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Three Days That Could Change the World – This Weekend in New York City!
Barack Obama is undoubtedly the U.S. president most committed to nuclear disarmament since Kennedy. People all over the world have cheered President Obama's commitment to move toward nuclear disarmament.
Yet the stark reality is U.S. and Russia maintain over 20,000 nuclear weapons, many of them on hair-trigger alert, ready to launch on a few minutes' notice. Many are tens or hundreds of times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, which leveled that city and killed over 140,000 people.
The New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) agreement, while welcome, is a modest reduction, leaving the U.S. and Russia with over 1,500 deployed, long-range "strategic", nukes, and thousands more "tactical", short-range weapons and "reserve" nukes in storage. U.S. Senate ratification of New START, where 67 votes are required by the Constitution to approve treaties, may prove difficult, especially without conditions supporting modernization of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex that would undercut the treaty's thrust and appear hypocritical to the rest of the world.
Criticism by some analysts that this treaty and other recent initiatives (the Congressionally-mandated Nuclear Posture Review and Nuclear Security Summit) are too modest or narrow does not diminish the president's stature as a leader on nuclear weapons issues. It reflects the reality that he is a politician, pressured by many constituencies, many of whom do not share his vision of a world made more secure by scrapping nuclear weapons. The Dr. Strangeloves in the nuclear weapons establishment certainly have the president's ear. Their influence needs to be countered by an engaged public in the U.S. and around the world.
We have the opportunity to do just that at the upcoming Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference (NPT RevCon), held every five years at the United Nations in New York.
The NPT is the cornerstone of the global nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime. It has three main tenets - disarmament, non-proliferation, and the development nuclear energy. Because of the dangers of catastrophic accidents like Chernobyl, the unsolved problem of storing and safeguarding nuclear waste and the potential that "peaceful" nuclear programs or materials can morph into weapons programs, nuclear energy should be replaced with safe, renewable, "green" energy sources.
Regarding nuclear weapons, the NPT review is a unique opportunity, yet one that comes at a moment of potential crisis. Concern over Israel's undeclared nuclear arsenal and the possibility that Iran may seek a nuclear weapons capacity has spurred a renewed call for a Middle East Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone by countries in the region. If this is blocked at the NPT Review, there is concern that countries in the region such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and others might seek nuclear weapons.
This is only one crucial non-proliferation issue requiring progress at the review conference. In the realm of disarmament, many non-nuclear countries are impatient with progress toward fulfilling the NPT's Article VI, which calls for the original nuclear states (the Unites States, Russia, China, France and Great Britain) to disarm in exchange for the non-nuclear states forgoing nuclear weapons. The NPT became international law in 1970, so the impatience is understandable and warranted.
The NPT is the world's most widely adhered-to treaty, with 186 signatory countries, but U.S. leadership is crucial. President Obama has a golden opportunity, and an obligation really, to make bold progress toward the global elimination of the world's most deadly weapons.
He won't do it alone, and he won't be alone. In addition to the delegates from the member states, tens of thousands of people from around the world will gather in New York this weekend, just before the NPT RevCon opens. Events will include an international conference, rally, march and festival to demonstrate international civil society's support for peace, disarmament and prioritizing human and environmental needs over nuclear weapons and war.
Three days that can change the world!
This weekend New York City, Peace Action, and international coalition organizing under the banner "Disarm Now! For Peace and Human Needs" and thousands of activists from around the world will take a stand against nuclear weapons with a groundbreaking conference on disarmament and a mass demonstration of global importance. The events are the culmination of an international petition campaign involving over 4 million people.
We call on you to stand with the Hibakusha, the survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Yoko Ono, LUSH Cosmetics, President Obama, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and peace and disarmament activists from countries around the globe to take action for a world free of nuclear weapons.
This week, international artist Yoko Ono urged participation in the three days of action on her website.
LUSH, the international organic cosmetics company, is supporting Peace Action and the international petition campaign calling upon President Obama to engage in "multilateral negotiations on an international agreement to abolish nuclear weapons, within our lifetimes."
