Daniel Ellsberg Week June 10th through the 16th – A week of education and action to honor peacemaking and whistleblowing

Daniel Ellsberg was a nuclear war planner – his plans are still in use today in the United States.  He has provided a stark warning about the dangers of nuclear weapons and above all the intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs and his work is being acknowledged this week.  Join in virtual and live activities.

In 1971, Ellsberg became a whistleblower by giving the 7,000-page Pentagon Papers to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the New York Times, the Washington Post and 17 other newspapers.  Ellsberg’s subsequent trial on twelve felony counts, posing a possible sentence of 115 years, was dismissed in 1973 on grounds of governmental misconduct against him, leading to the convictions of several White House aides and figuring in the impeachment proceedings against President Richard M. Nixon.

Ellsberg was a lecturer, scholar, writer and activist on the dangers of the nuclear era, wrongful U.S. interventions and the urgent need for principled whistleblowing until his death on June 16, 2023.  Today, many people around the world are carrying on his legacy as a voice of reason in a nuclear weapons-armed world by working to end the threat of nuclear weapons and redirecting those funds to human needs. 

All this week, live and virtual events are taking place, including webinars about the danger and cost of ICBMs; actions to divest Philadelphia from nuclear weapons; celebrations of Ellsberg’s legacy with Veterans for Peace in Seattle; and of his work to stop the doomsday machine.  Monthly live events are scheduled to protest the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Ellsberg worked to educate that ICBMs are the single greatest nuclear weapons threat in our world today. The U.S. is in the process of replacing its ICBMs.  The program is already nearly 40 percent over budget.

He said, “When I say that there is a step that could reduce the risk of nuclear war significantly that has not been taken but could easily be taken, that is the elimination of American ICBMs.”

Join with RootsAction Education Fund https://rootsaction.org/education-fund and The Ellsberg Initiative for Peace and Democracy https://www.eipad.org/ to get the word out about Ellsberg’s work and the threat of ICBMs.

More information and social media posts you can use are available on the Defuse Nuclear War website.  https://defusenuclearwar.org/ellsberg/ There you will find six podcasts with Ellsberg, directed by Oscar-nominee Judith Ehrlich.  The series explores the dangers of nuclear weapons and the politics that drive their existence by a former nuclear war planner.

1. Friday, June 14^th at noon –Join the weekly peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament on the four corners of Alameda and Sandoval in downtown Santa Fe with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, Pax Christi and others.

2. Wednesday, June 19^th at 6 pm – Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice – A talk by Koohan Paik-Mander about The inherent fascism of algorithms … & the militarization of society. https://www.abqpeaceandjustice.org/events  

3. Monday, May 20^th – PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD EXTENDED TO THURSDAY, JUNE 20^th, 2024 – to EPA about its proposed rule allowing open burning / open detonation of hazardous wastes.  Use Earthjustice’s Action Alert to Ban the Practice of Open Burning and Open Detonation of Hazardous Wastes at:  https://earthjustice.org/action/ban-the-practice-of-open-burning-and-open-detonation-of-hazardous-wastes

 See the May 2^nd Update for more information:  http://nuclearactive.org/public-comments-needed-to-ban-open-burning-and-open-detonation-of-pfas-toxic-and-carcinogenic-explosive-materials/

4. Saturday and Sunday, June 22 – 23 – Third Annual Virtual 24-Hour Long PEACE WAVE. At a time when RIMPAC war rehearsals will be going on in the Pacific and just prior to protests of NATO’s meeting in Washington, DC in July, the International Peace Bureau and World BEYOND WAR will produce the 24-hour long PEACE WAVE.  It will include live video from activities around the globe – and recently recorded video with the participants on zoom for Q&A during the last ten minutes of each hour.  You will be able to view rallies, concerts, production of artworks, blood drives, installation of peace poles, dances, speeches, banner drops, and public demonstrations of all varieties.  https://worldbeyondwar.org/wave/

5. Monday, July 1^st – Friday, July 5^th (no hearing on Th. July 4^th) RESCHEDULED TO AUGUST 5^th – 9^th– NM Water Quality Control Commission public hearing about reuse of fracking waste continues.  https://www.defendnmwater.org/post/hearing-extended-into-july-so-far-fracking-waste-reuse-looks-as-risky-as-we-thought

6. June 17^th to 24th – MOVED TO SEPTEMBER 16^th to 22^nd – Global Week of Action – No Money for Nuclear Weapons, by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). Join the efforts to push back against the unacceptable squandering of vast sums of money on weapons of mass destruction ($82.9 billion in 2022).  https://www.icanw.org/global_week_of_action_on_nuclear_spending

Tags: Daniel Ellsberg, Defuse Nuclear War, ICBMs, intercontinental ballistic missiles, Judith Ehrlich, nuclear war planner, Pentagon Papers, RootsAction Education Fund, The Ellsberg Initiative for Peace and Democracy