On January 22, 2022, the Olympia Coalition to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (OCANW) joined with other peace groups all over the world and celebrated the first anniversary since the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) went into effect. Now 59 nations have ratified the TPNW. See information after the next paragraph’s report on a victory at the local government level.
City of Olympia’s proclamation:
Bob Delastrada, Bob Zeigler, and other members of OCANW reached out to Olympia City Council member Clark Gilman, and during the Council’s regular meeting on Tuesday January 18, they adopted a proclamation supporting the TPNW. It’s at this post on my blog: https://parallaxperspectives.org/olympia-city-council-passed-proclamation-supporting-the-treaty-on-the-prohibition-of-nuclear-weapons You can watch a video link of that meeting. Our part starts at 6 minutes into the meeting and runs for 4 1/2 minutes. See this link: http://olympia.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=2428
Here is the proclamation’s wording: WHEREAS, the City of Olympia is a Nuclear Free Zone; and WHEREAS, the City of Olympia is part of the world community; and WHEREAS, national defense policy calls for retaliation in kind for any nuclear attack on the United States; and WHEREAS, any use of nuclear weapons would result in innumerable deaths and casualties of innocent persons as victims of said use; and WHEREAS, indiscriminate killing violates International Humanitarian Law and all moral principles at the heart of it’s notion of humanity; and WHEREAS, a conflagration threatening world wide death can result from involuntary errors, accidents or the reckless decisions of world leaders; and NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the Olympia City Council, does hereby proclaim January 22, 2022, as the celebration of the first anniversary of the UNITED NATIONS TREATY ON THE PROHIBITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS SIGNED IN THE CITY OF OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON THIS 21st DAY OF JANUARY 2022. OLYMPIA CITY COUNCIL Cheryl Selby, Mayor
We bannered for more than one hour on all 4 corners of a major intersection:
Volunteers held banners and signs supporting the Treaty and calling for nuclear disarmament on Saturday January 22, 2022, starting at 11:00 a.m. and staying after the 12 noon scheduled ending time. We enjoyed a tremendously positive response from motorists and pedestrians at the West Olympia intersection of Harrison & Division. Our numbers peaked at 24 persons for most of the hour. Thanks to Mark Fleming, Joanne Dufour, Hardy Carcamo, and many others who planned and carried out this great event! Bob Zeigler took photos.
We celebrated on Zoom later that afternoon with information, updates, music, and enthusiasm:
A good number of members of the Olympia Coalition to Abolish Nuclear Weapons planned and conducted a Zoom celebration from 4:30 to 6:00 pm on Saturday January 22, 2022 to support the first anniversary of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. We had 21 participants.
Glen Anderson was the Zoom host and facilitated the event.
Bob Zeigler read the proclamation that the Olympia City Council passed. (See above)
Holly Gwinn Graham — who has decades of experience organizing opposition to nuclear weapons and performing professionally as a folk singer — performed three songs at our celebration.
Jim Manista shared the informative video he had produced about abolishing nuclear weapons. It’s titled, How Do We Get Out of This? Click this link to watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyaZ8mad7C0&t=70s
Joanne Dufour shared information about the Treaty and the exciting growth of worldwide support for it.
We enjoyed questions/answers/discussion and information about how people could further promote the Treaty.
Glen publicized our activities:
Glen publicized our activities to the e-mail lists of OCANW and our statewide coalition. He also arranged for ICAN to post publicity to their website, which listed worldwide events celebrating the TPNW’s first anniversary: https://www.icanw.org/106247/bannering_and_sign-holding_at_olympia_wa_usa
See the promotional flyer that Glen produced, which includes a very brief summary and context for the Treaty, so the general public will understand it. The first one is in Word format. The second one is a .pdf document. Both are on 14-inch paper:
TPNW Flyer Fact Sheet for SAT JAN 22 2022
TPNW Flyer Fact Sheet for SAT JAN 22 2022