Public forum will address nuclear issues

By Brendan Conley

Asheville, Sept. 27— Area citizens will learn about the dangers of the nuclear industry – and the citizen challenge against it – at an upcoming public forum on “Our Nuclear Future.”

The forum, presented by Town Hall Project, will be held at Lord Auditorium, in Pack Library, Thursday, Oct. 5, from 6 to 8pm. Speakers will address issues of nuclear energy and nuclear weapons that affect western North Carolina, and the world.

Mary Olsen is the Southeast Coordinator of Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS). Olsen will speak on the Department of Energy’s controversial plan to “recycle” weapons-grade plutonium into MOX (mixed-oxide) fuel for use in Duke Energy’s nuclear reactors in North and South Carolina. Duke Energy wants to test out this new process in the Carolinas, and Olsen is coordinating action to stop the dangerous plan.

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space (GN), will speak on the dangers posed by the government’s “Star Wars” missile defense plan, and will explain the global movement to keep space free from war. The missile defense system has failed in repeated tests, and has already cost billions of dollars. Gagnon leads the international campaign against “Star Wars.”

Ellen Thomas, who has led a historic 16-year-long anti-nuclear vigil in front of the White House, will speak on the struggle for Proposition 1, a ballot initiative intended to facilitate the conversion of nuclear weapons production into peacetime industry. Thomas and other activists succeeded in getting Proposition 1 onto the ballot in the District of Columbia, and the people of DC voted for it, despite attacks from politicians and the corporate press.

This “town hall meeting” will give the public the opportunity to ask questions and discuss the issues. Organizations working for peace and environmental health are encouraged to participate. For more information, please contact Town Hall Project at 271-1032. The event is co-sponsored by Asheville Global Report and War Resisters League.

Local students demonstrate in solidarity with Prague activists

By Eamon Martin

Asheville, Sept. 26— Unbeknownst to a vast majority of US citizens, on Tuesday, September 26, in reportedly 59 cities across the nation, citizens took to the streets to protest against the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. The protests were timed and coordinated in a startling demonstration of international solidarity with massive acts of civil disobedience around the world in what was to be labeled A Global Day of Action. The two premier lending institutions were holding their annual summit in the Czech Republic city of Prague, where a multinational contingent of protesters had gathered to express their collective outrage at the corporate globalization, economic imperialism, exploitation, and unaccountable authority the IMF/World Bank are criticized for exacerbating.

Much to the puzzlement of rubbernecking commuters, an ad-hoc, street theater group of Warren Wilson students braved the early Autumn winds at dusk to show local support and bring attention to human rights issues for which the IMF/World Bank are ultimately accountable.

While Food Not Bombs served a free, hot meal and waved to passersby to come and partake in the communal spectacle, the students acted out a skit, demonstrating the links between the aggressively influential financial mammoths and the US Army’s School of the Americas (SOA) in Fort Benning, Georgia.

The plot of their short drama began with students portraying south-of-the-border campesinos farming their land in the way that a majority of self-sustaining, agricultural societies did, pre-Western political conquest, and with decreasing regularity, continue to do. Suddenly, an Uncle Sam on stilts appeared with salacious eyes fixed on the indigenous peoples’ land, labor, and resources, and brandishing a large, symbolic, free-market dollar sign. Sam, with big business in tow, obnoxiously extolled the virtues of transnational investment and corporate consumerism and encouraged the campesinos to farm their crops for export. In a free market in which they can’t compete against corporate multinationals, the laborers are forced to work in corporate sweatshops contracted by the likes of Nike or protest —which ultimately results in their eventual slaughter by the hands of SOA-trained military.

Both literal and symbolic, the colorful play added Asheville to the enormous list of cities that on Tuesday made great, dignifying efforts to think globally and act locally in what many people are seeing as a growing, global phenomenon of protest against tyranny.

Activists prepare for debates

By Adam Baylus

Asheville, Sept. 27— With the October 11th Presidential Debate in Winston-Salem, NC, less than two weeks away, local activists have stepped up preparations for a planned protest of the exclusionary policies of the Commission on Presidential Debates.

The Asheville Direct Action Network announced a Non-Violent Direct Action Training and Debate Information Session for Saturday, October 7th, at the Fortune Building on 727 Haywood Road in West Asheville. The session is from noon until 5 pm.

In addition, puppet, sign, and banner making sessions continue over the next two Sundays. Participants are meeting at noon, October 1st and 8th, at 72 Cumberland Avenue in Asheville and carpooling to the production site. Three large puppets are already in the works—and more are planned if time and resources permit.

Outreach efforts have been enhanced with the creation of three flyers which are available over the internet, at www.o11.org. The artist who submitted them noted, “all flyers are in no way copyright-protected ... nothing should be ... feel free to reproduce them at will.”

Coordinators of the o11 Action have secured at least one site for the planned workshops and panel discussions. Many speakers and organizations have expressed interest in participating, and details are quickly being confirmed.

Logistics are being handled and questions answered through three channels: an e-mail list serve, which can be accessed by sending a blank e-mail to o11-subscribe @egroups.com; the website, www.o11.org; and by telephone, Colleen at (828) 252-8312.

Sierra Club campaigns for Neill

By Brendan Conley

Asheville, Sept. 27— The Sierra Club announced today that it is embarking on a voter education campaign to expose Congressman Charles Taylor’s anti-environmental record. The announcement came at a press conference today in front of the Jackson Building, home of Taylor’s Congressional District Office. Local members of the Sierra Club donned gas masks and held signs reading, “Clean Air, For Our Families, For Our Future.”

The Sierra Club, which has 600,000 members nationwide and 1,700 in western North Carolina, plans to distribute 65,000 voter guides to area residents, and run television advertisements. The campaign “will illustrate the differing environmental positions of Congressman Taylor and his opponent, Democrat Sam Neill of Hendersonville,” according to Tere Finch of the WENOCA branch of the Sierra Club.

On November 7, area voters will choose among Taylor, the Republican incumbent, Democrat Sam Neill, and Libertarian Charles Barry Williams, for the District 11 seat in the US House of Representatives.

The Sierra Club has endorsed Sam Neill for the seat, saying that he supports the positions of the environmental group: clean air and water, renewable energy, and federal protection of public land. The group has also endorsed Al Gore for President.

The club members said they will work to educate the public about environmental issues. “We’re committed to giving the families of western North Carolina information about issues that affect the health of their kids and their elderly relatives, especially clean water and clean air,” said local organizer Peter Baker.