Localization, Nonviolence and US World Policy: An event at UC Berkeley on Feb. 7

Presented by

Dr. Andreas Toupadakis

And

Professor Michael Nagler

Thursday, February 7
6-8 pm
UC Berkeley, 155 Dwinelle


Dr. Andreas Toupadakis, nuclear chemist turned dedicated peace advocate, will speak on what lead him to quit his job at the Livermore Nuclear Labs and about the war in Afghanistan and what dramatic actions need to be taken if we are to avert universal nuclear annihilation.

Dr. Michael Nagler, Chair of the Peace and Conflict Studies Department at UC Berkeley, and author of Is There No Other Way: the Search for a Nonviolent Future, will discuss the problems and possibilities of living -- and acting -- for nonviolence in a violent age.

*Time will be allotted for a Question and Answer session*


Sponsored by
The UC Berkeley Peace and Conflict Studies Department
UC Berkeley National Organization for Women (NOW)
UC Berkeley Hellenic and Greek Cypriot Organization

For More Information, please contact:
UCBNOW [at] hotmail.com

This event is ASUC Sponsored and Wheelchair Accessible


Dr. Andreas Toupadakis has spoken about peace and the urgent need for nuclear disarmament at the UN as well as numerous colleges, universities, and other venues in the US, Japan, and Greece. He was a featured speaker at the 2000 World Conference on Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, and he has been the recipient of numerous peace and justice awards. The City of Berkeley adopted a resolution honoring him for the courage and personal sacrifice he displayed in leaving his job at Lawrence Livermore Laboratories.

Dr. Toupadakis resigned dramatically from Lawrence Livermore Lab and his $91,000 salary in January 2000 when he discovered they were using the results of his environmental work in the Stockpile Stewardship Program to illegally maintain and develop new nuclear weapons with increased destructive power. He blew the whistle and joined the peace movement, saying that his conscience would not allow him to work for such a cause. He instantly became an outspoken advocate for peace, and especially for immediate unilateral nuclear disarmament.

Recently, as American bombs began to fall in Afghanistan, Andreas renounced the US and the killing of innocent civilians. He believes that such a course of action, at this time in history, with the present cast of characters, has the potential to spark a nuclear holocaust. He then made the difficult decision to leave the US and return to his native Greece to develop a grassroots peace movement. He will live low-tech on an old family farm, and be a real-life example of how people can disconnect from the high-tech fast lane and return to a peaceful, more meaningful, less destructive life.

Dr. Toupadakis is a native of Greece with a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. He has taught chemistry at colleges and universities in the US and Greece, and he worked as a chemist in industry as well as at Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories. He has a wife and two daughters. He believes deeply in non-violence, and he revels in the teachings of such varied figures as Gandhi, Plato, Socrates and Einstein.