Stop Press 21st June:
On January 24, 1946, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted by consensus its very first resolution, Res 1 (I), which established a commission of the UN Security Council to ensure the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction. The ensuing Cold War dashed the early hopes of the commission implementing the resolution, as nuclear weapons became entrenched in the policies of the USA, Russia and the three other permanent members of the Security Council – China, France and the UK.However, the UN resolution remains valid as setting a core objective of the United Nations, and contributing to customary international law requiring the global abolition of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.
Simple actions you can take to commemorate January 24:
- Promote the abolition of nuclear weapons through a social media meme.
Click here for a sample of memes on the theme Move the Nuclear Weapons Money. Send your quote and photo to info@nuclearweaponsmoney.org for it to be turned into a meme for social media circulation. - Participate in the Video Project: Youth voices and inter-generational dialogue.
This video project brings together youth voices and inter-generational dialogue on climate, peace and nuclear disarmament. If you are young, then record your message to policy-makers. If you are not so young, record your message to youth. Click here for more information. Click here for a sample video. - Hold a public event, such as a movie screening, to promote the anniversary;
- Encourage parliamentarians to join Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, and mayors to join Mayors for Peace if they are not already members.
On January 28, Move the Nuclear Weapons Money will testify at a New York City Council public hearing on draft resolution Resolution 976 which calls on New York City to divest its public pension funds from the nuclear weapons industry, and Initiative 1621 to reaffirm New York City as a nuclear weapons-free zone and establish an advisory committee to implement this status.
STOP PRESSES FROM 15th Jan:
1. From CND 1.2 UK The UK government has announced today it is formally reporting Iran for not abiding by its commitments to the nuclear deal it signed in 2015, while the Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would support a ‘Trump deal’ instead. The crisis is certainly deepening; read more in this month’s magazine. But we don’t just have bad news for you! Read as well about progress on the international treaty banning nuclear weapons. Read Campaign: January edition
Download Campaign: January edition
Download Campaign: January edition
2.2 17/1 Campaigners hit back at the inclusion of peace organisations in a counter-terrorism police document, as reported in the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/…/greenpeace-included-with-neo-…Kate Hudson, CND general secretary, said:Why is CND listed in a police counter-terror list? We have over 60 years of peaceful protest to our credit and an open, democratic structure and policy process. We have no secrets and act in the public interest.‘It is nuclear bombs that terrorise people, not our campaign which works to eradicate weapons of mass destruction.
2. from SCND 2.1 The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Doomsday Clock symbolises how close we are to total catastrophe due to human-generated existential threats. It is currently set at only two minutes to midnight. When reset on Thursday 23rd January at 3:00pm GMT it is predicted to be closer still because of the continued climate emergency and risk of nuclear war. Both are heightened by new threats to democracy across the world.
2.2 Faslane Peace Camp are crowdfunding to raise money in particularly for building materials and tools to help complete their new bathroom/washroom. They know this project has been sorely needed for a number of years and they hope that this update will make the camp a safer and more welcoming environment for new guests, visitors and residents. You can donate to the crowdfunder via the link below and read more about it there.
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EVENTS: JANUARY 2020:
1. Tuesday 7th January: Regular organising meeting 6pm at Peace and Justice Centre Epworth Halls 25 Nicolson Square, Edinburgh EH8 9BX.
2. Thursday 9th January: No War with Iran. Protest/vigil 1730 to 1830 East End princes Street: The assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani is an act of war by Donald Trump. The act was carried out in Baghdad, violating all agreements with the Iraqi government. Both Iran and Iraq will retaliate. Trump has been heading for war since tearing up the nuclear deal with Iran and if he succeeds will create a bigger war than we have seen in the Middle East. It will draw in major players across the region including Israel, Saudi Arabia and possibly Russia. CND in London add:
If Trump’s belicose actions are allowed to continue, aided and abetted by diplomatic and political support from the British Prime Minister and his government, a catastrophic war and nuclear proliferation are very likely. There will be a London demo on the 11th.
If Trump’s belicose actions are allowed to continue, aided and abetted by diplomatic and political support from the British Prime Minister and his government, a catastrophic war and nuclear proliferation are very likely. There will be a London demo on the 11th.
