Thousands join nuclear protest By BETH ROSENFELD Daily Collegian Staff Writer An estimated 65,000 to 150,000 protesters including Jerry Brown, Ralph Nader, Jane Fonda, Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell —. assembled in front of the nation's Capitol Sunday to demonstrate against the government's pro-nuclear policies. SpOnsored by the May 6 Coalition, which represents more than 200 consumer, labor, environmental, minority, senior citizens', women's and peace organizations, it was the largest anti-nuclear rally ever held in the United States. Furthermore, it was organized in only three weeks. In a mood reminiscent of the '6os, the protesters marched down Penn sylvania Avenue from the White House .to the Capitol, shouting chants like, "Two-four-six eight, we don't want to radiate," and "Hell no, we won't glow." The marchers represented a diverse cross-section of America; children, students, parents and grandparents came from as far as Maine, Florida, Wisconsin and California. Penn State's Eco-Action sponsored buses from Harrisburg that delivered 175 Penn Staters to the rally. Speaking in front of the Capitol, consumer advocate Ralph Nader fired up the crowd and urged everyone to take his message back home, to "the grass roots." Pointing an accusing finger at President Carter and Secretary of Energy James Schlesinger, Nader said, "It was candidate Carter, you remember, who said repeatedly in 1976 that nuclear power was to be the last resort and that energy con servation, solar energy, and clean coal were first resorts. It is President Carter who is now saying full speed ahead, under faster licensing, to more nuclear plants." He added that Schlesinger supports nuclear power and refuses to hear the facts on the issue. "The energy monopoloids," he said, "profit from a wasteful energy economy." He said the needs and safety of the consumers are being sacrificed for the profits of the few. Jane Fonda, star of the movie "The China Syndrome," said the events portrayed in the movie were fact. The fiction, she said, is the assurance we have been given about the safety of nuclear 'energy. Schlesinger should From left, John Hall, Graham Nash, Dan Fogelberg; Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell were among the musi cians entertaining the crowd at the Washington rally. be fired, Fonda said. "Putting Schlesinger in charge of energy is like putting Dracula in charge of a blood bank," she said. Tom Hayden, Fonda's husband and chairman of the Campaign for Economic Democracy, said "Carter has thrown away the strongest thing he had'— his honesty," because he lied, about the safety of nuclear power. . If the government put as much urgency into the energy problem as it did into the space program, Hayden said, all 72 nuclear energy plants could be phased out and solar energy could be phased in. Instead, he said, the government is "studying solar energy to death." California Gov. Jerry Brown called for a moratorium on nuclear energy, urging the crowd to join the "politics of the future" and protect the next generation from the. evils and risks that come from "living and profiting off an addiction to nuclear power." Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who could not attend the rally, sent a letter to the May 6 Coalition in sup port of its cause. "The nuclear safety licensing process is not working," Kennedy said. "The dream of nuclear power has become a nightmare of nuclear fear." 4 \ STATE COLLEGE MOTOR INN, INC . Kennedy said he is glad to be a part of Congress' national reassessment to determine if further commitments should be made to nuclear power, which he said now provides less than four percent of the country's energy. "The question is not whether to build nuclear power plants quickly," he said. "Unless we can build them safely, they should not be built at all." Comedian Dick Gregory, who fasted during the Vietnam war, vowed to stop eating solid food until all nuclear plants are shut down. "I'd rather have a brown-out or a black-out than a people-out," he said. The . government officials who favor nuclear power and assure the country that it is safe are "ugly, little monkeys," Kurt Vonnegut said. "I hate them. They may think they are cute. They are not cute. They stink," the author said. And their "stupid stinking, lies" will kill everything on this blue-green earth, he added. Jackson Browne, who has been against nuclear energy since long before the accident at Three Mile Island, said of the celebrities who turned out for the demonstration, "There are no stars in the nuclear movement. Only people." In his 1973 song "Foi Everyman," Browne said that if everyone gets EVERY WElMEiliiiirtittallitiEDNESDAY Bowl of Chili & Chips 59' Reg. 85c Try our other Daily Specials au I ?v , I . .1 Taco, Chili, & Chips $1.09 F -p , .1 Dinner Special $2.19 *l e 131 S. Garner St. • 234-4725 Walk to classes and summer fun Cedarbrook Penn Towers Beaver Hill Garner Court Now renting at reduced summer rates A.W. & Sons Enterprise Rental Office Hours 340 E. Beaver Avenue M-F 8:30.5, Sat. 10.4 State College, PA 16801 814/237.0363 Photo by Mary Ellen Wright John Sebastian also performed individually and together with the rest of the singers. together "to gain the motherland," they can make a difference. He summed up the feelings of the crowd when he sang, "Some of them were angry at the way the earth was abused, by the men who learned how to forget her beauty into power. And they struggled to protect her, only to be confused by the magnitude of the few . . ." from his 1974 song, "Before the Deluge." Also, Browne and John Sebastian joined John Hall in asking for "the warm power of the sun," in the song, "Take All Your Atomic Poison Power Away." Graham Nash urged the crowd to learn from their mistakes in his 1970 classic, "Teach Your Children." Then, heightening the excitement the music had created, he introduced Joni Mitchell, an unannounced musician who traveled from Canada for the rally. Mitchell rejuvenated her music from the last decade, singing "The Circle Game," "Woodstock," and "Big Yellow Taxi." All the musicians joined Dan Fogelberg in his song, "There's a Place in the World For A Gambler." Browne urged everyone to "sing it for the sun," which had been blazing all afternoon. Together, the crowd sang the chorus, "let it shine." Vial Photo by Mary Ellen Wright One of the thousands of protesters turning out for the anti-nuclear rally hoists a sign bearing one of the simpler slogans of the day directly in front of the speakers' podium at the Capitol. Local No Nuke group attends weekend rally By LARRY GALLONE Daily Collegian Staff Writer About 175 members of a local anti nuclear group participated in the anti nuclear protest in Washington Sunday. The group is an offshoot of Eco-Action, Jim Perkins, group member said. The group has no official name or head, Perkins said. "We work by consensus," he added. The group was formed in a response to the Three Mile Island incident, group member Dennis McHugh said. Ac cording to McHugh, the initial response in membership was good. Despite the turnout at their first meeting, however, McHugh said many of the people at tending may have been "riding a band wagon." About half the group members are students and the other half people from town, including some professors, , ' •:.: 1 0k" • I .1% i. ...., • * .ifi f ' 1, ' • • •t - --, , *I N. - - . Frroperty Management Inc., Real Estate The Daily Collegian Wednesday, May 9, 1979- 1 4 ‘ Ill\ Perkins said. The group calls itself the "No Nukes of the North," he said. The main objective of the group, ac cording to McHugh, is to educate people about the potential danger of nuclear power. "Our job is to educate people on a grassroots level to provide information to those who do not know about nukes or who do not have an opinion," he said. Group member Vicki Klinger said the group would like to dispel the notion that nuclear power is necessary. "We want to gear our energies and motivation toward positive action to alternative energy sources," she said. Perkins showed concern about the sincerity of the people participating in the rally in Washington. "The response may have been too much of an adhoc thing," Perkins said. Park forest Apartipepts 901-E West Aaron Drive 238-1443 *Free Bus Pass *Free Cable TV *Free Parking *Air Conditioning *9 and 12 Month Leases osloo Security Deposit *Swimming Pool *Summer Leases
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers