Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Click here to read the updated Hiroshima/Nagasaki exhibit created by members of the NYC chapter of WRL, detailing the history of the bombings and the emergence of the powerful US anti-nuclear movement. The exhibit is available also available in a downloadable PDF version, which can be used as a flyer at events, actions, and vigils commemorating the anniversary of the bombings. 

Also, below is an article written for the second issue of the Think Outside the Bomb zine by Laura Watchempino with the Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment about uranium-impacted communities’ struggle against the nuclear chain in New Mexico, supported in part by WRL: 

The Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment (MASE) is rooted in the experiences of uranium-impacted communities in the Grants Mineral Belt (GMB), in Northwest New Mexico.  We are communities working to restore and protect the natural and cultural environment by respectfully promoting intercultural engagement among communities and institutions for the benefit of all life and future generations.

MASE recently solicited support and financial assistance from the National Office of the War Resisters League (WRL) to work on a Nuclear Free Zone Declaration for the Grants Mineral Belt. The declaration is intended to be used as a tool for defending our homelands and cultural environment from the uranium extractive industry and the destruction it wreaks on our health and environment as it rips through our treasured landscapes and water-sheds.

Uranium mining and milling that produces the raw fuel for nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons is at the “front end” of the nuclear fuel chain. The first wave of uranium extraction in the GMB took place during the 1950s through 1990 and the second wave is forming. . .

The Nuclear Free Zone initiative will assist in disrupting the nuclear fuel chain at the supply stage of uranium extraction. The NFZ initiative can also be used to bring together communities and organizations working to break free of our nuclear fuel chains and to halt all phases of nuclear weapons production, testing and nuclear waste enrichment in New Mexico.

The first draft of our Nuclear Free Zone Declaration for the Grants Mineral Belt and Northwest New Mexico is attached. Key provisions within the declaration are written to ensure that environmental justice principles are adhered to in the interest of protecting against human rights abuses, such as the right to a safe drinking water supply and the right to be free from exposure to hazardous substances and toxic releases without our knowledge or consent. 

Many thanks to the WRL National Office for facilitating our NFZ initiative.