Nebraskans for Peace still going strong after 34 years
an article by Cary Vigneri

Nebraskans for Peace held our annual Peace Conference in Grand Island on February 14th at Trinity Methodist Church.

For many of the 160 attendees the highlight was the awards ceremony, honoring Reverend Nye Bond, Merle Hansen, Arlo "Dutch" Hoppe, and Fred Schroeder. These venerable gentlemen are some of the founding fathers; it was their community spirit that caused Nebraskans for Peace to be formed thirty four years ago. Their fire, dedication and courageous energy for peace and social justice seems not to have waned an iota. Each of them spoke from a deep well of experience and they urge us all to redouble our effort. Each of them in his own way expressed a sense of urgency surrounding the present circumstances and reminded us of the very important place we hold in world history: it is as if we were born for this very time to be the voice of reason and the impetus for constructive change.

Greg Mello, the executive director of the Los Alamos Study Group in New Mexico was the keynote speaker. His message for Nebraskans was simple. Learn about the Strategic Air Command, and inform Omahans and the world at large about its intrinsic connection with the culture of war. And resist. StratCom, as the nerve center and deployment center for planetary warfare, is a danger to our community and a massive threat to the entire planet.

Please note to act on Greg's mandate that one of our 2nd generation members, Gina Zebolsky, daughter of Mary Ann and Don Zebolsky, has arranged for activists to stand vigil on the ninth of each month in front of Kinney Gate at Offutt Air Force Base from 4:15 PM to 5:15 PM to commemorate and mourn the loss of life suffered by those who were unwitting victims of the world's first use of atomic weaponry in warfare. Support her effort. Stand with her at Kinney Gate once a month and stand in opposition to StratCom and its universal nuclear threat. Proposed topic: This promotes the peace keys of reject listen rediscover

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Question(s) related to this article:

How do we motivate citizens to stand against the culture of war?


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MAKING AN EFFECTIVE PEACE MOVEMENT

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I very much applaud the stand that these Nebraskans are taking against the Culture of War - especially the monthly vigils to commemorate the dropping of the first atomic bombs.  

This post was dated back in March or April and I am only hearing about it by participating in this Forum today, in July.  And that, I'm afraid, is a large part of the problem posed by this Forum's question:  "How do we motivate citizens to stand against the culture of war?"  I'm sure that I am like many others in that I would be willing to take a stand, to make the effort, to take the time, and to become engaged, IF I felt it would be effective.  But our society has become so deluged with information, that all of our actions are just datum.  The media cannot communicate the actions of everyone and so it relies on a filter of only communicating what is biggest.  And we only find out if we are embedded in the Peace subculture so that outisde of the provincial sphere of the activity, these actions only are addressing the already converted.

We need to determine what we can do that will be effective.. . ...more.

This report was posted on March 25, 2004. The moderator is Robin.

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