Rebuilding the Anti-Nuclear Weapons Movement
2025 Conference Proposals
Free | Seattle First Baptist Church | April 11-12, 2025
Proposals submitted to the 2025 Rebuilding the Anti-Nuclear Weapons Movement Together Conference are intended to guide and direct our next steps towards re-building a modern anti-nuclear weapons movement, primarily in the Pacific Northwest. The primary vessel for carrying out these proposals will be the Washington Against Nuclear Weapons coalition, but we ask all attendees to engage with these proposals seriously as if they will be taking action on them, regardless of coalition affiliation.
Proposals are categorized as campaigns, changes to our organizing structure, and one-off actions.
Current Proposals:
1. In-Person Outreach and Relationship-Building to Grow our State’s Movement to Bring us Back from the Brink of Nuclear War
2. Re-Affirming the Washington Against Nuclear Weapons Strategy
3. Northwest Against Nuclear Weapons
4. Steering the Coalition
5. Continuing to Develop Signers for our Statement against Nuclear Weapons + Interfaith Organizing Around Nuclear Weapons Proliferation (Merged by friendly amendment 4/9/25)
6. In Support of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
7. Join in the protest at the Kitsap-Bangor Base on Mother's Day
8. Support for "the U.S. Out of the Philippines, JBLM Out of the Philippines" Campaign!
Campaign
A campaign refers to a sustained commitment that aims to achieve specific goals.
In-Person Outreach and Relationship-Building to Grow our State’s Movement to Bring us Back from the Brink of Nuclear War
Submitted by Harry Katz
The horrible and deeply frightening national political situation also presents an opportunity for the Washington Against Nuclear Weapons Coalition (WANW) to renew our call for our neighbors to honestly face the threat of nuclear war.
The unlikely prospects of passing major federal legislation in line with our agenda right now (and our difficulty passing state and local legislation in some cases) also require us to redouble our movement building efforts by recruiting new allies through in-person outreach and relationship-building.
Rebuilding the movement to prevent nuclear war starts with talking to our neighbors, friends, faith communities, union leaders, and small business owners on the local level about how much danger nuclear weapons place us in, and the government policies that can protect all we hold dear.
Once we build broad coalitions in more of our cities for the nuclear weapons policies we need, we can approach more of our local elected officials to ask them to endorse the policy goals of Back from the Brink.
Local government resolutions supporting BftB’s policy platforms can in turn encourage our members of Congress and the Washington State Legislature to endorse them as well. Members of Congress and state-level resolutions can then help to place pressure on our federal government, as the Nuclear Freeze movement demonstrated in the 1980s.
Information about Back from the Brink:
Back from the Brink: Bringing Communities Together to Abolish Nuclear Weapons is a national coalition that’s building a grassroots movement calling on our government to take serious steps to reduce the threat of nuclear war and pursue a world free of nuclear weapons. (Their website is here: preventnuclearwar.org .)
The campaign is modeled on the Nuclear Freeze movement of the 1980’s, which many WANW and BftB members were involved in, and which historians have found played a key role in pressuring the Reagan administration to reverse many of its nuclear weapons policies. The Reagan administration’s policy reversals under pressure from the Freeze movement began a decades-long decline in the global nuclear arsenal that has dismantled 80% of the world’s nuclear weapons since 1985.
BftB has five policy goals, including for our government to begin negotiations now with the other eight nuclear armed countries for a verifiable, enforceable, time-bound agreement to eliminate their nuclear weapons. (This can happen under the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.)
Over 490 organizations and hundreds of local and state elected officials have endorsed its policy platform so far, and over 80 cities, counties and state legislatures around the country have also passed resolutions endorsing its policy platform, including California, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, and Tucson.
An effort to pass a BftB resolution in La Conner, Washington is well underway because of the work of the WANW member organization No More Bombs and others.
There are also BftB resolution efforts in early stages in several other Washington cities and counties. For example, in King County, 15 organizations have endorsed the effort to pass a BftB resolution in the county council, and WANW staff and volunteers have been building relationships with local organizations through one-on-one conversations, presentations, and in-person events.
