Film: Making Waves:  Rebirth of the Golden Rule showed on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday of last week in February 2019 .  The film details the history of the Golden Rule sailboat from 1958, when four Quakers tried to sail it into the no-entry zone around most of the Marshall Islands to disrupt atmospheric testing of H-bombs there, to its sinking in an estuary near Eureka to its resurrection & rebuilding to its current proud role as national VFP’s peace boat for nuclear disarmament.

To view photos of the three events, click on this link:  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10217942194844382&type=1&l=9ea5b7ddb7

Zoe Byrd, a crew member & ambassador for the VFP Golden Rule Project, came to our valley to present the film and another one, called Phoenix of Hiroshima, another sailboat that took over the Golden Rule’s mission after the latter’s crew were incarcerated & put on trial in Honolulu for planning to sail to the Marshall Islands.

Zoe also provided information about the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was passed by the General Assembly in 2017 by a vote of 122 to 1 with all the nuclear weapons possessing nations abstaining.  Some 20 nations have now ratified the treaty & as soon as 50 have, it will have the weight of law for those nations who have ratified it.  VFP is working to get the U.S. and other nuclear nations to drop their objections to the treaty and get on board.

Here are some websites you can check out for more information:

• https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10217942194844382&type=1&l=9ea5b7ddb7 – link to the Facebook page for photos of tour stops in our valley.
• http://www.vfpgoldenruleproject.org/ — link to the VFP Golden Rule Project’s website
• https://en.wikipedia.org/…/Treaty_on_the_Prohibition_of… — link to the Wikipedia article about the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
• www.oregonpsr.org/support_the_oregon_legislative_resolution_on_nuclear_weapons — link to Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility’s website where you can sign a petition asking the Oregon Legislature to pass a resolution of support for the treaty.

 

The Pacific voyage will bring attention to the ongoing effects of nuclear bomb testing in the Pacific, and to the environmental and human impacts of hundreds of military bases in the Pacific Islands.

The team plans to be in Japan in August 2020 for the 75th anniversary of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, then sail back to California in the spring and summer of 2021.

With tensions so high between nuclear armed nations, it is more important than ever to bring a message of peace into the Pacific.  “The possibility of nuclear war today is all too real,” says Gerry Condon of Veterans For Peace. “It is time to abolish nuclear weapons once and for all. The U.S. can show leadership by being the first nuclear power to sign the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.”

Come learn about what you can do to support the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty and the total elimination of nuclear weapons.

Press interviews encouraged!