Minutes of Peace Task for Meeting 12/17/17

We discussed ideas of what the task force might do.

Amongst these ideas was getting town warrants passed in support of the treaty to ban nuclear weapons and the Call. Rebecca is interested in doing this in Colrain.  Sally and Jim will work on it for Wendell.  Rebecca will look into the dates by which warrants have to be submitted.  It was unclear as to who would draft the warrant.

There was agreement that the public is generally poorly informed on the danger of nuclear weapons and there is a need for public education.  There was discussion of Daniel Elsberg’s recent interview on Fresh Air and his new book that will be coming out.  Interest was expressed in reading that book.  Also there is interest in compiling educational resources — books, movies, internet…

There was interest expressed in researching how the arms budget effects our communities locally.  Also Sally and Jim attended a workshop at U. Mass Amherst led by two people, who are part of a campaign to encourage divestment for the nuclear weapons industry.

There is interest in connecting with local peace efforts.  Marty has been in touch with Pat Hynes from Traprock Center for Peace and Justice and will explore further connections.  He is also connected with the Working Group for Nuclear Weapons Ban, which is based in Northampton and is working to organize support for the Call.

Discussion of when to meet next. We would like to know people’s preferred as well as possible times to meet.  Date agreed on for now is Tuesday Jan 23, 2018 from 6 – 8Pm at the office.   If this is agreed on I will check with David Greenberg to see if office is available.  If not, we can find another location near by.