If this proposal is viewed favorably and is among those chosen by the WANW Coalition, our coalition will place a major and renewed focus on:
--Setting up conversations with our neighbors to educate them about the danger of nuclear war and ask them to endorse BftB, as well as similar conversations with local and state organizations that we have connections with
--Growing the nuclear weapons abolition movement through in-person outreach and relationship-building
Specifically, WANW will:
--Endorse the BftB Campaign and its call for the United States to lead a global effort to prevent nuclear war by:
----actively pursuing a verifiable agreement among nuclear armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals;
----renouncing the option of using nuclear weapons first;
----ending the sole, unchecked authority of any president to launch a nuclear attack;
----taking U.S. nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert; and
----canceling the plan to replace its entire arsenal with enhanced weapons
--Through our monthly WANW meetings, email blasts, and (if capacity allows) one-on-one’s with member organizations, regularly encourage our members in all parts of the state to:
----Set up conversations with neighbors or local or state organizations that they have connections with, to educate them about the danger of nuclear war and ask them to endorse BftB
----Grow our movement through in-person outreach and relationship-building events, such as tabling, street canvassing, door to door canvassing, and/or presentations to organizations
--At each monthly WANW meeting, ask each person in attendance to make a commitment to take at least one of the action steps in the previous bullet point in the next month, and report back on their commitment from the previous month.
--Offer to connect local advocates who are working on this strategy to a staff person or volunteer for coaching.
----Coaching will include encouraging local groups of advocates to either join an existing local organization or start a new local organization that can provide a long-term gathering place for nuclear weapons abolitionists in their city.
--Once a local group of nuclear weapons abolitionists has built a significant base of support in their city, encourage them to approach their local elected officials to ask them to:
----Endorse the policy goals of BftB as individuals
----Issue statements about nuclear weapons, including on the 80th anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Days
----Work with their colleagues to pass local resolutions endorsing the policy goals of BftB
What resources are needed to accomplish this?
--People who are willing to help coach people who are leading in-person outreach events and efforts to pass resolutions in their cities
----Harry would be willing to devote some of his time to this.
--Example tips and talking points for one-on-one conversations with neighbors and local organizations about nuclear weapons and BftB
--Already created by BftB: guide for advocates about how to pass a local BftB resolutions, example statements local elected officials can make about the 80th anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Days, tabling materials, example talking points and slides for presentations to organizations about BftB
--Already created by WANW: trainings about how to deliver a compelling presentation
--The wisdom, experience, creativity, and commitment of Washington’s nuclear weapons abolitionists
Re-Affirming the Washington Against Nuclear Weapons Strategy
Submitted by Dr. Joe Berkson and Sean Arent
Founded by the Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, Washington Against Nuclear Weapons (WANW) aims to create a powerful coalition in every congressional district in order to build a movement and leverage that power to move Washington's 12 members of Congress on anti-nuke policy.
We submit this proposal to reaffirm this strategy and to lay out objectives to build our base and move members of Congress to vocal support on Congressional priorities that would seek to provide justice for nuclear impacted communities, reinstate arms control negotiations, cancel nuclear weapons production, and abolish nuclear weapons.
Launching out of this conference, additional meetings should be held to develop a power map of each Congressional District, understanding of the current positions of each member of Congress, and a plan to popularize anti-nuclear weapons sentiment and organization. These meetings should primarily constitute residents of these districts. We will develop a plan to reach civil society town by town and district by district. Reporting on progress in each district will become a feature of coalition meetings.
In addition, WANW should strategize on how to build and align with other social movements, such as the 50501 protests to oppose Trump's Agenda. We will continue to frame the massive spending on nuclear weapons for what they are, theft from the environment, the poor, and the needs of working people.
WANW will work with WPSR to launch a public speaking tour, focusing primarily on speaking to organizations around the state about the rising threat of nuclear weapons. By the end of 2025, we will organize and take at least one action to pressure all 10 of Washington's representatives through letters signed by community leaders, public bird-dogging, delivery of petitions, demonstrations outside members offices, media pressure, and more. At least one action will be held in each district to educate the community through public speaking, film screenings, town halls, and other low-barrier actions.
What resources are needed to accomplish this?
A commitment from attendees to organize and participate, updated web resources, and continued financial support for WPSR's Nuclear Weapons Abolition Program Manager.
Continuing to Develop Signers for our Statement against Nuclear Weapons + Interfaith Organizing Around Nuclear Weapons Proliferation
(Merged by friendly amendment 4/9/25)
Submitted by Denny Duffel and Brenda Smith
The Proposal is designed to addressing the increased threat of nuclear proliferation in the US and throughout the world. What action should the Church take, both immediate and long-term to secure Peace as a lived reality for all of humankind.The Proposal shall highlight ways in which civil society led by the Church can encourage in disobedience actions: protests, contact with elected officials, write OP-Ed articles for local and national press highlighting the significance for the US and member G8 nations to sign the Treaty for Nuclear Weapons .In order to rebuild the Anti-Nuclear Movement, resources are needed to provide ongoing logistics and communications forum for the regional Church. Anticipating a national network to emerge, what preliminary steps can be instituted to replicate this model throughout the country.
