Text Fwd: Puget Sound Nuclear Weapon Free Zone - Call for Initial Endorsers!

* Text fwd from Leonard Eiger and Frank Cordaro on March 17, 2011

Greetings Fellow Nuclear Abolitionists,

We invite you to join us in mobilizing a Puget Sound Nuclear Weapon
Free Zone. Our inspiration draws from those who’ve gone before us, and
most recently by the work of Bix Bichel, S.J., one of the Disarm Now
Plowshares Five.

Puget Sound's Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor hosts the largest concentration
of operational nuclear weapons, according to a recent article in the
Kansas City Star. We believe it’s imperative to focus even greater
efforts on nuclear abolition right here in our own back yard as we
continue to work globally with others toward the same goal.

The Puget Sound Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Declaration is at the heart
of our plan to help other nuclear abolition efforts including the new
Washington Mayors for Peace Campaign, the campaign to stop the Navy
from building a Second Explosives Handling Wharf at Bangor, and a
campaign to stop the Navy from building a new $80 billion fleet of
ballistic missile submarines.

We will formally announce the Puget Sound Nuclear Weapon Free Zone on
April 26, 2011, the anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster,
with a news conference and other events. Before that date we want to
obtain the endorsements of individuals and organizations throughout
Puget Sound, as well as throughout our nation and around the world.

After reading and reflecting on the declaration below we hope you will
endorse it, either individually or officially representing your
organization. You can also find the Declaration and read more about
the PSNWFZ at our Website and Blog - psnukefree.org. We will list all
endorsers, both individual and organizational, on the "Declaration"
page of the PSNWFZ Website.

You can endorse The Zone by sending me an email at
subversivepeacemaking@gmail.com. For individual endorsement please
include your name, city and state. For organizational endorsers
please include the name of the organization, city and state, and the
person representing the organization and that person's title.

We welcome not only your endorsement, but also your comments and
ideas. Email either Leonard Eiger, subversivepeacemaking@gmail.com or
Tom Shea, tomshea@cneturytel.net, Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent
Action (GZ) Media and Outreach Co-Coordinators. The PSNWFZ
Declaration has the full support of GZ Center's Stewardship Board.

In Peace and Solidarity,
Leonard Eiger (for the PNWFZ)
Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action (Media & Outreach) www.gzcenter.org
Puget Sound Nuclear Weapon Free Zone (Coordinator) www.psnukefree.org
Disarm Now Plowshares (Media & Outreach)
http://disarmnowplowshares.wordpress.com
Email: subversivepeacemaking@gmail.com
Blog: http://nuclearabolitionist.blogspot.com
Blog: http://subversivepeacemaking.blogspot.com


******************

Puget Sound Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Declaration


The Puget Sound Nuclear Weapon Free Zone is a campaign of interested
and concerned citizens who seek to bring attention to the dangers of
nuclear weapons both locally and globally, engage civil society to
work for global abolition of nuclear weapons, and publicize measures
that the U.S. government must take to lead in the abolition of nuclear
weapons.

The basis for the Puget Sound Nuclear Weapon Free Zone campaign
includes international laws, treaties and resolutions; statements of
nuclear weapons experts, former diplomats and military officers; and
scientific studies that warn against any use of nuclear weapons.

We the undersigned, in solidarity with others around the world working
to abolish nuclear weapons and as a statement in opposition to the
U.S. government’s continued reliance on and development of nuclear
weapons and their delivery systems, hereby declare Puget Sound to be a
Nuclear Weapon Free Zone.

We assert our right and duty as citizens acting in good conscience,
good faith, and in keeping with both U.S. law and International
humanitarian law, to establish this Puget Sound Nuclear Weapon Free
Zone.

We support the right of cities, counties, states, nations and groups
of nations to establish nuclear weapon free zones. We applaud those
that have previously established such zones, and call on all elected
officials to establish nuclear weapon free zones.


We call on the U.S. Government to refrain from producing, acquiring or
in any other way possessing nuclear weapons and nuclear explosive
devices and from permitting the stationing of nuclear weapons or their
delivery systems in the Puget Sound region.


We call on the U.S. Government to place its nuclear weapons facilities
in Puget Sound under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.


We call on the U.S. Government to declare its support for the
establishment of the Puget Sound Nuclear Weapon Free Zone.


We further call on the government of the United States to set an
example to other nations by immediately initiating good faith efforts
to engage in multilateral negotiations toward complete, global
disarmament, and honoring previously negotiated treaties including but
not limited to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).


Initiated on this day, March 17, 2011 by:

Leonard Eiger
Bix Bichsel, SJ
Tom Shea