3. Saturday 11th January: 12 30, Leafleting at the East End of Princes Street
4. Wednesday 15th January: EWJF round-up/organising meeting.https://www.facebook.com/events/433511740676639/
5. Monday 20th January: Edinburgh Stop the War open meeting 7.30pm on Monday 20th at the Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre. The Centre is in the basement of the Epworth Halls 25 Nicolson Square. We’ll be discussing current events including Iran, Iraq and Libya and planning campaigning activities for the next couple of months. You can download our Iran petition from the resources page of the www.scotlandstopwar.org website.
6. Saturday 26th January: CAAT strategy day: see 4 below
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NEWS
- From SCND: Post-election is the beginning of a new chapter in Scottish CND’s campaign for a nuclear-free Scotland working for a nuclear-free anti-racist world, and responding appropriately to the climate emergency. An anti-nuclear, anti-racist stance was explicit and high profile in the SNP campaign and the one remaining Labour MP in Scotland is known for his steadfast opposition to Trident. The election results outwith Scotland are a sober reminder that Scotland is currently part of a United Kingdom which is dead set on continuing to prioritise nuclear wepaons at the expense of genuine social and economic security, and to wilfully ignore the planetary crisis.
(Some in SCND believe that) an independent Scotland will follow a better path than the road the UK is being led down. The power is in our hands to rid the whole of the UK from the scourge of nuclear weapons and we should now be planning the vital and sequential steps towards that end. Meanwhile, we must live and act as part of that global groundswell for peace and human security that is behind the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. It is a sleeves up moment.
At the same time we share the feelings of distress, dismay and actual grief that so many are experiencing today and we wish to express real and heartfelt solidarity with those who are even now picking themselves up to continue the hard struggle for equality, truth and justice. In particular, we saluate the courage and the persistence of those in the rest of the UK who work their socks off in the cause of nuclear disarmament in such a hostile climate. We are in this together. NB Saturday 11th January Scottish CND participated in the march for Scottish independence to push for an independent Scotland free of nuclear weapons. - CNDUK: 2.1 Many of us may still be disheartened at the Conservative Party victory in last week’s election. But as a movement we must hold our heads high and carry on our crucial campaign, whoever is in government. See the magazine for CND’s next steps. This issue also includes an article on possible further delays to the Trident replacement programme. Read Campaign: December edition Download Campaign: December edition 2.2 Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott, Brian Eno and Tez Ilyas will address a demonstration against the threat of war on Iran in central London on Saturday 11th. They will be joined by war veteran Joe Glenton, Stop the War’s Lindsey German, CND’s Kate Hudson and others.
- NFLA – On the 24th January the NFLA Scotland Forum will hold a business meeting, Annual General Meeting and a special seminar from 10am – 3pm in Glasgow City Chambers. The seminar will consider Hunterston B ongoing concerns, a vision for Scottish energy policy and the growing movement for divestment from Council pension funds of investment in nuclear weapon and fossil fuel companies. The seminar flyer is attached and registration is now open. On the 31st January the NFLA Steering Committee will hold a business meeting and its Annual General Meeting that were postponed from this month, due to the election. This meeting will be provisionally in the HM Coroner Conference Room, the Royal Exchange Building in Manchester city centre (access from St Ann’s Square) from 10.45am – 1.30pm. I strongly encourage all NFLA member and officer contacts to attend this meeting, which remains the most important of the year. Venues and dates for other meetings are being finalised and will be communicated as they are confirmed. The NFLA December newsletter considers the UK general election outcome and nuclear policy, the development of the Mayors for Peace European Chapter, NFLA plans for early 2020, our new climate emergency briefing, a planned nuclear emergency planning briefing and our external interaction in the month. Please disseminate it widely! The Annual 2019 newsletter gives a summary of all of the work of the NFLA Secretariat, and its interaction with its core partners, across the year.NFLA Website: http://www.nuclearpolicy.info – includes links to NFLA Facebook and Twitter pages Mayors for Peace Website: MAYORS FOR PEACE – 平和首長会議 Mayors for Peace International Newsletter and the UK and Ireland Mayors, Provosts and Leaders for Peace Chapter Policy Briefing. I also provide a short progress report on Mayors for Peace activity.
