August, 04 2009, 02:04pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Paul Kawika Martin, Political Director,
951.217.7285 cell, pmartin@peace-action.org
Hundreds of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Events Show Support for Obama's Nuke Free World
WASHINGTON
Despite health care and the economy sucking much of the Nation's
political oxygen, hundreds of events will happen this week around the
dates of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki where well over
220,000 people died from two, relatively small (compared to current
nuclear weapons) atomic bombs.
"With President Obama giving a historic speech in Prague earlier this
year that echoed campaign promises and articulated a plan towards a
'world without nuclear weapons,' these events show clear support from
the electorate for Obama to achieve his vision as soon as practicably
possible. Taking concrete steps like ratifying the Comprehensive Test
Ban Treaty, continued negotiations with Russia to reduce nuclear
stockpiles, securing nuclear weapons and materials and a clear movement
towards international negotiations ridding the world of nuclear weapons
will not only make Americans safer, but save us money in the long-term"
proclaimed, Paul Kawika Martin, the group's political director.
WHAT: Hundreds of events around the country this week to commemorate
the 64th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
by the United States during World War II. Some events will use an
international petition to President Obama asking that he announce at
the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference initiation
of good faith multilateral negotiations on an international agreement
for a world without nuclear weapons.
WHEN: August 6th and 9th, 2009. Events happening on other dates this week as well.
WHERE: Over 150 of the events have been registered in over 34 states online and can be searched or added to by visiting:
https://www.peace-action.org/nukes/campaigns/hndays
WHO: Organizers and local spokespersons on nuclear weapons policy
around the country and survivors of the bombings known as Hibakusha.
Kevin Martin, Peace Action's executive director is currently in
Hiroshima and will be in Nagasaki from August 7th though 9th and
available for phone or satellite interviews.
VISUALS: Many events will include floating lanterns, origami
peace cranes and other colorful props. Some events at sites with
nuclear weapons may include nonviolent civil disobedience.
Peace Action is the United States' largest peace and disarmament organization with over 100,000 members and nearly 100 chapters in 34 states, works to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons, promote government spending priorities that support human needs and encourage real security through international cooperation and human rights.
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Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC sent a letter Monday to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Acting Secretary Debbie-Anne Reese seeking final permission to begin operation on the MVP next month, even while acknowledging that much of the Virginia portion of the pipeline route remains unfinished and developers have yet to fully comply with safety requirements.
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"MVP brazenly asks for this authorization while simultaneously notifying FERC that the company has completed less than two-thirds of the project to final restoration and with the mere promise that it will notify the commission when it fully complies with the requirements of a consent decree it entered into with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration last fall," she continued.
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Russell Chisholm, co-director of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR) Coalition—which called MVP's request "reckless and impossible"—said in a statement that "we are watching our worst nightmare unfold in real-time: The reckless MVP is barreling towards completion."
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Appalachian Voices noted that MVP's request comes days before pipeline developer Equitrans Midstream is set to release its 2024 first-quarter earnings information on April 30.
MVP is set to traverse much of Virginia and West Virginia, with the Southgate extension running into North Carolina. Outgoing U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and other pipeline proponents fought to include expedited construction of the project in the debt ceiling deal negotiated between President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans last year.
On Monday, climate and environmental defenders also petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, challenging FERC's approval of the MVP's planned Southgate extension, contending that the project is so different from original plans that the government's previous assent is now irrelevant.
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Democracy defenders on Tuesday hailed a ruling from a U.S. federal judge striking down a 19th-century North Carolina law criminalizing people who vote while on parole, probation, or post-release supervision due to a felony conviction.
In Monday's decision, U.S. District Judge Loretta C. Biggs—an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama—sided with the North Carolina A. Philip Randolph Institute and Action NC, who argued that the 1877 law discriminated against Black people.
"The challenged statute was enacted with discriminatory intent, has not been cleansed of its discriminatory taint, and continues to disproportionately impact Black voters," Biggs wrote in her 25-page ruling.
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Voting rights tracker Democracy Docket noted that Monday's ruling "does not have any bearing on North Carolina's strict felony disenfranchisement law, which denies the right to vote for those with felony convictions who remain on probation, parole, or a suspended sentence—often leaving individuals without voting rights for many years after release from incarceration."
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"It also makes our democracy better and ensures that North Carolina is not able to unjustly criminalize innocent individuals with felony convictions who are valued members of our society, specifically Black voters who were the target of this law," Brown added.
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According to Forward Justice—a nonpartisan law, policy, and strategy center dedicated to advancing racial, social, and economic justice in the U.S. South, "Although Black people constitute 21% of the voting-age population in North Carolina, they represent 42% of the people disenfranchised while on probation, parole, or post-release supervision."
The group notes that in 44 North Carolina counties, "the disenfranchisement rate for Black people is more than three times the rate of the white population."
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As similar battles play out in other states, Democratic U.S. lawmakers led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont in December introduced legislation to end former felon disenfranchisement in federal elections and guarantee incarcerated people the right to vote.
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