"Stop The Bombs" Peace Walk Visits 3 Mile Island

Harrisburg. PA- On Monday, April 18, 2005, an international group of about 35 people, including 3 Buddhist Monks and 1 Buddhist Nun, will hold a peace vigil outside the 3 Mile Island nuclear reactor in Harrisburg . The "Stop the Bombs International Peace Walk" will depart from the Baughman United Methodist Church in New Cumberland around 8am and travel 15 miles on foot to arrive at 3-Mile Island around 3pm. After an interfaith prayer vigil ,they will continue on to the Grace United Methodist Church in Harrisburg. They are visiting the plant as part of their 7-week pilgrimage from the gates of the Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., to the UN Headquarters in New York City.

The group began walking on Monday, March 14, from the gates of Y-12, which helped to produce the "Little Boy" bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, Japan, sixty years ago this August . The walkers will arrive in New York City on May 1 , accompanied by the Mayor of Hiroshima and 2 bomb survivors. Their arrival coincides with the UN Review Conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), the central international agreement on nuclear disarmament. Despite America signing the NPT and thus pledging to disarm, Y-12 continues to produce weapons components and upgrade the nation's nuclear arsenal.

"3 mile island is just one link in the radioactive genocide that is affecting communities worldwide . We are visiting this plant in memory of people who lost their lives here and in the hope future generations of this town will not also suffer because of this insidious plant. It is time the spotlight is shone on the nuclear industry, so that victims of accidents such as at 3 Mile Island can be recognised and compensated", said Bilbo Taylor, an Australian walk participant. "It is poignant, 60 years after the Hiroshima bomb to be visiting a nuclear reactor that had a near critical accident, located in the sister city of Hiroshima."

Walkers have gathered from all over the globe, representing Australia, Japan, Cape Verde (West Africa) , Austria, and the United States. They intend to voice their opposition to the United States' ongoing violation of the NPT to the Review Conference and to assert their conviction that the maintenance and production of nuclear weapons undermines attempts to create international community and world peace.

"The U.S. has created an atmosphere that could spark a new Nuclear Arms Race,"
says walk organizer Marcus Atkinson from Australia. "The U.S. and many other nations continue to violate international treaties and we have to hold them accountable to their commitment to disarm .It is time for us to demand that our governments create a safe and peaceful world".

Along the journey, walkers speak to politicians and church and community groups about the NPT and the Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Plant. They carry letters from the Mayor of Hiroshima, advocating the Peace Walk and inviting city Mayors to join the international "Mayors for Peace" campaign, which works toward total nuclear abolition by the year 2020 (www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/mayors/english)

The walk is being sponsored by Mayors for Peace, Footprints for Peace, the International Peace Pilgrimage, Nipponzan Myohoji, and the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance. The walk will culminate in a massive demonstration in Central Park in New York City on May 1.

Throughout the pilgrimage, periodic updates and photos will be posted on
 http://stopthebombswalk.peacehq.com.

If you cannot join the walk or be present in New York then find your nearest United Nations office and organize a demonstration for May 1st and 2nd.