Abolition Flame to Join Peace Walk from Tennessee to the United Nations Begins in Oak Ridge
Saturday, Feburary 13
The International Peace Walk Towards a Nuclear Free Future, which is organized by Footprints for Peace will begin a journey of more than 700 miles, stepping off from the Scarboro Road gate of the Y12 Nuclear Weapons Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, on Saturday, February 13 at 9:00am. Over the next three months, walkers will follow a route through Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, arriving at the United Nations in New York City on May 1, 2010.
The Abolition Flame, which travelled with the Global March for Peace and Non Violence will continue its journey to the Nuclear Nonprolferation Treaty review conference with people from around the globe who will converge at the Y-12 Complex in Oak Ridge on Saturday morning. Y12 enriched the uranium that was used in the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima, Japan, in August 1945 and is currently upgrading and refurbishing the United States nuclear arsenal. Footprints for Peace, an Ohio based organization, has drawn together people from Australia, Japan and Europe, along with people from across the United States including Indigenous peoples, religious leaders, Buddhist monks, students, artists and families—all who are joining in the Walk to demonstrate their commitment to a nuclear free world for future generations.
The Peace Walk will travel to the United Nations carrying a letter from Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima and Director of Mayors for Peace endorsing the walk and encouraging mayors along the walk’s route to become a part of Mayors for Peace campaign and join the effort to create a nuclear weapons free world.
Footprints for Peace Australian organizer Marcus Atkinson: “While nuclear disarmament is something the world must achieve, we can only do it if we all work together to demand our leaders fulfil the promises made decades ago in the Nonproliferation Treaty. We also need to use this time to look at the whole cycle of the nuclear industry. Nuclear weapons are the final product of an industry that has destroyed Indigenous people’s lands throughout the world, caused the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people and left whole cities uninhabitable. There is no “Peaceful Use” of nuclear power, as the process from the very beginning of the cycle is so destructive. This walk will bring attention to all aspects of the nuclear industry and will be demanding progress on negotiations to create a nuclear weapons free world, while also creating debate on the nuclear industry as a whole.”
Footprints for Peace will be holding public meetings along their three-month walk to the United Nations and are encouraging all those who believe in a nuclear free world to come out and walk with them for an hour a day or the entire walk. The Walk will arrive in New York City for the opening of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review conference that will begin on the 2nd of May at the United Nations.
OREPA’s Ralph Hutchison said, “Our leaders are incapable of building a world without nuclear weapons. It won’t happen without pressure being put on them by all of us. It is our responsibility to create a peaceful world for future generations, and if we are unwilling to take a stand, we can be sure our leaders won’t.”
Additional information
A benefit circus and potluck dinner will be held in support of the Walk Toward a Nuclear Free Future on Friday, February 12 at the Birdhouse, 800 N. Fourth St, Knoxville, TN. Potluck dinner to start at 6:30; circus at 8:00pm. Donations will be accepted to support the Walk.
For more information
Marcus Atkinson
e: marcus (at) footprintsforpeace (dot) net
w: www.footprintsforpeace.net
Conférence-débat le 03/12 à la MJ de l’Héritan de Mâcon, dans le cadre de la semaine humanitaire organisée du 30/11 au 04/12 par le collectif de 12 associations (dont le MAN 71) “Forum de la Solidarité” :
“Après le Nobel d’Obama, quel avenir pour le désarmement nucléaire ?” avec JM Collin, auteur de “La bombe, l’univers opaque du nucléaire”.
Présence toute la semaine du parcours-expo : “La non-violence, une force pour agir !”, conçue par le MAN (Movement pour une Alternative Non-violente)
Information: http://nonviolence.fr/spip.php?rubrique70
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Le “Tour de France pour l’Abolition des Armes nucléaires” fait escale à Laragne-Montéglin (Hautes-Alpes)
Le comité de Laragne-Montéglin et de la Vallée du Buëch organise une Conférence-débat le samedi 28 novembre de 15h à 16h30
“Abolir l’arme nucléaire : pourquoi ? comment ?”
Salle Pluriactivités - Eyguians
Avec la participation de Pierre Villard, co-président du Mouvement de la Paix, coordinateur de la Campagne internationale pour abolir l’arme nucléaire.
