Two Groups to Sponsor Rally Protesting Nuclear Arms Race

The Boston Clamshell Alliance and the Mobilization for Survival (MFS) will co-sponsor a rally Saturday to protest the development of nuclear weapons and the arms race.

The rally, at Sennott Park, near Central Square, will feature speeches by members of the Cambridge Community, and representatives of the labor and antinuclear movements. Dorothy Boudreau, a member of the MFS and an organizer of the protest, said yesterday.

Sweet Silent Thought

Boudreau said the protesters will march to Draper Laboratories, a developer of nuclear weapons guidance systems, after the rally to hear more speakers and for a silent vigil.

She said the group is protesting the social costs of the arms race as well as the destructive dangers.

"The arms race is inflationary and wrecking the economy because it's putting dollars into the market and not goods and services. It's taking away from spending on basic human needs," she added.

Complexities

She said the protest is directed at the military-industrial complex to change the orientation of the economy from military to civilian needs.

Jonathan King, a professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said yesterday laboratories such as Draper should "convert weapons labs to more productive needs, such as developing computerized conservation technology."

"People have to understand that we must end the war economy in order to attain a decent standard of living," he added.

No spokesmen from Draper, Laboratories were available to comment yesterday