JOHN STEINBACH, johnsteinbach1@verizon.net
Steinbach is co-founder of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Peace Committee of the National Capital Area. The group is helping organize “Negotiations Not War” protests on Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in front of the White House, marking 60 years since the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis. That crisis is often regarded as the closest the world has come to all-out nuclear war — though some argue the current crisis in Ukraine may be more dangerous given the apparent lack of negotiations.

Protests are taking place across the country on Friday, most at Congressional offices. See the website DefuseNuclearWar.org for information, listing of scores of events and sponsoring organizations.

Steinbach said today: “The unilateral abrogation by the U.S. of the Antiballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) has greatly increased the risk of nuclear war. The Ukraine war, where the threat of direct NATO/Russia conflict increases daily, has brought the entire world to the brink of catastrophe. We demand negotiations and not war!”

NATO is insisting on proceeding with planned nuclear exercises next week despite warnings from Russia. See Smithsonian Magazine piece on how the 1983 “Able Archer” NATO military exercises nearly set off a nuclear war. See USA Today piece on the Cuban Missile Crisis and other times the world came close to nuclear disaster.

JANET PARKER, janetparker8@gmail.com
In Madison, Wisc., Parker is working with Madison Veterans for Peace and other local constituents who on Friday “will be picketing outside the office of Rep. Mark Pocan at 10 East Doty Street to call for the lawmaker to take a stand and urgently work to reduce the dangers of nuclear war. The picket line will be one of several dozen taking place on the same day around the country as part of a growing Defuse Nuclear War campaign. Father Jim Murphy, Iowa County Catholic priest, will speak.”

At 5:30 p.m., also on Friday, the group will be picketing outside the office of Senator Tammy Baldwin at 30 W. Mifflin Street.

Earlier that afternoon, activists will walk six miles from Truax Air National Guard Base to downtown Madison “to draw the connection between F-35 warplanes and the nuclear emergency we are in.” They will walk to tell elected officials: “Halt plans to bring nuclear-capable F-35 warplanes to Madison — Act for our climate — Tell Congress to prevent nuclear war.”

See sponsoring group Safe Skies Clean Water Wisconsin for details.