The reason to continue to add signers is to gain allies and demonstrate a growing support for the aims of the statement. Instead of stopping work once the conference is over, we will work to continue to add names of people and organizations supporting these aims. As we do this, we build allies whom we can contact for wider uses. A possible day of national action or a mass rally. Working with groups that lobby, like Network or FCNL. Extending the "billboard" campaign run by Pax Christi and Ground Zero Community against nuclear weapons to other areas (already being discussed by Pax Christi USA). All these things should strengthen the conviction of our current signers, too, to take their own actions to make the Statement come alive. Some staff time to continue to support and keep these efforts alive and moving, i.e., reminding us how many signers we have and how they are growing; some followup with the signers to ask about other possible ways they would support the actions in the Statement.
Support for "the U.S. Out of the Philippines, JBLM Out of the Philippines" Campaign!
Submitted by Bayan Seattle and Resist US-Led War
"The 123 Nuclear Deal poses a heavy threat to the Philippines peace, development and self-determination. President Marcos Jr. portends the so-called “peaceful nuclear cooperation” to be an alternative energy solution for the Philippines. The main company to provide nuclear tech is Seattle-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation, which aims to test the feasibility of Micro-Modular Reactors (MMR) in the Philippines. The planned testing sites of MMRs will be in Talim Island in Laguna de Bay, San Rafael in Bulacan, and Isla de Provisor in Manila. As tensions with China escalate, the storage of nuclear materials will set a precedent to allow for the potential arsenal of U.S. nuclear weapons on Philippine soil. This is an equation of deepening dependence on US technology, the military 'protection' that would come with modular reactors puts the Filipino people in the cross hairs of imperialist war of China-U.S, which means potential nuclear war.
This is in the context of U.S. imperialist war on the rise. From its more than two year proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, to its backing of Israel's genocide of the Palestinian people, the US is exerting its military might as it tries to retain its weakening power across the globe. And while it has yet to break out in the region, we see the growing of full-blown inter-imperialist war in the Asia-Pacific as the U.S. continues to provoke China economically, politically, and militarily.
Joint Base Lewis McChord is the staging ground of imperialist war. JBLM is one of the bases that would likely facilitate the transport of US nuclear weapons to the Philippines. Already the U.S.-designed Typhon and HIMARS missile systems have made their way to Northern Luzon, where they are now staged and pointed directly at China. Those missiles – costing $100k per warhead – came directly from Joint Base Lewis McChord. Forces from JBLM have played a crucial war in the militarization of our homeland dating back to WWII with the U.S.’ First Corps, through to the present with the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force and the Green Berets who have been pivotal in reigning state-sanctioned terror and destruction on the Filipino people under the guise of counterinsurgency.
The Philippines is the largest recipient of U.S. military assistance in the Asia-Pacific region. Since 2015, the U.S. has delivered more than $1 billion worth of planes, armored vehicles, small arms, and other military equipment and training. Just last year, the Marcos regime handed four new EDCA bases to the US, bringing the total to nine. And while the Filipino people must also assert our sovereign rights against China's territorial incursions in the West Philippine Sea, turning to U.S. imperialism for ""protection"" will never be the answer. When looked at in sum, the U.S. is orchestrating the largest military build-up in the Philippines since the end of the Cold War.
The presence of U.S. military on Philippine soil is a violation of the 1987 Constitution and a violation of national sovereignty. It is a source of extreme violence against peasant farmers, workers, women, trans people, Indigenous peoples, and children. It is also a major source of environmental destruction. In addition to the U.S. military's direct impacts on communities surrounding base areas, the Philippine state has leaned on the U.S.' continued financial support and arms deals to buy more weaponry and surveillance equipment to use against the Filipino people. It waste the people's money on these counterinsurgency programs rather than addressing chronic poverty, landlessness, joblessness, and services. As of March 29, 2025, the U.S. is sending an additional $500 million in military aid to the Philippines upon the visit of Pete Hegseth, U.S. Defense Secretary. " "In order to free our people from domestic and foreign plunder and violence, and to truly assert our sovereignty as a nation, BAYAN calls for U.S. out of the Philippines, JBLM Out of the Philippines. This means:
Remove all US Nuclear (MMRs)Technology and Storage from Philippines soil! Cancel the 123 Nuclear Deal! Remove all Typhon, HIMARS, and all military arms from Philippines soil.
End de facto U.S. basing and permanent troop presence in the Philippines!
End all unequal economic and military agreements between the U.S. and the Philippines!
End joint U.S.-PH military war games and other war provocations!
