The Peacemaker Awards are hosted every year by the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, which has long been focused on eliminating nuclear weapons. This is more than a local organization with a local mission. Every year people come from all over the world to participate and bear witness in these activities.

Recently I attended an event recognizing community leaders who are working for peace here and around the world. The Peacemaker Awards are hosted every year by the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (http://www.orepa.org/), which has long been focused on eliminating nuclear weapons. This is more than a local organization with a local mission. Every year people come from all over the world to participate and bear witness in these activities.

This year, the Peacemaker Awards honored three people who work tirelessly to bring justice and peace closer together. Carol Nickle, Renee Kesler, and John Stewart are residents of Knoxville, Tennessee, whose actions and activism have impact far beyond their home town. They work in faith communities and in the streets to build relationships and connections, and they work to shape state and national policy: Carol is a long-time leader in Knoxville Area Women in Black and in the Friends (Quaker) Committee on National Legislation. Renee Kesler is Director of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center, a history museum and education center dedicated to collecting, preserving and exhibiting artifacts and other evidence of contributions relating to the history and culture of African-Americans in East Tennessee and America, and coordinator of the annual January celebration of the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. John Stewart has dedicated his retirement to organizing for fair taxes, to protect worker health and safety, and to feed the hungry.

Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, the organization that hosts the Peacemaker Awards, holds a weekly vigil at the nuclear weapons plant in Oak RIdge, Tennessee, USA. This is the nuclear weapons plant that was the site of civil disobedience in 2012 by three Transform Now Plowshares activists Megan Rice, Greg Boertje-Obed and Michael Walli, who are now serving prison terms for expressing their moral objections to nuclear weapons.

OREPA is committed to "Taking Responsibility for Nuclear Weapons in our own Backyard." (See attachment below).

For more information you can also read OREPA latest newsletter – December 2014.

Upcoming events:

April: The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Conference at the UN in New York City
May 2: Youth action in Oak Ridge, Tennessee opposing nuclear weapons and a new proposed bomb plant.
First week of August: Annual commemoration of bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
August 6: Names and Remembrance Ceremony commemorating victims of Hiroshima.
August 9: Peace lantern ceremony in Knoxville, TN, remembrance of destruction of Nagasaki

When plans are finalized you will be able to find more information and details at http://www.orepa.org/

Published on: 25 March 2015