Following its recent protest of the new generation of nuclear weapons on Monday, May 19, at the Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC), PeaceWorks KC will be sending a delegation of five activists to Washington DC June 8 to 13. The group will join fellow advocates from across the country who are members of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA).(www.ananuclear.org) After a full day of training regarding nuclear weapons production, cleanup of nuclear waste and nuclear energy issues, they will meet with congressional aides and administrative offices over the following three days.
Leaders of this year’s PeaceWorks DC delegation include: Kimberly Igla, Breeanna Crawford, Luisa Olarte, Mitch Schiller, and Ann Suellentrop. The first four members are in their 20s, but they are not new advocates in this work. Last year’s participants included Igla, Crawford, Olarte, as well as Suellentrop who has been attending for 15 years. Breanna Crawford declared, “Last year was definitely a learning experience for me when it came to nuclear issues and how it impacted this world and our climate”.
These young leaders care deeply about the issues facing our world as it enters its 80th year under the nuclear threat. Igla states, “The US must be disarmed of its nuclear capacity for the world to know peace; the struggle against nuclear weapons is a struggle for the opportunity to fight against the interconnected issues of racism, climate change, poverty, etc.We should be going to war against poverty and inequality, not risking extinction for the sake of a small group of weapons manufacturers and billionaires. I am grateful to be standing alongside long-time advocates for peace and justice at DC Days!”
Schiller maintains, “As a socialist and anti-imperialist, I see the US as a danger to the entire world. It has dropped two nuclear bombs already, engaged in decades of testing that destroyed indigenous lands and poisoned the soil beneath us, and only had around 7 years of its existence where it wasn’t at war. I believe it should be disarmed and that this disarmament is a prerequisite for the rest of the world to step down the nuclear ladder and achieve lasting peace.
Spending nearly a trillion dollars a year on war and militarism, with over 900 bases worldwide, the United States empire is holding the world hostage for its own gain. As its citizens we owe the world a resolute struggle against nuclear weapons, which threaten us all. Our fight will determine the future of the planet as we know it”.