We call on the global community to:
Expose the truth: The U.S. isn't defending the Philippines — it’s provoking war with China and using Filipinos as cannon fodder. Thousands of U.S. troops and war rockets now occupy our soil. JBLM and the U.S. military take advantage of the situation of working class and migrant families to feed the war machine. ROTC and JROTC recruiters come to our schools to lure young people into a path out of economic hardship.
Push for a foreign policy rooted in Filipino self-determination and peace. Uplift the Philippine Human Rights Act (PHRA) — which would suspend U.S. military aid and hold the Marcos Jr. regime accountable for killings, displacement, and human rights abuses.
Expose Balikatan Exercises as a huge waste of taxpayer dollars: Share how the U.S. is sending an additional $500 million in military aid to the Philippines upon the visit of Pete Hegseth, U.S. Defense Secretary. This funding could instead fund critical services like healthcare, food and housing assistance, elderly care, and so much more in the U.S." "Endorse the campaign: Support campaign activities by sharing updates and calls to action to your membership and your network. Your name will be featured on our campaign page.
What resources are required to accomplish this?
Locally, join the U.S./JBLM out of the Philippines Coalition. Help our campaign committee with research, production of public materials, and raising awareness. Join in Campaign actions - outreach, advocacy, and protests.
Raise awareness: Hold workshops with your organization, network, or community. You can also invite member organizations of BAYAN USA to help facilitate.
Donate to campaign efforts: tinyurl.com/DonateUSOutPH"
Cut ties with war profiteers! Cut ties with Boeing!
Submitted by Carly Brook
"Transnational weapons companies (W-TNCs) are corporations with global operations overseeing and gaining profits from the industrial mass production of high-tech weapons of war, even if a percentage of their production is in non-weapons material (such as civilian aircraft or engines).
They are private and sometimes state-owned companies, though all of them exist to profit from arming and re-arming state militaries to use in their wars against other countries or their own people. In short, war brings the demand for what they supply.
Ending war and militarism involves exposing and opposing those who profit from it.
The Defense, Space and Security division of Boeing produces military aircraft and missiles for use by U.S. military and export to foreign militaries. In 2023, it had $24.9 billion in sales, almost a third of all Boeing sales that year, making Seattle home to the third largest defense contractor in the U.S. Through this division, Boeing supplies the U.S. military with destructive nuclear capability from land, water, and air specifically including:
Land: ICBM LGM-30G (Minuteman)
Water: Submarine-launched ballistic missiles Navigation System
Air: B-52H Stratofortress bomber aircraft components of the nuclear weapons systems.
(more info below)
Land based: The LGM-30G (Minuteman) is the only current operational land-based strategic nuclear missile in the U.S., equipped with nuclear warheads that are over twenty times stronger than the bomb that the U.S. dropped over Hiroshima. Boeing has supplied the U.S. Air Force with 400 of these missiles currently in service in Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota, launchable within minutes with a range of 6,000 miles.
Sea based: The U.S. Navy contracts with Boeing to supply navigation systems for submarine-launched ballistic missiles equipped with nuclear warheads similar in strength to those on the Minuteman, launchable within fifteen minutes. Many of these missiles with Boeing-manufactured SLBM navigation systems are kept in submarines at the Kitsap Bangor Naval Base, eighteen miles from Seattle.
Air based: Boeing supplies the B-52H Stratofortress bomber aircraft to the U.S. Air Force. It is the technological descendent of the B-29 bomber (tested at UW), which dropped the only two nuclear weapons ever used in warfare on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The B-52H comprises part of a fleet of forty-six bombers capable of carrying nuclear gravity bombs up to eighty times stronger than the one dropped over Hiroshima.
" "This resolution encourages the conference as a whole, WANW Coalition, and the individuals and organizations participating here today to endorse the UW Cut Ties With Boeing Campaign of the Resist US-Led War Movement.
It is time to hold our institutions accountable for their role in war and violence. In support of the student movement to isolate weapons corporations who benefit from war and the nuclear arms race, we endorse the following demands:
1. UW: Cut ties with war profiteers, cut ties with Boeing!
2. Return Boeing’s $10 million investment in the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building. Find alternative funding sources that ensure the programs and materials of the IEB are in service of the needs of students and our communities, not war profiteers.
3. Ban Boeing from UW recruitment spaces, including but not limited to career fairs, advisory facilities, and Handshake. The UW should not funnel students into companies that double as arms manufacturers.
4. Identify and replace all Boeing-funded scholarships, fellowships, research, investments, and department partnerships with pro-people academic opportunities funded by UW’s $5 billion endowment. Weapons dealers should not determine who gets to go to school and how they study.
