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Total elimination of nuclear weapons – protestors demand, outside White House

Protesters rally outside White House, demanding ‘total elimination’ of nuclear weapons  http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/01/31/protesters-rally-outside-white-house-demanding-total-elimination-of-nuclear-weapons/ By DeNeen L. Brown January 31 About 100 demonstrators, holding signs that said, “No $1 Trillion Nuclear Arsenal,” rallied outside the White House Saturday, calling on President Obama to halt plans to invest billions of dollars to expand and rebuild the country’s nuclear arsenal.

“The Obama administration is putting us on a path to spend one trillion dollars, overhauling our nuclear arsenal over the next three decades,” said John-Michael Donahue, a spokesman for Global Zero, an international movement demanding the elimination of all nuclear weapons. “President Obama should abandon his $1 trillion nuclear arsenal and get back on track to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons, Global Zero.”

Matt Brown, co-founder of Global Zero, told the crowd that Obama had once called nuclear weapons “the most dangerous legacy of the Cold War.”

Brown said the president had instead “slowed reductions” in the country’s nuclear arsenal.

“Now, he is preparing to launch a massive upgrade to the arsenal that will cost $1 trillion over the next three decades,” Brown  said. “That will lock us, our children and probably our grandchildren into a nuclear weapons future. He’s come a long way from seeking ‘the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.’ We can’t let that happen.”

Joe Hill, an internationally known artist who specializes in three dimensional pavement art, created a four-story  missile design for the protest.

“Nuclear weapons present a grave humanitarian threat,” Hill said in a statement.  “When I was growing up in the ‘80s, these weapons were at the forefront of everyone’s mind and fiercely debated. But though the danger has grown, the scrutiny has faded. We seem to have accepted these barbaric weapons as a fact of life, a necessary evil. I feel this is a subject that urgently needs to be discussed anew.”

Saturday’s rally kicked off the “No $1 Trillion Nuclear Arsenal” national tour, which has planned stops in Raleigh, Atlanta, Nashville and San Francisco.

February 2, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general