Press release from Reject Raytheon AVL
Reject Raytheon AVL calls on the U.S. to join the UN Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and for Raytheon to stop making these illegal weapons.
Date/Time: Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022, 2-3 p.m.
Location: Pack Square at Biltmore Ave. (formerly Vance Monument)
Contact: Ken Jones, 207-233-3087, <kwjj1949@gmail.com>Local coalition Reject Raytheon AVL will join the Nobel Prize-winning International Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) to call on all nations to join the UN Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). The treaty entered into force on January 22, 2021 with the ratification of 50 nations making nuclear weapons illegal by international law (there are now 57).
The United States, along with the other nuclear weapons nations, has not ratified this treaty which calls for the abolition of all nuclear weapons. We call on the U.S. to JOIN THE TREATY!
Reject Raytheon AVL also calls public attention to the role played by Raytheon Technologies, with its billions of dollars in contracts for nuclear weapons and nuclear weapon components. Raytheon, with its new Pratt & Whitney plant being built in Buncombe County, has now become a local business and employer. We call on Raytheon to stop making illegal nuclear weapons, as well as other war making weapons.
The local demonstration will include signage and printed materials, but will not include a rally. Having people gather to listen to speakers at this time of alarming COVID spread is not something the organizers choose to do. They will also ask that demonstrators maintain social distance and wear masks.
Ken Jones, an organizer of the demonstration, said: “Nuclear weapons are an existential threat to us all. There are now about 14,000 nuclear warheads on earth, at least 90% of which are controlled by the U.S. and Russia. Using any one of them would be a catastrophe greater than Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and a nuclear exchange would end life on this planet. The new cold war between these two countries could put an end to us all. The only sane thing to do is disarm now.
Reject Raytheon AVL is a local group of activists raising public awareness about the local Pratt & Whitney plant and the deeper societal problems it represents. It calls for local governments and businesses to:
- Enact a moratorium on any new projects that contribute to the military-industrial complex or to the climate change emergency
- Divest from fossil fuel and war corporations
- Invest in sustainable and equitable initiatives like green jobs, affordable housing, health care for all, and reparations to the African-American community
- Commit to transparency and public consent on new economic development plans
Will this important event be rescheduled due to the winter storm??