Stop the War Makers. Hands Around the lab. Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Never Again!!

Contact name and/or organization: Tri-Valley CAREs (925) 443-7148 www.trivalleycares.org, Livermore Conversion Project (510) 663-8065 or Western States Legal Foundation (510) 839-5877 www.wslfweb.org. ***AUGUST 10: HANDS AROUND LIVERMORE LAB *** HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI NEVER AGAIN! 20 years ago, thousands of people joined hands to encircle Livermore nuclear weapons lab with peace. It is time to bring your hands for peace around the Lab. Recently, the Bush Administration officially thanked Congress for supporting the development of low-yield nuclear weapons. At the same time, the endless war on terror and the nuclear posture brings the U.S. alarmingly closer to the horrific possibility of using nuclear weapons. We must act now to stop the war makers and say NO to the testing, design, development and use of all nuclear weapons. It is time for a new vision: ABOLITION. On August 10, people will gather at Livermore nuclear weapons lab to remember the horrific bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The nation’s primary nuclear weapons labs: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (located in New Mexico) are both managed by the University of California and together have designed every nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal. As Congress overturns the ban on mini nuclear weapons, research on new, "more usable" nuclear weapons is already underway at Livermore lab. Congress already allocated $15 million to develop the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator. Nationally, the nuclear weapons budget requests $6.38 billion for 2004, more than 2.2 times what was spent in 1995. Twenty years ago, thousands of nonviolent protesters converged in Livermore Lab to demonstrate against the nuclear arms race. Now, the Bush administration’s real nuclear weapons agenda is "fewer, but newer", which could spur a new arms race. As the U.S. continues to design and develop new nuclear weapons, will it continue to flaunt its global hegemony and extensive arsenal to force other countries to disarm? It is time to start disarmament at home, before it is too late--the fate of our planet is at stake.   ***Join us for hands around Livermore Lab*** RALLY and MARCH around LIVERMORE NUCLEAR WEAPONS LAB Date: August 10, Sunday, 2003 Time: 1:30 PM Rally and 3 PM march around Livermore nuclear weapons lab. Location: Rally at Robert Payne Park. Address: 5800 Patterson Pass Rd., at Vasco (from 580 exit onto Vasco and head south). City: Livermore Contact name and/or organization: Tri-Valley CAREs (925) 443-7148 www.trivalleycares.org, Livermore Conversion Project (510) 663-8065 or Western States Legal Foundation (510) 839-5877 www.wslfweb.org. Nonviolent direct action at the gate (optional)   *SHUTTLE SERVICE from Dublin/Pleasanton BART available To endorse, sponsor or volunteer contact: Livermore Conversion Project (510)663-8065; Tri-Valley CAREs (925)443-7148; Western States Legal Foundation (510) 839-5877. PRINT OUT A FLIER (front and back), available in PDF FORMAT online at: www.trivalleycares.org ***SUNDAY AUGUST 10: HANDS AROUND LIVERMORE LAB *** Bring and Send Your Hands For Peace! Rally and March Starts 1:30 PM. Nuclear weapons represent the ultimate form of violence and enforce U.S. military and economic policy abroad. The U.S. continues to design and develop new and exotic nuclear weapons despite a global consensus to abolish nuclear weapons. 20 years ago, over five thousand people demanded global disarmament by holding their hands around the Livermore nuclear weapons lab. Come to Livermore on August 10 or send a hand for peace (www.californiapeaceaction.org/hands) to demand an end to the design of new and modified nuclear weapons and other dangerous work including: * The Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator- a new nuclear bomb, which if used could generate large amounts of radioactive dust; * The design and development of "mini-nukes", tailored for use in the open-ended "war on terror"; and * A new biowarfare agent research facility that will genetically modify and aerosolize deadly agents including plague and live strains of anthrax. This is part of Livermore Lab's role in the new Department for Homeland Security. Hands Around the Lab is part of a national week of actions from August 2-11, which are planned on the anniversaries of the horrific bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. The bombings were August 6 and 9, 1945. This year’s actions are organized in protest of the Bush Administration’s aggressive military policies abroad and its erosion of civil liberties at home and to demand the global abolition of nuclear weapons. * $6.4 billion is requested for nuclear weapons activities in 2004, one and a half times more than Cold War spending. * Education, health care and many other social services are being cut to pay for weapons and tax cuts that benefit the rich. * The U.S. has a policy of preemptive first use of nuclear weapons, even against countries that do not have any nuclear weapons at all. Global Disarmament Begins at Home; it’s time to disarm America! *** Hands Around Livermore Lab: Rally and March *** RALLY and MARCH around LIVERMORE NUCLEAR WEAPONS LAB Date: August 10, Sunday, 2003 Time: 1:30 PM Rally and 3 PM march around Livermore nuclear weapons lab. Location: Rally at William Payne Park. Address: 5800 Patterson Pass Rd., at Vasco (from 580 exit onto Vasco and head south). City: Livermore (50 miles East of San Francisco) Please RSVP online (not required): www.californiapeaceaction.org/hands. We want to know how many people are coming. PRINT OUT A FLIER (front and back), available in PDF FORMAT online at: www.trivalleycares.org. Driving Directions: I-580 to Vasco Road exit; go south 2 miles on Vasco. Turn right onto Patterson Pass Road. William Payne Park is immediately on your right. Volunteers will direct you to park. Public Transportation: Shuttle service from Dublin/Pleasanton BART station to William Payne Park available. The family-friendly event begins at 1:30 PM and will feature music, speakers and art. At 3 PM we will begin a march around the Lab. We will nonviolently surround the Lab with our ceremonies, music, spoken word and songs. Transport for those who need it will be available. If you can't attend, you can still support the action by sending cutouts of your hand (or another creative symbolic representation) to be held around the Lab -- address and instructions below. ***** If you can't come, send us hands for peace ***** 1. If you can't come to the action -- trace your hand put your name, age and hometown and send cutouts to: Hands Around the Lab 2800 Adeline St. Berkeley, CA 94703 Please include your name, age and hometown. 