DC to NYC NPT Walk for Nuclear Disarmament and Abolition - in Balt.April 11-13!

Friends,

 

We have a walk for nuclear disarmament coming to Baltimore.  The walkers are looking for our support.  Please get back to me if you want to get involved.  Thanks.

 

Kagiso,

 

Max

Dear Max,

Happy February!  I hope this greeting finds you well and, as a Baltimorean, happy about the outcome of yesterday's football game. . .

I'm writing about the Peace Walk that I mentioned to you the last time we spoke, a month ago in front of the CIA.  (My apologies for the overdue follow-up.)

Below is an introductory letter for general purposes, which can be found on our walk website: www.nptwalk2010.org.  Also on the website is our itenerary, which brings us into Baltimore on April 11, lets us spend a day there (ideally at events in town, possibly at universities there?), and then has us departing for Towson and points north on April 13.

I know you are quite familiar with this kind of action, and I would ask your help in contacting Baltimore area peace and justice groups, suggestions for overnight acommodations for 10-20 walkers while in the area, and any suggestions you may have for our route through Baltimore and possible events (demonstrations, actions, etc.) while we are there.

It is our hope that the walk can be one focal point for local organizing nuclear weapons opposition and preparing for the 2010 NPT Review and surrounding conference and major demo in NYC on April 30 and May 1 & 2.

My hope is to set up a free conference call as soon as possible with you and some other area activists who you may suggest--hopefully this week.  I'll give you a call soon to talk about this, otr you can reach me anytime at the Peace House in DC, numbers below.

Thanks a million in advance and best regards,
Jay Marx
Proposition One in 2010! Committee
202/682-4282 (ofc. / hm.)
202/368-4690

= = =

February 2010

Dear Friend of Peace and Wisdom,

This letter is to inform you about our April 2010 DC to NYC Walk for Nuclear Disarmament and Abolition, and to invite you to become engaged with our vision and action for a nuclear-free future.

We are an affiliation of peace and justice activists, planning to take 3 weeks in April to walk the 250 miles from Washington, DC, to New York, NY. Following in the tradition of many other peace walks, we are walking for nuclear disarmament and a world peace based in social justice.

Believing that every footstep is a prayer for peace, and that our collective grassroots action can truly help bring about the change we hope to see, we are walking to New York to demonstrate grassroots support for (edit longer) Nuclear Disarmament and Abolition (In Our Lifetime!).

We invite you to be involved with our action. You may wish to walk with us for a few steps or miles, help host the walk or an event like a town hall or a "peace mile" in your community, support our walk by or sponsoring a walker or donating resources, or otherwise contribute to our mission. Let us know if you are interested! You can contact us or simply click a link for the specific way you'd like to be involved, at our website: www.nptwalk2010.org

Along the way from DC to NYC—through Baltimore, MD; Wilmington, DE; Philadelphia, PA; Princeton, NJ, and points between—we will meet with religious groups, peace groups, student and environmental groups, and of course the general public, everywhere bearing witness to the awful specter of nuclear destruction, the immense waste of resources caught up in our nuclear complex, and the vast possibilities of a world without nuclear weapons if we can muster the will to (re-)create it.

Walk Basics:
Our three-week journey will depart from Washington, DC on April 8. Covering about 15 miles each day, we will stop for events, meals, rest breaks and sleep, arriving in New York on April 29, 2010 — in time for the major international Conference and Demonstration for Nuclear Disarmament, preceding a month of disarmament negotiations at the United Nations (UN) during the 5-Year Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference.

We aim for a core group of between 15 and 30 walkers who will make the full journey (or most of it) though we would happily make arrangements for more if there is sufficient interest. Even more, we hope more people will join us in each city or town we walk through — for a mile or even a minute — to add their presence, energy and intention to our collective cause of immediate disarmament and ultimate world peace.

We take President Obama at his word when he says — many times, to many audiences — that he wants us "… to know the peace of a world without nuclear weapons." But we also believe him when he quotes FDR about the importance of grassroots pressure: "All right, you've convinced me. Now go out and put some pressure on me!" Disarmament can not happen by the good will of our president alone. It will take the steady pressure of a peaceful, determined people. The grassroots movement that helped halt the arms race in the 1980's must again stand up and demand action to eliminate nuclear weapons now — before they eliminate us. This is where you come in!

We ask for your support. There are lots of logistics involved in getting people from DC to NYC on foot — food, accommodation, equipment transport and the like — but there is one thing we need most of all, and that is help from local peace-minded people to get the word out! Please forward this letter to others in your local community and peace activist networks.

If you want to join with us along the walk, help us organize an event or "peace mile" in your community, donate resources, or otherwise support our efforts, that would be wonderful. Please let us know!

Thank you in advance for your time, energy and interest in helping us create a peaceful "critical mass" of grassroots support for nuclear disarmament, in time for it to matter.

Best Regards,

Jay Marx
DC => NYC Walk for Nuclear Disarmament and Abolition
Proposition One in 2010! Campaign Coordinator
1233 12th St., NW
Washington, DC 20005
202/682-4282
marxjay(at)gmail.com

Ethan Genauer
Walk Co-Coordinator
DC => NYC Walk for Nuclear Disarmament and Abolition
856/535-8547
nptwalk2010(at)gmail.com
www.nptwalk2010.org