Page 4 RAIN May 1982 It is difficult to organize against seeming abstractions-— even those as profound as the current balance- of-terror of nuclear weapons systems. by Norman Solomon Visible Alternatives To Invisible Threats As we brought this issue to our typesetter, I heard on the radio that the powers-that-be behind the recently defunct WPPSS nuclear plants (see RAIN V1II:5) are trying one last crazy scheme to pull their nuclectr monstrosity from its well-deserved grave before the tombstone is engraved. They apparently want to revive at least one of the plants to become a weapons-grade plutonium processing plant. While the technical feasibility of converting a partially built commercial reactor into a high-class military installation is slim, the twisted, desperate mentality that produces such sick ideas is cause for genuine alarm. We are fortunate to be able to offer a more refreshing perspective on the whole nuclear/military picture from Norman Solomon, co-author of the recently published Killing Our Own fsee review). His article and the accompanying access information are your tools for a saner world. —Mark Roseland For all of their imminence, nuclear weapons remain something of an abstraction in our society. Unlike nuclear power plants with their conspicuous cooling towers, stacks of industrial pollution, auto-clogged freeways and the like, the massively financed thermonuclear arsenals rarely become visible. It is difficult to organize effectively against seeming abstractions—even those as profound as the current balance-of-terror of nuclear weapons systems. In contrast, we are much more apt to focus protracted efforts along the lines of moving our local utility company into renewable resources, demonstrating the benefits of energy-efficiency, putting up windmills, popularizing passive solar technologies, struggling lor a humanistic urban environment posited in harmony with nature rather than in opposition to it, and developing community-based food cooperatives. Such actions are vital. Yet, no matter how successful, they will become meaningless within an hour if nuclear warfare takes place. Much of the verbiage surrounding alternative technology seems to have stressed being positively upbeat and bypassing the negative—a credo for which anti-nuclear work has sometimes been depicted as unsuitable. Unfortunately, no matter how much we may wish it were not true, the real possibility remains that the finest flowerings of ecologically respectful, decentralized, democratically oriented and creative communities will be destroyed—along with less advanced counterparts—by the sudden and devastating uses of nuclear weaponry for the purposes for which it has always been intended. Even with the “worst case" scenario of nuclear war held in abeyance, nuclear arms production is already fundamentally altering the Earth's ecosystem by purveying long-lived radioactive carcinogens and mutagens. Strong epidemiological evidence, like the well-documented studies by Dr. Carl Johnson correlating the highest cancer rates in the Denver area with proximity to the nearby Rocky Flats plutonium production facility, verifies that we are being insidiously and brutally "nuked" on a day-to-day basis. With uncontainable . nuclear wastes mounting and federal interests gearing up the nuclear fuel cycle more than ever, normality is synonymous with long-term eco-suicide. There are hopeful signs that resistance to nuclear weapons is gaining momentum in the U.S. (European opposition has shown itself to be farther along.) Significantly, the most tenacious and concerted efforts have tended to be deeply-rooted in local communities. For years, organizers in Colorado have underscored the slogan "Rocky Flats—Local Hazard, Global Threat." Independent research, mass rallies, civil disobedience, pressure campaigns aimed at noncommittal state politicians, and methodical, increasingly broad-
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