January 22 will mark the first anniversary of entry-into-force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). The TPNW prohibits the possession, development, testing, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons for the 59 countries that have so far ratified it. Groups around the country are planning events to celebrate this occasion including protests, bannering at nuclear facilities, ringing of church bells, vigils, and zoom events. Click here for a calendar of events. You can find all kinds of resources for groups and individuals, including downloadable banners and signs, sample letters to the editor, videos and more at Resources for Actions in the Age of the Ban Treaty. Check the Nuclear Ban Treaty Days of Action Facebook group, and be sure to post your actions!
Regrettably the TPNW has been rigorously opposed by the United States and other nuclear armed states, as well as those allied states under “nuclear umbrellas.” However, the five original nuclear-armed states, the U.S., Russia, U.K., France and China are required “to pursue negotiations in good faith” to end the nuclear arms race “at an early date and to nuclear disarmament” under another treaty. That treaty, the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), entered into force in 1970. The States Parties to the NPT meet for month-long review conferences every five years. The 10th NPT Review Conference, originally scheduled for May 2020 and postponed several times due to Covid, was supposed to take place starting January 4 at the United Nations in New York, but it was postposed again due to the surging pandemic. Nonetheless, after months of planning and preparation, there’s been a burst of activity around the NPT.
On January 3, the U.S., Russia, U.K., France and China issued a Joint Statement by the Leaders of the of the Five Nuclear-Weapon States on Preventing Nuclear War and Avoiding Arms Races. Remarkably, despite rising tensions among them, the “N-5” came together to issue a superficially reassuring joint statement, starting out with an affirmation “that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.” The Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons issued a response, ‘Nuke-Speak’ Should be Turned into Real Action to Prevent Nuclear War, End the Nuclear Arms Race, and Eliminate Nuclear Weapons, welcoming this affirmation but calling out the N-5’s Orwellian “Nuke-speak.” With potential flashpoints over Ukraine and Taiwan, the risk of another use of nuclear weapons is as high as it has ever been. The nuclear disarmament process is stalled, and the five NPT Nuclear-Weapon States cannot credibly claim they are meeting their NPT obligations.
On January 4, Peace & Planet went ahead with its Online International Conference: Building our Movements & Impacting the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference, featuring distinguished speakers from Finland, Argentina, Israel, Russia, Iran, Germany, South Korea, USA, South Africa, Norway and Japan. Read the Peace & Planet Message to the 2022 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference and to the International Community.
On January 10, a comprehensive Joint Statement from Civil Society to the States Parties of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, was released by Reaching Critical Will on behalf of more than 90 organizations worldwide including United for Peace & Justice. The joint statement presents three key messages: Global support for the NPT is strong, but its long-term viability cannot be taken for granted; the grave state of global affairs and the rising risk of nuclear conflict and arms racing requires new and bolder leadership from responsible states; and those that resist change also say the “environment” is not right for further progress, but responsible actors everywhere are rising to the challenge. A video presentation is available here.
More people are becoming aware that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a strong proponent of nuclear disarmament. In 1963, he wrote: “I am convinced that the church cannot remain silent while mankind (sic) faces the threat of being plunged into the abyss of nuclear annihilation. If the church is true to its mission, it must call for an end to the arms race.” On January 11, 2022, Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico released a new pastoral letter urging the local community and the world to join “a renewed commitment to the cause of peace” with the goal of eliminating all global nuclear weapons arsenals. Titled, “A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament,” the 50-page document can be downloaded here. For a one-page summary, click here.
Two months before his tragic assassination, Dr. King declared: “We have played havoc with the destiny of the world and we have brought the whole world closer to nuclear confrontation . . . I am still convinced that the struggle for peace and the struggle for civil rights as we call it in America happen to be tied together.” Some groups are linking the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday (this year, Jan. 17) with celebrations of the one-year anniversary of entry-into-force of the TPNW on Jan. 22. Click here for Resources for MLK Holiday and Ban Treaty Anniversary, including a banner, quotes, and a sample letter to the editor.
The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, has picked up Dr. King’s unfinished work, weaving the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, systemic poverty, environmental devastation, militarism and the war economy and a distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism, into one “moral fusion” campaign. The Poor Peoples Campaign Jubilee Platform calls for cutting U.S. military spending by half including by closing 60% of U.S. foreign military bases, ending the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and elsewhere, and dismantling and eliminating nuclear weapons.
It is increasingly clear that the multiple national and global crises we are confronting, including nuclear weapons, climate change, systemic racism, a growing wealth gap and rising national authoritarianisms arise from the same foundational causes, and that we are unlikely to prevail on any of them as single issues. We need to come together as never before to build political power through durable, diverse, multi-issue coalitions, networks, and networks of networks based on our shared commitments to universal, indivisible human security.
United for Peace & Justice is proud to be a partner in the Poor People’s Campaign. With active committees in 45 states, and support from an extraordinary range of constituencies including labor unions, faith organizations, racial justice, anti-poverty, environmental and peace groups, the Poor People’s Campaign is building towards a generationally transformative Mass Poor People’s & Low-Wage Worker’s Assembly & Moral March on Washington and to the Polls, June 18, 2022. Get involved. Join your state committee. Find a bus coming to Washington D.C. from your state on June 18!
Forward together, not one step back!
The UFPJ Coordinating Committee
