Dear friend of Nukewatch,
It’s official. Nukewatch turns 40 in 2019! Across four decades, this small but effective group has diligently monitored, reported on, and organized opposition to nuclear weapons, the nuclear industry and the war system. Our commitment to peace and disarmament remains as steadfast today as when Nukewatch started in 1979. It’s a birthday year. Help Nukewatch celebrate with a gift to make sure this organization survives to see 50.
Many times over the decades Nukewatch nearly closed its doors because of financial hardship, and each time an appeal went out, dedicated supporters came through to save the day. Thus, our work continues. Through the years, staff, volunteers and activists have stood at the fences, crossed the lines, faced the guns, argued in court, gone to jail or prison, written letters, marched, lobbied, published and leafletted to educate people across the country about nuclear dangers, military and civilian. For this, we continue to rely on your contribution.
Nuclear weapons and reactor programs have grossly contaminated our soil, air and water. And the perpetrators have no intention of stopping. But thanks to a renewed struggle toward nuclear disarmament—nuclear abolitionists having won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize, and a huge effort to ban the Bomb internationally—the global movement for prohibition and elimination is gaining strength once again. Nukewatch has been there all along; from the beginning Nukewatch has been a partner of the coalition group ICAN that received the Nobel!
With the US government galloping ahead with new nuclear weapons development—a gargantuan $1.7 trillion plan to replace the nuclear arsenal and its whole production complex—decontamination of radioactive wastelands from past weapons production gets short shrift or lip service (see Woolsey fire report on cover in your enclosed Quarterly).
As ever, with more and more cancers and diseases being linked to workplace or environmental radiation exposure, the White House—to save the nuclear industry money—is pushing the debunked notion that a little radiation is good for you. It has proposed an official weakening of radiation exposure protections (see Quarterly cover story).
While Congress and presidential administrations routinely add tens of billions to the military budget every year, they slash funds for food stamps, education, pollution control and healthcare. No major effort is afoot to wind down, much less roll back, or even audit Pentagon spending or its endless adventurism around the world. Some in Congress have proposed minimal but welcome cancellations of the most destabilizing and dangerous nuclear weapons programs. Where in the United States are there official calls for denuclearization or support for the new Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons?
Your donation to Nukewatch helps amplify and broaden the demand for peace and disarmament.
While the Pentagon gets more money than it sometimes requests (and then loses large sums), organizations working for peace and reconciliation receive no government slush. Not a dime. Nukewatch’s grassroots work depends solely on you to get us through the years.
Without you there can be no printing of the Nukewatch Quarterly. Without you no one will answer the phone, do the research, write the reports, maintain the books, organize the next event, show up to speak, or join a protest delegation… Nukewatch needs funds for postage, heating bills, wages, insurance, paper, printing, phone, internet, and the list goes on.
Please help us cover the costs of:
Printing one issue of the Quarterly and other materials $2,000
Annual liability insurance $1,500
One scholarship for Germany delegation (US Nukes Out campaign) $1,200
Tabling and fees for one conference $100
Six months of website hosting $50
One book of stamps $9.80
Please give so that Nukewatch carries on. With you, Nukewatch will continue to struggle and strive for a nuclear free world.
Sincerely,
John LaForge, for Nukewatch
Martha is our newest Nukewatch staffer. She has been visiting the Plowshares Land Trust since 2009 when she was a student group leader at the College of Saint Benedict, where she majored in Peace and Conflict Studies and Political Science. Recently she made the big move out to the farm and joined us on staff at Nukewatch. She has lots of experience working with young folks and leading groups on justice-oriented trips. At Nukewatch, Martha will be the point person for organizing students wanting to visit the farm and also for educational forums and trainings that other organizations would like to host. She loves to bake, ride horses, travel, garden, and lay in her hammock.