{"id":51987,"date":"2022-01-26T17:44:44","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T17:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wagingnonviolence.org\/cnv\/?p=51987"},"modified":"2022-01-28T20:21:05","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T20:21:05","slug":"its-time-nuclear-armed-states-walk-the-walk-on-disarmament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wagingnonviolence.org\/cnv\/2022\/01\/its-time-nuclear-armed-states-walk-the-walk-on-disarmament\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s time nuclear-armed states walk the walk on disarmament"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Jan. 3, the five nuclear-armed states with the largest nuclear arsenals issued a joint statement<\/a> declaring that they \u201cconsider the avoidance of war between nuclear-weapon states and the reduction of strategic risks as our foremost responsibilities.\u201d The statement goes on to \u201caffirm that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.\u201d With the Doomsday Clock<\/a> of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists standing at 100 seconds to midnight \u2014 \u201cthe closest it has ever been to civilization-ending apocalypse\u201d \u2014 this statement would appear to be good news for the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, all five of the signatories to the statement are currently engaged in maintaining powerful nuclear arsenals. Not only are these far larger than what would be required to destroy human civilization, and possibly most life on earth, but also these nations are planning huge expenditures to upgrade the \u201cusability\u201d and lethality of those arsenals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. is leading the spending and spurring on the arms race, but the other nuclear-armed nations \u2014 apparently still under the illusion that these weapons make them safer \u2014 are joining the U.S. in pursuing this travesty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So are we to believe that the nuclear-armed states have seen the danger in their continued flirtation with nuclear Armageddon, or that they are just gaslighting the rest of the world, including their own people, with this statement?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although most U.S. residents may not know it, nuclear weapons have been outlawed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Although most U.S. residents may not know it because the mainstream media has rarely mentioned it, nuclear weapons have been outlawed<\/em>. A United Nations treaty \u2014 the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons<\/a> \u2014 was approved by 122 nations and has now been ratified by 59. As the 50th nation ratified the treaty, it came into legal force globally on Jan. 22, 2021 \u2013 one year ago. This exciting treaty bans developing, testing, producing, acquiring, possessing, stockpiling and threatening to use nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, you may ask, what good is the treaty if the nuclear-armed states won\u2019t sign it? Good question, because none of the nine nuclear-armed states has signed so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As usual with major social changes, the leadership does not often come from the so-called \u201cleaders\u201d (who are actually not leaders<\/em>, but rather representatives<\/em>). It comes from the people affected by governments\u2019 policies. The treaty itself was the result of enormous pressure generated by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons<\/a>, or ICAN, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 for its effort, working with non-nuclear-armed states and many other organizations around the world. Getting the nuclear-armed states to join in will likewise take sustained pressure from a large organized movement. ICAN is building that movement, but is having much more success in Europe than in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, we here in the U.S. \u2014 despite the urgency of addressing climate change, protecting democracy, eliminating racial discrimination, decreasing the wealth gap, recovering from COVID and all the other challenges we face \u2014 cannot afford to ignore this threat, which could end the world we love at virtually any moment, especially as tension tightens over Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know it is possible to build such a movement because it has been done twice before here in the U.S. First in the 1950s, when above-ground nuclear weapons testing was releasing radioactive fallout that was poisoning mothers\u2019 breast milk. That movement drove nuclear weapons testing underground in 1963. Then, in the 1980s when President Ronald Reagan was joking about nuclear bombing the Soviet Union, another huge movement led to the cessation of explosive nuclear weapons testing, and ultimately to the Treaty on Intermediate Nuclear Forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time we must build a movement strong enough to abolish nuclear weapons altogether. It will take a lot of work and will not happen overnight, but if we want to survive, it is up to the citizens of the nuclear-armed nations to demand that their governments conclude the nuclear disarmament agreements necessary to enable all of them to sign the nuclear ban treaty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n