Peace Train: Greenpeace brings half-century of sheer courage
The environmental nonprofit organization’s many voyages have made a mark on nuclear testing sites
Boulder (Colorado) Daily Camera, December 11, 2020
by Judith Mohling, Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center (a member of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, as is SRS Watch)
In 1971, a small group of activists set sail from Vancouver, Canada, to Amchitka Island off the coast of Alaska with intent to try to stop a U.S. nuclear weapons test. They had been influenced by the Quaker belief of “bearing witness” as a form of peaceful protest that registers opposition simply with one’s presence.
The group’s name “Greenpeace” came about as the activists were starting to plan their mission when member Irving Stowe flashed a two-fingered peace sign and said “Peace” at the end of a meeting, as he regularly did when saying goodbye. Another activist, ecologist Bill Darnell, said, “Make it a green peace,” and thus Greenpeace was born.
With the help of Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and other musicians, a fundraising concert to pay for the first Greenpeace ship was held. None of the renowned artists wanted any money for the sold-out concert and Greenpeace activists raised $23,000, bought the ship and left the harbor at dusk on Sept. 15, 1971. The activists were stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard and had to turn back. What at first felt like a failure eventually turned into an enormous success: The bomb detonated, but the other tests that were planned ended up being canceled. Five months after that first Greenpeace voyage, the U.S. halted the entire Amchitka nuclear test program.
Full piece: https://www.coloradodaily.com/2020/12/11/peace-train-greenpeace-brings-half-century-of-sheer-courage/