Nuclear Resister's Annual Fund Appeal
Posted: 30th November 2025
November 2025
Dear friends,
Yes, this is the Nuclear Resister’s annual fund appeal, and your help is very much needed as we continue to report on anti-nuclear and anti-war arrests, and support imprisoned activists.
It was 45 years ago this fall that the first issue of the Nuclear Resister newsletter was published, and now we are working on issue #207! Your support has been essential and appreciated over these many years. Thank you!
We met as young activists in our early 20s when Ronald Reagan was running for president. We remember our great dismay when he was elected. But we did not imagine how much worse it would get.
We recall the time Reagan said into a hot mic, “My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”
He was joking, even if we didn’t laugh. If only we could say the same about the President today.
As we write this, we are experiencing another episode of disbelief-and-anger-inducing, head-spinning, Constitution- defying executive excess. It’s just 10 months into Trump’s second term, and with his singular ignorance, lies and bluster, he recently ordered the “Department of War” to “start testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis” with Russia and China “immediately.”
Unfortunately he’s not joking. It does appear that he is conflating the testing of missiles that deliver a nuclear warhead with the testing of the warheads, but the Secretary of Energy, the department that actually oversees nuclear testing, sounded less than convincing when he told Fox News that “I think the tests we’re talking about right now are system tests. These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call non-critical explosions.”
Also known as “subcritical”, such testing has been ongoing since the end of underground nuclear detonations in 1992. So what Trump means in practice remains to be seen, but it falls in line with the demands of Project 2025, which calls for immediate nuclear test readiness and for the U.S. to reject ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
We are remembering the many times, starting in the 1980’s, that we regularly trekked to the Nevada nuclear test site for protests and nonviolent direct actions, as did many of you. Our small station wagon was filled to overflowing with two little ones, toys, a picnic lunch and stacks of newsletters to hand out while fundraising with buttons and bumperstickers to sell. Sometimes we joined the thousands of people over the years who were arrested after climbing the fence or crossing the line at the test site’s main gate.
We were last there to protest with the Pacific Life Community in March 2024, and if we need to go back again to say no to Trump’s tests, we’ll be there.
That prospect rekindles our grief for the beleaguered downwinders, the atomic veterans and the Western Shoshone, whose land, seized by the U.S. government in the mid-1900’s without their consent and used to test atmospheric and later underground nuclear weapons, is already one of the most bombed places on Earth.
In these chaotic, troubling times, we can only imagine what lies ahead.
Lawless immigration-related “enforcement” and imprisonment is showing us what is possible, as we take note of activists, even Democratic Party members, being branded as antifa, socialists, communists, anti-capitalist, anti-American, and even “terrorists” and “the enemy within.” The Pentagon has recently ordered all fifty states to prepare National Guard units as “quick reaction forces” for “crowd control”. And Trump told reporters that he could send the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and anybody he wanted into U.S. cities, and would do so if he thought it was necessary.
And we wonder: What will happen in the months ahead to people arrested for nonviolent actions at the nuclear test site, or to those who will resist mounting U.S. aggression against Iran, Venezuela, Nigeria and who knows where next around the world?
Whatever unfolds, the Nuclear Resister is prepared to report on the resistance and keep track of and support imprisoned anti-nuclear and anti-war activists, the vital niche we have filled for the past 45 years.
Last summer we were able to visit Swarthmore College, where we’re slowly but surely depositing the Nuclear Resister archives as part of the library’s vast and impressive Peace Collection. We spent over two hours in delightful, informative conversation with historian and archivist Dr. Sahr Conway-Lanz, Curator of the Swarthmore College Library’s Peace Collection. He took us into the stacks to see where the first boxes we sent have now been cataloged and shelved.
We were glad for the opportunity to visit with Sahr, and sharpen our focus on preserving and sharing the information that we’ve painstakingly gathered and reported since 1980. The archives include a lot of primary source material, including each letter received from an imprisoned activist. We’re also having the nukeresister.org website rebuilt to meet current accessibility and security standards. And, thanks to your previous financial support, we have digitized all of the back issues beginning with #1. That’s the first step towards providing a tool for writers, activists, historians, students and researchers to easily search through each and every issue of the newsletter. Additionally, Jack continues recording nuclear resistance stories, culled from back issues of the newsletter, for broadcast on the award-winning Nuclear Hotseat podcast. (You can listen to them at https://nukeresister.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5e793916f1979bfc73458af19&id=9bb66713cf&e=3a35ade283 or at NuclearHotseat.com)
As we continue the important work of the Nuclear Resister, we invite you to contribute whatever you are able to at this time. Donations large or small will be deeply appreciated!
Thank you, friends, for being on this journey with us. Throughout the years, it’s been wonderful – at demonstrations, conferences and actions in Nevada and elsewhere – to meet so many good people working for a peaceful and nuclear-free future, including many of you! It remains heartening, as well as a significant source of strength and hope, to know we are not alone in the struggle.
Peace,
Felice and Jack Cohen-Joppa
Coordinators
P.S. Checks can be made payable to the Nuclear Resister and mailed to PO Box 43383, Tucson, AZ 85733. Contributions of $50 or more may be tax- deductible if made payable to the Progressive Foundation, with “Nuclear Resister” written on the memo line. Monthly donations are greatly appreciated and can be sent by check or set up via PayPal at the Donate link at www.nukeresister.org (https://nukeresister.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5e793916f1979bfc73458af19&id=3bd0a35bf2&e=3a35ade283) .
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* Please support imprisoned anti-nuclear and anti-war activists – The Nuclear Resister needs YOU!—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-
The Nuclear Resister is a bare bones operation that depends on grassroots support to chronicle anti-nuclear and anti-war resistance, and support the women and men in prison for their acts of conscience. We need your help to continue this work – please read more here (https://nukeresister.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5e793916f1979bfc73458af19&id=b5ba8b0e27&e=3a35ade283) !! Or go directly here (https://nukeresister.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5e793916f1979bfc73458af19&id=0d76fca6b8&e=3a35ade283) to make a secure online donation and find information about how to send a check. Each and every donation, large or small, will be gratefully received – thank you!
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