May 24, 2021

Key talking points, discussion outside the State Capitol this Thursday, May 27, noon, east side: massive expansion at LANL, new arms race, plutonium "pits" out the wazoo

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Previously (05/20/21): Discussion outside at the State Capitol today, May 20, noon, east side
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Dear friends --

This Thursday 5/27 at noon at the State Capitol, on the east side, we will have another discussion and planning session regarding the massive expansion of nuclear weapons work in the Santa Fe area.* (*It is no longer accurate to say, "in Los Alamos.")

Please come!

Last week's gathering was fruitful and reasonably well-attended. Many thoughtful points were raised and actions discussed -- and importantly, personal reactions and concerns were brought forth by the dozen people there.

Not everyone who wanted to come last week could do so. We very much hope that those of you who were able to come last time will reach out to your friends and bring them with you this time. A lot depends on people not being shy.

Our discussion had several foci, one of which was outreach. The first and most important outreach each of us can do right now -- those of us who were there last time and those who could not come -- is to bring people together in one place to talk about some of these issues, and to learn.

While our numbers are small, we are on the track of doubling attendance with each gathering. This is a good track for the immediate future, among other goals. Yes, some intimacy will be lost. Our format will evolve. Additional speakers and discussants will be added. We are also very interested in artistic expression (let's talk about that.) But for now, we need to focus our energy in one place and strengthen just a few common understandings as we reach out to others, while respecting many differences. There are a lot of misconceptions out there.

Obviously, a public gathering at a state Capitol is also a manifestation in itself.

There is almost no organized popular opposition in New Mexico to the new nuclear arms race, which is in critical ways centered right here. There are also almost no widely-shared narratives with factual bases. Without these there is no basis for growth. On nuclear weapons and related issues, New Mexicans have been propagandized from not just one but multiple directions.

What concern there is lives all across the political spectrum, with important gaps. Trying to approach these issues -- to educate, to organize, or to lobby -- from a partisan perspective will be ineffective. We don't. 

Our elected officials are mostly uninformed. Some think they understand what is going on at LANL on the basis of a briefing by LANL's operating contractor. Ouch.

As for the Study Group, we aim to link people and issues across parties and perspectives. We are all in this mess together. That said, we believe it is important to prioritize and identify with the vulnerable -- vulnerable people and ecosystems -- and the poor.

Although it is out of fashion, we also assert there are objective truths we can know, and ought to know, before picking up a megaphone. As Martin Luther King said, "Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." This sometimes confuses people who can't think beyond "advocacy," in what has become a post-modern age. Such an age will be brief.

These standpoints do not comprise an "antinuclear" frame of reference, and we are not an "antinuclear" organization (nor are we any kind of "watchdog"). We do want to make government better, and we want to empower people in ways that minimize suffering and provide hope for humanity and nature's survival.

That being the case, these discussions are fundamentally not just about nuclear weapons and plutonium warhead core ("pit") production. We face converging existential crises -- crises which can destroy our civilization, people, and the living landscape -- of which the grotesque expansion of nuclear weapons work is just one. The nuclear arms race happens to be a potentially world-ending policy of staggering idiocy and immorality that our communities are being asked to support. It is also a juggernaut we together have the power to halt, as we have done in the past -- we here in New Mexico, and nationally. 

The reason the new arms race can be stopped is precisely because it is idiotic and immoral and billions of people know that already, and there are powerful economic forces, and corporate liabilities, at work which make the enterprise quite fragile -- doomed, in fact. Here in Greater Santa Fe it is literally and figuratively being built on a very shaky foundation.

At this meeting we will provide printed discussion and talking points. We can't draft a fully up-to-date fact sheet until the Administration releases its proposed budget on Friday, so that will come next.

Thank you very much for your solidarity. We are working in multiple ways, of which this is only one. Work with us, if you want. We are a pretty merry band, with a lot of mutual support.

Hopefully I will be able to summarize some technical work done last week in Bulletin form this week; stay tuned. There will also be a press release about the Biden budget request Friday, which will be the first detailed indication of the new Administration's nuclear policies.

Until then,

Greg, for the Study Group