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gd NN NCS DAA HIER IR RR OA ART aed 14 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, May 3, 1983 BANNING THE BOMB The struggle to save us from destruction by Cathy Robb This isn't a book re- view. There is, however, an interesting new book called The Nuclear War Fun Book on display at Scu@og Memorial Lib- rary. On the surface, it's a kids book, but all adults know one should never judge a book by its cover. It's jam-packed with all sorts of "fun things"'. With it you can make sour own Doomsday Scenarios, figure out the answers to Nuclear Tests: Multiple Choice and Multiple Warheads. It even contains Nuclear War Games and Puzzles. The illustration on this page is from that book. It's not a pretty sight but it does provide a graphic example of what could happen to all of us if nuclear war broke out. Marg Wilbur, Andrea Jones, Marilyn Wallace and Elaine Romeril are terrified of that event- uality. Their fight for nuclear disarmament is not just another cause, not just another issue to give housewives some- thing to do when they're not sitting at home watching the soaps. Life And Death In a real sense, they are fighting a life and death struggle. Their stance is not a popular one nor is it an easy one. More than the actual issue, the women are fighting public opinion and the image many people have of anti-nuke groups. The image isn't a flat- tering one. They're call- ed peaceniks, leftover hippies, Fascists, Communists, and often just plain stupid. What they're advocating is world peace. They have the support, often active support, of churches and religious organi- zations. 'They're fight- ing for the lives of people throughout the world, an honourable ~and admirable cause, and yet pro-nuclear people see them as rad- icals. Marg Wilbur is aware of that image but says it just isn't accurate. "As it becomes ob- vious that the people are middle-aged, involved- in-the-community people, this image may change. The only way you can overcome that is to show people it isn't true, That's why you have to keep working in the community and keep plugging away," she says. "'I don't see us demonstrating or any thing like that. I coulo not see that happening, could you? At this point she smiles and explains that nuclear disarmament js a moral issue. It's the reason why average, middle-class comm- unities across the country petitioned local councils to put the dis- armament question on the last municipal election ballot. Many were successful. A Moral Issue "It's the morality of the thing and they real- ize that as moral people they have to go out and do something about it," she adds. "I really and honestly believe there are a large number of people in this Township who feel it is better to reduce the number of weapons in the world". That "large number of people" did not get the chance to tell - Scugog Township how they felt in the last election, however. Council voted thumbs - down on the referendum motion, as it was pre- sented by Ms. Jones, Ms. Romeril and Ms. Wallace. Councillors reasoned publicly that the Town- ship might run into legal difficulties if the ques- tion was placed on the ballot, despite the fact large cities across the country, including Tor- onto, had. voted to go ahead with the referen- dum. Privately, Andrea Jones suspected it was the image of anti- nuclear groups which coloured the council- lors's view. "I think they just saw us as three housewives who didn't know any- thing standing up there", she said recent- ly. "It's like we're attacking motherhood, almost. A kind of sub- versiveness. That's why no one bothers to step up. Global Annihilation '"'We've been bom- barded to think military is the only way. I can see a role for the army but the bottom line is nuclear weapons. You can't compare them' with any other kind. We are talking global ann- ihilation here." If there's nothing Ms. Jones hates more, it's being patronized by pro- nuclear - people and governments. "The powers that be come on to you that you really don't know what's going on. For people like me, the grass-roots, you - can hand out that kind of jam," she says angrily. "But there are thinking people out there like David Suzuki, Margaret Lawrence, people we respect for their intell- igence. How can you argue with anyone who has more credentials and initials beside their names, people who are supporting nuclear dis- armament?" What people like Ms. Jones are fighting is weapons overkill. She realizes countries are not going to destroy all their nuclear arms and burn all the plans to build them. "You can't wipe out the knowledge of how to build a bomb. That's silly. What we have to do is put the brakes on immediately," she says. "We tend to look at the two superpowers dazz- ling us with their foot- work. Maybe we should worry about smaller, less stable govern- ments. How would you feel if Iran had the bomb? There's enough to worry about without the superpowers adding three more nuclear weapons every day". Marg Wilbur agrees. Having some nuclear weapons around is bad enough but knowing there is enough nuclear Deafness from ruptured eardrum due to blast wave overpressure Ulceration of the lips and mouth, bleeding gums due to radiation Nausea, vomiting anorexia Lacerations from' flying glass Third-degree sunburn from excess ultra-violet radiation due to depleted ozone layer Unsightly loss a of hair Sy ~% J = ------ Blindness from flash burns to retina flying debris ios Infertility } ' (no baby brother {ls Beta burns from { direct contact with fallout \ Flame burns from firestorm Flash burns of the skin from thermal wave Fractures from weaponry to blow the whole world up several times over and contin- uing the arms race is too much for her to bear. "I've never under- stood this progress at any price business," she says. "What people who are working on disarm- ament say is that they _can accept so many nuclear weapons but they're gone overkill. We've got too many weapons, too many deterents...let's reverse the situation'. 50,000 Bombs According to statistics presented in the Nuclear War Fun Book, the world arsenal of nuclear weapons con- sists of 50,000 bombs and warheads, 20,000 long- range strategic weapons capable of immediate delivery plus 30,000 short-range tact- ical weapons. Each de- vice has an average des- tructive force equiv- alent to .88 megatons (million tons) of TNT. The world population is 4.4. billion. That means there is 20,000 pounds allotted for each person on earth. And still the arms race continues. On April 12, the first official meeting of the Scugog branch of Oper- ation Dismantle was held in the Port Perry United Church. The turnout was dismal, but it was about what Ms. Jones expected for a first meeting. Some- times she admits she feels like chucking everything, forgetting about the whole issue, but then someone will say something she can't comprehend and she'll come back fighting. "You end up being accused of being emotional. Well, my God. The Russians are not wearing white hats, either are the Amer- icans. I don't see any- body- wearing white hats," she says sadly. ""They're just folks the same as us, sitting at their kitchen tables drinking tea. We have the opportunity to say enough is enough. So do they. So why don't we do it?" What's wrong with this picture? 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