UC Students Hunger Strike Against Nukes

Starting May 9th, students will begin hunger striking against the planned construction of a new Hydrogen Bomb -- which would be the first new nuclear bomb built since the end of the Cold War -- using University of California researchers and resources. In fact, the UC system has had a hand in the production of every nuclear bomb the U.S. has ever made, due to their involvement in the management of Los Alamos laboratory and other government sites. From the hunger striker's blog:

The hunger strikers' basic position is this: At this critical time in our world, with the survival of our planetary ecosystem hanging in the balance, it is imperative for the UC Regents to stop providing a fig leaf of academic respectability to the creation of the world's most toxic and deadly weapons, and instead use their position of political leverage to spur the US toward genuine nuclear disarmament, democratization, and demilitarization.

Find out more about the larger UC Nuclear Free campaign here. These students and community members have, for years, used a variety of effective tactics to get their message out, and to pressure the UC Regents.

This is what happens when students don't have a say in the running of their own "higher" education.

I wonder if it would be prudent to get faculty members to sign refusal cards, stating they will not participate in the planning, production or experimentation related to a nuclear weapon. Are the UC faculty unionized? That might be another venue for effective resistance to the program.