The Sunflower is the Symbol of Abolition 2000
“Sunflowers instead of missiles in the soil will ensure peace for future generations.”

U.S. Secretary of Defense William J. Perry, June 4, 1996, the day he joined Russian and Ukranian defense secretaries to plant sunflowers on a former missile site in the Ukraine.

Summary: US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Overall Goals and Strategies

Our goals include ridding the US of its nuclear weapons and, as part of the global network, Abolition 2000, likewise ridding the entire planet of nuclear weapons. We also recognize that an inextricable link exists between nuclear technologies, whether designed for war or energy, and the threat to future generations posed by the radioactive materials they use and generate. We realize that, in order to accomplish our goals, we must educate the people living in the US about the federal government’s nuclear weapons programs and nuclear weapons complex, the enormous budgetary and other resources the government continues to pour into these activities, and the realities of the suffering inflicted by them on both people, especially indigenous peoples, and the environment. We further realize the need to organize around these issues so that the public is energized into taking steps to accomplish nuclear abolition, and that this necessitates both movement-building and public outreach strategies.

Our Background and History provides the history of how our CAMPAIGN came into being.

Our Mission Statement, Santa Barbara Declaration and Draft Statement on Democracy, Power, and Nuclear Weapons provide the language we have created to reflect our aspirations and our goals.

Our Network-Plus Structure broadly outlines the organizational structure of our CAMPAIGN and how it will operate, and provides examples of specific activities/strategies we might carry out.

The list of our Working Groups provides insight concerning how we have identified our specific issues. Working Groups are also organizational mechanisms that will help implement the CAMPAIGN.

Brief Report of the US CAMPAIGN TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS National Meeting at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, October 9-11, 1999

Approximately 40 people, representing local and national organizations and tribal groups from across the US, came together in Ann Arbor, Michigan, hoping to create and formally launch a campaign to abolish nuclear weapons in the US. As the conference unfolded, we came to understand that our differences based on factors such as ethnicity, culture and gender, and, therefore, experientially-based perspectives, would require patient open-mindedness on all sides, if we were to be successful in achieving our goals. During the 3-day meeting, we achieved a spirit of unity and accomplished, by consensus, the following:

--agreement on the name of the campaign;

--adoption of the Network-Plus Structure;

--affirmation of the ideas expressed in a draft “Statement on Democracy, Power and Nuclear Weapons”;

--election of the first Coordinating Committee;

--formal campaign launch on October 11, 1999;

--a better understanding of ourselves and one another; and

--the start of our future network-based relationships.

The 13-member Coordinating Committee (CC) was charged with guiding the CAMPAIGN’s first year. This mandate includes such things as fundraising, hiring staff, developing coordinated activities and strategies, convening the annual general meeting, etc. The CC will have regular conference calls to facilitate its work. For a more detailed report of the Ann Arbor meeting, click here.

Contact Information:

The interim clearinghouse for the US Campaign is the Western States Legal Foundation:

Western States Legal Foundation
1504 Franklin St., Suite 202
Oakland, California  94612

phone: (510) 839-5877
fax: (510) 839-5397  

e-mail: webmaster@wslfweb.org
Web Site: www.wslfweb.org