Global Action for Survival

Next Saturday, June 2, will be the Global Day of Action against nuclear weapons. Approximately 23,300 nuclear weapons exist in the world, representing a direct and permanent threat to global security and human survival. Thousands of these stand on launch alert, meaning they can be activated in a matter of minutes. What is more, they involve a diversion of resources that could be spent on health, education and other basic services. The United States alone spends more than $40 billion annually on nuclear armaments, enough to eradicate global poverty by 2030.

The Counter-Summit for Peace & Economic Justice, which took place in Chicago on May 18-19 alongside the Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), brought together civil society representatives from around the world, with the participation of the Latin American Circle for International Studies (LACIS) representing Latin America. In its final declaration it proclaimed: “We demand the abolition of all nuclear weapons. We demand an end to NATO’s ‘nuclear sharing,’ whereby U.S. nuclear weapons are stationed in ostensibly non-nuclear countries, as an important step toward the global elimination of nuclear weapons.”

Unless humankind rids itself of all nuclear weapons, the danger that they may be used again—whether intentionally or accidentally— will always exist, and the resulting effects would be catastrophic. The two atomic bombs dropped over Japan in 1945 killed thousands of innocents. We cannot run the risk that a similar event be repeated.

Presently, nine countries possess nuclear weapons and five more have U.S. nuclear weapons in their territory. The majority of the planet’s inhabitants and governments desire their abolition and there exists a legal obligation to negotiate their prohibition. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), to which LACIS belongs, has become a fundamental tool in encouraging a growing wave of popular support for such a proposal.

Land mines, chemical and biological weapons already have been banned. It is high time to prohibit the worst weapons of all and this is a realistic goal that can be reached. Nuclear arsenals, which grew to over 70,000 warheads during the tensest moments of the Cold War, are now maintained at the 23,300 weapons to which I referred previously. All that is required to eliminate the rest is political will.

It’s important not to lose sight of the fact that nuclear weapons are the only ones capable of destroying the entire planet in a matter of hours. A single warhead launched against a city could kill millions. No country should have them, not just because their existence automatically suggests an ambition for domination and power, but also because if anyone has them, others will want them too. Instead of being a source of security, they pose a permanent threat.

Unless the world dismantles all nuclear weapons, they will most likely be used again. The absurd pretension that they may serve to discourage, contain or intimidate terrorist groups does not hold up to scrutiny – fundamentalism has never been deterred by supposed means of containment. Moreover, nuclear-armed countries remain the most attractive targets for the terrorists.

Any nuclear attack, even a so-called limited one, would kill indiscriminately. It would result in severe, long-term harm on a global scale, as much to human beings as to the environment as a result of radioactive fallout. International civil society has come together in its demand to end this danger once and for all. It must obligate governments to obey their constituents, without pretext or delay.