Actions that can be taken aligned with this resolution are:
1. Join mobilizations to end glorification of war and militarism including against Boeing Seafair in Seattle in August (military air shows featuring Boeings Blue Angels and sponsored by the Boeing Corporation)
2. Support actions at the University of Washington campus to Cut ties with Boeing, endorse actions called for by Resist US-Led War Seattle
" Network among us with Resist US-Led War Movement, mobilization of people to actions.
Structure Change
These proposals pertain to a change in the structure of the convening coalition, Washington Against Nuclear Weapons.
Northwest Against Nuclear Weapons
Submitted by Sean Arent
Washington Against Nuclear Weapons (WANW) was founded as the only statewide coalition organizing against the nuclear arms race in the United States by the Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility nearly ten years ago. The strategy behind the coalition has clearly been to strategize and organize to create the grassroots pressure needed to move Washington's 10 House Representatives and 2 Senators on this very issue. The coalition has occupied a unique niche in the national landscape as it interacts with local and grassroots organizations to build the WANW coalition and network, while maintaining relationships with national networks and coalitions to translate national issues to the local level. A geographic expansion to neighboring states such as Oregon and Idaho could be cautiously pursued to build out a wider network and shared strategy around pressuring even more members of Congress to boldly oppose the 2nd nuclear arms race.
This proposal would officially erase the line at Washington state's border and welcome in organizations in Oregon and Idaho that share our vision for a world without nuclear weapons. It would change Washington Against Nuclear Weapons to Northwest Against Nuclear Weapons, rebranding us into an expanded coalition. First and foremost this proposal would require the enthusiastic support of organization's and activists in Oregon and Idaho who would like to join and build a grassroots coalition opposed to nuclear weapons in every congressional district. Because of our limited capacity, WPSR could not devote significant time from our Nuclear Weapons Program Manager to manage these regions beyond the monthly coalition calls. This would require the time needed to rebrand.
Steering the Coalition
Submitted by Sean Arent
While the Washington Against Nuclear Weapons coalition and its individual organizational members as a body are the ultimate decision-making body of the coalition, a lot happens behind the scenes and in between meetings, including the planning of the meetings themselves. That work and those decisions are largely made by an unelected staff person, which doesn't generate the level of buy-in that is needed to move us forward. This proposal calls for the election of a 5-10 person steering committee for the WANW coalition serving one year terms, effective immediately. If approved, we will allow leaders to self-nominate and be elected at the end of our conference, during the voting portion. Preference will be given to volunteers that represent a wide geographical and demographic range. Steering committee members will be expected to meet on a monthly basis in addition to the regular coalition-wide calls to plan, discuss, and help carry-out the priorities set forward at the conference. Steering committee members will work with the program manager to steer the WANW coalition, recruit new members, and build upon our shared strategies.
What resources are needed to accomplish this?
Willing and dedicated volunteers, time at the end of the conference.
Action
An action refers to a singular action that conference members can take.
In Support of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
Submitted by Joanne Dufour
Building more grass roots support for signing and ratifying the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
The proposal is a strong statement of support for the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons urging all elected officials to become informed and lend their support to our national government's signing and ratifying the Treaty. The text of the Treaty can be found at https://www.icanw.org/tpnw_full_text
Outreach by conference participants nationwide to elected officials at local, city, county, state and national levels strongly advocating for the signing and ratification of the Treaty through personal contacts, publicity, non-violent demonstrations, bannering and other outreach.
Join in the protest at the Kitsap-Bangor Base on Mother's Day
Submitted by Denny Duffel
Nonviolent direct action attracts attention, and we would have the opportunity to join with a great number of faith communities participating in the eventThis year is the 80th anniversary of nuclear weapons and that alone makes it an opportunity to capture headlines. Ground Zero traditionally organizes nonviolent actions on the Saturday of Mothers Day and around the Hiroshima/Nagasaki anniversaries. Our breakout group, "Interfaith Organizing around Nuclear Weapons," with others from Ground Zero, led by Dr. Smith and Deacon Denny, are already planning a smaller action on the Sunday of the conference. These actions build on each other, raising public awareness and deepening our own as to what we are able to do together.
The growing frustrations with the actions in Washington DC are amplifying these developments, and should generate more publicity about the dangers of irresponsible actions around nuclear weapons. The willingness to engage in civil disobedience is a powerful force. We have already contacted one national religious organization (National Catholic Reporter) about this possibility, which last year covered the "billboard campaign" run by Pax Christi and Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action.
What resources are needed to accomplish this?
Publicizing the Sunday action at our conference beyond what our two presenters can do. Renewing and helping publicize the bus usage to our constituency at the event on May 10th. Seeking ways after May 10th to add fuel to the civil disobedience possibilities in our demonstrations.