- CAAT Edinburgh 2020 Strategy Day Saturday 25 January 2020, 10.30am to 5pm in Edinburgh (full address provided on registration) Campaign Against Arms Trade are growing in Scotland: our numbers of volunteers and activists are growing, we’re holding more and more demonstrations and protests about arms manufacturing and export, and we’re talking to more and more people about the need for peace. And we’ll be building even further on this in 2020! Please register by emailing Melanie on caatedinburgh@live.com
- ICAN International Forum: The forum will take place all-day (9:00 — 17:00) on Friday, 14 February, and Saturday, 15 February. An evening social event will be organised on Friday, as well as Saturday, for those that are sticking around Paris until Sunday. Tickets Paris.icanw.org! Extra: New ICAN website: www.icanw.org
- Latest edition of Peace and Justice Centre news: In this issue of Peace & Justice News we report on embroidery workshops for community engagement on the Opposing War Memorial project and on Collaborative Classrooms – an exciting new development on our Peacebuilders programme for primary schools moves into gear. As the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons moves closer to banning the bomb our origami peace cranes project has nearly reached its goal. There’s info on how to get involved in the next phase of the project. Plus there’s news of our involvement in XR Peace. Find out how to get involved in a P&J Affinity Group. All in Centre News. http://peaceandjustice.org.uk
- Los Alamos Study Group Bulletin 265: Please help us work this coming year! Also: important meetings Jan 2 & 8 in Santa Fe; Pope Francis and The Bomb
- Beyond Nuclear International: https://beyondnuclearinternational.org: 8.1 This week we look at nuclear colonialism, in the United States and overseas. From the exploitation of uranium to the dumping of radioactive waste, indigenous and poor communities of color are disproportionately discriminated against and democracy has often been cast aside for corporate profit. We look at Congo and New Mexico as two examples. 8.2 The truth in the nuclear world is quite often stranger — and nastier — than fiction. But little comes close to the bizarre true story of the bird ladies of Sellafield whose pigeons became radioactive waste. Illinois is America’s nuclear power capital, but the harm done by nuclear power and weapons is a legacy largely buried. In a new University of Illinois exhibition, artists bring that “slow violence” to light. 8.3 (added 13/01) It’s time to examine nuclear issues through a social justice lens and get women’s voices heard, writes Lilly Adams, who takes issue with the male-dominated arms control community. She is fighting to get the emotional equation firmly at the heart of arguments for nuclear abolition. Trump’s reckless decisions to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and assassinate a top Iranian general may be pushing that country closer to nuclear weapons development. Or will Trump just decide to use nuclear weapons on Iran himself? Linda Pentz Gunter examines these perilous developments. 8.4 (added 20/1) “Our water and our Grand Canyon is under attack,” write Patricia Kelly and Robert Arnberger. A growing number of calls to open the Grand Canyon to uranium mining risks the drinking water supply for 40 million people and would desecrate the world’s most spectacular gorge. Actor and peace activist, Martin Sheen, who has been arrested scores of times for acts of civil disobedience, chose arrest once again to protest the new apocalypse, climate change. Linda Pentz Gunter talked to him about his latest cause. 8.5 added 27/1 And still we march. On January 18, it was the Women’s March, where many issues important to women were loudly proclaimed on protest signs and in speeches. But would a woman lead us to nuclear war? Linda Pentz Gunter ponders these questions and more. On January 25, we marched again, this time to say “no war with Iran.” But what do we really know about Iran and its people? Vijay Prashad gives us some perspective on the country, its history, and the motivation behind US war-making in the Middle East.
- The countdown has already begun to the 2020 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference. This is a once every five years opportunity where governments get together to review the progress they have made towards the goal of the Treaty – complete disarmament of all nuclear weapons.As we know, there has been little progress since the last Review conference: every nuclear weapons state is ‘modernising’ its arsenal. The UK is a major culprit. It signed the NPT in 1968, but continues to possess nuclear weapons, and has committed to replacing Trident. We need to act now to make sure our government participates in this conference at a high level, and takes its legal obligations seriously. This is particularly important as the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons may well come into force this year. CNDUK is racing money for a Newspaper advert. If just 700 people donate £20 each, there’ll have enough to place the advert, but any amount will help towards the cost. The advert will feature your name, along with hundreds of others who want to see nuclear weapons banned for good. Please, help us support the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty by making a donation and adding your name to our newspaper advert.
