July 16, 2006
Nevada Test Site
What: Action to proclaim a
citizen’s closure and transformation of Nevada Test Site
on anniversary of the first atomic detonation in history.
When: 4:29 am on Sunday, July 16, 2006.
(To coincide with the time of the Trinity Test in 1945.)
Who: Three members and friends of Nevada
Desert Experience: Sr. Megan Rice SHCJ, Chelsea Collonge,
and Eda Uca.
Where: The entrance gate to Nevada Test
Site on the road to Mercury.
Three local nuclear abolitionists drew together early
Sunday morning to mourn the 61st anniversary of the Trinity
Atomic Test in New Mexico and the dawn of the nuclear age
in 1945. They prayed for the U.S. Government to comply
with international law and the spirit of the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty by ending subcritical nuclear weapons
testing and celebrated the hope for nuclear disarmament,
and effective banning of the use of all weapons of mass
destruction everywhere.
61 years after the birth of the nuclear age, there is a
greater threat than ever of full-scale nuclear war and of a
return to full-scale nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada
Test Site. The actors believe it is a disgrace to the
victims and perpetrators of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to stay
silent and a disservice to humanity to feign ignorance to
the moral, environmental and medical consequences of
testing. They stand in solidarity with the Western Shoshone
people who are the true stewards of the land in accordance
with the laws of nature, the Treaty of Ruby, and of recent
statements based on findings by the UN Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
The actors were inspired by the people and leadership of
Kazakhstan who effectively closed the USSR’s testing
grounds on August 29, 1991. While they regretted the
limitations of this action to permanently close the Nevada
Test Site, they counted themselves among a broad spectrum
of national and international organizations that will not
be swayed into complacency. They were also motivated by
the belief that the Nevada Test Site will be transformed
into a center of research for life-enhancing solutions to
the energy crisis and used according to the wisdom and
hopes of the Western Shoshone people.
Nevada Desert Experience has been witnessing to the
abomination of weapons of mass destruction for more than 25
years. Franciscan in its foundation, NDE works in
friendship and solidarity with all concerned people
believing that the right to live without fear and the need
to cultivate peace are universal. As the conclusion of the
nuclear age must be cross-cultural and transnational, the
actors presented symbols from many religious and spiritual
traditions, in addition to the cross- a Christian symbol
for death and rising to newness of life.
The actors were cited for trespassing on Federal property
and released.
View
John L. Smith's Column about the Trinity Action at the
Las Vegas Review Journal website
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