2. Please send donations to: Hands Around the Lab 2800 Adeline St. Berkeley, CA 94703 Make checks payable to: Livermore Conversion Project (Checks over $50 are tax-deductible if made out to Agape) Contact info to volunteer or endorse the event: Tri-Valley CAREs (925) 443-7148, taradorabji@yahoo.com, www.trivalleycares.org; Livermore Conversion Project (510) 663-8065; California Peace Action (510) 849-2272, tara@californiapeaceaction.org, www.californiapeaceaction.org; and Western States Legal Foundation (510) 839-5877 www.wslfweb.org. Attend Organizing Meetings: All meetings are at 7 PM in downtown Oakland and will be held on Thursday July 3, Tuesday July 15, Thursday July 31 and Tuesday August 5. Call (510) 663-8065 or (925) 443-7148 for location. Volunteers Needed: Peace monitors, Outreach-flyering downtown areas, children's entertainment, special needs, first aid materials and logistical support. SPONSORS and ENDORSERS: Agape Foundation; Allen Temple Baptist Church; American Friends Service Committee; Bay Area Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu; Bay Area Nuclear Waste Coalition; Bay Area Pax Christi; Bay Area United Against War; Bay Area United for Peace & Justice; Beacon Presbyterian Fellowship; Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarians, Social Justice Committee; Berkeley Friends Church; Berkeley Friends Meeting; Buddhist Peace Fellowship, East Bay Chapter; Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Peace Cmte; California Peace Action; Church Women United, Northern California/Nevada; Circle of Concern; City of Alameda Green Party; Code Pink: Women for Peace; Comities for Correspondence, Democracy and Socialism; Common Agenda Regional Network; Congregation Or Shalom; Critical Resistance; Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose; East Bay Food Not Bombs; East Bay Peace Action; East Bay Sanctuary Covenant; Ecumenical Peace Institute; First Congregational Church (Palo Alto) - Peace Seekers; Franciscan JPIC Office; Fremont Catholic Community; Global Exchange; Grandmothers for Peace, Hayward Chapter; Grandmothers for Peace Int'l Office; Gray Panthers of the East Bay; Green Party of Alameda County; Hayward Area Peace and Justice Fellowship; Hayward Demos Democratic Club; International Action Center; Labor Committee for Peace & Justice; Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace; Lamorinda Peace Group; Livermore Conversion Project; Middle East Children's Alliance; Modesto Peace Life Center; New Fellowship Church; Nuclear Age Peace Foundation; Pax Christi Fremont; Peace and Justice Network of San Joaquin; Peninsula Peace and Justice Center; People's NonViolent Response Coalition; Physicians for Social Responsibility, San Francisco Bay Area; Queers For Peace And Justice; Rainforest Action Network; Redemptorists of Berkeley; Salinas Action League; San Jose Peace Center; Social Justice Resources Office, Diocese of Oakland; South Bay Mobilization; Tri-Valley CAREs; Tuolumne County Citizens for Peace; Veterans for Peace, SF Bay Area Chapter; War Resisters League - West; Western States Legal Foundation; Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Peninsula and Berkeley-East Bay Branches; Women for Peace NONVIOLENCE GUIDELINES: Nonviolence has always been a core value of the anti-nuclear movement. Perhaps that is because nuclear weapons represent the ultimate form of violence. The atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima killed some 200,000 people. Most of the 30,000 nuclear weapons in the world today have much larger explosive yields than that first nuclear weapon. Nonviolence is more than the absence of violence. Many of us believe that the active practice of nonviolence is a direct challenge to the violent policies of our governments. As we extend our hands to people new to our movement, we invite you to join us in our nonviolent direct action. While participants in this action are not required to embrace the philosophy of nonviolence, in order to create an atmosphere that is welcoming and safe for all participants, including newcomers, children and families, the organizers ask you abide by the following practical guidelines to keep the rally and march peaceful and safe. 1. We will use no violence, physical or verbal, towards any person. We consider speech or acts that are racist, homophobic, or sexist to be violent. 2. We will carry no weapons. 3. We will not bring or use any alcohol or illegal drugs. 4. We will not destroy property. 5. We will respect the rights of all people. 6. We will accept the legal consequences of our actions as we continue our struggle in the courts. SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS: The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, managed by the University of California (UC) is one of the two principal U.S. nuclear weapons design laboratories and as such, is one of the highest security facilities in the country. It is believed that over 1,500 pounds of plutonium is stored on site, protected by guards who have been given "shoot to kill" orders in the case of unauthorized intruders. In these times of heightened security, crossing the facility boundaries or climbing on or over the Lab fences carries an elevated risk of injury or death. In addition, UC police over the past 20 years have consistently demonstrated a zero-tolerance policy for people who go limp at the time of arrest. If you choose to risk arrest and go limp, be aware that you risk extreme pain and possible injury. If past practice holds, in general those who choose to risk arrest and cooperate with their arresting officers will not be subjected to pain holds or injury.