Thank you Daniel Ellsberg for Naming My Religion

by Karen Topakian

On a warm August 6th morning, Daniel Ellsberg stood next to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and publicly declared his religion as nonviolent resistance to nuclear weapons.

I too announced my commitment to this religion.

After his declaration, I participated in one of my religion’s annual rituals – commemorating the August 1945 nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by joining a die-in at the gates to the Lab. (The Lab tests and designs nuclear weapons.)

My commitment to this August ritual started in 1982, when I protested at the entrance to the Pentagon and at the National Air and Space Museum next to the exact replica of “Little Boy” and “Fat Man,” the bombs dropped on Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. Thereafter in Rhode Island, I protested at Electric Boat, which manufactures Trident nuclear-armed submarines.

For more than 10 years, I have faithfully made a pilgrimage to this Lab to mark the moment that occurred long before I was born but has dominated the world ever since.

I claim these days as holy days to recall the horror the US unleashed on Japan and the world.

Holy days to reflect on the cascading events that have led to environmental destruction and loss of life.

Holy days to invigorate us to re-double our efforts to end this chapter in human history.

I hope in my lifetime my religion will no longer need practicing because we will have abolished all nuclear weapons. Until then, my religious practice will continue.

Don’t Look Away

By Karen Topakian

It would be easy to look away from the frightened faces of young children ripped from their parents’ arms because it’s too painful.

It would be easy to look away from the EPA Administrator’s plans to roll back environmental protections because it’s too scary.

It would be easy to look away from the news about the thousands who died in Puerto Rico from neglect and racism after Hurricane Maria because it’s too horrific.

But don’t…look away.

As humans, when we encounter a threat to our health and safety, our animal brain gives us a choice. Flight or Fight.

I implore us to not pick flight but to fight – nonviolently, of course.

Of course, it’s uncomfortable. Of course, it’s painful. Of course, it’s horrific.

But it’s much harder for those whose lives are directly affected by these events. They can’t look away. They can’t ignore. They can’t turn the page.

If you’re not affected or immediately threatened, I implore you to stay focused. Raise your voice. Open your wallet. Call. Join. Volunteer. Sign up. Show up.

And if you are affected or immediately threatened, tell us what you need, how we can help, what we can do.

If we pick flight we may lose our chance to fight.