Bainbridge Island North Kitsap Interfaith Council 

Approaching both the 40^th anniversary of Earth Day and the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, the Bainbridge Island North Kitsap Interfaith Council declares that 

WHEREAS the very presence of nuclear weapons represents an increasing and unacceptable threat to the entire Earth, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT

• We add our interfaith voices to the encouraging momentum for international negotiation to abolish such weapons; and

• We especially honor and support our friend and interfaith leader, Senji Kanaeda (of the local Nipponzan-Myōhōji Buddhist Temple), who is currently on a three-month Peace Walk for a Nuclear-Free Future, beginning in Oak Ridge, TN, and arriving at the United Nations in NYC in time for the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in early May; and

• We further urge the City of Bainbridge Island to actively stand with the United States Conference of Mayors, which in 2009 voted unanimously for a resolution Affirming the Role of Cities in Achievement of a Peaceful World Free of Nuclear Weapons.

Adopted by Interfaith Council action this day, April 8, 2010.  —Olga Ruys, Secretary

See more about the 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), to be held at the United Nations:  www.un.org/en/conf/npt/2010/

See more about Four Peace Walks for a Nuclear-Free Future: nyc.indymedia.org/en/2010/03/109977.html

See the US Mayors resolution:  usmayors.org/resolutions/77th_conference/international05.asp

AFFIRMING THE ROLE OF CITIES IN ACHIEVEMENT OF A PEACEFUL WORLD FREE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS BY 2020

WHEREAS, as long as nuclear weapons exist, cities around the world will be vulnerable to instantaneous devastation on a scale exceeding even that experienced by Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945; and

WHEREAS, The United States Conference of Mayors 2004 resolution unanimously calling on the 2005 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty(NPT)to commence negotiation on the elimination of nuclear weapons was not heeded; and

WHEREAS, on April 5, 2009 in Prague, President Barack Obama stated, "One nuclear weapon exploded in one city -- be it New York or Moscow, Islamabad or Mumbai, Tokyo or Tel Aviv, Paris or Prague -- could kill hundreds of thousands of people. And no matter where it happens, there is no end to what the consequences might be -- for our global safety, our security, our society, our economy, to our ultimate survival," and went on to declare the commitment of the United States to "seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons;" and

WHEREAS, the October 2007 Final Declaration of the 2nd World Congress of United Cities and Local Governments noted, "that for the first time in the history of humankind, the majority of the world's population now resides in cities," embraced the Mayors for Peace "Cities Are Not Targets!" demand, and endorsed "the Mayors for Peace campaign, which lobbies the international community to renounce weapons of mass destruction;" and

WHEREAS, The United States Conference of Mayors, in 2007, unanimously adopted a resolution "calling on all nations and all world powers to prohibit the use of any weapon of mass destruction against cities;" and in 2008 unanimously adopted a resolution in support of the global elimination of nuclear weapons by 2020, recommending that the U.S. Government urgently consider the Mayors for Peace "Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol" as a direct means of fulfilling the promise of the NPT by the year 2020, thereby meeting the 1996 finding by the International Court of Justice that all states are obligated to "pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control;" and

WHEREAS, the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, established in June 2008 as a joint initiative of the Australian and Japanese Governments, aims to reinvigorate international efforts on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, in the context of both the 2010 NPT Review Conference and beyond, and to that end will publish a major report no later than January 2010; and has already held public meetings in Sydney, Washington, Santiago, and Beijing, and will hold public meetings later this year in Moscow and Hiroshima;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that The U.S. Conference of Mayors urges the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament to adopt 2020 as the target date for the achievement of a nuclear-weapon-free world, and calls upon the Commission to recognize the importance of city and citizen level movements for the abolition of nuclear weapons, and to incorporate in its report the contribution these movements can make to the achievement of a peaceful world free of nuclear weapons; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The U.S. Conference of Mayors welcomes enthusiastically the new leadership and multilateralism that the United States is demonstrating toward achievement of a nuclear-weapon-free world, and calls on President Obama to announce at the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference the initiation of good faith multilateral negotiations on an international agreement to abolish nuclear weapons by the year 2020; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The U.S. Conference of Mayors agrees to take up this matter at the 2010 June Conference of Mayors in Oklahoma City.

Members of IFC congregations offer faith-based insights on topics of interest or concern to people in our community. Click here for more information and an index and links to all columns.

Bainbridge Island Japanese American Memorial

(April 30, 2008) The U.S. House last night passed the long debated Wild Sky Wilderness proposal. It's now headed to the White House. The plan protects more than 106 thousand acres from logging in the Mount Baker–Snoqualmie National Forest. And it also calls for a new 8–acre memorial on Bainbridge Island to mark the internment of Japanese–Americans during World War 2. The Bainbridge Island families were the first of nearly 120 thousand people sent to internment camps across the country. KUOW's Derek Wang spoke with Clarence Moriwaki about the development. Moriwaki is an island resident who heads the Japanese American Memorial Committee.  Click here to listen to the interview.

On March 30, 1942, 227 men, women and children from Bainbridge Island, Washington were assembled and escorted by armed U.S. Army soldiers to the Eagledale ferry landing. Only allowed to bring what they could carry or wear, they passed military cordons before boarding a ferry, leaving their island home in the heart of Puget Sound. They sailed to Seattle, where they were loaded onto trains for a three-day journey that would take them to the Manzanar concentration camp in California’s Mojave Desert. The Bainbridge Island Japanese American Memorial marks the spot. The Interfaith Council of Bainbridge Island/North Kitsap is proud to be part of the history in the creation of this important memorial.  Click here for more information.

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