Get-together at Study Group HQ Wed., Apr 1, 7:30 am; breakfast!

March 26, 2015

Dear Albuquerque friends --

The Los Alamos Study Group is having an important get-together, update, and discussion this coming Wednesday morning, April 1, at 7:30 am, at the Study Group "World Headquarters" (2901 Summit Place NE, Albuquerque).  We'll serve a simple breakfast, coffee or tea, and fruit.

As some of you probably saw, we threw this meeting open to everybody on the Stop the War Machine discussion group.   We have no idea how many people will come.  We doubt many will.  We hope you do.   We are all very busy but perhaps you'll have time to join us for an hour and a half or so -- two hours, if you want to help with cleanup.

I think we all understand, at this point, that "we" -- New Mexico, the U.S., civilization, all of nature -- are facing a multidimensional, existential crisis.  Our efforts, however valiant and sometimes successful in part, are not succeeding overall.

The purpose of this meeting is first and foremost solidarity pure and simple, and secondarily to hear from you, take in your ideas, and thirdly provide whatever very brief political updates you may wish.

We have been deeply engaged in nuclear weapons issues in international circles as well as locally.  We can report to you that diplomatic efforts to ban nuclear weapons are developing nicely so far.  There are some excellent opportunities that we could seize.

We are very concerned that New Mexico may have passed a point of no return as far as losing its democracy and economy.  We think a lot of people are kidding themselves about the efficacy of standard reforms.  Stronger measures seem necessary to match the times.

We know of no faculty at UNM who have an informed, active, critical stance on any of the existential issues we face generally, or on the issues of war and peace we face here in New Mexico.  Do you?  We really want to connect with people, but we can't afford to waste time either.  Any ideas?

We know of no student groups working against war, or nuclear weapons.  Do you?

We know of no churches actively working against war -- which is now underway in many places, for real and at great scale already, and growing -- or against nuclear weapons, New Mexico's unique -- and evil -- industry.  Do you?  Many people are for "peace," but what exactly are they DOING?  It is very strange for us to be so welcome at the UN, in parliamentary offices abroad, in senior offices in our government, and yet nobody in New Mexico seems to want to talk or do much about what "we" do here.  Are we in New Mexico truly that dysfunctional?

I could go on to discuss climate and energy, two other issues that will define our future here in New Mexico.  We don't see much leadership there -- not in the activist community, not in the churches, not in the environmental community, not anywhere really.  Can somebody fill us all in on who is working on these issues full-time, and how we all might help them? 

Our senior political leaders and parties are the way they are -- flagrantly promoting nuclear weapons (illegal under international law) at the expense of the poor, doing nothing serious on climate, nothing serious on energy, nothing serious about anything that might be described as green or just, nothing that builds the state economically or socially -- because we allow them to be that way.  Many people even give them money.

What are we missing?  You can tell us.

We don't put a lot of strategy into our Bulletins, due to their very broad subscriber universe.  Last week a VP of Sandia signed up.  Senior government people in DC get it.  So meetings like this are where that strategy can happen.

Right now, powerful people in DC and New Mexico believe that New Mexico wants to be a nuclear-military sandbox.  We've got to change that.

See you Wednesday we hope,

Greg, Trish, and the rest of the Study Group

PS: You might be interested in this 1,000 word op ed ("Treat the state’s lab addiction," Albuquerque Journal Santa Fe, Mello, Mar 20, 2015).  Both of our senators want to increase nuclear weapons spending, as does Rep. Lujan (Udall here; Heinrich here -- search the hearing transcript; Lujan here, as samples).  (As a congressman, Heinrich was THE most active supporter of nuclear weapons spending among House Democrats.)  ALL our delegation voted for sending military aid to the hyper-corrupt neo-Nazis in Kiev.