Walk for a New Spring

Walk for a New Spring 2020

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On March 27, 2020, the Monks of the New EnglandPeace Pagoda will commence their annual “Walk for a New Spring”.  Beginning at the Peace Pagoda, they will walk several days in Massachusetts, soon moving to WashingtonDC. After several days of walking, taking part in vigils, holding ceremony and visiting congress, the Walk will proceed northward to the United Nations in New York City.  lease see accompanying Walk brochure for full details.

The overarching call of the Walk for a New Spring will be the complete dismantling of all nuclear weapons, asking particular support for the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons and the Back from the Brink movement. The Union of Concerned Scientists has moved the “Doomsday Clock” to 100 seconds to midnight–the closest they have ever judged the world to be to nuclear  holocaust. Let us together face down this re-awakened force of death. Please walk some or many steps with us, join in or host the community gatherings, and plan to come to NYC for the The World Conference 2020 to Abolish Nuclear Weapons; Resist and Reverse the Climate Crisis; For Social and Economic Change, (April 24-25) and a Rally and March to the United Nations (April 26).

Please see important links for: Fresh New Hope, Warheads to Windmills(Youtube), Back from the Brink, www.preventnuclearwar.org .

In the same breath, we are embracing the interrelated crises of the degradation  of the natural world, which nurtures all life; the immorality of widespread of severe poverty, which brings incalculable suffering and unnatural death to millions, so often unacknowledged; and the entrenched militarism and war-making of our political and economic structure, and our overall culture.

We are so grateful to couple with so many friends, networks, groups, as in past years.  This year we are also joining with the Poor People’s Campaign: a National Call for Moral Revival, which embraces the same fusion of concerns.  The  Poor Peoples Campaign calls all people to come together to make the spiritual and moral strength to prevail over  these terrible threats to life on earth.  They believe in and and listen to  poor and disenfranchised people, holding them in the elevated and supported center of this movement, which is open to all people to move together for the good. See poorpeoplescampaign.org.

For all the children, for the adults, for the elders – let us come together at this time, walking, praying, talking, singing, sharing food…together. Let us come together locally, and meet in New York City in late April, joining with people from around the world.  

In peace,

TimBullock

For more information contact Tim Bullock 413-485-8469 walk4anewspring at gmail.com

Walk Through The Valley

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13th ANNUAL “WALK FOR A NEW SPRING”
A WALK FOR COMMON UNITY, PEACE BUILDING, AND DEMILITARIZATION
LEVERETT, MA to WASHINGTON, DC
February 21- 2014 – April 8, 2014

PLEASE JOIN US FOR A THREE DAY SEND-OFF!

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21 to SUNDAY, February 23, 2014

The New England Peace Pagoda would love it if you would come and participate with us
for an hour, a half day, a full day or as many days as you can.
You are welcome to bring our own signs and help send THE WALK from Western Mass to Washington D.C.!

 ITINERARY FOR FIRST THREE DAYS

DAY ONE -FRIDAY, February 21, 2014

8:30 am: Opening Circle at the New England Peace Pagoda
10:30 am: Visit to Leverett Town Hall
1:15 pm: Begin walking from the Survival Center, North Amherst to Town Common, Amherst
3:00 – 3:30 pm: VIGIL on Town Common
5:00- 6:30pm: Potluck and Presentation at the Bangs Community Center, 70 Boltwood Walk
7:00 to 9:00: Walk for a New Spring participants will attend and view a student production of PROJECT UNSPEAKABLE,  at the Commonwealth Honor College, UMASS (the new building located near the Mullins Center)

DAY TWO – SATURDAY, February 22, 2014

8:30am: Opening Circle at Amherst Town Common and then begin Walk to Northampton 12:30: POTLUCK LUNCH AND PRESENTATION, First Churches, Northampton
1:30 pm: Begin Walk to Holyoke
5:00 pm:   Arrive 101 Pearl St, Holyoke
5:30pm: Potluck and Presentation/Community Discussion

DAY THREE – SUNDAY, February 23, 2014

11:00 am: Meet at Nuestras Raices Community Garden site on route 5 across from Mount Marie to walk into Springfield, southward on route 5 to West Springfield
12:30 pm: Brown Bag Lunch at West Springfield (Location TBA)
1:30 pm: Walk over the West Springfield Bridge to Springfield
5:00-6:00pm: Potluck Dinner, Wesley Methodist Church, 741 State Street, Springfield 7:00 pm: Panel and Community Discussion
Speakers
Roberto C., Springfield No One Leaves
Michaelann B., Arise for Social Justice
Sheldon A., Justice For Ayyub
Jorge S., Just Communities Comunidades Justas
Tim B., New England Peace Pagoda
For more information call Tim Bullock 413-485-8469 / email- walk4newspring@gmail.com

