Call to Action: August 6-9, 2006
From Hiroshima to Yucca Mountain to the Middle East: Stop Bechtel
NO NUKES! NO WARS! NO PROFITEERS! Support Indigenous Rights!
Between August 6 and 9, the anniversaries of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, demand an end to the war in Iraq, no military attacks on Iran or North Korea, and the global abolition of nuclear weapons, starting with our own. This year, we call on groups to protest at the corporate offices of Bechtel, the world’s number-one nuclear profiteer, and at nuclear facilities everywhere. Sixty-one years after the U.S. killed tens of thousands of civilians by dropping nuclear bombs on two densely populated cities, our aim is to expose the continuing hypocrisy of the U.S. nuclear double standard and to directly confront the U.S. corporations who are perpetuating and profiting from a worldwide nuclear crisis and the war in Iraq.
August 9 has also been declared by the United Nations as the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People. Indigenous peoples have often borne the brunt of nuclear devastation. In the United States alone, Native Americans have seen their land stolen to build nuclear infrastructure, mined for uranium, and bombed with test weapons; the U.S. government continues to push forward with plans to store massive amounts of highly radioactive waste beneath Yucca Mountain in Nevada, a site sacred to the Western Shoshone. We have an opportunity to make the connections between nuclear proliferation and attacks on indigenous rights.
WHY BECHTEL
Bechtel Corporation is a leading beneficiary of the Iraq war and corporate globalization policies. Bechtel “connects the dots” for the anti-war, anti-nuke and global justice movements. Through its 100 years of revolving-door relationships with government, Bechtel illustrates the connections between corporate profiteering and war, between nuclear power and nuclear weapons proliferation, between “free trade” and the exploitation of indigenous peoples, and between corporate power-brokers and decision-makers at the highest levels of government. Click here for more background.
here are two Bay Area actions at the Lawrence Livermore Labs & Bechtel Corp’s HQ:
Mark the UN International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples and the anniversaries of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by demanding an end to nuclear weapons and war.
At Bechtel and Livermore nuclear weapons lab we will support the sovereignty and dignity of indigenous people around the world and call for the global abolition of nuclear weapons and the end to the war in Iraq.
Sunday, August 6, the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima:
Ritual and Nonviolent Action at Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab:Speakers include author and media critic Norman Soloman and a Hibakusha (Hiroshima Survivor), Keiji Tsuchiya. The event will also feature the music of Francisco Herera and Ras K’Dee.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is one of the three national laboratories that act as the brain of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, which today is modernizing and developing new nuclear weapons to support U.S. wars of empire.
Wednesday, August 9, the UN International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples and the anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki, Bechtel HQ in SF:
Bechtel is a violator of indigenous rights, and nuclear weapons profiteer. Ceremony will be led by Western Shoshone spiritual leader Corbin Harney.
Speakers include Hibakusha Keiji Tsuchiya and author Antonia Juhasz.
On the morning of the 9th there will be a Sunrise Ceremony, and in the evening a teach-in and discussion session will be held at New College
Bechtel has recently partnered with the University of California to manage the Los Alamos National Laboratory, another key nuclear weapons facility, and will most likely bid for Lawrence Livermore. Bechtel is one of the top profiteers of the war in Iraq and one of the world’s top nuclear profiteers, built upon an extensive history of abusing indigenous populations for profit.