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From the December 14, 1982 Prairie Fire SOCIAL ACTION - A PROPOSAL FOR A NUCLEAR FREE ZONE A new movement for peace is underway and I hope that Prairie will be part of it. The nuclear-free zone idea is an adaption of the Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone treaties negotiated under the auspices of the UN whereby nations agree to exclude nuclear weapons from certain territories in order to stem the tide of "horizontal proliferation." Examples include the Antarctic Treaty. Similar zones have been proposed for Central Europe, the Balkans, the Nordic countries, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, but they await negotiation. Recently, the idea of nuclear free zones has become popular as a way for people, rather than governments, to show their opposition to the arms race. At its simplest, you or I can unilaterally declare our own personal property--a house, an apartment, a car, even a single room--to be off-limits to the nuclear arms race or other aspects of nuclear militarism. Similarly, neighborhoods, schools, clubs, churches, businesses, and eventually municipalities, states and groups of states can register their opposition to the arms race by declaring themselves nuclear-free. There is the novel opportunity of "twinning" your nuclear-free zone with a companion nuclear-free person, club, town, etc. in another country, thereby internationalizing the peace movement. Nuclear-free zone campaigns have been very successful in Europe, and especially in the U.K., where votes by hundreds of regional and local elected bodies have declared their areas, representing 80% of the total population, to be nuclear-free. All of Wales is a nuclear-free zone, as are the cities of Manchester and London. Earlier this year, two Maryland communities made themselves nuclear-free zones. Malcolm Shabazz School in Madison voted to be nuclear-free in September, soon after the successful. nuclear weapons freeze referendum. Since then, many people have declared their own property to be nuclear-free, and campaigns are underway to create nuclear free zones in the city of Madison and the State of Wisconsin. A decision to declare Prairie nuclear-free would be, perhaps, one of the most significant religious acts we can make in this time of danger to the very existence of life on earth, We would be saying, openly and plainly, that the Prairie community is not the kind of society that goes to war or seeks war as a solution to political differences. We would be saying that the property we own and control--the Prairie Meeting House and the land it is on, including the grass, the trees, the shrubs, the flowers, the prairie plants, the children's play area--shall not be party to the vileness of nuclear weaponry. We would be heeding the advice in Deuteronomy: "Choose life so that you and your children will live." |
To be sure, designating Prairie as nuclear-free would only be a symbolic act, rather than one that seeks to correct the underlying problem. But such symbolic acts will be powerful and important to us, both individually and collectively, as well as significant for others who will follow our lead. I offer the following resolution in the hope it will be discussed and voted on before too long. Les Lyons NOTICE Following the January [23rd] Sunday service there will be a special business meeting to discuss and vote on the above resolution. Please plan to attend. Marty Drapkin From the January 25, 1983 Prairie Fire PRAIRIE NUCLEAR-FREE ZONE RESOLUTION The Nuclear-Free Zone resolution presented at the parish meeting January 23 was passed with the addition of these words: "and (d) calls on others to take similar actions." |