Yesterday, members of the GPBP attended an event on Penn's Landing to welcome the sailboat Golden Rule to Philadelphia. Forty-one years after 1 million activists marched on New York's Central Park to protest Ronald Reagan's nuclear arms race, a few dozen peace activists greeted the the Golden Rule to port in the city of brotherly love.
In 1958, an intrepid crew of (mainly) Quakers sailed the small ship “Golden Rule” to the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific to try to “get in the way” of massive nuclear tests the United States was planning there. They were arrested in Honolulu, but they left a lasting legacy connecting peace and environmental justice concerns. Now, a new crew from Veterans for Peace is using the same ship to campaign against the MAD-ness [Mutually Assured Destruction] of nuclear weapons.
The Golden Rule, a 34-foot wooden ketch, will visit the Delaware Valley May 9-14th, 2023 as part of a 15-month voyage around the eastern half of the USA, making 100 ports-of-call. This voyage coincides with new legislation, recently introduced in both the United States House and Senate, to establish a 21st century freeze on the testing, production, and deployment of nuclear weapons. The Hastening Arms Limitation Talks (HALT) Act needs the support a massive peace movement harkening back to 41 years ago. Calling all peace activists! The time has come to give up the illusion of safety and the comforts of complacency to speak out and do all we can to prevent nuclear disaster. Mutually assured nuclear destruction will leave our only home, the planet earth, virtually uninhabitable.
We members of the GPBP, grandmothers and mothers alike, want to preserve the earth for generations to come. We want our children and grandchildren to enjoy the majesty and grandeur of planet earth, as we have enjoyed, throughout our lives. No one wants to believe catastrophe will occur in their lifetime, so we buy the lies corporations sell to us. Nuclear technology is safe and cooler heads will always prevail. But will they? To protect the United State's vital interests around the world and to deter other leaders from aggression, our leaders are perpetrating nuclear proliferation and playing "chicken" with other nuclear powers! This is madness! Deterrence will be fostered by compassionate leadership and acknowledgment of the insanity we have been engaged in for over 40 years! This will inspire other nations to follow in our footsteps. The golden rule, in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, really is the simple answer to the age old question of how to change the world.
“The world continues to move in the wrong direction on nuclear disarmament and arms control. To avert disaster, the United States must urgently lead a multilateral freeze on nuclear weapons testing, production and deployment. Every penny spent on nuclear weapons serves no purpose but to strengthen the hand of evil in the world and bring humanity one stop closer to extinction. We need a 21st century nuclear freeze movement so we can hit the brakes on this dangerous escalation, honor our existing treaty obligations, spend our time and money improving our country and world, and eliminate nuclear weapons before they eliminate us.”
Congressman Jim McGovern
In 1958, an intrepid crew of (mainly) Quakers sailed the small ship “Golden Rule” to the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific to try to “get in the way” of massive nuclear tests the United States was planning there. They were arrested in Honolulu, but they left a lasting legacy connecting peace and environmental justice concerns. Now, a new crew from Veterans for Peace is using the same ship to campaign against the MAD-ness [Mutually Assured Destruction] of nuclear weapons.
The Golden Rule, a 34-foot wooden ketch, will visit the Delaware Valley May 9-14th, 2023 as part of a 15-month voyage around the eastern half of the USA, making 100 ports-of-call. This voyage coincides with new legislation, recently introduced in both the United States House and Senate, to establish a 21st century freeze on the testing, production, and deployment of nuclear weapons. The Hastening Arms Limitation Talks (HALT) Act needs the support a massive peace movement harkening back to 41 years ago. Calling all peace activists! The time has come to give up the illusion of safety and the comforts of complacency to speak out and do all we can to prevent nuclear disaster. Mutually assured nuclear destruction will leave our only home, the planet earth, virtually uninhabitable.
We members of the GPBP, grandmothers and mothers alike, want to preserve the earth for generations to come. We want our children and grandchildren to enjoy the majesty and grandeur of planet earth, as we have enjoyed, throughout our lives. No one wants to believe catastrophe will occur in their lifetime, so we buy the lies corporations sell to us. Nuclear technology is safe and cooler heads will always prevail. But will they? To protect the United State's vital interests around the world and to deter other leaders from aggression, our leaders are perpetrating nuclear proliferation and playing "chicken" with other nuclear powers! This is madness! Deterrence will be fostered by compassionate leadership and acknowledgment of the insanity we have been engaged in for over 40 years! This will inspire other nations to follow in our footsteps. The golden rule, in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, really is the simple answer to the age old question of how to change the world.
“The world continues to move in the wrong direction on nuclear disarmament and arms control. To avert disaster, the United States must urgently lead a multilateral freeze on nuclear weapons testing, production and deployment. Every penny spent on nuclear weapons serves no purpose but to strengthen the hand of evil in the world and bring humanity one stop closer to extinction. We need a 21st century nuclear freeze movement so we can hit the brakes on this dangerous escalation, honor our existing treaty obligations, spend our time and money improving our country and world, and eliminate nuclear weapons before they eliminate us.”
Congressman Jim McGovern