City's Disarmament Pamphlet Lauded

Beginning the task of sifting through the fallout from their nationally publicized call for nuclear disarmament, the Cambridge City Council last night discussed a number of ways they might continue the "peace offensive" begun earlier this fall with the publication of an "alternative" civil defense brochure.

That brochure--distributed to all Cambridge residents--argued that the only real protection from nuclear disaster lay in the renunciation of nuclear weapons by all countries that possess them. In the weeks since its publication, letters and telegrams have poured into City Hall from around the nation and around the world, and at least four other American towns have begun consideration of similar pamphlets.

Last night, councilors reviewed a slide show put together by the Cambridge Peace Education Project (PEP), and discussed plans for a permanent, privately-funded Office of Peace Education to coordinate educational and political disarmament campaigns.

Residents also called for the city to host a conference of other cities and towns in an effort to plan joint activities, a proposal endorsed by the five city councilors at the informal session.

"Our city has provided some leadership in this area," councilor David Wylie said, adding "nothing we've ever done has produced this kind of response."

Councilor Saundra Graham added "all across the world huge numbers of people are coming out to protest nuclear arms. We've got to let the people rallying in Europe know that there is a movement in this country as well," she added.

The Peace Education Project recommended that the Office of Peace Education be funded with donations from local citizens and businesses, in an effort to maintain "the principle of collaboration between citizenry and city government."

The office would "carry on these leadership and advisory tasks which fall naturally upon a city of such professional resources and central national role," the CPEP resolution added.

"We've got to create a dialogue on this issue," Wylie said, adding "talking to ourselves isn't going to do us any good."