ANTI-WAR FAST BEGINS
AT WHITE HOUSE GATES


Physicist Vows to Fast Till U.S. Leaders Commit to The End of War -- OR, If Necessary, Till Death

LAFAYETTE PARK, D.C. -- On September 23, l986, Charles Hyder, Ph.D., resumed fasting next to his two 4' x 4' signs, which he tends around the clock on the sidewalk of Lafayette ("Peace") Park, outside President Reagan's front door.

On June 2lst he had concluded a 33-day fast to gauge the public's response to the idea of fasting.

Now, with family and friends gathering around him from all over the country, Hyder again subsists only on water, air, and a sparkling zest for life, fasting so we all might live without fear of a worldwide nuclear holocaust -- if necessary, till death.

"THERE IS NO CURE FOR A WORLDWIDE NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST."

Thus I must put my life on the line in order to stop this nuclear madness.

"I have committed to this fast to END WAR unless U.S. citizens rise up and begin to turn the government away from its warring policies," Dr. Hyder explains.

"REAGAN: HISTORY AWAITS YOU and OUR FASTING," one of his signs greets motorists cruising west on Pennsylvania Ave.; "END WAR - END VIOLENCE - END TYRANNY" another sign exhorts.

Charles Hyder is a massive man (6'2") whose credentials as a physicist and established reputation as an anti-nuclear activist match his impressive girth.

Born April l8, l930 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Hyder received degrees in physics and astro/geo/physics at the universities of New Mexico and Colorado (respectively), taught at UCLA and the University of New Mexico, and worked for NASA for many years as a solar physicist.

He decided he must take the initiative to act after he read "The Population Bomb" by Paul Ehrlich. He educated himself on nuclear tech-nology. When the U.S. government proposed burying spent nuclear fuel rods in New Mexico salt deposits, he studied the geophysics of salt.

Hyder's calculations showed that the heat from spent fuel rods buried in salt deposits would cause huge, hot bubbles of radioactive salt to rise to the earth's surface within a matter of "30 to 300 years."

He and some friends at Southwest Research and Information Center spent the l970's successfully lobbying the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, testifying before Congress, and rallying the public against the proposed nuclear waste dump in salt in southern New Mexico.

Although his activism cost him his job at NASA, Hyder had no regrets. "Now salt is no longer acceptable as a storage medium for spent fuel rods from nuclear power plants," he reports.

As a result of his work in New Mexico, Hyder was one of twenty international physicists employed by the state government of Lower Saxony (West Germany) to critique the federal government's plans to bury German radwastes in the Gorleben saltdome. (West Germany's plans were shelved.)

Hyder's studies of nuclear technology in the early 70's showed that humans would not survive a significant nuclear exchange between the USA and the USSR.

"Bomb blast and fire deaths, combined with radiation deaths from nuclear releases from a hundred-plus nuclear reactors in meltdown (like Chernobyl), would kill all humans on the earth over the next ten to fifty years," Hyder found.

"Some deaths would occur within a few months due to prompt radiation effects, but the majority would be due to cancers manifest over many years."

Later studies by Dr. Carl Sagan and others in the USA and in the USSR showed that a "nuclear winter" of many months duration would also kill off all higher forms of plant and animal life on the earth, compounding Hyder's sense of urgency.

In l982, Hyder states, "I quit contributing voluntarily to U.S. national violence when the USS New Jersey shelled Beirut. In l984 I quit 'working,' began giving away all of my possessions, and started full-time, active work toward averting the impending nuclear holocaust." Charles Hyder believes in miracles.

It is for the sake of his five grown children "and everyone else on earth" that Hyder now chooses to devote -- and risk -- his life for an end to war and holocaust-producing weapons.

"What will change your mind?" I asked him, echoing the many visitors to Lafayette Park who have stopped by his signs. "When the U.S. government makes binding commitments to dismantle and disable all nuclear warheads safely by the year 2000 and not replace them -- "-- and promises not to use or support violent offensive military operations against other nations as an option in international relations -- "-- and promises to pursue an aggressive, good faith effort to get the USSR and the rest of the nations of the world to join the USA in these commitments," Hyder replied.

