From Hiroshima to Fukushima to Livermore, August 6th, 2011: photos & audio

by dave id

Mon, Aug 22, 2011 1:32AM

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the Bay Area is one of two labs responsible for designing every warhead in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. The other is the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. On August 6th, 2011, on the 66th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima, a demonstration organized by Tri-Valley CAREs, Western States Legal Foundation, and a coalition of groups was held just outside of the Livermore lab. The gathering was called "From Hiroshima to Fukushima to Livermore: Confronting the two-headed dragon of nuclear weapons and nuclear power." There were speakers and musical performers at Bill Payne Park before a candlelight procession marched to the edge of the Livermore lab, where a live video conference with a survivor of the bomb in Hiroshima was projected onto the perimeter fence. [Full audio in two parts below]

[Pictured above: former Oakland councilmember Wilson Riles and Patricia St. Onge MC the event]

Speakers at William Payne Park, across the street from Livermore lab, included Marylia Kelley, executive director of Tri-Valley CAREs; Robert Gould MD, president of SF Bay Area chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility; Dr. Arjun Makhijani, president of Institute for Energy and Environmental Research and author of "Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free"; Katie Heald of Peace Action West; and Jackie Cabaso, a long-time nuclear disarmament and environmental activist and former executive director of Western States Legal Foundation.

Musical performances included Kaylah Marin singing a cappella and acoustic guitar duo Emma’s Revolution. Numerous supporting organizations tabled in the park. Vegetarian food was provided by Food Not Bombs.

A candlelight procession (with LED candles) marched from the park to the Livermore lab perimeter at dusk. Taiko drumming at the fence greeted the procession before the live video conversation began.

Keijiro Matsushima, a survivor of the bomb in Hiroshima, Japan, describes the day the U.S. dropped the A-bomb on his town. At his side, Steve Leeper, chairman of Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, speaks about the nuclear disaster at Fukushima that followed the earthquake and tsunami in March of this year.

On August 9th, a follow-up ceremony and nonviolent direct action was held at the West Gate of the Livermore lab to mark the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki (similar to the Good Friday action with arrests at Livermore: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/04/25/18678001.php).

Livermore Event Announcement
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/07/11/18684434.php

Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment)
http://www.trivalleycares.org

Western States Legal Foundation
http://www.wslfweb.org

§AUDIO Part 1: Full audio of speakers and musicians at William Payne Park

by dave id

Mon, Aug 22, 2011 1:32AM

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