Trinity Nuclear Abolition
NEWS ADVISORY
28 July 2012
ph: 505.842.5697

Hunger Strike Continues For Nuclear Abolition:
Some Strikers Cease on Hiroshima Day

On Monday the 16th of July about 20 people were at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) peace vigil to kick off the activities for the Summer of Disarmament. Trinity Nuclear Abolition (TNA) supported the NukeFreeNow.org coalition's initiative for peace with a vigil that day and with a second vigil on August 6th. About 12 people will be present at the August 6th meditation for peace at the main welcome sign for LANL--at the corner of Diamond and West Jemez. This prayer-action on August 6th will last for three hours—from 7am to 10am.

During the three weeks between the 16th of July and the 6th of August a handful of people in New Mexico have been holding a hunger strike. Another three dozen folks around the USA have joined the hunger strike by fasting at various levels and intervals, including Marcus Page-Collonge of Trinity House Catholic Worker in Albuquerque. He is subsisting on two gallons of water daily mingled with seven tablespoons of honey and seven tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. Marcus' fast for peace lasts seven days, in commemoration of the seven decades since the nuclear age began with the Manhattan Project. (The Manhattan Project led to the creation of LANL and the town of Los Alamos.)

“Our fasting and hunger strike focuses on LANL because LANL continues their twin traditions of POISONING this bio-region, and NUCLEAR TERRORISM, which keeps the world in obedience to the political goals of Washington DC,” says Page-Collonge. Catholic Workers tend to believe that the billions of dollars poured into nuclear weapons activities represent a commitment to nuclear weapons unlike other human endeavors in history. The permanent contamination of the environment and the fear of nuclear annihilation are two aspects of nuclearism which Catholic Workers call a "spiritual sickness".

TNA is always nonviolent, respectful, and peaceful, upholding international law and opposing criminal activities at LANL. Alaric Balibrera (former resident of Los Alamos) initiated the hunger strike, and won't eat until his demands are met. He stopped eating on July 16th, and Marcus stopped eating July 23rd. The hunger strike commemorates the 67th anniversary since the Trinity bomb was detonated in New Mexico, and the 33rd anniversary since the uranium spill contaminated New Mexico and Arizona*.

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TNA invites peace-minded folks to come to Los Alamos on August 5th and 6th to join the NukeFreeNow.org and UnOccupy Albuquerque campaigns for peace in this region. One or both of those groups will hold a ceremony to end the hunger strike on August 6th or 9th (Hiroshima and Nagasaki Days, respectively). See NukeFreeNow.org for more information on the events coordinated by those two groups. You can help create a nuclear-weapons free world!

* New Mexico's "Nuclear Disasters Day" is so-named because of the Trinity nuclear bomb's detonation in 1945 and the Church Rock uranium spill of 1979. Both nuclear disasters (the intentional bomb and the accidental spill) contaminated the region with radioactive poisons, and both began on July 16th at precisely 5:30 AM.

TNA pledges to continue these demonstrations until the majority of LANL resources are spent on CLEAN-UP of radioactively contaminated sites at LANL. TNA supports the immediate peaceful ending of nuclear weapons research, development, and production. For four years TNA has protested LANL's noncompliance with the U.S. Constitutional duties and U.S. treaty obligations. TNA is always nonviolent, playful, prayerful and peaceful in the prayer-actions conducted at LANL.

Join the Disarmament Summer Activities !

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