Infos : laragne@mvtpaix.org
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Manifestation Publique pour la réception de la ‘Flamme d’Hiroshima - Abolition des Armes Nucléaires’ dans le cadre de la Marche Mondiale Pour la Paix:
le 12 Novembre 2009 à CARCASSONNE
13h : Accueil de la Flamme SQUARE GAMBETTA, formation du cortège avec fanfare jusqu’à la place CARNOT,
13h30-14h : Place Carnot: discours, musique, lecture de poèmes sur la Paix, distribution de tracts,
14h - 20h : Visualisation du Film “Désarmer pour vivre!” de l’ACDN et actions auprès des scolaires.
Veuillez contacter le Collectif Carcassonnais de la Marche Mondiale pour la Paix au hacquard.gerard@wanadoo.f.
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Launching of the “Tour de France on nuclear weapons abolition”
6 months to disarm the planet
200 people, from 31 departments and from 8 countries, representing 32 organisations, launched Sunday 18 October, in front of the Peace Memorial in Caen, “6 months of actions for nuclear weapon abolition” to rally public opinion within sight of the NPT Review Conference on May 2010 in the ONU, New York.
Replying to the appeal of French fields of the international networks Abolition 2000 and ICAN –international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons—, people taking part in the workshop exchanged their ideas on the nuclear disarmament state, after the positive international evolutions of the last months, and decided coordinating their actions to discuss the French implication on the multilateral nuclear disarmament process.
The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama has been interpreted as a support to action for nuclear weapons abolition, essential to save the planet and the mankind from a disappearance planned by the atomic weapon.
For more information, please click here or read the rest of the article below the jump.
[click to continue…]
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Maynie Thompson, Krystal Boyes and Rafael de la Rubia with the nuclear abolition torches
A flame promoting the abolition of nuclear weapons kicked-off the World March for Peace and Nonviolence in Wellington on 2 October the 140th anniversary of Gandhi’s birthday. The Nuclear Abolition Flame will be carried around the world on special torches designed in New Zealand and made from native New Zealand wood. The flame will be used to inspire people to support the United Nations Secretary-General’s five-point plan for nuclear disarmament which includes a call for negotiations on a treaty to prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons entirely.
Following the end of the World March in Punta de Vacas, Argentina, the Nuclear Abolition Flame will be carried to New York for the 2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty meeting, to encourage governments at the meeting to start nuclear abolition negotiations. The physical flame is supported by a virtual flame which anyone can spread to friends, family and acquaintances, and which includes action ideas and contacts to promote nuclear abolition.
The flame was brought to New Zealand by Mayors for Peace Vice-President Bob Harvey, and used on preliminary Peace Marches in Auckland, Waiheke Island, Tauranga and Whanganui before kicking off the World Peace March in Wellington on 2 October. One of the torches was carried 207 kilometers by foot on a peace march from Whanganui to arrive in Wellington in time to join the World Peace March opening events. The Peace Flame was also used in the 3 October Christchurch Peace Walk in support of the World Peace March.
In Wellington, the Nuclear Abolition Flame was presented to World Peace March leader Rafael de La Rubia by Krystal Boyes (one of the Whanganui–to-Wellington peace marchers) and Maynie Tompson (one of the Waiheke Island peace marchers). 90-year-old Maynie Thompson also walked on the Wellington Peace Heritage Walk launched on 2 October by the World Peace March, and in 1996 walked across the United States in the Great USA Peace March.
Photo: 90-year-olds Maynie Thompson and Kit Nelson carry the Nuclear Abolition Flame in Waitkere, New Zealand
If you would like more information, including a link to the article posted please click here
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- US Navy Photo by Cheif Yeoman Alphonso Braggs
A global call to protect the North and South Poles was launched at the Antarctica monument on Mount Victoria by a team of peace walkers who are travelling around the world promoting peace and nonviolence. The World March for Peace and Nonviolence, which started in Wellington on 2 October and is travelling through 90 countries in 90 days, calls for both poles to be declared World Peace Parks in order to ensure that they are not destroyed by conflict, militarism or environmental disasters.
