Poulsbo, Washington - Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action will host a weekend of free public events commemorating the anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The theme of this year's event is A Call to Action, Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki From Testing to Trident to Treaty – to stress that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the beginning of decades of suffering caused by the production and testing of nuclear weapons, and that it is time to end the suffering and the continuing threat of nuclear annihilation by honoring our nation's moral and legal responsibility to acknowledge and sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (Ban Treaty) and work with other nations toward complete and total global disarmament.

On Saturday, August 7^th participants in the Pacific Northwest Interfaith Peace Walk will arrive at Ground Zero Center, and there will be a tour of the Pacific Northwest Peace Pagoda, currently in construction. When completed, it will be the first Nipponzan Myohoji peace pagoda on the U.S. West Coast. The weekend's Keynote Presentation - Kijejeto (Persevere): The Marshallese Will Not Whisper - will be by Rachel Hoffman, secretary of The Marshallese Women’s Association, addressing the legacy of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands, nuclear injustice and the harms done to her people. Tara Villalba of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility (WPSR) will speak on WPSR's work and the Ban Treaty.

Sunday, August 8^th will include nonviolence training, planning and preparation for a traditional vigil and nonviolent direct action on Monday morning that will include a flash mob dance performance by the Delaney Dancers, who performed in 2019 (see YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/kyiy0BrfEhg).  The evening will include music by singer/songwriter Tom Rawson.

Early on Monday morning, August 9^th (the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki), participants will walk to the Bangor Trident nuclear submarine base where they will conduct a peaceful vigil in witness against nuclear weapons. Following the performance by the flash mob some activists may engage in a nonviolent direct action, blocking the entrance to the Naval base and symbolically closing it.

All are welcome to participate in the weekend of remembrance and action. Full schedule and details are available athttps://www.gzcenter.org/event/hiroshima-nagasaki-never-again-2/.

Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, just 20 miles west of Seattle, is homeport to the largest concentration of deployed nuclear warheads in the U.S. The nuclear warheads are deployed on Trident D-5 missiles on SSBN submarines and are stored in an underground nuclear weapons storage facility on the base.

There are eight Trident SSBN submarines deployed at Bangor. Six Trident SSBN submarines are deployed on the East Coast at Kings Bay, Georgia.

One Trident submarine carries the destructive force of over 1,200 Hiroshima bombs (the Hiroshima bomb was approximately 15 kilotons).

The Navy in early 2020 started deploying the new W76-2 low-yield “tactical” nuclear warhead (approximately eight kilotons) on select ballistic submarine missiles at Bangor (following initial deployment in the Atlantic in December 2019). The Navy is currently in production of a new fleet of twelve Columbia Class “Trident” ballistic missile submarines to replace the existing Trident fleet.

Mary Gleysteen, one of the planners for this year's event, noted that, "the Trident submarine system based at Naval Base Kitsap near Poulsbo is a monumental threat to life on Earth and daily robs people of true security. Billions of tax dollars are spent every year to expand and make this country's nuclear weapons more 'usable' - money that is desperately needed for healthcare, low income housing, environmental protection, education, social security, green jobs, sustainable transportation, and the arts!"

The Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action was founded in 1977. The center is on 3.8 acres adjoining the Trident submarine base at Bangor, Washington. Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action offers the opportunity to explore the roots of violence and injustice in our world and to experience the transforming power of love through nonviolent direct action. We resist all nuclear weapons, especially the Trident ballistic missile system.