BALTIMORE HOLDS 36th ANNUAL HIROSHIMA & NAGASAKI COMMEMORATIONS. IT IS THE 75th ANNIVERSARY OF THE ATOMIC BOMBINGS OF JAPAN

Dear friends and supporters: 

  Again, thank you for your support, which allows us to continue our work.   For the 36th year, the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee will host events to remember the atomic bombings of Japan on August 6 & 9, 1945. The co-sponsors are the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, Baltimore Peace Action, Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility, Homewood Friends Meeting, Maryland Peace Action and Prevent Nuclear War Maryland.

  This year, we are hosting three events with two on August 9.  See the enclosed flyers for specific details.  But note that on the evening of August 9, we have organized a Zoom conference. 

  Also note that on August 6 from 1:15 to 1:30 PM, as part of the 75 Years of shared Nuclear Legacy, four of us will be speaking out against Johns Hopkins weapons research.  From 1:30 to 1:45 PM, listen to Councilperson Bill Henry and others talk about the Back from the Brink campaign.  Baltimore was the first major city to pass a resolution supporting this campaign. To watch these segments and many others on both August 6 and 9, go to https://www.hiroshimanagasaki75.org/events?emci=cc643ffc-2dd0-ea11-9b05-00155d03bda0&emdi=0198b95e-3bd0-ea11-9b05-00155d03bda0&ceid=130901.

  Despite the pandemic, outbreaks of famine, immense poverty and the other ills facing the world, governments continue to spend $100 billion per year on nuclear weapons and $1.9 trillion per year on weapons and war. Maryland Peace Action and Prevent Nuclear War Maryland organized virtual lobbying sessions with the staff for our senators and many of the Maryland members of the House of Representatives.  A typical meeting was an opportunity to inform the legislator that we favored a Green New Deal, severe cuts to the military budget, Medicare for All and a renewed campaign for nuclear arms agreements and an end to the refurbishing of the nuclear arsenal at a cost of about $1 trillion.

    Most recently, we focused on calling for severe cuts in the tax dollars going to the Pentagon in the National Defense [sic] Authorization Act. Sen. Markey [MA] and Sen. Sanders [VT] introduced an initiative to cut the Pentagon budget by 10%. There was a companion amendment in the House introduced by Reps.  Pocan (WI-) and Lee (CA-). We were able to convince Sens. Cardin and Van Hollen and Reps. Mfume, Raskin and Sarbanes to vote for a 10% cut.  But the amendment failed in both the Senate and the House. 

  Consider getting involved with Prevent Nuclear War/Maryland or Baltimore Peace Action.  Forty countries have ratified the UN Treaty Ban.  We need ten more for it to become international law. So get involved as there is much work for us to do.

Send contributions to BNC/Max, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206, Baltimore 21218.  This is not a tax-deductible donation.

Max Obuszewski, on behalf of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee

Name: ___________________________Address:______________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Phone: _______________________________E.Mail:___________________________

Donation amount_______________________

 BALTIMORE HOLDS 36th ANNUAL HIROSHIMA & NAGASAKI COMMEMORATIONS. IT IS THE 75th ANNIVERSARY OF THE ATOMIC BOMBINGS OF JAPAN.

 

 For the 36th year, Baltimore's anti-nuclear weapons community, including the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee, will gather August 6 and 9 to commemorate the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The co-sponsors are the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, Baltimore Peace Action, Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility, Homewood Friends Meeting, Maryland Peace Action and Prevent Nuclear War Maryland. Participants will indicate support for the Black Lives Matter protests. Signs will state Demilitarize the Police and Denuclearize the Military. To get involved or to seek more information, contact Max Obuszewski at 410-323-1607 or mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net.

 On August 6 from 5 to 6:30 PM with signs, banners, ribbons and artwork, we will commemorate the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Our location will be at the four corners at 33rd and North Charles Streets in Baltimore.  This area was selected because of its proximity to Johns Hopkins University, a major nuclear weapons contractor. In fiscal year 2019, JHU received more than one billion dollars in weapons contracts. JHU’s Applied Physics Laboratory is the research center which engages in most of the university’s work on weapons research. The APL renewed a seven-year contract in 2017 worth $93 million to continue a strategic partnership with the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center. The protesters will show support for the Back from the Brink resolution, five steps towards the abolition of nuclear weapons, and will call for ratification of the UN Ban Treaty.  People will wear masks and stay six feet from others. 

######

 BALTIMORE HOLDS 36th ANNUAL HIROSHIMA & NAGASAKI COMMEMORATIONS. IT IS THE 75th ANNIVERSARY OF THE ATOMIC BOMBINGS OF JAPAN.

On August 9 from 1 to 2:30 PM, participants will commemorate the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.  Some of the vigilers will start at Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 North Charles Street and spread out on corners up Charles Street as far as possible towards the Stony Run Meetinghouse, 5116 N. Charles St.  People will wear masks and stay six feet from others. Other participants will gather at 12:30 PM on 29th Street on the south end of Wyman Park.  At 1 PM, the caravan would head north on Howard Street and turn right on Art Museum Drive and left by Homewood Meetinghouse. The caravan would then head north on Charles Street all the way to Stony Run Meetinghouse.  There the cars would turn around and head south on Charles Street back to 29th Street on the south end of Wyman Park.  The vehicles in the car caravan will be decorated with anti-nuclear messages and will have their blinkers on.  The drivers will honk their horns when appropriate. Please let Max know if you intend to be in the car caravan – 410-323-1607 or mobuszewski2001 at Comcast dot net. Then there will be an anti-nuclear weapons strategy session outside Homewood. 

  We will also recognize the bravery of the Kings Bay Plowshares, seven Roman Catholic activists, including Baltimore’s Elizabeth McAlister, who were arrested at a Trident Submarine Base in Georgia on April 4, 2018. All were convicted in October 2019 of conspiracy, depredation of government and naval property, and trespassing. McAlister has been sentenced to time served. The others await sentencing, and remain concerned about going to prison during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Rev. Steve Kelly, SJ has remained in a county jail in Georgia since his arrest.   

 On August 9 from 7 to 9 PM, we will host a Zoom conference with Dr. Vince Intondi entitled "A Discussion on the Connections Between Black Lives Matter and the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."  He is the author of “African Americans against the Bomb: Nuclear Weapons, Colonialism, and the Black Freedom Movement,” which is available through Stanford University Press. Intondi is a Professor of History and Director of the Institute for Race, Justice, and Civic Engagement at Montgomery College in Takoma Park, Maryland. From 2009-2017, Intondi was Director of Research for American University’s Nuclear Studies Institute in Washington, DC. Prior to teaching at Montgomery College, Intondi was an Associate Professor of History at Seminole State College in Sanford, Florida, and regularly works with organizations exploring ways to include more diverse voices in the nuclear disarmament movement.

Besides discussing the book and examining the Black Lives Matter protests, we will look back to June 12, 1982 to remember the largest peace demonstration in US history when possibly one million of us were in New York City at the No Nukes march and rally.  This day is well-covered in the documentary IN OUR HANDS by Robert Richter, and those in attendance included Coretta Scott King, Helen Caldicott, Peter Seeger, Meryl Streep, Rita Marley, and Randy Forsberg. During the Zoom conference, we will ponder if we can organize a massive anti-nuclear movement once again.   

  Sign up for the Zoom conference at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIvcOusrTwuH9NuHTVm9PUr_odmD_Lb4w_O. Please submit any questions to jlathey@comcast.net.

Donations can be sent to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206, Baltimore, MD 21212.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs