The Time is Now!
The Time Is Now!
The USA at last has a President who is committed to dealing with the Big N (nuclear weapons) now. Are you as inspired as we are by the NYTimes front page article on 7/5/09 about Obama's long standing anti-nuclear position, his global outreach to leaders, and his efforts right here at home? If so, then we hope you'll like our letter that should have arrived in his inbox last week:
Dear President Obama,
How can we support your work to realize the vision of "Breaking the War Mentality" and your efforts to achieve a nuclear-free world? Beyond War shares the same vision and recognizes the same danger.
We are aligned with all of your stated goals and objectives, decisions, observations and efforts to
reduce and eliminate nuclear weapons. Responding to the Cold War in the early 80's, as you did
writing your college essay, we formed the non-profit organization of Beyond War to build public consensus for eliminating nuclear weapons and ending war.
Thanks to the relationship between Colin Powell and Beyond War member William McGlashan, former White House Fellow, we were able to bring scientists from the Soviet Union and the USA together to write and co-publish the book, Breakthrough, which focused on the dangers of accidental nuclear war.
We gathered thousands of committed volunteers, telecast annual Beyond War award programs that were downlinked internationally, while maintaining a national thrust of public presentations and study groups. After the Cold War, we turned to other issues and spawned other organizations.
In response to 9-11 and to the Iraq war, we reconvened, updated materials and technologies, welcomed new members and younger generations, and are again active and engaged. The nuclear picture has worsened dramatically as fissionable material goes missing and nuclear weapons continue to proliferate. It will be a miracle if by mistake or by intention, they are not launched. It is imperative that your, and all other similar efforts, succeed in eliminating nuclear weapons.
Beyond War is not an anti-war, polarizing organization. Instead we paint the picture with facts, inspire change in hearts and minds, influence leaders and followers, and spread the word with creativity, cooperation, and intelligence. The word we spread is, that as a means of resolving conflict or solving problems, war is obsolete. Therefore, we must build full confidence and competence in other means. Enclosed is our book, Living Beyond War: A Citizen's Guide, and a DVD of our PowerPoint presentation.
Beyond War is helping people connect the dots between the current global issues and war. Climate change, food scarcity, disenfranchisement, poverty, territorial boundaries, religious differences, and energy are all potential war starters - kindling for a fire of no return. We think building a ground swell public consensus is the path to building a world that has moved beyond war.
So, we are here. For you. For the world. For the children's future. Please let us know how we might support you and cooperate further. Congratulations on reaching agreement with the Russians. We wish you well in your current travels and important talks with international leaders.
The Beyond War Board of Directors
What you can do now: Show President Obama you care. Seize this significant moment to speak out on nuclear weapons issues. Write a personal letter to him about your thoughts and suggestions for him and for our nation.
What else can you do? Send a letter to the editor of your local paper.
Our good friends at PSR make these suggestions for sending letters to the editor:
"Dear Activist,
I imagine that most of your local newspapers have front page stories on the Moscow Summit and the nuclear weapons reductions announced by President Obama and Russian President Medvedev.
Now would be an excellent time to send in a Letter-to-the-Editor of your local paper in response to the Summit stories. Talking points for a letter could include:
• It is critical for our security that the U.S. has re-established its leadership role in nuclear non-proliferation efforts to reduce the threat from nuclear weapons.
• (Your state's Senators) should support the modest reductions in U.S.-Russian nuclear arsenals outlined in the Summit agreement.
• The U.S. should lead the global effort towards deeper reductions in nuclear arsenals on the road towards the ultimate goal: a safer world—free of nuclear weapons.
In placing a letter:
• Keep it to 100-150 words.
• Reference the title of the Summit article in your newspaper—and date and page the article was on.
• You can find the email address of your Letters editor on your paper’s web site or by calling your local paper.
For more information on the summit, click here.
Thanks PSR !"
The USA at last has a President who is committed to dealing with the Big N (nuclear weapons) now. Are you as inspired as we are by the NYTimes front page article on 7/5/09 about Obama's long standing anti-nuclear position, his global outreach to leaders, and his efforts right here at home? If so, then we hope you'll like our letter that should have arrived in his inbox last week:
Dear President Obama,
How can we support your work to realize the vision of "Breaking the War Mentality" and your efforts to achieve a nuclear-free world? Beyond War shares the same vision and recognizes the same danger.
We are aligned with all of your stated goals and objectives, decisions, observations and efforts to
reduce and eliminate nuclear weapons. Responding to the Cold War in the early 80's, as you did
writing your college essay, we formed the non-profit organization of Beyond War to build public consensus for eliminating nuclear weapons and ending war.
