Anti-Nuke Conference, March 5, 6, 7
The Fifth Estate has joined with a group of people from Detroit’s Grinning Duck Club to organize an anti-nuclear war conference at the club in March. Following is the text of the conference’s first call for participants. If you would like more information on the conference, please write NUKE FEAR, c/o P.O. Box 02455, Detroit MI 48202 or call (313) 831-6800, 3-5 pm. Preparations for the conference are still in the planning stage and weekly meetings are held each Sunday at the Grinning Duck Club, located on the southeast corner of W. Willis and Third Ave., just south of the Wayne State University campus. All individuals are invited, but no political parties need apply. Meetings are at 1:00 a.m.
The future the leaders of the superpowers have planned for us amounts to the growing inevitability of nuclear confrontation—and that means nuclear annihilation. The burgeoning myths of “winnable,” “limited” nuclear war, of “first strike capability” with 20 million “acceptable losses,” coupled with a resurgence of cold war hostilities and a whole new generation of super-sophisticated “delivery systems,” make nuclear war a near-certainty in this decade—if this insanity goes unresisted.
Fortunately, as recent huge demonstrations throughout Europe have shown, the:- re-emergence of widespread resistance to nuclear holocaust is well under way. We would like to become part of that resistance and we would like you to join with us.
We are planning an anti-nuclear war conference for the weekend of March 5,6 and 7 at Detroit’s Grinning Duck Club. “We” are not a political organization, we have no party and, no program, and we’re not interested in professional political organizers. Nor are we a gathering of experts. We are simply a group of people united in a common refusal to accept a world in which our lives can be snuffed out in a moment by people we’ll never even see—and who will never see us.
Those of us who are organizing the conference have already begun work on the things we want to say, but the emphasis will be on discussion and mutual exchange—we are not interested in the all-too-familiar “we talk—you listen” form of most conferences. It’s divisions like that—between the experts and the rest of us—that got us into this mess in the first place.
All of us have grown up under the threat of nuclear annihilation and we’d like to be the last generation that does—and we refuse to be the last generation.
Following is the tentative structure of the conference as of January 10. There are already scheduled presentations, but the conference is still very much in the planning stages and we’d like to urge any of you who are interested in participating to contact us—let us know what you want to do (political parties need not apply).
Friday night, March 6:
Movie: “War Game,” by Peter Watkins
Opening panel discussion of group’s ideas and motivation for the conference.
1) Introduction & Welcome: Will We Live to See 1983?
2) Fingers on the Button: Why They Are Crazy Enough to Do It
3) The United States: Permanent Garrison State
4) Dismantling Nuclearism Means Dismantling the Nuclear Society: A Cultural Perspective
Open discussion.
Saturday, March 6:
Series of presentations and discussions in the form of single speakers or panels, including the following proposed talks:
The Myth of “First Strike Capability”
Medical Effects of Radiation & Nuclear War
Psychological Effects of Nuclear War &Threat of War
The European Movement
Now That We Know All This, What Are We Going to Do About It?
(There is still much room for presentations on Saturday, from panel discussions to anti nuclear puppet shows. Let your imagination be your guide, and get involved.)
Saturday night
Anti-nuke theater from the Duck Club Players followed by a party featuring live rock and roll from the Layabouts.
Sunday
Workshops and discussion/preparation for future actions.
Preparations are also being made to show several other films in the course of the conference, details of which will be forthcoming.
Funds are urgently needed!
