Four coordinated anti-nuclear bomb protests occurred on Saturday. Protest sites were in Las Vegas, near the Nevada Test Site; Y-12 Production Plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn.; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Southern California; and Los Alamos Lab in New Mexico.
At Los Alamos, the birthplace of the Atomic Bomb, hundreds were on hand in protest on the 60th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. Sunflowers, the international symbol for nuclear disarmament, were arranged around a pond and protesters gathered to listen to guest speakers. The Los Alamos Monitor reports banners and posters that read things such as, "You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war" and "Stop the new bomb factory" were prominently displayed throughout the day's speeches.
"We're trying to protect the planet from being destroyed," said Father John Dear of Pax Christi New Mexico, an organization that strives to create peace worldwide. "Nuclear weapons are the ultimate form of terrorism. We are New Mexico people and we're not going away. We're going to keep building a movement until the weapons are abolished.
Greg Mello, executive director of the Los Alamos Study Group, an organization that provides leadership on nuclear disarmament and related issues in New Mexico, said Los Alamos does not need a laboratory to be a successful community.
"The more waste dumped here and the more plutonium manufactured here, the more pigeon-holed and associated with pollution the community becomes, and the public doesn't like that," he said.
"If we are going to oppose militarism, then it's best we oppose our own militarism right at home because that would be most effective," Mello said.
Mello said he has spoken with hundreds of scientists at the lab and has found that only about 10 percent support the production of nuclear weapons.
"Scientists need to speak up," Mello said. "If they don't, it's assumed they support nuclear weapons. If they don't want to work on nuclear weapons, they shouldn't. These are hard choices they have to make. We have nothing against the people here, but we have to be firm about these destructive policies."
As part of the event, County Council Chair Fran Berting arrived at the U.S. Post Office to accept a letter written by the mayor of Hiroshima and a resolution passed in April by the Santa Fe City Council. David Coss, a Santa Fe city councilor, gave Berting the letter, which outlines the need to globally work together to end the production of nuclear weapons. He also gave her the Santa Fe resolution which calls upon the U.S. government to order the disarmament of nuclear weapons.
"I respectfully accept this letter and will take it to the next council meeting," Berting said. "I think we all share the same ultimate goal - world peace."
Prior to the event, about 250 New Mexico businesses signed a petition stating they were against the production of nuclear weapons, and banners set up at the rally identified each of those businesses or organizations.
The primary function of the lab today, reports the California Aggie, is stockpile stewardship — the maintenance and storage of nuclear weapons for immediate use in case of nuclear conflict. The lab’s mission is to sustain international peace through the threat of nuclear war, according to lab spokesperson Kevin Roark.
Near Livermore Labs, a place many consider the brain of the nuclear weapons complex in the United States, the Seeds of Change: No Nukes! No Wars! rally began with a pot-luck family picnic, where organizers used sharing and coming together to show their aspirations for a nuclear-free world.
“It is our hope that our voice helps stop the dangerous design of nuclear weapons,” said Tara Dorabjl of Tri-Valley CARES. “We are trying to send a clear message that having nuclear weapons anywhere makes us less secure. We are gathered in part to honor the victims that suffered from the horror of 60 years ago, and to show that we are a growing non-violent community and celebrate our resistance.”
The Livermore Lab is one of the primary nuclear weapons design labs in the world, and has been named as the sole site to develop the Robust Nuclear Earth Penerator, or RNEP, a new high-yield bomb.
Near Oak Ridge, some 1,100 demonstrators carrying signs and beating drums marched to the gates of the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, where the uranium for the original bomb was supplied and warhead parts are still manufactured. Fifteen people were arrested at the Y-12 Production Plant, Oak Ridge for blocking a road outside the heavily guarded weapons factory that helped fuel the bomb during World War II.
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, students and peace activists in Las Vegas gathered for seminars and speeches on eliminating nuclear weapons.
Back at Los Alamos, Masako Hashida said she was 15 and working in a Mitsubishi weapons factory making torpedoes in Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, when the second atomic bomb was dropped.
"All at once I heard a loud metallic sound," Hashida said. "I saw huge red, blue, yellow and purple light waves coming toward me. I must have fainted at that moment."
Hashida said when she regained consciousness, she was under a cliff outside the factory and she was surrounded by sooty smoke. She saw bent and torn steel frame girders from the factory.
"As I started to move to seek help, I saw a human-like creature trying to draw itself up to its full height," Hashida said. "Despite the fact that the creature's head was swollen, its eyes were red and popping out, its lips were painfully swollen, and its skin was hanging from the bones, it managed to stand. This person was just staring straight ahead without seeing, without feeling or control. I could not tell if it was a man or a woman."
The next day, Hashida's father came to Nagasaki to look for her body, and when he found her, he hugged her tight and sobbed.
Hashida said at that point she began to realize the impact of what had happened and she too began to cry.
"I have suffered all these years with survivor's guilt," Hashida said. "I even lost my ability to speak for a month or more. For a long time, until recently, I could never talk about that day."
Hashida said people are now forgetting the sorrow, pain and death caused by weapons of mass destruction. She said her memories of all the people who died, including her friends and loved ones, drove her to come to Los Alamos.
"I believe that I must raise my voice and tell as many people as possible about what I witnessed so that these weapons will never again be used," Hashida said. Sources: Los Alamos Monitor, Santa Fe New Mexican, Daily Bruin (UCLA), San Mateo County Times, California Aggie
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