15 December 2009
Dear Reaching Critical Will friends and advisors:
As we watch the farce of Copenhagen unfold, wring our hands at Obama’s Nobel prize acceptance speech, and think ahead to the struggles facing the prospects for concrete nuclear disarmament, it becomes easier to see the interconnectedness of the troubling realities of our planet. And, as Greg Mello of the Los Alamos Study Groupsays:
Nuclear disarmament was always about other things as well as mere survival, even in the depths of the Cold War. Now it strongly appears that the best way to get nuclear disarmament is to demand those other things, which are suddenly critical, not just nice to have. The background in the nuclear disarmament picture is the foreground now.
The time has never been riper to push for nuclear disarmament. The opportunities for concrete action on this issue have not been created by Obama’s Prague speech or the four horsemen op-ed and their spin-offs. In fact, these have foreshortened our vision of conceivable possibilities. Rather, the opportunities for disarmament have been created by the crises we collectively face: climate, energy, economy, food, water, poverty, education, housing, justice. It is up to us to not just connect the dots and link the issues but topush forward an agenda—not just a “vision”—for change.
The next E-News will be published mid-January 2010. We hope everyone has a great holiday with friends and family and we look forward to working with all of you again in the new year.
Happy holidays,
Ray Acheson, Project Director
1) Donations to RCW
Just in time for the holiday season, Reaching Critical Will has established a new way to donate conveniently online with your credit cardthrough JustGive. You can even set up an automatic monthly donation by clicking on the box marked “make this a recurring donation”. Please be sure to designate this donation for Reaching Critical Will on the form. The donation will go to RCW’s 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor, so as long as you earmark it for RCW, we’ll know it’s for the project that helps reach nuclear disarmament. For US donors, you will receive an automatic tax receipt—your donations to RCW are tax deductible! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to [email protected] contact me.
2) UN Secretary-General’s Action Plan for Disarmament
On 8 December 2009, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon outlined his Action Plan for Nuclear Disarmament and Nuclear Non-Proliferation. The plan includes recommendations for governments to:
Seriously consider the proposal for a Nuclear Weapons Convention;
Hold annual meetings of the UN Security Council, at the Foreign Minister level, to discuss nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament and to follow up the NPT Review Conference;
Advance the rule of law in the field of disarmament;
Promote and implement multilateral disarmament treaties and commence negotiations for new ones;
Enhance transparency and accountability by establishing a registry of regular reports on implementing Article VI;
Encourage greater involvement by civil society and parliamentarians; and
Pursue complementary measures, such as eliminating other weapons of mass destruction, combating WMD terrorism, and banning missiles and space weapons.
3) ICNND releases report
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd joined Japanese counterpart Yukio Hatoyama in Tokyo on 15 December 2009 to receive the major report of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND), “Eliminating nuclear threats: A practical agenda for global policymakers”. In a joint statement (also available in Japanese), several Australian, Japanese, and other NGOs welcomed the report but argued that the “pace of the action plan for nuclear disarmament laid out in the report is too slow” and that “rather than adding to the global momentum for nuclear abolition, there is a danger that it could in fact act as a brake.” They recommend, “Governments should take the report’s recommendations seriously, but aim to implement them ahead of the timetable outlined in the report.”
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) materials available:
ICAN Australia Press Release (1 page)
ICAN Australia Media Briefing (2 pages)
ICAN Australia Full Statement on the Report (6 pages)
Joint NGO statement with Japanese, Australian and other NGOs
Japanese version of the NGO statement here
4) BANg call for disarmament postcard design
Ban All Nukes generation (BANg) is calling for young artists to design a Postcard for Global Zero. These cards will be “double postcards,” with one half being sent to your government - the other will be brought directly to the NPT conference in New York. On the backside space will be left for your personal message on nuclear disarmament.
What? Create a postcard design that contains the slogan “Global Zero Now!” in the front.
Who? Everyone under the age of 28.
How? It’s up to you. The design can be created through photography, drawing, paints, collage, or using graphic design programmes on the computer.
When? Submissions due by 20 January 2010.
Awarding? On 25 January 2010, the winner will be announced on globalzeronow.bang-europe.org and informed via email. Besides of getting the honor that the postcard will be send around the world, the winner will receive the BANg DVD “Genie in a bottle - Unleashed” and a little surprise gift.
Why? Nuclear Weapons are no longer sexy for the media. Be a trendsetter and bring the topic back into publicity! The postcard will be send to Foreign Ministries all over the world and be spread in public.
