June 17 Ban the Bomb Actions
Because the current round of negotiations at the United Nations for a treaty to entirely ban nuclear weapons started June 15, there were marches and rallies around the world in support. Unfortunately, there was little press or web coverage for either the UN negotiations or the actions in support of them; hopefully there will at least be some modest coverage when the negotiations conclude. Our member group Rehumanize International had tried to be a co-sponsor of the March in New York City, but had their $500 returned. Some of them showed up anyway, with the perfect sign for the occasion: “Nukes are not Pro-Life.”
Photo: Stephanie Scogna, Julia Smucker, CJ Williams at the March in New York City
There was also a vigil in front of the White House in Washington D.C., and consistent-lifers couldn’t be kicked out of that one -- because we organized it!
Photos: Speaking at Unite to Ban the Bomb in front of the White House in Washington DC Top Left: Aimee Murphy. Top Right: Rosemary Geraghty. Bottom: John Whitehead
At the Los Angeles action, CL supporter Jessica Renshaw spoke. She sent us the text of her speech, all about her family’s history at the very beginning of the nuclear age – her father studied the impact of radiation on children after the atom bombing of Hiroshima, and her mother Barbara Reynolds was well-known in anti-nuclear education. That’s this week’s blog post.
Catching On A June 15 commentary has shown up in several places on the web: “Can the Peace Movement Survive?” by Charles Pierce, who identifies himself as pro-choice. An excerpt: “The May 23 decision was made by the Pittsburgh Peace Roundtable . . . A Roundtable statement said that Rehumanize was dropped as a co-sponsor because ‘The coalition aims for a march focused on opposing U.S. wars and imperialism and desires messaging that fits this theme. Upon closer examination, we have found the outspoken anti-choice viewpoint consistently expressed by Rehumanize to be inconsistent with what we desire to accomplish as a group.’ Wrong. What the antiwar movement desires to accomplish is to end war. Dropping Rehumanize will impede that goal. . . The antiwar movement needs everyone it can get. The task ahead of us is staggering. . . . If we refuse to march with pro-life allies, then we are saying that we are willing to have militarists prevail.”
Even at a Quaker College Our member group Friends Witness for a Prolife Peace Testimony had a literature table at a conference of Friends Association for Higher Education, about 50-60 faculty people at Quaker colleges. The response to the table: ten people took the book Peace Psychology Perspectives on Abortion, with five commenting they found it to be a helpful, more nuanced approach. On the final day, however, the pile of books was scattered and the sign taped to the front had disappeared, tape and all. Security searched but didn’t find it. There’s recently been discussion of students on campuses being intolerant of speech that offends them, but when it comes to abortion, this is an attitude we’ve faced for decades.
Photos, Left: Table at Guilford College. Right: Same table, final day of conference, before books were picked back up.
Quotation of the Week Ramadan is coming to an end for 2017, so we quote from the Qur’an on a connection between abortion or infanticide and poverty. Qur’an 17:31 And kill not your children for fear of poverty – We provide for them and for you. Surely the killing of them is a great wrong.
Remember to register for our conference, "Creating a Holistic Culture of Life: Bridging the Life/Peace Divide" August 4-6, Eastern University, near Philadelphia, PA.
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