[Occupymendocino] a great resolution from Mayors for Peace

[ELLEN ROSSER]

**

*www.mayorsforpeace.org* <http://www.mayorsforpeace.org/>*
                                                            **
www.2020visioncampaign,org* <http://www.2020visioncampaign,org/>**

* *

*For immediate release*: June 26, 2013****

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*Contact*: Jackie Cabasso, Mayors for Peace North American Coordinator
(510) 306-0119;****

                jackie at 2020visioncampaign.org****

*
*

*U.S. Conference of Mayors unanimously adopts resolution “Calling for*

*U.S. Leadership in Global Elimination of Nuclear Weapons and*

* Redirection of Military Spending to Domestic Needs”*

* *

Mayors for Peace congratulates the United States Conference of Mayors
(USCM) for its unanimous adoption of a bold resolution “Calling for U.S.
Leadership in Global Elimination of Nuclear Weapons and Redirection of
Military Spending to Domestic Needs.” The resolution, passed by the
Conference on June 24 at its 81st Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada,
calls for constructive U.S. engagement in new international disarmament
forums and reorientation of U.S. national priorities by reducing military
spending and redirecting those funds to meet the needs of cities.****

** **

The USCM is the nonpartisan association of American cities with populations
over 30,000. As explained by its outgoing President, Mayor Michael Nutter
of Philadelphia, who chaired the final plenary: “Resolutions, if passed,
become the official policy of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.”****

** **

The resolution was adopted on the heels of President Obama’s June 19
Berlin speech in which he declared, “so long as nuclear weapons exist,
we are not truly safe,” and announced his intention to seek
further bilateral nuclear weapons reductions with Russia. The
resolution was introduced by Akron Mayor Donald Plusquellic, a former
USCM President and Vice President of Mayors for Peace, and had
29 additional sponsors. It highlights several important new
multilateral disarmament initiatives not mentioned by Obama in Berlin,
and calls on the President and the U.S. government to demonstrate good
faith
by constructive participation in those initiatives:****

** **

*·         **The first ever High-Level Meeting of the United Nations
General Assembly on Nuclear Disarmament, to be held on September 26,
2013 at UN headquarters in New York;*

·         A UN working group open to all member states “to develop
proposals to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament
negotiations for the achievement and maintenance of a world without
nuclear
weapons;” and****

·         A follow-on conference to the February 2013 Oslo Conference
on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, to be hosted by Mexico
in early 2014.****

** **

The resolution expresses the USCM ‘s “deep concern” that both the May
session of the new UN disarmament working group and the Oslo
Conference took place without the participation of the United States
or the other four nuclear-armed Permanent Members of the UN Security Council.
****

As set forth in the resolution, nearly a quarter of a century past the
end of the Cold War, an estimated 17,300 nuclear weapons, 94% of them
in the possession of the United States and Russia, continue to
pose an intolerable threat to humanity. Massive spending is underway
on programs to modernize U.S. nuclear weapons systems.****

** **

As the resolution notes, nuclear weapons spending is emblematic of
Pentagon spending. In 2012, during a time of continuing domestic
financial hardship, the U.S. spent $682 billion on its military,
accounting
for nearly two-fifths of the world total.****

** **

Further, the budget sequester enacted in March is impeding the
economic recovery in cities by making deep cuts to vital federal
programs that help fund essential services. In contrast, Pentagon
spending has
grown by 50% in real dollars in the last 12 years, not including war
spending, and nearly all of the “cuts” up for debate are, in reality,
reductions in the spending growth rate.****

** **

The resolution concludes that our nation’s deep economic crisis can only be
addressed by adopting new priorities to create a sustainable economy for
the 21st century. To that end, the resolution calls on the President and
Congress to reduce nuclear weapons spending to the minimum necessary to
assure the safety and security of the existing weapons as they await
disablement and dismantlement; to redirect those funds to meet the urgent
needs of cities; and to reduce military spending to reinvest in programs to
provide basic human services, create jobs, rebuild infrastructure and meet
the needs of America’s cities.****

** **

*The full text of the resolution is available at **
http://wslfweb.org/docs/uscmres2013.pdf*<http://wslfweb.org/docs/uscmres2013.pdf>.
(Official version at
http://usmayors.org/81stAnnualMeeting/media/resolutions-adopted.pdf)****

** **

Mayors for Peace, an international organization, founded in 1982 and led by
the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is working through its 2020 Vision
Campaign for the global elimination of nuclear weapons by 2020. Mayors for
Peace membership has grown by more than ten fold since 2003, as of June 1,
2013 counting 5,645 cities in 156 countries and regions, with nearly 200
U.S. members – in all, representing some one billion people.****

 ****

The USCM resolution was sponsored by Mayors *Donald L. Plusquellic of
Akron, OH; *Ed Pawlowski of Allentown, PA; John Hieftje of Ann Arbor, MI; *Tom
Bates of Berkeley, CA; Matthew T. Ryan** **Binghamton, NY; Henrietta Davis
of Cambridge, MA;* Mark Kleinschmidt of Chapel Hill. NC; *Satyendra Singh
Huja of Charlottesville, VA; Franklin T. Cownie** **of Des Moines, IA;* Michael
A. Tautznik of Easthampton, MA;* Kitty Piercy of Eugene, OR; Ed Malloy of
Fairfield, IA; Joy Cooper* of Hallandale Beach, FL; Alex Morse of Holyoke,
MA; Mark Stodola of Little Rock, AR; Paul Soglin of Madison, WI; John
Stefano of New Haven, CT; David J. Narkewicz of Northampton, MA; Chris Koos
of Normal. IL; Frank Ortis of *Pembroke Pines, FL;* Michael Brennan of
Portland, ME;* Gayle McLaughlin of Richmond, CA; Ardell Brede of Rochester.
MN; Stephen Cassidy of San Leandro, CA; *Helene Schneider of Santa Barbara,
CA; Bruce R Williams of Takoma Park, MD;* Neal King of Taos Ski Valley, NM;
  *Richard D. Schneider of South Pasadena, CA;* *Laurel Lunt Prussing of
Urbana, IL; and* *Geraldine Muoio of West Palm Beach, FL.**

* *
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