Peace Protest at Vandenberg Air Force base launch ICBM midnight

There will be a protest against the launch of a Minuteman III Intercontinental  Ballistic Missile (ICBM). The target is The Ronald Reagan missile test range, Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific.

The protest will begin at the start of the launch window (midnight June 29) we will charter a Green Tortoise (very comfortable) bus from SF Bay area, which will leave at 4 pm on Sunday June 28, stopping at Oakland, San Jose, and Salinas to pick up people on the way. Return to SF by 8 am Monday June 29. If bus is filled  round trip cost will be $60, if bus is not filled it will be slightly more. Food provided, social and educational events on the way down, sleep on the way back. See Green Tortoise Bus Co. for bus info.

See launch details at Vandenberg AFB Launch Schedule (and check that website for possible launch cancellation, or date change).

The protest will be held at the front gate of Vandenberg Space Command - Intersection of Hwy 1 and Casamila-Lompoc Road. (Six miles north of Lompoc on Highway 1 in Santa Barbara County, CA.)  The protest will continue until the rocket is launched. The protest is sponsored by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power is Space.

Andrew Lichterman of the Western States Legal Foundation has agreed to speak at the front gate event.

For further info call 831-206-5043 or e-mail macgregoreddy@gmail.com

Unfortunately, since we last met, Kwajalein has not gotten the attention it needs to straighten out the mess created by the Military programs it hosts. The displacement of the population and its living conditions on Ebeye continue to plague a society whose only crime against the powers that be was to be living in an atoll the US found attractive for first, nuclear testing, and now, the testing of the vehicles to carry those nuclear weapons around the world. The United States government under Bush forced the Government of the Marshall Islands to agree to an extension of the use of Kwajalein beyond the current agreement which expires in 2016 until 2086 over the objections of and without the agreement of the people who belong to the land. Neither the United States, nor the Republic of the Marshall Islands, have the right to take land without consent or proper compensation. They have done neither and the people of Kwajalein continue to live like animals in overcrowded, unsanitary, and dangerous conditions off-base to provide a labor pool for Ronald Reagan Test Site. This insanity must stop.
Thank you for continuing to protest this madness and for your support for the people of Kwajalein.

Tony de Brum
Member of Parliament
Kwajalein Marshall Islands

Moments before Dennis pours blood on sign.
March, 2003.

WILPF Lifetime Member MacGregor Eddy of the Watsonville, CA Branch and others protest at Vandenburg Air Force Base

JOIN IN PROTESTING LAUNCH OF A MINUTEMAN III NUCLEAR MISSILE
Click here to send a letter of protest to President Obama

WHEN: The launch is scheduled for June 29 at some time after midnight.  The protest vigil will begin just before midnight on June 28 and continue until after the launch occurs. Most participants will be coming by Green Tortoise bus originating in San Francisco at 4 pm on Sunday, June 28 and returning by 8 am on Monday, June 29.

WHERE: At the front gate of Vandenberg Air Force Base: at the intersection of Highway 1 and the Casamila-Lompoc Road ( six miles north of Lompoc on Highway 1 in Santa Barbara County, California.)

The base is a key component of the U.S.SPACE COMMAND and is home to U.S. missile defense interceptors.  It is the major launch site for both interceptor tests and military satellites. This will be the first nuclear missile test since the election of President Obama.

WHY: WILPF believes the test launch of a nuclear weapon sends a dangerously contradictory message to the world. This is true even though it will carry only dummy nuclear warheads. President Obama has promised that the United States will now lead the way toward abolition of nuclear weapons.  Continued testing of nuclear missiles  is totally inconsistent with such leadership and endangers us all.

HOW TO TRAVEL:  Most participants will travel by Green Tortoise bus.  It will originate in San Francisco at 4 pm on Sunday, June 28 and will stop at other California towns to pick up passengers on the way south to Vandenberg. Participants from northern California and out-of-state can connect in San Francisco. The bus is expected to be back in San Francisco by 8 am on Monday, June 29. Estimated cost is $60 per passenger. The bus is set up for discussion, learning and strategizing re nuclear weapons abolition (and demilitarizing space!)  on the way down.   On the way back those who wish can nap in cozy bunks.

CONTACT: MacGregor Eddy for more information and to reserve a place on the bus.  Email macgregoreddy@gmail.com . Telephone 1-831-206-5043.

ALSO INVESTIGATE:

Western States Legal Foundation (http://www.wslfweb.org): Andrew Lichterman of  Western States Legal Foundation will join the bus in San Francisco and participate in discussions of nuclear weapons abolition on the way to Vandenberg.  He will also speak at the Vandenberg Gate vigil. WILPF member Jackie Cabasso is Executive Director of the Foundation.

Green Tortoise bus: (http://www.greentortoise.com/adventure.travel.html ).This looks like a fun way to travel – leave it to the Californians and their hippy legacy from years past.

Reports on recent progress in the United Nations on the way to nuclear weapons abolition.  This is due to positive shifts in disarmament policies by the Obama Administration.  We must not allow continued research and development on U.S. nuclear weapons to negate this progress!  For a report on new hope at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Prep Com in April read Ray Acheson’s final Reaching Critical Will report on the meetings here.  (http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/NIR2009/Final.pdf)

Also read Ray’s May 29 report on the radical shift in the Conference on Disarmament, official body for negotiating disarmament treaties, here. (http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/cd/speeches09/reports.html#2)

This is also a direct result of the shift in U.S. foreign policy on nuclear weapons abolition and on disarmament issues in general.

We lecture and threaten Iran and North Korea about the evils of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). But the US routinely tests our own WMD's from Vandenberg Air Force Base in southern California. And there will soon be another "test firing" of a Minuteman III nuclear missile from that base.

A protest is planned at the time of the next launch of a Minuteman III from Vandenberg. The target of the rocket will be the Ronald Reagan missile test range, Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

...

We must become "dehypnotized" so we can see things as they are. The US uses the fear of other nuclear pipsqueak nations to get our own citizens to support massive US military buildups that are all about dominating the world.

If the US was genuine in wanting other nations to stop the development of their nuclear capability then we'd lead by example, as is required by the United Nations Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and we'd get rid of our own evil WMD.

But alas we don't do the honorable thing and the world looks at our mad ramblings and says - you are a hypocritical nation.

And they are right.

http://www.space4peace.org/