June 25, 2018

Previous letters on New Mexico's "Atomic Summer" May 24, May 29, June 11

Dear citizen activist friends on our New Mexico "short list" --

1. "Death becomes Marcy Street display"

So the June 18 New Mexican headline rightly noted, in its must-read article (with pictures) by Tripp Stelnicki. Yes, there's now a life-size styrofoam and plywood replica of the Trinity Site monument proudly displayed at the Santa Fe Convention Center on West Marcy St, next to City Hall.

A number of people have made angry inquiries about this travesty. According to Randy Randall, director of Tourism Santa Fe and the one responsible for putting it there., it was donated through the efforts of Ellen Bradbury-Reid, Norris Bradbury's daughter-in-law. [Apparently, Ellen Bradbury Reid had nothing to do with this monument.] It was originally made for a TV show. He thinks it's a great asset to the City. It's already a tourist bus stop, apparently.

Norris Bradbury, as many of you know, ran Los Alamos National Laboratory for a quarter of a century, from 1945 to 1970, throughout the above-ground testing program and the development of thermonuclear weapons.

During the Manhattan Project, Bradbury was in charge of the implosion field test program at Los Alamos and was responsible for the assembly of the Trinity device (the "Gadget").

For Ms. Bradbury-Reid, this is a family monument.

No one should underestimate the symbolic importance of this prop. Its appearance in Santa Fe is not random. We could say it is much like a dog or cat marking its territory. The nuclear weapons business is pissing on Santa Fe, declaring ownership.

There have been at least 19 local government and tribal resolutions and official letters expressing misgivings or negativity about LANL's mission, environmental impact, and about plutonium warhead core ("pit") production in particular. To the nuclear weapons corporations who profit from LANL and its proposed huge new pit mission (soon ~$500 million/year forever, enough to buy every politician who has not already pledged his or her allegiance), it's important to show local elite support. This monument does that. It proclaims to visiting nuclear decisionmakers -- the Nuclear Weapons Council members, National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) honchos, congressional delegations -- that the New Mexico nuclear colony accepts the nuclear business. That even liberal Santa Fe can identify with "The Bomb," with its "greatness."

Which is all that matters.

Mr. Randall protested to one angry caller, "But it's just a movie prop! It's neutral -- it doesn't express a point of view!" To which the reply was (as it was related to me), "It's our equivalent of a monument to lynching. It doesn't matter if it is a prop made for a movie about lynching. It has got to go."

Make no mistake, LANL could not exist, or its nuclear mission grow (as it now is) without Santa Fe's supportive (or just confused, silent, and passive) "charm," its housing, its nightlife, its pretense of normality. Its identity as not (yet) a company town.

We want the monument gone, with maximum moral effect.

2. Especially if you live in or near Santa Fe, please come and speak up at the Santa Fe City Council this Wednesday evening at 7 pm, not at the regular Council chambers but at the Santa Fe Public Schools Educational Services Center Board Room, 610 Alta Vista St. (map).

The agenda, as you can see, provides for public comment in the 7 pm meeting. If you can, bring a sign of your own making. Or not. But please come.

If offered, we don't want a "balanced" set of artistic offerings at the Convention Center. This bizarre monument is not about "art." We want it gone. We can have a discussion -- after the monument is gone.

There is a fine statue by Gian Bacigalupa on the corner of Marcy and Lincoln, of St. Francis with a beaver. Is Santa Fe slowly shifting patron saints? That's a good question.

Recent hagiography (in the Los Alamos Daily Post) featured an article about Robert Oppenheimer's martinis. Now that's important. Seriously: the fact that such an article could be written and published in a newspaper of record is interesting, is it not? 

3. One recent "Atomic Summer" event: "history" -- and promotion of Trump's proposed new nuclear weapons

On June 14, Willem Malten and a friend attended an event organized by Recursos (Ellen Bradbury-Reid, again), advertised in a Los Alamos Daily Post article of June 11 ("Manhattan Project Experts Present Seminar: ‘Summer Of 1945: The Road To Trinity’ June 14"). As you read the article, please note that the experts have deep family connections to the bombings (i.e. mass murders) of August, 1945 and the LANL nuclear weapons mission.

Here's Willem's quick report, more or less verbatim: 

Yasuyo and I went to the meeting in La Fonda ballroom (which supposedly was donated for free). There were probably 300 or more people there I would say, and very established. The talks were kind of interesting and quite long...In the end Yasuyo asked one question and some people 'shivered'.

It became clear that what was really promoted were four ideas:

1.The use of nuclear weapons was a consequence of the violence on Okinawa and the Bataan death march and a slight [!] prejudice against Japanese people;

2. The nuclear bombs were key to ending the war and contrary to people's understanding, actually saved lives;

3. Nuclear radiation doesn't have long term consequences. Marshall and Bikini islands devastation was minor;

4. Since Putin said that he wants to have low yield nuclear weapons, just in case NATO invades, we should have them too; they are useful and we should develop them now.