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will keynote the International Conference for Nuclear-Free, Peaceful, Just and Sustainable World. Last fall, he said, "nuclear disarmament is the only sane path to a safer world."
Last year, President Obama reminded the world that taking steps towards a world without nuclear weapons is a moral responsibility. Without action, organizing and protest, that moral responsibility will never be realized.
There is still time to help change history.
1) Be in Times Square at 1:30 PM on Sunday, May 2! Rally in Times Square (South of 41th Street on 7th Avenue) to call for No Nukes, No Wars, Fund Human Needs, Protect the Planet!
March to Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza at the UN with Hibakusha, people from the US who have been harmed by uranium mining and nuclear weapons testing, as well as peace activists and nuclear abolitionists from across the US and countries around the world.. Close the afternoon by participating in a dynamic International Peace & Music Festival from 4-6:00 PM.
2) Watch Live Web Streaming of International Conference for Nuclear-Free, Peaceful, Just and Sustainable World, April 30 -May 1.
On the eve of the U.N. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will join over 800 participants at historic Riverside Church in Manhattan to discuss the urgency of nuclear abolition and the new opportunities for disarmament.
The abolition of nuclear weapons and shifting the world's resources from war planning to feeding, healing and housing the peoples of the world is what is needed in the 21st century. We must make it happen, in our lifetime.
Live Web Streaming
The conference is now at full capacity. We are working on the logistics for live web streaming of Ban Ki-moon's address, and all the plenary speakers on Friday night and Saturday. Check www.peaceandjusticenow.org on Friday, April 30 for details.
Organize viewing parties in your area! Timing and list of plenary speakers are up on the peaceandjusticenow.org website.
Whether or not you can join us in New York this weekend, all people of conscience need to seize on (in the immortal words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) "the fierce urgency of now" in demanding peace, disarmament, social justice and environmental restoration.
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26 Comments so far
Show AllThe article begins:
"Barack Obama is undoubtedly the U.S. president most committed to nuclear disarmament since Kennedy."
I disagree. Even the evil Nixon's deals with the Soviets had less loopholes than Obama's proposals.
No shit!
At least we'll know where all the world's most gullible fools will be this weekend!
I'll have to agree with the statement "Barack Obama is undoubtedly the U.S. president most committed to nuclear disarmament since Kennedy." But this is only because Kennedy almost brought the U.S. into a nuclear war with the USSR during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It's like saying "Barack Obama is the most committed to regulating corporations since Ronald Reagan." Or, "Barack Obama is as committed to peace as Theodore Roosevelt." Or "Barack Obama is as opposed to torture as George W. Bush."
My congratulations to this organization. I add my prayers to a successful and safe conference with progress toward a noble goal.
Who in their right mind would trust a nation that regularly violates international laws and ratified treaties (and thus its own constitution and fundamental legal principles going back to Magna Carta Libertatum) to honor ANY agreement that might be reached about ANYTHING whatever? Would you?!
obomber is a two faced murderous liar ! Pretty words about peace and no nukes.... while he builds fascist amerika's nuke arsenal, threatens and occupies nations and murders and tortures all for amerikan imperialism !
The problem is not nuclear weapons as such, it is Empire. As long as Empire holds sway over the world, it will not completely divest itself of its nuclear weapons. Its nuclear weapons are its central blackmailing device: they maintain the terror that has been deployed over the world since 1945.
Obama's speeches and deeds about reducing nuclear weapons are just so much political theater.
‘Apocalypstick’ Pie empirePie
Hey ya all better hanker for Hank
and hearken to the dart in the bull
The next bear is gonna be steeper
than any empire keeper can claim a bucket for
This isn’t ordinary Bush / Obammer bull so get out the pail
debtor’s jail don’t chain no daisy failures
The bull’s brass balls are low hangin
like the fruit of empire ripe
and the loot or sheets of rope
won’t spread the power poke robes
who sell indulgences for rat singers
scurrying for the cover of safer lucre
as the global pig screams for a chute
and a bigger pail for all the loot.