- BaslePeace Office, Unfold Zero Basel, January 6 2020 – The winner of a new youth award, the Peace and Climate action of European Youth (PACEY) Award, will be announced on January 9, 2020 at an international event in Basel that is bringing youth leaders and policy makers together to address the existential threats to humanity from the climate crisis and nuclear weapons. STOP PRESS +++The Green Building Municipality project, a multi-ethnic youth gardening initiative from a conflict region in Kosovo
Young people around the world are becoming more active on climate, peace and disarmament issues out of a growing sense of urgency, and a frustration at insufficient government action to address these threats. Latest update highlights the recent United Nations resolution on Youth, disarmament and non-proliferation, the new UN resource on Disarmament and You(th), and initiatives/events of Move the Nuclear Weapons Money campaign, Abolition 2000 Youth Network, Basel Peace Office & PNND linking youth actions and voices on climate, peace and nuclear disarmament. (a)United Nations General Assembly resolution 74/64 adopted earlier this month onYouth, disarmament and non-proliferation; (b)Climate, peace and security: From youth voices to policy action, an upcoming event in Basel, Switzerland bringing policy makers together with youth leaders in climate, peace and nuclear disarmament movements; (c) Peace and Climate action of European Youth (PACEY) Award, a new award to support an outstanding or innovative European youth project or proposal for action on the climate, peace and nuclear disarmament; (d) Youth voices on climate, peace and nuclear disarmament, youth-led actions and initiatives connecting these issues; (e) Disarmament and You(th), a new UN resource. PNND add: 2019 was a tough year for nuclear disarmament, with increased tensions between nuclear-armed States and erosion of arms control and disarmament agreements including the INF Treaty and the Iran nuclear non-proliferation agreement (JCPOA). ++++Since 1947, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has annually announced the level of risk to humanity from nuclear weapons (and more recently also from climate change) by setting the hands of the Doomsday Clock. The closer the hands are to midnight, the higher the risk to humanity of a nuclear or climate catastrophe. Watch live today (January 23 at 10am, Washington DC time) as the new setting for the Clock will be announced at the National Press Club by Gov. Jerry Brown (Bulletin Executive Chair), leaders of The Elders Mary Robinson (former President of Ireland), Ban Ki-moon (former UN Secretary-General), and the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board. Kate Hudson, CND general secretary, said: “These expert warnings show how real the twin existential threats of nuclear warfare and the climate crisis are. Urgent action must be taken to avert disaster. -
New paper: Youth Contributions to Peacebuilding in Yemen: “The situation needs us to be active”, written by Kate Nevens, Marwa Baabbad and Jatinder Padda for Saferworld. The paper draws on our experience of working with youth organisations and activists in Yemen over the past decade, and looks at the heavy toll the conflict is taking on youth activism, as well as the vital roles that youth continue to play in their communities across Yemen. Please find the paper attached and a link to the Saferworld page here.
- UN Association have a part-time consultancy opportunity (from Feb – June 2020). It’s to provide support to the UK campaign to stop killer robots, particularly with regard to broadening membership of the group inc from the tech sector, working with parliamentarians and tightening up our advocacy asks. Details on request edinburghcnd@yahoo.com
- January Dovetails events include the following: 13.1 A C CLARKE DROCHAID LAUNCH Full details HERE The EDINBURGH launch of the pamphlet will also be happening on Saturday the 18th of January at lunchtime (exact time TBC) at Citadel Bookshop 41, Montrose Terrace Edinburgh. 13.2 Dove Tales member Jim Aitken has will be editing an anthology of radical Scottish poetry to be published by Culture Matters. Culture Matters runs a website and publishing operation and promotes a progressive, socialist-minded approach to the arts and culture. With so much inequality, unfairness and social disconnectedness in our society and the world around us, the word radical should be interpreted in a way that suggests writers feel they are in opposition to how certain things are, whether expressed through protest, satire, the hopeful imagining of a better world, or other creative responses. Please send no more than 2 poems and a short biog of around 50 words to jaitken53@gmail.com by 31 March 2020. It is hoped that the book will be published and launched in the summer of 2020.
- nuClear News No.121 January 2020 is now available for downloading here:
www.no2nuclearpower.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/NuClearNewsNo121.pdf - Message of Pope Francis for the celebration of the 53rd World Day of Peace (1 January 2020), 12.12.2019 http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2019/12/12/191212b.html
edinburgh cnd 