The 13th Annual Walk for a New Spring

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Photos from the 2013 Walk for a New Spring, “Walk for the People, Walk for the Earth”

2014
Common Unity
Peace Building & Demilitarization
February 21, 2014 – April 8, 2014
Leverett, MA to Washington D.C.
A 47 Day Peace March to the White House
MA-NH-RI-CT-NY-NJ-PA-DE-MD

  • Diplomacy Not War
  • An Economy That Uplifts All
  • Renewable Energy
  • Jobs Not Jails
  • Commit to Ending Racism
  • Move Resources from Military to People’s Needs
  • Respect for the Earth
  • Immigration Reform

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. identified extreme Materialism, Militarism and Racism as the “triplets of evil” which we must transform. They exist both within us and external to us.

Materialism – viewing human beings and nature as exploitable for profit, regardless of consequence. Leads to large scale societal impoverishment and destruction of nature.

Racism – Artificial and pernicious construct of thought and social organization that some human beings are inherently superior to others. “It separates bodies, minds and spirits, descends to inflicting spiritual and physical homicide on the out group.” (Martin Luther King)

Militarism – The belief that armed violence is the way to control perceived threats. The US spends more on our Military arsenal than the rest of the world combined. Domestically the number of guns is roughly equivalent to every man woman and child in the US. Also our police forces are being armed with ever more lethal weapons. Let us build a culture that posits faith in hu-manity and dissolves the intensifying cycle of fear and violence.

Walk Schedule

Tentative walk schedule, subject to change Join the Walk when we come through your community!

Tentative walk schedule, subject to change
Join the walk when we come through your community!

 
Please Consider Supporting These Bills & Initiatives

  • Uranium Exploration and Mining Accountability Act, A Bill to Ban Uranium Mining in the US and to clean up the thousands of abandoned uranium mines on Native American land
  • H.R.808  A Bill to establish a Cabinet-level Dept of Peace-Building
  • Continue the Funding of the SNAP Program – NO CUTS
  • Petition to support Jobs Not Jail for Non-violent Offenders (Massachusetts)
  • Support for Initiative of Fairfax, CA to establish an International body of experts to oversee the care of the damaged and dangerous Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant

More to come
We welcome your suggestions

“I have the audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

For more information or to join or support the walk when it comes to your community please fill out the following form:

or contact

Tim Bullock  413-485-8469 | walk4newspring@gmail.com | Facebook

Feb. 14 Highbridge to Washington Square Park

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IMG_1225Thursday morning the walk set off from the Highbridge Community Center towards Manhattan. Local organizer Chauncey Young joined the walk for the first few blocks over the Macombs Dam Bridge.

Huge thanks to Chauncey for hosting the walk and providing rooms for each walker, dinner, and supplies to cook with. Thank you!

When the group started walking at 8:15 it was a cold, windy morning and for the first half hour or so we saw another snowfall.

The walk day was about 8 miles through the city.
In the evening the walk was met by frequent walker and filmmaker Melinda Holms who hosted everyone for dinner.

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Feb. 13: Nyack to the Bronx

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Wednesday the group was joined by Mark Johnson of the Fellowship of Reconciliation for the first leg of the walk. It was a beautiful day walking along the Hudson and through the Palisades.

At the 6 mile mark the walkers stopped for lunch outside a small cafe where Mark Johnson left to return to FOR. The community was very welcoming, and people continually came up through lunch to offer their thanks, take photos of the banner, take flyers back home.

John rode his bike down to meet the group, and invited us back to the university to visit the earthquake museum on our way out of town.

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About 3 miles out from the lunch spot we came to Columbia University, where John showed us seismographs and explained in greater detail the process of documenting earthquakes.

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The walk continued on towards the city.
At the 15 mile point the walkers hopped into vans and shuttled forward to the Highbridge community in the Bronx.

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Feb. 12 Rest Day

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Peace Walkers at FOR

Tuesday the walk had a rest day in Nyack at the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
FOR is stationed in a building named Shadowcliff, a massive estate overlooking the Hudson River.

