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Meet the Diablo Canyon PeaceWalkers in Berkeley Today

By Gar Smith
Friday November 04, 2011 - 03:20:00 PM

On October 22, a determined group of activists began a two-week interfaith peace walk from the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant near San Luis Obispo to the Bay Area. "With the tragedy of Fukushima in our hearts," they explained, "we will walk 15-18 miles a day looking into the safety of land and people along our route, the still-present danger of nuclear weapons, the poisonous nuclear fuel cycle and how to end the nuclear nightmare in California and worldwide."

With uncanny timing, the marchers reached Oakland on November 3, just in time to join the Occupy Oakland General Strike.

Louise Dunlap, one of the walk organizers, explained the genesis of the Sacred Sites Peacewalk for a Nuclear Free Future: "The Diablo Canyon plant defiled a site sacred to the Chumash people, and native lands still bear the brunt of toxic mining and waste disposal that mark the nuclear industry." Fittingly, she noted, the march was designed to conclude at another Sacred Site, Vallejo's Sogorea Te/Glen Cove, "an Indigenous sacred site of true power" that was recently the focus of a 109-day vigil to protect it from development. 


The 16-day march — which included Native elders, anti-nuclear activists, Buddhist monks, Japanese citizens affected by the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdowns — was sponsored by the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, Indian People Organizing for Change, organizers of the Shellmound Walks in the Bay Area and the Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Order.

This Friday, November 4, members of the Sacred Sites PeaceWalk will participate in a welcoming “Potluck Dinner, Speak Out, & Discussion” at the Berkeley Fellowship Unitarian Universalists hall. (BFUU's Social Justice Committee generously provided over-night shelter space for the PeaceWalk participants from November 4 to 5.) The Potluck begins at 6PM. Fellowship Hall is wheelchair accessible and is located at 1924 Cedar at Bonita (between MLK and Shattuck). http://www.bfuu.org/ 510-841-4824 

The PeaceWalk Schedule 

10/22 (Sat) Diablo Canyon gates (Avila)-San Luis Obispo 

10/23 (Sun) San Luis Obispo-Morro Bay 

10/24 (Mon) Santa Margarita-Paso Robles 

10/25 (Tues) Paso Robles-Camp Roberts* 

10/26 (Wed) Soledad - Gonzales 

10/27 (Thurs) Salinas-Watsonville 

10/28 (Fri) rest day in Santa Cruz 

10/29 (Sat) Walk in Santa Cruz 

10/30 (Sun) Santa Cruz-San Jose 

10/31 (Mon) San Jose-Mission San Jose 

11/1 (Tues) Mission San Jose-Livermore 

11/2 (Wed) Livermore-Hayward 

11/3 (Thurs) Hayward-Oakland 

11/4 (Fri) Oakland-Berkeley 

11/5 (Sat) Berkeley-Richmond/El Sobrante 

11/6 (Sun) El Sobrante-Sogorea Te (Vallejo) 

 

Links:  

www.CAnuclearwalk.com 

www.mothersforpeace.org 

www.ipocshellmoundwalk.intuitwebsites.com 

www.protectglencove.org 

www.dharmawalk.org/junsan1.htm