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Our
Proposed Sister City
For more than a year, several Blaine residents have joined me in asking
the Blaine City Council to invite Pugwash, Nova Scotia, to become
Blaine’s sister city. And although Pugwash had expressed an
interest in such a relationship, April 10, 2006 became a sad day for
about twenty Blaine sister city enthusiasts, members of the Blaine
Peace Alliance who witnessed the council’s decision to reject
the request.
Pugwash has been promoting peace for 50 years, so why did
the council say no?
Let me
give you a bit of background before I attempt to answer that
question. In 1955, during the height
of the Cold War,
various scientists became increasingly concerned over the threat
of nuclear weaponry. A group of scientists, in response to
this threat, created a "manifesto," which was sent
around the globe in order to collect the signatures of other
prominent scientists of the day. This document became known
as the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, after two of its more famous
signatories. The document contained a powerful statement calling
for worldwide abolition of nuclear weaponry. It was a manifesto
that requested scientists to accept responsibility in order
that their discoveries and inventions should be put to peaceful
purposes rather than deadly use. It was made public in London
in July of 1955, during a press conference held by Bertrand
Russell and Joseph Rotblat. Although Bertrand Russell and Albert
Einstein were energetic men of the manifesto, Einstein died
that year, and Russell in 1970. It was determined, however,
that the document was so vital that a conference needed to
be held in order to discuss the implications of it, and of
the nuclear threat. This is where Pugwash entered the scene.
Cyrus Eaton, born in Pugwash, became a highly successful businessman,
building a fortune in such industries as utilities, railroads,
steel manufacturing, rubber and paint industries, venture capital
financing and cattle. Eaton offered the scientists his Pugwash
summer home for the proposed world conference of scientists,
offering to underwrite all costs of the gathering. July 1957
saw the first Pugwash conference materialize with 22 participants
present from ten countries. Under the guidance of Dr. Joseph
Rotblat, who, for moral reasons, had resigned from the Manhatten
Project that produced the atomic bomb, the Pugwash program
was destined to continue and flourish.
Building one success upon another, the movement grew, and
an organization that became known as the Pugwash Conferences
on Science and World Affairs spread its wings with offices
established in London, Rome, Geneva and Washington, D.C. Professional
journals are
periodically sent to about 1,500 locations in more than 50
countries. Rotblat and the Pugwash Conferences received a Nobel
Peace Prize in 1995. Open www.pugwash.org which is the URL
for the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, and
there you will learn much more.
Although
Pugwash Conferences have no political affiliations, and in
fact want none, the Blaine City Council
didn’t
believe that could possibly be the case. Therefore, when one
exceptional member of the city council moved an invitation
for Pugwash to become Blaine’s sister city at the April
10 session, the motion died for lack of a second.
Dr. Jeffrey
Boutwell, Executive Director of the Pugwash Conferences on
Science and World Affairs at Washington,
D.C., says, “The
essential nature of the Pugwash Conferences, is that we act
as initiators and facilitators of dialogue among those in conflict,
especially in regions where nuclear weapons could be used if
war ever broke out. To that extent of course we transcend politics,
as there will be no politics in the aftermath of nuclear devastation.”
“I do want to assure you that both Pugwash Conferences
and the Pugwash Peace Exchange transcend politics,” wrote
Krista Chiasson, manager of communications and fundraising,
Pugwash Peace Exchange. “Peace is truly universal, and
affects everybody in the world. Needing peace is no more political
than needing air and water—all are necessary for survival.”
We who
favor inviting Pugwash to become Blaine’s
sister city agree with Boutwell and Chiasson. We hope the
day will
arrive when the Blaine City Council will also agree.
But another tragic setback occurred at the Blaine City Council
meeting of August 28, 2006. Councilman John Liebert had prepared
a modest motion, dutifully printed for all to read:
I move that the City of Blaine establish a Sister City Committee
comprised of people who have expressed an interest in establishing
a Sister City relationship with the Village of Pugwash, Nova
Scotia. The committee will be asked to develop a plan for carrying
out the Sister Cities Program. The plan shall be presented
to the City Council and include the following:
1. A statement of purpose which describes the reasons and
benefits to be gained by establishing a relationship.
2. A list of at least 30 people who have agreed to participate
as part of a Sister Cities committee and carry forth the organization
and management of a Sister Cities program.
3. A statement of intent to create a non-profit organization.
4. A letter from Pugwash affirming their willingness to become
a Sister City with Blaine.