"What do you mean by 'binding commitments'?" "Proposals for Amendments to the U.S. Constitution by the U.S. Congress would do," he said.

"The world's population is the disenfranchised victim of the USA, USSR, and other countries' nuclear buildup. We cannot stand by and let this insane threat become a horrible reality.

"Only total disarmament can bring us to a state where the end of war can be realized in order to assure that no holocaust can occur."

"Do you really think that one man fasting (perhaps to death) is going to convince Congress to pass amendments to the Constitution that would force the weapons industries and their lobbyists to give up their profits?" I asked. "Maybe not. But one man fasting (perhaps to death) might prick other people into action. If a nonviolent clog-up of Washington were to occur, there will be no need for anyone to die fasting.

"The lawmakers will have to listen when enough people hit the streets, flood the mails, tie up the phone lines, shut down transportation systems, and walk out of their offices and factories.

"You know, of course, that Charlie Liteky, George Miso, Duncan Murphy and Brian Willson have also started 'fasting for life in Central America'" (two on September l and two on September l5), "to stop U.S. contributions to inhumanity, killing and war there.

"The Great Peace March is also due to arrive in mid-November. It's time for other concerned citizens to act."

"The weapons manufacturers seem quite comfortable with the 40-odd wars they're currently supplying," I mused. "Is there a practical alternative to the arms industry if the government can be persuaded to cease weapons production, sales and use, as you sug- gest?"

"Yes! Clean-environment industries are needed for human survival, and they can replace our habitual wartime industries. We can provide adequate jobs and maintain our high quality economy while improving the quality of life.

"Non-polluting energy research and development and pre-release toxic waste control and cleanup would be productive beginnings. We need to put the burden of proof on producers of toxic and lethal substances."

"What caused you to begin a water fast here in Lafayette Park?" I asked. "After a few months of participating in the five-year-old 24-hour anti-nuclear/pro-peace vigils here, I found that although public awareness of an inevitable holocaust is high, public apathy about an individual's ability to do anything about it is just as high," Hyder replied.

"'Let George do it,' and 'You four vigilers keep up the good work!' continues to dominate the public's thinking and willingness to act on the issue.

"So I was moved to determine how I (or two or three of us) could motivate enough of the public to do something that would turn the U.S. government away from its active warrior leadership in the world.

"Historically, a few powerless nonviolent people with a clear vision for the good of everyone have used masses of equally powerless people and/or terminal fasting to set their people free. (Gandhi is an example.) "But everyone in the U.S., even the 'poor' and 'powerless' citizens, has too much to lose to accept the risks and discipline required to turn the U.S. government away from funding and supporting the burgeoning weapons industries. "So we are left with terminal fasting as a primary weapon to motivate apathetic citizens to regain control of their government."

Dr. Hyder says he has great hope for the President when unin- formed visitors accuse him of opposing Reagan. Pointing to his sign "REAGAN, HISTORY AWAITS YOU and OUR FASTING," he says "Ronald Reagan has the power and opportunity to be the greatest leader the world has ever known.

"If he can achieve worldwide commitment to nuclear disarmament and stopping violent and deadly military attacks against foreign homelands -- which I believe he can -- then he deserves a paramount place in history."

Perhaps Mr. Reagan will join the growing number of people who visit Dr. Hyder, day and night, at his signs in Lafayette Park.

The president has the same opportunity as the million tourists who step out the front door of the White House each year to walk across Pennsylvania Avenue.

He should look for the American flag drooping or flapping next to the words "PEACE, EQUALITY, COMPASSION" and "NONVIOLENCE - WE WANT YOU!"

Won't YOU DO SOMETHING to help Dr. Hyder's quest to remove the threat of worldwide nuclear holocaust from YOUR life?

Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil ... At the White House Gates... Call: (202) 462-3542. Write: P.O. Box 272l7, D.C., 20038. Feel free to reprint and distribute this article. ANTI-WAR FAST BEGINS AT WHITE HOUSE GATES

Physicist Vows to Fast Till U.S. Leaders Commit to The End of War -- OR, If Necessary, Till Death

LAFAYETTE PARK, D.C. -- On September 23, l986, Charles Hyder, Ph.D., resumed fasting next to his two 4' x 4' signs, which he tends around the clock on the sidewalk of Lafayette ("Peace") Park, outside President Reagan's front door.

On June 2lst he had concluded a 33-day fast to gauge the public's response to the idea of fasting. Now, with family and friends gathering around him from all over the country, Hyder again subsists only on water, air, and a sparkling zest for life, fasting so we all might live without fear of a worldwide nuclear holocaust -- if necessary, till death.

"THERE IS NO CURE FOR A WORLDWIDE NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST. Thus I must put my life on the line in order to stop this nuclear madness.

"I have committed to this fast to END WAR unless U.S. citizens rise up and begin to turn the government away from its warring policies," Dr. Hyder explains.

"REAGAN: HISTORY AWAITS YOU and OUR FASTING," one of his signs greets motorists cruising west on Pennsylvania Ave.; "END WAR - END VIOLENCE - END TYRANNY" another sign exhorts.

Charles Hyder is a massive man (6'2") whose credentials as a physicist and established reputation as an anti-nuclear activist match his impressive girth.

Born April l8, l930 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Hyder received degrees in physics and astro/geo/physics at the universities of New Mexico and Colorado (respectively), taught at UCLA and the Univer- sity of New Mexico, and worked for NASA for many years as a solar physicist.

He decided he must take the initiative to act after he read "The Population Bomb" by Paul Ehrlich. He educated himself on nuclear tech-nology. When the U.S. government proposed burying spent nuclear fuel rods in New Mexico salt deposits, he studied the geophysics of salt.

Hyder's calculations showed that the heat from spent fuel rods buried in salt deposits would cause huge, hot bubbles of radioactive salt to rise to the earth's surface within a matter of "30 to 300 years."

He and some friends at Southwest Research and Information Center spent the l970's successfully lobbying the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, testifying before Congress, and rallying the public against the proposed nuclear waste dump in salt in southern New Mexico.

Although his activism cost him his job at NASA, Hyder had no regrets. "Now salt is no longer acceptable as a storage medium for spent fuel rods from nuclear power plants," he reports.

As a result of his work in New Mexico, Hyder was one of twenty international physicists employed by the state government of Lower Saxony (West Germany) to critique the federal government's plans to bury German radwastes in the Gorleben saltdome. (West Germany's plans were shelved.)

Hyder's studies of nuclear technology in the early 70's showed that humans would not survive a significant nuclear exchange between the USA and the USSR.

"Bomb blast and fire deaths, combined with radiation deaths from nuclear releases from a hundred-plus nuclear reactors in meltdown (like Chernobyl), would kill all humans on the earth over the next ten to fifty years," Hyder found.

"Some deaths would occur within a few months due to prompt radiation effects, but the majority would be due to cancers manifest over many years."

Later studies by Dr. Carl Sagan and others in the USA and in the USSR showed that a "nuclear winter" of many months duration would also kill off all higher forms of plant and animal life on the earth, compounding Hyder's sense of urgency.

In l982, Hyder states, "I quit contributing voluntarily to U.S. national violence when the USS New Jersey shelled Beirut. In l984 I quit 'working,' began giving away all of my possessions, and started full-time, active work toward averting the impending nuclear holocaust." Charles Hyder believes in miracles.

It is for the sake of his five grown children "and everyone else on earth" that Hyder now chooses to devote -- and risk -- his life for an end to war and holocaust-producing weapons. "What will change your mind?" I asked him, echoing the many visitors to Lafayette Park who have stopped by his signs. "When the U.S. government makes binding commitments to dismantle and disable all nuclear warheads safely by the year 2000 and not replace them -- "-- and promises not to use or support violent offensive military operations against other nations as an option in international relations -- "-- and promises to pursue an aggressive, good faith effort to get the USSR and the rest of the nations of the world to join the USA in these commitments," Hyder replied.

