Eight members of the Santa Cruz Weapons Inspection Team (SCWIT) performed a street theatre skit to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, Japan. The group, all dressed in white clothes, assembled at noon on the corner of Pacific Ave and Cooper St. in downtown Santa Cruz for a dramatized reenactment of the nuclear bombing interspersed with a mock inspection and symbolic dismantling of a Trident II D5 nuclear submarine missile. Audio || Photos

Protest at Lockheed Martin in Bonny Doon

Lockheed Martin, the world's largest weapons contractor, manufactures the Trident II missile and tests its components and subsystems at their 4,400 acre site in Bonny Doon. SCWIT has been trying to raise awareness about the safety of this facility for many years and used the Hiroshima Day event to build for a march on August 9th, Nagasaki Day, to the gates of Lockheed Martin. 11 civilian weapons inspectors drove up Empire Grade Road and marched the last 1/2 mile to the gates of Lockheed Martin where the public road ends. SCWIT led the march marking the annihilation and devastation delivered to the people, animals and plants of Nagasaki, Japan, targeted on August 9th, 1945, by nuclear bombs far less powerful than the ones Lockheed Martin presently manufactures. SCWIT also holds a vigil outside the Bonny Doon Lockheed Martin site on the second Thursday of each month. Read more and view photos || Lockheed Says No to Water Testing

Buddhist Peace Fellowship Displays Names of Iraq War Dead

Each year on August 6, many peace activists, commemorate the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, with protests & marches. Some use street theatre and satire to bring a message of peace. Others choose a more subtle approach, trying to connect with people on a personal level. One such group is the Buddhist Peace Fellowship of Santa Cruz. Members of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship used the Hiroshima Day anniversary to draw attention to the casualties of the war in Iraq. All day at the corner of Center and Lincoln Streets, the group displayed a three foot tall, hundred foot long, scroll listing 40,000 names of Iraqi civilians killed in the war. There was also a pair of booths created which listed the names, photos, and brief stories, of over 2,000 US and coalition soldiers who also died in the war. Audio || Photos