Bail Hank bail
don’t pass on the bear
or boot on the bankie
save all the Heils for the fungus fallout
and high style for future ‘pig lipstick roses’
with all the bailin sounds, sing the baleful tune
bye bye ‘Apocalypstick’ pie
Nuclear disarmament is a primary imperative--and the US is the primary threat to world survival.
The US is the first and only state to use atomic weapons and in fact the US is at this moment still conducting nuclear warfare--Serbia and Iraq are covered with low level radiation from the explosion of depleted uranium munitions.
Millions of people are affected and are dying of cancer and other diseases with huge rises in miscarriages and birth defects.
This is a US war crime and a form of nuclear warfare.
Obama is a fraud on the issue--he engineers a small step in cutting back on nuclear warheads and then uses the occasion to threaten Iran and North Korea with a first strike nuclear attack.
The US is the problem.
It is said that we should feed what we wish to expand. I wish to expand peace and so, although I have been disappointed with President Obama, I will accentuate the positive and join with the 800 people at Riverside Church hoping to bring the U.S. into better compliance with the world community's desire for peace and nuclear disarmament. Yes, talk is cheap. I agree. But negativity and nay-saying isn't going to do it. Postive thinking alone will not do it. But positive thinking with action will make a difference. How big of a difference? That remains to be seen but every voice counts, every action counts. Please be there, if you can, on Sunday in NYC for the rally and march.
ALSO, there will also be an Interfaith Peace Convocation at the Church Center for the United Nations, 777 UN Plaza (corner of 1st Avenue and 44th Street, Manhattan)from noon to 1 pm prior to the march on Sunday.
I refuse to sit down and let the military-industrial complex continue to roll over us. And I am pleased to be joining with others who refuse to accept the status quo and are demanding more. Our Common Dreams must become reality. In the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. we will be working toward that reality at Riverside Church and in the streets of Manhattan on Sunday. Please join us in person or in spirit but please do what you can for peace and justice. Let nukes rust in peace and compassion prevail.
Peace hugs,
Kate Anne
"But negativity and nay-saying isn't going to do it"
Typical American naive need to be positive.
There are times when close to absolute Nihilism is a required political phase.
This is one of them.
The Corporate Fascists and Military Industrial Complex are laughing their ass off at your mandatory Norman Vincent Peale routine while they murder masses around the world.
Well said. I couldn't agree more.
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that." [MLK, Jr.] Name-calling isn't my way to bring light. I find it sad and counter-productive. Draining even. Instead, I counter with action and....
Peace hugs,
Kate Anne
Nihilism is not necessarily dark--sometimes it is very bright light indeed, shining into previously unlit nooks and crannies.
"Once it attains the stage of the integrated spectacular, self-proclaimed democratic society seems to be generally accepted as the realization of a fragile perfection. So that it must no longer be exposed to attacks, being fragile; and indeed is no longer attackable, being perfect, which no other society has been. It is a fragile society because it has great difficulty managing its dangerous technological expansion. But it is a perfect society to be governed; and the proof is that all those who aspire to govern want to govern this one, in the same way, maintaining it almost exactly as it is. For the first time in contemporary Europe, no party or fraction of a party even tries to pretend that they wish to change something important. The commodity can no longer be criticized by anyone: as a general system or even as the particular forms of junk which heads of industry choose to put on the market at any given time.
Wherever the spectacle rules, the only organized forces are those that want the spectacle. No one can any longer be the enemy of what exists, nor transgress the omerta that concerns everything. We have finished with that disturbing conception, which was dominant for over two hundred years, according to which society was criticizable or transformable, reformed or revolutionized. And this has not been obtained by the appearance of new arguments, but quite simply because all argument has become useless. From this result we can measure not universal happiness, but the redoubtable strength of the networks of tyranny."
