ for Boats By Bangor
Sun., August 5: Keynote speakers Ray McGovern and Bill Moyer, Action planning; nonviolence training; music by “The Irthlingz Duo”
Mon., August 6: Direct action at Bangor gates; Hiroshima to Hope in Seattle
Click here to view and print the event poster/flyer, designed by artist and Ground Zero member Brian Watson.
*Scroll down for the full schedule of events.*
With the current presidential administration in Washington, DC under the misguided beliefs that they can pull a complex agreement to “denuclearize” the Korean peninsula, while tearing up a parallel one with Iran, and building a hideous new generation of US nuclear weapons, global attention is rightly focused on nukes. But what does denuclearization really mean? Does the US get to hold a nuclear gun to the head of whomever it wants, while betraying its allies? Not a proven path to world stability!
Ground Zero invites all people who want to halt the existential threat of nuclear weapons to celebrate life and resist the Trident nuclear weapons system. True security can only be achieved when nuclear weapons and the systems that generate them are abolished. The United States must reduce and reverse its nuclear weapons drive for the rest of the world to see that it is serious about preventing a catastrophic nuclear explosion—-let alone hundreds. To this purpose, GZ is again teaming with other groups to organize symbolic and practical activities to call attention to the nuclear danger, build solidarity by witnessing against nukes and militarism, and celebrate our hopes for life and for the future.
The annual Peace Fleet protest against militarism and the Navy presence at Seafair occurs August 1st on the waterfront of Elliott Bay in Seattle. Demonstrators in the water and ashore will greet Navy ships and personnel to demand an end to the waste of taxpayers’ resources. Boaters, paddlers, and landlubbers please join in! More information at the Events calendar. Contact Glen Milner with your questions: info@gzcenter.org
Peace walkers from the Nipponzan Myohoji Temple on Bainbridge Island will be concluding a three-week peacewalk at the grounds of the Ground Zero Center on 16159 clear Creek Road in Poulsbo 10:30 August 4. They would love to have more walkers and supporters for all or part of their pilgrimage. Contact: Rev. Senji Kanaeda, Nipponzan Myohoji Temple; kanaedasenji@gmail.com; 206-780-6739 or 206-724-7632 (cell). See our Events calendar for more information.
Also on August 4th, for the third straight year activists will convoy from GZ to the old Bangor village on Hood Canal for Boats By Bangor, a symbolic water-borne protest of boats and kayaks that sail north past the Bangor shore installations and back, to witness against the existence of a nuclear weapons base on beautiful Hood Canal. There will be a picnic and on-shore music by the “The Irthlingz Duo” from the San Juan Islands. Contact Mack Johnson or Rodney Brunelle to take part.
A few of the kayakers during last year’s Boats By Bangor flotilla. One of the two Explosives Handling Wharves is in the background.
Sunday August 5th is our big program day, highlighted by two keynote speakers.
Ray McGovern is a former intelligence analyst and founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). Bill Moyer of Vashon Island is Executive Director of the Backbone Campaign, an artist-activist group that organizes for a just, sustainable world.
Along with ideas and inspiration from these two experts, GZ’s August events team will be offering nonviolence training and discernment to prepare for the next day’s nonviolent direct vigil and actions, coordinating roles and peacekeeping for the vigil, providing opportunities for contacting political leaders, and providing excellent hospitality and the use of ground Zero’s gorgeous facilities and grounds. Sunday concludes with a full concert in the house from “The Irthlingz Duo”. See http://irthlingz.org/
.
August 6th is a significant day for GZ and the world. It is the 73rd anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, the first use of a nuclear bomb and a continuing warning to everyone of what a nuclear explosion really does and means. GZ will commemorate this and all the other tragedies of the nuclear age by marching to the gates of Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, vigiling to stop nuclear weapons and all the waste and horror they represent, and symbolically slowing “business as usual” by blocking the roadways that support the deployment of hydrogen bombs from there. We invite all people of conscience to join us for this important action, continuing over 40 years of witness to and resistance against Trident.
After the action, and the release of detained demonstrators, participants will return to their communities to carry on the “good work” of fighting for peace and a nuke-free world.
The final event of Hiroshima-Nagasaki remembrance week is the Hiroshima to Hope memorial and candle-lighting ceremony, at dusk at Green Lake Park in Seattle on August 6th. This interfaith ceremony honoring nuclear victims and all victims of violence has taken place for decades and is a very moving ritual. Visit http://fromhiroshimatohope.org/
for more details.
COME WORK WITH US FOR A JUST AND NUKE-FREE WORLD! We need your participation and we all thrive on the fellowship of loving activists. Seven meals will be provided from Saturday breakfast through Monday breakfast before the action. Cooks for some meals are still needed; contact Elizabeth Murray or Mack Johnson to help.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
SATURDAY, AUG 4
Main Event: “BOATS BY BANGOR” waterborne action: Flotilla of kayaks & other sea vessels launch from King Spit on Hood Canal for sail-by of Trident nuclear submarine bay, Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor (12:30 PM-3:30 PM – bring your own kayak, canoe or other sea vessel)
8:30 – Registration at Ground Zero Center (16159 Clear Creek Road NW, Poulsbo WA 98370)
9 AM – Small (continental) breakfast
10:30 – Safety briefing for all “Boats by Bangor” participants
11 AM – welcome to arriving Peacewalkers led by Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist monks
11:30 – Potluck brunch honoring Peacewalkers – “Boats by Bangor” participants also assemble & pack their sandwiches for picnic at King Spit
12:30 – Vehicles depart Ground Zero Center for King Spit
1:00 – Kayaks, boats launch for “Boats by Bangor” action
3:00 – Picnic at King Spit accompanied by socially conscious music – “Irthlingz” of Orcas Island
4:00 – Pack up boats, collect trash, return to Ground Zero Center
5:00 – Coffee/tea and dessert – opportunity for socializing, reflecting on ‘Boats by Bangor’ action
6:00 – Film – TBD
7:30 – Music
SUNDAY, AUG 5
8 AM –9:30 AM – Registration, Breakfast
10:00 – Opening circle & welcome by Mack Johnson, Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action
10:30 – Keynote speech by peace and justice activist Ray McGovern, former CIA Presidential Briefer
11:30 – Q & A
12:00 – Lunch
1:30 – New Strategies for Nonviolent Action – Bill Moyer, kayaktivism innovator and co-founder, the Backbone Campaign
2:30 – Q & A, interactive discussion
3 -5:00 – Discernment & planning for 6 Aug direct action at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor; review of principles of nonviolent action; fill out legal forms, identify peacekeepers (breakout session for those planning to risk arrest)
4 – 5:30 – Opportunity to create signs & banners for 6 Aug action or write postcards to nuclear resisters in detention
5:30 – Dinner
6:30 – Cleanup (everyone)
7-8 PM – Evening of music – “The Irthlingz Duo”
Monday, AUG 6
An early morning vigil and nonviolent direct action at the Bangor Trident submarine base.
5:30 – Light breakfast
6:15 – Check-in for direct action participants & peacekeepers
6:30 – Gathering circle, Pledge of Nonviolence
7:00 – Depart Ground Zero Center for Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor
8:30 – Return to Ground Zero (continued light breakfast, coffee)
0845 – Cleanup of kitchen, Ground Zero common spaces (everyone)
0915 – Closing circle & comments
0930 – Adjournment