Send your submissions to [email protected]. It should consist of:
your digital postcard design in PDF or JPG
a short statement what and why you contributed
your name, email, postal address and date of birth
a digital photo of yourself if possible (for publicity reasons)
Now free your creativity, kiss the muse, take out your painting equipment, design your fancy way for Global Zero Now and inspire the world!
5) Daisy Alliance Student Scholarship/Essay Contest
The 2010 Daisy Alliance Student Scholarship/Essay Contest will accept submissions until 26 January 2010. This year’s topic is “The Role of NATO in the 21st Century.” First prize will be $1,000, second prize will be $500, and third will be $250.
Students should address all of the following questions:
How has the deterrent usefulness of the U.S. nuclear umbrella changed since the end of the Cold War?
What effect, if any, has this had or is it likely to have on nonproliferation and disarmament efforts? How important are these efforts for the security of all NATO partners?
Is NATO still needed to provide a nuclear security guarantee to its non-nuclear members?
Should NATO decrease or end its reliance on nuclear weapons?
This essay should be at least 2,500 words and not more than 3,000 words excluding footnotes and bibliography. Papers must be submitted by 26 January 2010 in a Word file to [email protected]. Be sure to include your name, mailing address, school name, and grade.
6) Think Outside the Bomb: Tours and Trainings
Think Outside the Bomb (TOTB) is a national network of youth organizers and activists working for nuclear abolition. It is currently working to build resistance to the United States nuclear weapons arsenal, the nuclear industrial complex, and the nuclear power sector. TOTB wishes to work with groups anywhere and of any kind that are working for social and environmental justice: the peace movement, labor struggles, anti-globalization, anti-oppression (including feminist groups, LGBTQI groups, people of color, indigenous communities, etc), environmentalist groups, anti-authoritarian and anti-hierarchical groups, and so forth. It sees its work as intersecting with all stripes of activists, and puts much value on forming a multi-generational struggle through which we can share knowledge, experience, and energy.
The network, formed in 2005, has held a number of national conferences. In 2010, it is shifting its focus to be action oriented. In February, TOTB will host a training for organizers and activists. It will hold several regional conferences in 2010, including Idaho and Chicago in the spring. From May to August, it will embark on a national tour to build contacts and solidarity with communities and organizations across the country and will hold an action camp at the end of July/beginning of August.
TOTB National Tour is looking for groups to tour with! Contact the organizers at [email protected] or [email protected] if your group is interested. TOTB is also looking for visual artwork, music, and performance art for our tour. Participation can range from the entire tour to regional appearances. Again, contact us if you would like to submit art to the traveling exhibit. Some tour dates are now available online!
7) 2010 Disarmament Calendar
RCW has created a 2010 Disarmament Calendar, which keeps track of significant events related to disarmament, including meetings of international multilateral fora and intergovernmental organizations, as well as grassroots actions and civil society conferences. Please submit any events you would like advertised to [email protected].
Additionally, the Geneva Forum, a joint initiative of the Quaker United Nations Office, Geneva, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, and the Programme for Strategic and International Security Studies of the Graduate Institute of International Studies, hosts a calendar available here:
http://www.geneva-forum.org/Calendar/Current.htm
8) Featured News
Japan-US nuclear pact investigated
Japan’s new government has insisted on an official investigation into a decades-old secret pact between Tokyo and Washington that allowed US ships and aircraft to carry nuclear weapons on stopovers in Japan. Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said that the investigation is in its final stages and that its findings will be announced in January. “We'll be unburdening ourselves of the insistence of past governments that a secret agreement did not exist,” Okada said in a speech last weekend. The pact violates a Japanese law that prohibits nuclear weapons from being made, possessed or stored on its territory.
Both governments say US vessels no longer bring nuclear weapons into Japan, but exposing the pact’s existence would “embarrass” the former Japanese government, which “quietly decided in the 1960s to ignore the law when nuclear-armed US ships entered Japanese ports.” When Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates visited Japan last month, he reportedly told Japan’s defense minister not to allow the investigation of the agreement to hurt bilateral relations or weaken US nuclear deterrence. Blaine Harden, “Japan says it will soon release details of nuclear pact with U.S.,” Washington Post, 25 November 2009.
9) Recommended Reading
Darwin BondGraham, Nicholas Robinson, and Will Parrish, “California’s Nuclear Nexus: A faux disarmament plan has roots in the Golden State’s pro-nuclear lobby,” Z Magazine, December 2009.
Joby Warrick, “A nuclear watchdog’s parting shots,” Washington Post, 6 December 2009.