It was a beautiful rest day.
It was one of the only days on the walk so far that it’s rained all day, we were lucky to be indoors.
The staff of FOR were incredibly helpful and welcoming!
Mary cooked up an incredible gourmet spread for each meal (including desert), Heshi, Jonette, and Linda spent time getting to know the walkers and sharing information with us about their programs like the “Young, Pacifist and Proud” initiative, and a recent newsletter which featured information on Leverett Peace Pagoda’s inauguration.
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Linda sat down for a 40 minute interview with some of the walkers for to learn more about the walk, nuclear disarmament, and Na Mu Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo.

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At FOR we got a chance to watch two films, Samsara and America’s Chernobyl.
It was a good chance to reevaluate why each of us were walking and envision what a nuclear free future actually looks like.

We said goodbye to two of our walkers, Larry & Nurya who had to return home to other responsibilities.

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Miki & Nurya

Hopefully they will be back.

In the evening a professor from the Lamont-Doherty Observatory at Columbia University came to speak to the walk about the dangers of nuclear power from a seismological perspective.
John explained that earthquakes on the east coast are much smaller than earthquakes on the west coast, so small that many times they are not even felt by the average person.

Smaller earthquakes can cause problems to the reactor in a much less obvious way than a direct meltdown.
For instance, if an earthquake occurs in upstate New York near Indian Point (which is on two fault lines) the community may not notice. But the control panel which enables the operators at the plant to control heating or power may be affected. There is no way to be sure that smaller earthquakes have not already caused damage to this reactor in a way that the community does not yet know about.

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We also watched a great video that was on CBS of Maurice Enis and Jamie Lee Plym, the two Navy vets who became very sick after their work near Fukushima.

Resources
Fellowship of Reconciliation: http://forusa.org/
CBS Video Interview with Maurice & Jamie Plym: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50142557n
Lamont Doherty Observatory: http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/
America’s Chernobyl: http://defendblackhills.org

Remember Fukushima

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Indian Point

For the two year anniversary of the meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi Prefecture the Walk for a New Spring & the No More Fukushimas walk gathered at Indian Point reactor for a vigil and ceremony praying for safety, sustainability, peace, and a nuclear free future.

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A local man came out screaming that it was too early for this kind of activity, and threatened to call the police.
The group continued to drum and chant the prayer softly for about a half hour and each person came up to offer peace cranes.
After the ceremony the landlord of the house came out, an older Irish man who was incredibly friendly and understanding and apologized for his tenant.
Miki, a walker, offered peace cranes and he accepted graciously.

The walkers headed back to Stony Point Center where they had a beautiful breakfast before driving forward to Manhattan to participate in another ceremony to remember Fukushima.

In the city the peace walk met up with the World Network For Saving Children From Radiation, a network dedicated to making sure no more children grow up with the threat of deformities, cancer, and death from radiation.

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There was a walk from Times Square to Dag Hammarskjold Plaza and a ceremony and vigil in front of the United Nations. Three women from Fukushima shared their stories of displacement and illness following the meltdown. They currently live in New England.
Charmaine White Face a representative from the Great Sioux Territory and coordinator of Defenders of the Black Hills sent a solidarity message which was read aloud in English and Japanese.

Activists came out from all around New York and New Jersey including activists working to shut down Oyster Creek reactor in NJ, and Indian Point in NY.

DSC05520More photos from the days events can be found on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drvonskillet/sets/72157632981462168/

March 10: Ossning to Stony Point

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March 10, 2013

This morning the walk set off from 1st Presbytarian Church in Ossning, NY. Thanks to Dan Fullerton and his partner Duna for welcoming us so warmly at the last minute.

We set off for Stony Point, stopping for a bathroom break at the local Fire Station.
Thanks so much to Mike the volunteer firefighter who let us in!

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We stopped for lunch outside of the The Runcible, the first day this walk could break in the sunshine.

GetAttachment.aspxjsfljldkjldskjglfdjAfter lunch the walk continued on to Stony Point Center where the group took part in the Fukushima Fallout conference. Former Navy Sailors Maurice Enis and Jamie Lee Plym shared again their experiences with the navy, and their health ailments following their irradiation.

Roberto Muller of the Stony Point Convergence shared a presentation about Indian Point, and Martin Lucas premiered his film, Cold Shutdown, the story of Fukushima in the aftermath of the nuclear meltdown.

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