Located on Stewart and Main in downtown Seattle, community members gathered in front of a large billboard that reads: US-Russia Nuclear Limits Expire February 5th, Tell Leaders to Take Action! The boards direct readers to nwanw.org/NewStart.

Patrick Burns, a member of Organized Workers for Labor Solidarity (OWLS) spoke. “Workers need to be aware of, nuclear weapons are right here in our neighborhood. We’re lucky that a major mistake hasn’t been made at Kitsap-Bangor. We need these treaties and need to keep sane limits.”

Denny Duffel, coordinator of Pax Christi Northwest and a deacon ordained by Archbishop Hunthausen shared the following:

“The Catholic Church has spoken out at the international level against the use and accumulation of nuclear weapons. It was Pope Frances who spoke out the most clearly as a religious leader in our time, saying that even the possession of nuclear weapons is immoral. Pax Christi in previous years has funded billboards to publicize Pope Francis’s words. Between the US and Russia we possess 83% of nuclear weapons on earth, that’s a whole lot of immoral between us. As a Deacon, I now work under Archbishop Paul Ettienne, who has also spoken out strongly against nuclear weapons…after visiting Japan with Archbishop Wester, he formed the Partnership for a World Without Nuclear Weapons with 3 bishops from Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”

Levin, an organizer with the Filipino-solidarity organization Bayan Washington spoke as well. “In the Philippines, the 123 Nuclear Deal was signed with the US, starting the process of sharing radioactive materials. This in addition to the potential of a growing arms race with the end of this agreement means that the Philippines will be utilized as staging grounds for these weapons. We support calls to contact elected officials to keep agreements like NewStart.”

Dr. Bill Donnely, a longtime member of the Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility also spoke. “People need to understand that money talks. We have a lot of big dollars from the weapons manufactures that are pushing our decision makers to rebuild our entire nuclear arsenal. We do not need ICBMs. We have to persuade residents that their best interest is not to have an arms race in their backyard.”