"What do you mean by 'binding commitments'?" "Proposals for Amendments to the U.S. Constitution by the U.S. Congress would do," he said. "The world's population is the disenfranchised victim of the USA, USSR, and other countries' nuclear buildup. We cannot stand by and let this insane threat become a horrible reality.

"Only total disarmament can bring us to a state where the end of war can be realized in order to assure that no holocaust can occur."

"Do you really think that one man fasting (perhaps to death) is going to convince Congress to pass amendments to the Constitution that would force the weapons industries and their lobbyists to give up their profits?" I asked. "Maybe not. But one man fasting (perhaps to death) might prick other people into action. If a nonviolent clog-up of Washington were to occur, there will be no need for anyone to die fasting.

"The lawmakers will have to listen when enough people hit the streets, flood the mails, tie up the phone lines, shut down transportation systems, and walk out of their offices and factories.

"You know, of course, that Charlie Liteky, George Miso, Duncan Murphy and Brian Willson have also started 'fasting for life in Central America'" (two on September l and two on September l5), "to stop U.S. contributions to inhumanity, killing and war there.

"The Great Peace March is also due to arrive in mid-November. It's time for other concerned citizens to act."

"The weapons manufacturers seem quite comfortable with the 40-odd wars they're currently supplying," I mused. "Is there a practical alternative to the arms industry if the government can be persuaded to cease weapons production, sales and use, as you sug- gest?"

"Yes! Clean-environment industries are needed for human survival, and they can replace our habitual wartime industries. We can provide adequate jobs and maintain our high quality economy while improving the quality of life.

"Non-polluting energy research and development and pre-release toxic waste control and cleanup would be productive beginnings. We need to put the burden of proof on producers of toxic and lethal substances."

"What caused you to begin a water fast here in Lafayette Park?" I asked. "After a few months of participating in the five-year-old 24-hour anti-nuclear/pro-peace vigils here, I found that although public awareness of an inevitable holocaust is high, public apathy about an individual's ability to do anything about it is just as high," Hyder replied.

"'Let George do it,' and 'You four vigilers keep up the good work!' continues to dominate the public's thinking and willingness to act on the issue.

"So I was moved to determine how I (or two or three of us) could motivate enough of the public to do something that would turn the U.S. government away from its active warrior leadership in the world.

"Historically, a few powerless nonviolent people with a clear vision for the good of everyone have used masses of equally powerless people and/or terminal fasting to set their people free. (Gandhi is an example.)

"But everyone in the U.S., even the 'poor' and 'powerless' citizens, has too much to lose to accept the risks and discipline required to turn the U.S. government away from funding and supporting the burgeoning weapons industries.

"So we are left with terminal fasting as a primary weapon to motivate apathetic citizens to regain control of their government."

Dr. Hyder says he has great hope for the President when uninformed visitors accuse him of opposing Reagan.

Pointing to his sign "REAGAN, HISTORY AWAITS YOU and OUR FASTING," he says "Ronald Reagan has the power and opportunity to be the greatest leader the world has ever known.

"If he can achieve worldwide commitment to nuclear disarmament and stopping violent and deadly military attacks against foreign homelands -- which I believe he can -- then he deserves a paramount place in history."

Perhaps Mr. Reagan will join the growing number of people who visit Dr. Hyder, day and night, at his signs in Lafayette Park.

The president has the same opportunity as the million tourists who step out the front door of the White House each year to walk across Pennsylvania Avenue.

He should look for the American flag drooping or flapping next to the words "PEACE, EQUALITY, COMPASSION" and "NONVIOLENCE - WE WANT YOU!"

Won't YOU DO SOMETHING to help Dr. Hyder's quest to remove the threat of worldwide nuclear holocaust from YOUR life?

Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil ... At the White House Gates... Call: (202) 462-3542. Write: P.O. Box 272l7, D.C., 20038.

Feel free to reprint and distribute this article.