Coalition of Peace Activists Lobbying Collins on NMD
by Raina Rippel, Executive Director, PSR Maine
Peace Action Maine and Physicians for Social Responsibility/Maine have
developed a new campaign currently focusing on upcoming Senate votes on the
issue of National Missile Defense (NMD). From the conference held last fall,
"The Road to Nuclear Abolition," came a plan to focus on Sen. Susan Collins,
as a member of the Armed Services Committee. Sen. Collins is viewed by many
progressive groups in Washington as a potential swing vote to call for
substantially decreased funding for NMD. We have built a strong coalition
including 20/20 Vision in Maine, the Friends Committee on National
Legislation, the National Organization for Women, Maine Common Cause, the
Maine Council of Churches, Pax Christi Maine, the League of United Latin
American Citizens, and the Women's International League for Peace and
Freedom. Work continues on developing further partnerships to strengthen our
position as a broad-based coalition of non-partisan organizations.
As a moderate Republican, Sen. Collins is likely to be open to a strong
constituent message calling for restraint on wastefulf defense spending such
as funding National Missile Defense. In the aftermath of September 11th, it
is time to integrate the lessons our nation has learned about our true
vulnerability to terrorist attacks, and how we must rethink the defense
systems we currently rely on. It is clear to many that breaking treaties by
deploying or further funding NMD will jeopardize international relations,
and will ultimately not provide us with any guarantee of increased security.
We must do whatever is in our power to avoid the possibility of a new arms
race. If Senator Collins spoke out in the Senate against NMD, the results
might be astonishing, and could very well stop or at least slow the
Administration's rush into a new nuclear age.
We are now working on efforts toward educating Sen. Collins and developing
advocacy in Maine around the issue of NMD, including plans to facilitate a
series of regional town meetings centered around Bangor, Bar Harbor, Norway,
Houlton, Portland, Kennebunk, Brunswick, Rockland, and Augusta. We are
working with our activist base to form locally-run core groups of activists
that can generate letters and visits to Sen. Collins' offices statewide.
Many of these groups have already begun to generate contacts and letters, in
particular led by Betty Cole in Georgetown, and the Disarmament Committee in
Portland.
On March 8 a meeting with Sen. Collins will take place at her Portland
office. We will be bringing together representatives from as many coalition
groups as possible to talk to her about NMD. From March 10-12, a delegation
of coalition representatives including Tom Ewell from the Maine Council of
Churches, Peter Wilk from PSR/Maine, Ed Snyder from 20/20 Vision in Maine,
and, possibly, a representative from the League of Women Voters will travel
to Washington D.C. to meet with Sen. Collins and Sen. Snowe.
In late March, there will be an official press announcement and public
education forum in the Parish Hall of the First Parish Church in Portland,
with a round table of local academic experts and a high-level speaker from
Washington D.C. Details of this event are still in the works.. An
announcement will be sent to all local members of Peace Action and PSR.
For more information about this Campaign, please call Raina Rippel at
772-6714, or Wells Staley-Mays at 772-0680.
Back to Peace Talk Index, Spring, 2002