Wishing all our supporters a peaceful 2018. Our events in January:
- Saturday 13 January 2018, monthly leafleting 1230 East End of Princes Street, followed by Origami Cranes workshop 2-4pm at the Peace and Justice Centre.
- Wednesday 17 January 2018, Film Screening: Nuclear Savage
7 to 9pm
Augustine United Church
41 to 43 George IV Bridge
Edinburgh
For Facebook event click here
For Eventbrite tickets click here It was a Pacific island paradise…until the United States tested nuclear weapons and conducted secret human radiation experiments. Experiments that would remain top-secret for decades, until now.
This documentary reveals a shocking political expose, and an intimate ethnographic portrait of Pacific Islanders struggling for survival, dignity and justice after decades of top-secret human radiation experiments conducted on them by the US government.
As geopolitical tensions between nuclear armed states continue to escalate, please join us to watch this timely reminder of the humanitarian devastation caused by nuclear weapons. Weapons that threaten our very survival as long as they are allowed to exist. This event is co-sponsored by Scottish Wilpf
Entry by donation (suggested amount: £3 to help Edinburgh CND cover the cost of room hire).
Please book through EventBrite if you would like to reserve a place. However, we will also be allowing folk to turn up on the day. - Edinburgh CAAT meeting, Monday 29th January, 7pm – 8.45 pmEdinburgh Peace and Justice Centre, 5 Upper Bow, Edinburgh, EH1 2JN
STOP PRESS: Anti-nuclear campaigners have condemned Trump’s plans to expand the role of nuclear weapons, expected in his forthcoming Nuclear Posture Review.
Kate Hudson, CND General Secretary, said:
“This dangerous new policy expands the role of nuclear weapons in US foreign policy and makes nuclear war more likely. If it includes, as reports indicate, a plan to develop two new types of nuclear weapons – a low-yield version of the Trident D5 warhead and a sea-launched cruise missile – the weapons will be deemed more ‘usable’ and nuclear war will be more likely. The review also includes new scenarios for when nuclear weapons would be used to respond to non-nuclear attacks. This is a hostile and provocative development and will be understood as such by other states.
“It should be noted that the US Trident D5 missile is used on the submarines of Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons system. The UK government must clarify its position on this development and must reject this catastrophic drive to ‘usable’ nukes. On 12th Jan the Los Alamos study group added: Washington – A leaked “pre-decisional” copy of the Trump Administration’s Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) was published last night by Huffington Post. [1]
The non-nuclear members of the Security Council could be encouraged to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weaponson Jan 18. Watch the Security Council debate on UN Web TV.
OTHER NEWS:
- UNFOLD ZERO thanks everyone for their commitment and action for peace and disarmament in 2017, and wishes you a wonderful new year in 2018.
UNFOLD ZERO is proud to have informed and engaged civil society around the world in United Nations initiatives and actions for nuclear disarmament. Together we made a difference. Please consider donating to UNFOLD ZERO to enable us to continue working together in 2018.The United Nations Security Council will hold a special thematic debate on January 18 on the topic of ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction and Confidence Building Measures‘.
The debate will be chaired by Kazakhstan President Nazarbayev, and will have a strong focus on diplomacy and trust-building as important elements to prevent proliferation of WMD and to advance disarmament.
Kazakhstan has undertaken national and regional disarmament initiatives, including relinquishing all the nuclear weapons that were on their territory and negotiating a Central Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone. They have also put forward a number of disarmament proposals to the United Nations, including:
- a call ‘on all Member States, especially the Security Council’s permanent members, to set a goal of ridding the world of nuclear weapons by the UN’s 100th Anniversary in 2045.‘
- a proposal for UN members to contribute 1% of their military spending to fund the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The veto power of the Permanent Members (China, France, Russia, UK and USA) makes it difficult to adopt resolutions on these proposals at the Security Council.
However, support from other Security Council members on January 18 could help pave the way for a successful UN High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament in May 2018, which will not be subject to such veto power. Sample letters are available.
2. The Basel Peace Office also extended very best wishes for the holiday season extends our very best wishes for the new year. Thank you for your support for nuclear disarmament in 2017, a year in which we saw an increase in the risks of nuclear weapons being used in conflicts, but also the achievement of nuclear disarmament measures, including the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
In the first update of 2018 they nclude information on actions and events this month (January 2018) for peace and nuclear abolition, including a teach-in on no-first-use or nuclear weapons, nuclear disarmament and Martin Luther King Jr Day, commemoration of the UN’s first resolution (adopted in 1946) which was on weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and a special session of the UN Security Council on WMD and confidence-building measures.
For further information, including actions and events for subsequent months, see the Abolition 2000 Calendar.
3. In February 1958, anti-nuclear activists gathered at Methodist Central Hall in London for what would be CND’s first ever meeting. 60 years on, this anniversary presents us with an opportunity to look at how we’ve contributed to the changes in politics and society that have shaped the lives of millions. Read more about CND past, present and future in this month’s Campaignmagazine, as well as about the financial interests involved in the Trident debate. Read Campaign: January edition
Download Campaign: January edition
4. Los Alamos Bulletin 240, 241and 242: http://www.lasg.org/
5. Another special issue of nuClear News. This one covers our comments on a report
commissioned by the Government from Professor Dieter Helm on the cost of energy. Professor Helm’s report was published on 25 October 2017. The government is assessing the findings and recommendations set out in the Helm Review. As part of that process it is asking for the views of stakeholders. nuClear News No.103 January 2018 is available here: www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/NuClearNews_No103.pd
6. Latest Scotland Ban Group and SCND Exec Minutes available on request
7. After the Peace Prize ICAN has been busy : Much discussion about Trumps behaviour. Member organisation SCRAP will have the pleasure of hosting Angela Kane – former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairts – on Thursday 18th January for a roundtable discussion on “Prospects for the Future of Disarmament: Building on the Nuclear Ban Treaty and the ATT“. The roundtable will be on a first-come-first-serve basis for seating. Please RSVP to km60@soas.ac.uk
edinburgh cnd 