OAK RIDGE, TN
- January 1 - At 8:00am January 1, 2002, ten Oak Ridge Environmental
Peace Alliance activists entered the Y-12 National Security Complex to
reclaim the nuclear weapons production facility for peace. Carrying flags,
candles and symbols of peace, they made a commitment to work for
peace and an end to nuclear weapons production in the coming year.
They were arrested by the Oak Ridge city police, charged with
misdemeanor trespass and released.
Below is the statement the group read on the property.
WE RECLAIM THIS LAND FOR PEACE
We are a community of people committed to nonviolence. We are here at
the dawn of a New Year bringing candles to light a path toward a world
free from the threat of nuclear annihilation. We plant the flags of peace to
claim the Y-12 National Nuclear Weapons Production Facility (Y-12
National Security Complex) as a facility for disarmament.
By declaring 2002 a "war year", President Bush has made it clear that US
terrorism abroad will not stop with Afghanistan. President Bush has
abandoned the Anti- Ballistic Missile Treaty and the US government
boycotted the United Nations Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Review
Conference.
While the President has pledged to substantially cut our nuclear
stockpiles, the Department of Energy has received billions of tax dollars to
rebuild the US nuclear weapons complex, in order to increase production
of nuclear weapons.
We demand that US tax dollars now budgeted for nuclear weapons be
redirected so that people will have necessary food, decent and affordable
housing, quality education, adequate medical care and life-giving jobs.
The threat of annihilation cannot be the basis of any foreign policy. Peace
is built by respecting the rights and dignity of all people and acting as a
partner within the global community. We are making a committed stand
for peace so that future generations, worldwide, will enjoy freedom of
speech, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Participants:
Kate Berrigan, 20, Oberlin, OH; Paloma Galindo, 35, Knoxville, TN; Ann
Hablas, 76, Jacksboro, TN; Erik Johnson, 57, Maryville, TN; Rebecca
Johnson, 22, Washington, DC; Mary Denis Lentsch, 64, Chattanooga, TN;
Tim Mellon, 45, Oak Ridge, TN; Laurel Paget-Seekins, 21, Oakland, CA;
Sarah Ruth Saunders, 20, Lake Orion, MI; Shelley Wascom, 42, Lake City,
TN
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