Announcing the Inaugural Albu(r)querque Peace Festival on Saturday, August 5th at Roosevelt Park

Rain or shine, please join diverse organizations and individuals at the Inaugural Albu(r)querque Peace Festival on Saturday, August 5^th from 2 to 6 pm at Roosevelt Park for music, speakers, informational tables and food trucks. The Albu(r)querque Peace Festival is an effort by multiple organizations to bring attention to the danger of nuclear weapons, the horror of nuclear war, and promote efforts toward longstanding peace locally, nationally, and globally.  https://abqpeacefest.org/

At 5:15 pm, a commemoration bell will be rung in coordination with the August 6^th events in Hiroshima, Japan at 8:15 am – the time of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 near the end of World War II.

Co-sponsoring the inaugural event are the following seventeen organizations (as of July 19, 2023):  Donald and Sally-Alice Thompson Chapter of the Veterans for Peace – Albu(r)querque; the Joan Duffy Chapter of Veterans for Peace – Santa Fe; Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety; the Green Party Albu(r)querque Metropolitan Area; Taos Environmental Film Festival; the ANSWER Coalition; Stop the War Machine; Party for Socialism and Liberation – Albu(r)querque; the Raging Grannies; The Paper; Unity Spiritual Center Albu(r)querque; the Stop Forever WIPP Coalition; the New Mexico Peace Choir; Demand Nuclear Abolition; Progressive Democrats of America-Central New Mexico; Nuclear Watch New Mexico; and Communities for Clean Water.

If you would like to participate as a co-sponsor, please contact CCNS at ccns@nuclearactive.org by Friday, July 21^st.  Please include your logo in the email.

Roosevelt Park, 500 Spruce St SE, Albuquerque, NM 87106, is southwest of University Boulevard and Coal Avenue, Southeast.

For more information and to make a donation to the effort, please visit https://abqpeacefest.org/

Also, on Saturday, August 5^th at 10 am, the Guild Cinema will show the documentary “The Forgotten Bomb: A discovery of the true story of nuclear weapons and how the world might learn to live without them,” made by local filmmakers Bud Ryan and Stuart Overbey.  In sum, “The Forgotten Bomb explores our preconceptions about nuclear weapons and their history, investigates how they inform our sense of identity and discovers what the Bomber can learn from the Bombed.”  https://www.forgottenbomb.com/  and https://www.guildcinema.com/movies/the-forgotten-bomb

Peter Phillips, with Veterans for Peace Albu(r)querque and an organizer of the Festival, invites you to join in the August 5^th events.  Phillips is a Professor Emeritus of Political Sociology, Sonoma State University.  He said, “New Mexico has a legacy of being the prime location for the advance of nuclear weapons in the world.  New Mexicans must now take the moral leadership role of seeking the total elimination of all nuclear weapons.”

1. Friday, July 21^st from noon to 1 pm MT – Join the weekly peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament on the corners of Alameda and Guadalupe in downtown Santa Fe with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, Pax Christi, Nonviolent Santa Fe, and others.

2. Trinity: Legacies of Nuclear Testing – A People’s Perspective Art Exhibit at the Branigan Cultural Center, 501 N. Main Street, Las Cruces, NM.  The exhibit will be up until September 23, 2023.  https://www.lascruces.gov/1528/Branigan-Cultural-Center

3. Friday, July 21 release of Oppenheimer in the U.S. and U.K. by Universal Pictures. https://www.oppenheimermovie.com/

4. Thursday, July 27, 2023 from 5 to 7 pm – Kirtland AFB Bulk Fuels Facility leak project open house at the groundwater treatment system facility. The GWTS is located on Kirtland Air Force Base, with public access provided for this event through the Ridgecrest Gate (Ridgecrest Dr SE & Louisiana Blvd SE, south of Gibson Blvd.)

If you would like additional information, please contact the 377th Air Base Wing Public Affairs office at (505) 846-5991 or by email at 377ABW.PA@us.af.mil.

5. Wednesday, August 9^th at 1 pm – Please join members of Veterans For Peace, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Nonviolent Santa Fe and others for an informal gathering at Ashley Pond to commemorate the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki on that day 78 years ago. We will engage in silent meditation at the shelter shown on the aerial photo.  Also bring water and protection from sun and/or possible rain. Please encourage friends and family to join you in attending.

Tags: August 5th, Bud Ryan, Hiroshima, Inaugural Albu(r)querque Peace Festival, Peter Phillips PhD., Roosevelt Park, Stuart Overbey, The Fogotten Bomb