Remembering Dan Ellsberg, Nonviolent Activist
Zoom webinar Wednesday August 9, 7 p.m. ET (Nagasaki anniversary)
Watch and share the video on youtube. https://youtu.be/yZCFDclgDJM VPCC needs your help to pay the costs of developing and airing this very special program. Tax deductible contributions can be made here https://tinyurl.com/donateFRD
Lawrence-Livermore
nuclear weapons labs, 2019.
Since Dan's passing, dozens of news stories and commentaries have focused primarily on his role as whistleblower and the release of the Pentagon Papers. Missing from these accounts has been an appreciation of the decades of Dan's active engagement in antiwar and antinuclear campaigns throughout the country – and the world – during which time he was arrested more than 80 times and has inspired thousands of nonviolent activists.
During this webinar, his wife Patricia Ellsberg and fellow activists will share anecdotes about Dan's participation in a wide variety of anti-nuclear and antiwar campaigns: Medea Benjamin (CodePink); Ken Butigan (jailed with Dan); Bob Eaton (draft resister) David Hartsough (close activist friend); Jon Hinck (Nevada test site); Tarak Kauff (Veterans for Peace action at White House); Marylia Kelly (Lawrence Livermore Labs); Don Mosley (caravan from South Carolina to Rocky Flats); Chet Tchozewski (Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant).
Moderators: Robert Levering (Executive Producer, The Movement and the “Madman”) and Linda Yarr (George Washington University)
“Ellsberg’s life and legacy are reminders that individual acts of moral courage depend on examples set by others, and they have the potential to spark more, far into the future. As Ellsberg often said, ‘Civil courage is contagious’.” -Christian Appy/Director of the Ellsberg Initiative for Peace and Democracy at the UMass/Amherst.
Participants Medea Benjamin is a co-founder of Code Pink. She also helped create Global Exchange, a pioneer in travel to Cuba and a fair trade advocacy group. She is the author of 10 books, including her latest "War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict".
Ken Butigan is a Professor of Practice in the Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies Program at DePaul University, Chicago; an organizer with a number of social movements; a strategist for Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service’s Campaign Nonviolence; and author of a several books, including Pilgrimage Through a Burning World: Spiritual Practice and Nonviolent Protest at the Nevada Test Site and Nonviolent Lives.
Bob Eaton spent just over two years in prison as a draft resister. Worked on Quaker post war reconstruction in Vietnam and Laos and managed the UN rural reconstruction of post-Soviet invasion Afghanistan. He served over a decade on staff of Vietnam Veterans of American Foundation working to map and destroy the ugly consequences of war around the world - land mines fields and unexploded cluster munitions.
Patricia Ellsberg is a social change activist, meditation teacher, life coach and public speaker. She has worked tirelessly for peace, often at the side of her husband Daniel. August 8th, would have been their 53rd anniversary.
Jodie Evans is the co-founder of CODEPINK and the after-school writing program 826LA. She is the co-editor of "Twilight of Empire: Responses to Occupation" and "Stop the Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism" and a contributor to "Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution." She is currently writing a book about divesting from the unjust, extractive war economy and building a just, sustainable peace economy. She also runs CODEPINK's China is Not Our Enemy Campaign.
Hans Guyt is now retired and living contentedly in Bray, Ireland with his family. After 5 years sailing in the Dutch Merchant Marine as a Radio Operator, Hans co founded Greenpeace Netherlands in 1978, followed by Greenpeace International in 1979. He served as GP International Nuclear Co-ordinator in the 1980s and was campaigner onboard the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland 1985 when it was bombed. He later served time in a British prison for a campaign which blocked the Sellafield nuclear plant waste pipe. In 1992 he moved into Terre des Hommes, a Dutch based international childrens rights organisation focusing on development and emergency aid in the global south and served as campaigns and projects director until retirement in 2018.
David Hartsough was a good friend of Daniel Ellsberg. Co-Founder of World Beyond War and Nonviolent Peacforce. Former Director of Peaceworkers. Lifelong nonviolent activist for peace and justice, author of Waging Peace: Global Adventures of a Lifelong Activist.
Jon Hinck is a member of the board of Upstream, an environmental nonprofit championing reuse and the circular economy. A former member of the Portland City Council, Jon served three terms representing Portland in the Maine state legislature. In 1979, Jon co-founded Greenpeace USA and later was in charge of the worldwide program for Greenpeace International.
Tarak Kauff is the editor-in-chief of Peace and Planet News. He was a paratrooper in the U.S. Army from 1959 to 1962 and is a lifetime member and former board member of Veterans For Peace. He is a longtime activist for peace, justice, and the environment.
Marylia Kelley has spent the last 40 years as Executive Director of the Livermore-based Tri-Valley CAREs, transitioning this month to a new role as Senior Advisor where she will continue to stir up "good trouble" with the group for years to come. Tri-Valley CAREs monitors activities at the Livermore Lab and throughout the U.S nuclear weapons complex. Marylia engages in research, analysis, litigation, advocacy, organizing, and protest - all with the express intent of stopping nuclear weapons and moving Livermore, the U.S., and the world to the the abolition of all such weapons.
Robert Levering, co-moderator, is the Executive Producer of the PBS documentary “The Movement and the ‘Madman’.” During the Vietnam war, he worked with AFSC and with various coalitions. As a business journalist, he wrote books and articles about workplace issues and co-founded Great Place to Work Institute, a global research and consulting organization.
Don Mosley is a committed peacemaker who has taken delegations and launched projects in many of the world's most troubled war zones, from Central America and Africa to the Middle East and North Korea. He was a cofounder of Habitat for Humanity and has served in leadership positions of many other peace and justice organizations. He was one of the founders in 1979 of Jubilee Partners, a Christian community in northeast Georgia which has hosted more than 4,000 refugees from wars and other disasters in 40 countries.
Chet Tchozewski was a founding member of the Rocky Flats Truth Force in 1978. He’s also a former staff member of the American Friends Service Committee, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Peace & Justice Center, former Regional Director for Greenpeace, and founder of the Global Greengrants Fund.
Linda J. Yarr, co-moderator is Research Professor of International Affairs at George Washington University and director of Partnerships for International Strategies in Asia, where she collaborates with universities and nongovernmental organizations in Asia on climate change education, training for peace and conflict resolution, and joint research projects.
Celebrations
Daniel Ellsberg and the Courage Contagion by Christian Appy, Common Dreams
A Father’s Legacy to His Son – and His Country By Robert Ellsberg and Chris Zimmerman Plough
My reflections on Dan Ellsberg, a man who helped end a tragic war by Morton Halperin, Responsible Statecraft
Remembering Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers NPR Fresh Air by Dave Davies
Farewell letter from Dan, responses from Vietnam and Bill Ehrhart VPCC blog
VPCC Webinar on The Release of the Pentagon Papers with Dan Ellsberg, Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman, Gar Alperovitz, Barbara Myers and Jay Craven VPCC blog
Dan Ellsberg for the 50th Anniversary of the March on the Pentagon VPCC youtube
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