The Common Good
March-April 2000

Briefly Noted

by Ryan Beiler | March-April 2000

  • On New Year’s Eve, 310 of the more than 500 activists gathered at the Nevada Test
    Site committed civil disobedience, calling for the abolition of nuclear arms.
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  • On New Year’s Eve, 310 of the more than 500 activists gathered at the Nevada Test Site committed civil disobedience, calling for the abolition of nuclear arms. Polls have shown that 80 percent of U.S. citizens support a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, despite its defeat by Senate Republicans last fall.
  • After two years living 180 feet from the ground in a giant redwood tree in northern California, environmentalist Julia Butterfly succeeded in negotiating a settlement with Pacific Lumber Company that will permanently protect the site from logging.
  • In response to rising outrage over gun violence, a grassroots women’s campaign for gun safety laws is planning a "Million Mom March" for Mothers Day 2000 in Washington, D.C., aiming "either to celebrate sensible legislation or to protest bipartisan ineptitude."
  • As the Chinese government clamps down on what it considers "politically threatening" religious groups, laws targeting the Falun Gong spiritual movement have also been used to imprison more than 100 Christian leaders in the unsanctioned house church movement, which is estimated to have 30 to 40 million members. In comparison, restricted but officially sanctioned churches have around 19 million members.
    • Despite a climate of nationalistic support for the brutal war against Chechnya, the Committee of Soldier’s Mothers of Russia has worked for peace since 1994 by cooperating with Chechen women in organizing anti-war activities, denouncing human rights violations by both sides, and working for release of prisoners-of-war.
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