Thanks to the relationship between Colin Powell and Beyond War member William McGlashan, former White House Fellow, we were able to bring scientists from the Soviet Union and the USA together to write and co-publish the book, Breakthrough, which focused on the dangers of accidental nuclear war.
We gathered thousands of committed volunteers, telecast annual Beyond War award programs that were downlinked internationally, while maintaining a national thrust of public presentations and study groups. After the Cold War, we turned to other issues and spawned other organizations.
In response to 9-11 and to the Iraq war, we reconvened, updated materials and technologies, welcomed new members and younger generations, and are again active and engaged. The nuclear picture has worsened dramatically as fissionable material goes missing and nuclear weapons continue to proliferate. It will be a miracle if by mistake or by intention, they are not launched. It is imperative that your, and all other similar efforts, succeed in eliminating nuclear weapons.
Beyond War is not an anti-war, polarizing organization. Instead we paint the picture with facts, inspire change in hearts and minds, influence leaders and followers, and spread the word with creativity, cooperation, and intelligence. The word we spread is, that as a means of resolving conflict or solving problems, war is obsolete. Therefore, we must build full confidence and competence in other means. Enclosed is our book, Living Beyond War: A Citizen's Guide, and a DVD of our PowerPoint presentation.
Beyond War is helping people connect the dots between the current global issues and war. Climate change, food scarcity, disenfranchisement, poverty, territorial boundaries, religious differences, and energy are all potential war starters - kindling for a fire of no return. We think building a ground swell public consensus is the path to building a world that has moved beyond war.
So, we are here. For you. For the world. For the children's future. Please let us know how we might support you and cooperate further. Congratulations on reaching agreement with the Russians. We wish you well in your current travels and important talks with international leaders.
The Beyond War Board of Directors
What you can do now: Show President Obama you care. Seize this significant moment to speak out on nuclear weapons issues. Write a personal letter to him about your thoughts and suggestions for him and for our nation.
What else can you do? Send a letter to the editor of your local paper.
Our good friends at PSR make these suggestions for sending letters to the editor:
"Dear Activist,
I imagine that most of your local newspapers have front page stories on the Moscow Summit and the nuclear weapons reductions announced by President Obama and Russian President Medvedev.
Now would be an excellent time to send in a Letter-to-the-Editor of your local paper in response to the Summit stories. Talking points for a letter could include:
• It is critical for our security that the U.S. has re-established its leadership role in nuclear non-proliferation efforts to reduce the threat from nuclear weapons.
• (Your state's Senators) should support the modest reductions in U.S.-Russian nuclear arsenals outlined in the Summit agreement.
• The U.S. should lead the global effort towards deeper reductions in nuclear arsenals on the road towards the ultimate goal: a safer world—free of nuclear weapons.
In placing a letter:
• Keep it to 100-150 words.
• Reference the title of the Summit article in your newspaper—and date and page the article was on.
• You can find the email address of your Letters editor on your paper’s web site or by calling your local paper.
For more information on the summit, click here.
Thanks PSR !"
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"Dear Concerned BW Member,
The letter we sent the President was focused specifically on his stance on the abolition of nuclear weapons: "We are aligned with all of your stated goals and objectives, decisions, observations and efforts to reduce and eliminate nuclear weapons." This was certainly not intended as a blanket endorsement of "all his stated goals and objectives, etc." in general.
So often I think we write to our elected leaders with our complaints about what they are not doing or what they are doing that we do not like or of which we do not approve. The intention in our letter, and what we are asking our membership to help us with, is to acknowledge and support the President in this initiative where we are in alignment with his position and in which he will need all the support he can get in order to maintain this stance in the face of military lobbyists and all the entrenched interests of the military industrial complex.
Of course, we also want the President to take the necessary steps to end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; to make sure that we do not become further entangled in a warlike stance with Iran; and to move forward in all the other myriad ways in which we need to move forward to build a world beyond war. I believe that political leaders are like most other people, though -- if we take the time to find the places of our common ground as a starting point in our relationship with them, we have a much better chance of being heard and appreciated when we air our differences.
From our point of view, the bottom line on this is that the elimination of nuclear weapons would make the world a much safer place for all life on this planet and would free up untold creative energy and financial resources to move forward on all the other interrelated issues we collectively need to address if we are to survive as a species and generate the cultural shift that will make war an unthinkable option in international affairs. This is what we are supporting in our letter to the President."
Please let us know what you think!