Guy Debord
"Art can cease being a report about sensations and become a direct organization of more advanced sensations. The point is to produce ourselves rather than things that enslave us."
Guy Debord
Decades ago, Bertrand Russell said that (social) Power is inherently irrational and is exercised for its own sake.
Dictators seem to agree.
This would go far to explain why Obama pursues the Executive Powers that Bush (and others) stole from the Legislative Branch.
One small example: to DO war without a Legislative Declaration, per the Constitution.
Is there any reason now to forget Eleanor Roosevelt and the creation of the United Nations?
Power is as Power does. Only universal consciousness will change this disastrous paradigm.
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There have been exceptions--human beings who have curbed the political power given them or laid it down after having accomplished what they set out to do but they have been few and far behind, and most of them were raised in a certain consciousness and in a cultural complex which, distintegrating, called on the best among them to save them.
"When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?" -- Eleanor Roosevelt
We must remind President Obama (and Congress) of that, and remind him of the vision of Martin Luther King, Jr. who called for peace and for ending war so as to spend money on HELPING people. Let us remind him/Congress that ...
"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." -- MLK, Jr.
Out into the streets Sunday -- and everyday -- for peace and justice and a better world.
And yes, I wear peace buttons and action buttons as I walk in mid-town Manhattan amidst the tourists -- not just on rally days.
We must be the change we wish to see in the world, Gandhi said. Be peace. Be as positive as you can be to bring some much needed light to this world. Do what you can to change the world this weekend and every day.
Peace hugs,
Kate Anne
The War Resisters League is organizing a direct action for unilateral U.S. disarmament on May 3rd in New York City. Join them For more (To sign up for the action or get involved, send an email to kimber@warresisters.org.)
We Declare NYC a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (starting with Grand Central Station)!
Monday, May 3, 2010 8-10am Grand Central Station
War Resisters League is marking the beginning of the United Nations’ Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference with creative and nonviolent direct action at Grand Central Station.
We assert that “Nuclear Disarmament Begins at Home.” Throughout the Cold War, the United States spent more than $5 trillion on nuclear weapons. More than 20 years later, the Obama administration will spend more than $7 billion this year on nuclear weapons research and development, despite pledges to work towards a nuclear weapons free world and participation in the treaty meetings at the United Nations. As the only country to use nuclear weapons in war, the United States-- which unilaterally began the nuclear arms race-- should unilaterally put an end to the nuclear arms race.
Come join with us as we use flyers, signs and banners to press our government to disarm. The action will include nonviolent direct action, but is also open to people who are not able to risk arrest.
If you are interested in participating, please notify Kimber Heinz at kimber@warresisters.org or (212) 228-0450 Ext. 12.
We will have a nonviolence training (if you have never been part of nonviolent direct action or need a refresher please plan on coming) on Sunday, May 2 (9-12, The Refectory at Union Theological Seminary, enter on Broadway at 121st Street, Manhattan) and a scenario overview and final planning session also on Sunday, May 2 (5-7:30pm, The Gallery Room, Holmes Community House, Community Church of New York, 28 East 35th Street between Park and Madison). Please RSVP for the training
www.warresisters.org
"Nuclear Disarmament Begins at Home"
Yes, always good to get rid of any nuclear warheads one happens to have lying around the house or apartment.
Garage sale? Or do you just dump them in the nearest landfill on a moonless night?
Ahmadinejad a "dangerous tyrant"?!
"Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen led a bipartisan group of lawmakers from the House of Representatives in condemning as an "outrage" plans to give Ahmadinejad a visa that could let him "preach hate and violence on American soil.""
This issue of denying access to the U.N. by heads of state because the U.N. happens to be on U.S. soil (again, thanks Eleanor R!) and we object to what they think, is as old as Fidel Castro visiting Harlem back when? 1959?
Grow up, children. Iran (Ahmadinejad) is not the enemy. You are. Infantile mentalities fixated on false myth yet with the power to vote in the Congress. May your god find you. And may you bear no children.
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