“The Antarctic could be an area of intense territorial and resource conflicts,” said Alyn Ware, Vice-President of the International Peace Bureau. “However, the interested countries negotiated the 1959 Antarctic Treaty which made the region a demilitarized and nuclear-free zone, managed by a cooperative regime. This is a very positive example to the rest of the world. We need a similar regime in the Arctic region where conflicts are heating up, nuclear-armed submarines are on the prowl, and environmental damage is escalating”.
The event featured remarks by the Hon Matt Robson, former New Zealand minister for Disarmament who added that the Arctic peoples have asked for help to protect the Arctic. “They have seen the positive start that we have made with Antarctic Treaty and they want a similar demilitarized and nuclear free zone up north. Alyn Ware and I thus worked with parliamentarians, scientists, indigenous peoples, academics and civil society leaders in Copenhagen last month to draft a declaration to promote the proposal for an Arctic demilitarized and nuclear-free zone.” Robson argued that it is urgent to protect the fragile environment that exists in the Arctic and it must be protected for our future generations.
Kate Smith, from Operation Peace through Unity, stated that “We are calling for the Antarctic and Arctic to be declared a Peace Parks in order to provide absolute protection in this fragile environment” and furthermore that“we invite people to support the Antarctic Peace Park declaration, and to initiate a similar one for the Arctic.” As the peace march travels around the world we are called to support the protection of the Arctic as it carries global importance, the World Peace March will be promoting its appeal in public forums, to key governments and to international organizations including the United Nations, Arctic Council, Nordic Council and the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings.
To read the full article click here
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Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey in Japan for Assembly of Mayors for Peace
A Nuclear Abolition Torch, lit in Japan on August 5, will be carried around the world on the World March for Peace and Non-violence to promote the abolition of nuclear weapons. The torch was lit from the Hiroshima Flame, a central feature of the Hiroshima Peace Park, in the lead-up to the 64th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of the city. The Hiroshima Flame was lit from the embers of the nuclear explosion in memory of those who perished. It will remain alight until all nuclear weapons are eliminated.
The Nuclear Abolition Torch was re-lit in Nagasaki on August 9 – the anniversary of the nuclear bombing of that city – at a ceremony in front of Te Korowai Rangimarie (The Cloak of Peace) – a sculpture donated by New Zealand to the Nagasaki Peace Park in 2007. The torch is part of the Nuclear Abolition Flame project, which includes both online (virtual) actions as well as actual events around the world to promote nuclear abolition and the achievement of a global nuclear disarmament treaty. Everyone is encouraged to spread the Nuclear Abolition Flame.
Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey has brought the torch to Aotearoa-New Zealand for the World Peace March events here. Bob was in Japan for the Assembly of Mayors for Peace – an association of 3000 cities calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons – at which he was elected a Vice-President. Thanks to Mayra Gomez (Bolivia/Aotearoa) who organized the torch-lighting ceremonies.
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A global peace movement begins September 17, 2009 and kicks off in New Zealand with the lighting of the Abolition Flame. The Abolition Flame lighting ceremony will take place at Glen Eden Intermediate School in Waitakere, West Auckland and will be carried on The World March for Peace and Non Violence. Mayor Bob Harvey explains that the significance behind the location of the ceremony is to bring the message of peace to youth, “The flame is a message about what kind of world we want these children to inherit…our homes, neighbourhoods and schools are responsible for passing on a peaceful culture.”
The World March for Peace is the first of its kind. The march will literally span the earth calling for the end of nuclear weapons and violence of all kinds. The March will last 90 days and span 90 countries, ending in the Andes Moutains on January 2,2010.
For more information click here
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Footprints for Peace is calling on all Anti-Nuclear Activists and people who care about the future of Mother Earth to join us on Feb 11th, 2010 for a walk from the Y-12 nuclear weapons facility in Tennessee to the United Nations in New York for the NPT (Nuclear non Proliferation Treaty) Review Conference.
Recently the nuclear industry has embarked on a campaign of deceit and propaganda to convince the public that nuclear power is needed to end global warming. They have spent millions of dollars misleading the public and they have spent even more on buying corrupt politicians and environmentalists to back their claims.
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AbolitionFlame.org 