It was lonely, but good to be there. Yasuyo and I represented the 'alternative view' and also the vast majority of the people in the world. It gave people pause to see that there was a Japanese Hiroshima woman in the room. When we finally came out, Yasuyo and I had to have some tea to calm down.

It shocked me (Greg) that the single most controversial element of the Trump nuclear plan -- (more) low-yield nuclear weapons, now to be put on ballistic missiles launched from submarines -- was being promoted at this event. It underscored what somebody's agenda this summer is, or ends up being because of who's in charge.

We have no idea what other events of this nature are planned. Supposedly there is an "Atomic Summer" brochure but nobody in our group has turned one up yet. It is important to have alternative perspectives at as many of these promotional events as possible. We will try to let you know of these events but we don't know about all of them.

4. Schedule of Atomic Summer events

Our own schedule of events this summer is on our calendar and explained further in the three letters linked above. See below for more.

For your thoughtful consideration and schedule planning, here is a schedule of some of the Atomic Summer events in Santa Fe, omitting for the moment the as-yet-unannounced Recursos events and the six performances of "Dr. Atomic."

Some of our number, and some other groups, will try to go to most of these events. If you want to go with us or others we know about, call Trish here in the office (505-265-1200).

5. This Thursday's meeting in Albuquerque is cancelled.

Trish is sick at the moment with some sort of bad cold, and I have just returned from Washington with lots of followup to do. We are not in a good position to host a meeting this week! 

6. On Monday, July 2, please come to St. John's Methodist Church in Santa Fe at 6 pm, in the Gathering Room, if you want an update on where this Administration and Congress stand on nuclear weapons and what we can do to stop the momentum toward a new bomb plant.

I returned from Washington Saturday after meeting with staff of key congressional committees and others for a week. It is quite clear that if we here do not stop the plutonium warhead factory, nobody else will. I had good meetings but the situation is not really all that good. The US is a warmongering state and New Mexico is the designated plutonium colony.

I (Greg) had a recent op ed in the Journal about our senator's leading role in this: "Senators, why do you want a new pit factory?"

By the way, we expect that our senatorial "dynamic duo" will use the Tularosa Basin Trinity victims, descendants of which will probably testify in Congress this week, to show their voters how much they care about selected small victim groups which do not affect, diss, or otherwise interfere with their current corporate nuclear plans.

In the course of successful negotiations of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, we were pleased that the victims of nuclear testing with whom we worked -- such as Sue Haseldine (testimony, 3:52 video), representing aboriginal nations in Australia -- did not ask for personal compensation, as Sue very clearly explained to us one morning. They want an end to nuclear weapons.

Also by the way, today the Senate successfully passed an Energy and Water Development bill which contained provisions to authorize and fund an interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel. Our senators voted for this bill. It remains to be reconciled with the House version. More on this another time.

Also today, our senators tried, but we do not yet know if they succeeded, to pass an amendment requiring that the Nuclear Weapons Council -- meaning the military, for all intents and purposes -- annually certify LANL's successful progress toward becoming a pit factory.  Again they would hand what used to be legislative power to the military -- in this case power over the future of New Mexico, to make it harder to stop.

7. "Land of Enchantment: Atomic Summer," discussion with Godfrey Reggio and Greg Mello, Phil Space Gallery, 1410 Second St, Santa Fe, hosted by the Friends of Tony Price, 5 pm July 7

Greg's part of this will be a talk entitled, "R.I.P. Dr. Atomic: Healing Nuclear History in the Land of Enchantment," in which Greg will discuss some of the myths, misconceptions, and strategic silences surrounding New Mexico’s atomic past and present, and how a manufactured “atomic” identity is being foisted on the public for the private benefit of a few. Can nuclear history – which is to say, history since 1945 – be healed, and if so how? Can Santa Fe and New Mexico emerge from the cultural and political shadow of the mushroom cloud? How? The answers to these questions lie surprisingly near at hand, and point toward a life-affirming road, a royal road, beyond the Jornada del Muerto and through our converging historical crises. If we choose such a path we can truly enjoy it. If we don’t, we won’t. In either case the recently-promoted nuclear gods and their fake history will fail, just as US leaders feared in the early postwar years.

8. Protests planned -- come one, come all!

Last but by no means least, we and other organizations are planning a cross-issue protest for July 13 at the "Tech in the West" Symposium, starting at about 9 am. Mark your calendars! Details will follow.

There will we hope be other protests as well after this. Planning is underway. Again, if you want to help, call Trish at 505-265-1200.

I think that's it for now.

In solidarity,

Greg, Trish, and gang