5. A proposed budget.
A council
member, opposed to the motion, once again complained of a “political” connection. When Liebert tried
to explain that the motion contained no reference to the Pugwash
Conferences on Science and World Affairs, but that it related
only to the village itself, the complainant insisted the connection
would—or could—not be eradicated.
Charlie
Hawkins seconded Liebert’s motion.
We held our breaths.
We knew we had a calling.
Blaine was ideally prepared.
We are called The Peace Arch City.
“Promoting Peace” is
our official theme.
For this great cause we have a grand performing arts center.
We even have a delightful destination resort and conference
center.
But the motion failed miserably. It was 5-2.
Hearts were broken that night.
Pugwash,
a daring little community that’s been promoting
peace for 50 years, would have become a marvelous sister city,
and just the mentor we needed. We could have developed a meaningful
relationship—an invigorating adventure that would have
given The Peace Arch City a refreshing sense of relevance,
honor, dignity and purpose.
It could
have become our city’s defining moment—indeed,
our great awakening.
But a wonderful
opportunity was crushed that fateful Monday night, and The
Peace Arch City is the big
loser. And the vision—has
it been forever shattered?
My plan to visit Pugwash evaporated. How could I visit a village
so closely associated with the Nobel Peace Prize while representing
a town so pitifully intransigent?
John Liebert and Charlie Hawkins deserve our thanks for understanding
what a handful of Blaine citizens tried to accomplish toward
a worldwide cause and the enrichment of our Peace Arch City.
The Blaine
Peace Alliance assembled the evening of September 25, 2006
and agreed that the Pugwash sister
city proposal would
remain as a viable hope for a future day of decision when the
city council will reconsider its current position, change its
mind and extend an invitation for Pugwash to become Blaine’s
sister city.
Unfortunately, the wait may be long, and another meaningful
step toward peace will be delayed in the meantime. But
. .
.
Daine Palmason,
our Blaine Peace Alliance facilitator, decided to attend
the September 10 meeting of the city council
with
a request for the council to give its blessing to the International
Day of Peace sponsored by the United Nations. Much to my surprise,
the council went for it! Now if ever there was an organization
that’s “political,” it has to be the UN with
its role as “moral judge,” ever struggling to settle
disputes entailing many kinds of political situations, and
representing nations from all over the world.
I couldn’t begin to understand the council’s surprising
turnabout, because that’s exactly what the Pugwash conferences,
working together with the village peace exchange, are doing “as
initiators and facilitators of dialogue among those in conflict,
especially in regions where nuclear weapons could be used if
war ever broke out.” The council’s act of favoring
the UN action while rejecting the Pugwash sister city proposal
struck me as an inexplicable non sequitur. Nevertheless . .
.
“Blaine mayor signs peace proclamation” appeared
as a front-page headline on the September 14 issue of The
Northern Light. What joy!
“After
a long-standing debate over a sister city relationship with
Pugwash, Nova Scotia and the politics of their international
peace conferences,” wrote The Northern Light journalist
Tara Nelson, “Blaine City Council extended its support
for peace Monday by endorsing a United Nations proclamation.
“At a council meeting Monday, Blaine Mayor Mike Myers
signed the order—originally put forth on September 7,
2001 as a day of ‘global ceasefire and non-violence’—declaring
September 21 to be a Day of Peace as recognized by the city
of Blaine.
“Myers said the timing with regard to the anniversary
of the September 11 World Trade Center attacks was appropriate
to remember what seems like an often ‘illusive’ search
for peace.
“’Peace is the greatest thing that mankind can
pursue,’ Myers said. ‘It’s something that
we, as a city, want to support.’”
Mayor Myers
attended the inaugural International Day of Peace vigil at
Blaine’s performing arts center,
and, indeed, he read the proclamation for all to hear.
It was
a step in the right direction, but I hope the city council
will explain the non sequitur. That’s what “feedback” is
about.
The Russell-Einstein Manifesto Resolution
In view of the fact that in any future world war nuclear weapons
will certainly be employed, and that such weapons threaten
the continued existence of mankind, we urge the governments
of the world to realize, and to acknowledge publicly, that
their purpose cannot be furthered by a world war, and we urge
them, consequently, to find peaceful means for the settlement
of all matters of dispute between them.
The manifesto was signed by Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell,
and professors Max Born, P.W. Bridgman, L. Infeld, J.F. Joliot-Curie,
H.J. Muller, L. Pauling, C.F. Powell, Hideki Yukawa and Joseph
Rotblat, the man who promoted the Pugwash conferences.
______________________________________________________
©2006
Vigil for Peace. All Rights Reserved
www.vigil4peace.com
Email: vigil4peace@hotmail.com
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