What follows here is An Open Letter to the American People: Political Responsibility in the Nuclear Age. It was jointly written by Richard Falk in collaboration with David Krieger and Robert Laney. The three of us have been long connected with the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, NAPF.
The NAPF focuses its effort
on the menace posed by nuclear weaponry and the urgency of seeking nuclear
disarmament. The nuclear agreement with Iran and the North Korean nuclear test
explosion are reminders of the gravity of the issue, and should serve as
warnings against the persistence of complacency, which seems to be the
prevailing political mood judging from the policy debates that have taken place
during the early stages of the 2016 presidential campaign.
This complacency is
encouraged by the media that seems to have forgotten about nuclear dangers
since the end of the Cold War, except for those concerned with proliferation of
the weaponry to countries hostile to the United States and the West (Iran, North
Korea).
Our letter proceeds on the
assumption that the core of the problem is associated with the possession,
development, and deployment of the weaponry, that is, with the nine nuclear
weapons states. The essence of a solution is to eliminate existing nuclear
weapons arsenals through a phased, verified process of nuclear disarmament as
legally mandated by Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968).
We would be grateful if you
could help us reach the widest possible audience through reposting and
dissemination via social media networks.*
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Dear fellow
citizens:
By their purported test of a
hydrogen bomb early in 2016, North Korea reminded the world that nuclear
dangers are not an abstraction, but a continuing menace that the governments and
peoples of the world ignore at their peril. Even if the test were not of a
hydrogen bomb but of a smaller atomic weapon, as many experts suggest, we are
still reminded that we live in the Nuclear Age, an age in which accident,
miscalculation, insanity or intention could lead to devastating nuclear
catastrophe.
What is most notable about
the Nuclear Age is that we humans, by our scientific and technological
ingenuity, have created the means of our own demise. The world currently is
confronted by many threats to human wellbeing, and even civilizational
survival, but we focus here on the particular grave dangers posed by nuclear
weapons and nuclear war.
Even a relatively small
nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan, with each country using 50
Hiroshima-size nuclear weapons on the other side’s cities, could result in a
nuclear famine killing some two billion of the most vulnerable people on the
planet. A nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia could destroy civilization in
a single afternoon and send temperatures on Earth plummeting into a new ice
age.
Such a war could destroy
most complex life on the planet. Despite the gravity of such threats, they are
being ignored, which is morally reprehensible and politically irresponsible.
We in the United States are
in the midst of hotly contested campaigns to determine the candidates of both
major political parties in the 2016 presidential faceoff, and yet none of the
frontrunners for the nominations have even voiced concern about the nuclear war
dangers we face. This is an appalling oversight. It reflects the underlying
situation of denial and complacency that disconnects the American people
as a whole from the risks of use of nuclear weapons in the years ahead.
This menacing disconnect is
reinforced by the media, which has failed to challenge the candidates on their
approach to this apocalyptic weaponry during the debates and has ignored the
issue in their television and print coverage, even to the extent of excluding
voices that express concern from their opinion pages. We regard it as a matter
of urgency to put these issues back on the radar screen of public awareness.
We are appalled that none of
the candidates running for the highest office in the land has yet put forward
any plans or strategy to end current threats of nuclear annihilation, none has
challenged the planned expenditure of $1 trillion to modernize the U.S. nuclear
arsenal, and none has made a point of the U.S. being in breach of its nuclear
disarmament obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
In the presidential debates
it has been a non-issue, which scandalizes the candidates for not raising the
issue in their many public speeches and the media for not challenging them
for failing to do so. As a society, we are out of touch with the most
frightening, yet after decades still dangerously mishandled, challenge to the
future of humanity.
There are nine countries
that currently possess nuclear weapons. Five of these nuclear-armed countries
are parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (U.S., Russia, UK, France
and China), and are obligated by that treaty to negotiate in good faith for a
cessation of the nuclear arms race and for nuclear disarmament.
The other four nuclear-armed
countries (Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea) are subject to the same
obligations under customary international law. None of the nine nuclear-armed
countries has engaged in such negotiations, a reality that should be met with
anger and frustration, and not, as is now the case, with indifference.
It is not only the United
States that is responsible for the current state of denial and indifference.
Throughout the world there is a false confidence that, because the Cold War is
over and no nuclear weapons have been used since 1945, the nuclear dangers that
once frightened and concerned people can now be ignored.
Rather than fulfill their
obligations for negotiated nuclear disarmament, the nine nuclear-armed
countries all rely upon nuclear deterrence and are engaged in modernization
programs that will keep their nuclear arsenals active through the 21st century
and perhaps beyond.
Unfortunately, nuclear
deterrence does not actually provide security to countries with nuclear
arsenals.
Rather, it is a hypothesis
about human behavior, which is unlikely to hold up over time. Nuclear
deterrence has come close to failing on numerous occasions and would clearly be
totally ineffective, or worse, against a terrorist group in possession of one
or more nuclear weapons, which has no fear of retaliation and may actually
welcome it.
Further, as the world is now
embarking on a renewed nuclear arms race, disturbingly reminiscent of the Cold
War, rising risks of confrontations and crises between major states possessing
nuclear weapons increase the possibility of use.
As citizens of a
nuclear-armed country, we are also targets of nuclear weapons.
John F. Kennedy saw clearly
that “Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles,
hanging by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by
accident, or miscalculation, or by madness. The weapons of war must be
abolished before they abolish us.”
What President Kennedy
vividly expressed more than 50 years ago remains true today, and even more so
as the weapons proliferate and as political extremist groups come closer to
acquiring these terrible weapons.
Those with power and control
over nuclear weapons could turn this planet, unique in all the universe in
supporting life, into the charred remains of a Global Hiroshima.
Should any political leader
or government hold so much power?
Should we be content to
allow such power to rest in any hands at all?
It is time to end the
nuclear weapons era. We are living on borrowed time.
The U.S., as the world’s
most powerful country, must play a leadership role in convening negotiations.
For the U.S. to be effective in leading to achieve Nuclear Zero, U.S. citizens
must awaken to the need to act and must press our government to act and
encourage others elsewhere, especially in the other eight nuclear-armed
countries, to press their governments to act as well.
It is not enough to be
apathetic, conformist, ignorant or in denial. We all must take action if we
want to save humanity and other forms of life from nuclear catastrophe.
In this spirit, we are at a
stage where we need a robust global solidarity movement that is dedicated to
raising awareness of the growing nuclear menace, and the urgent need to act
nationally, regionally and globally to reverse the strong militarist currents
that are pushing the world ever closer to the nuclear precipice.
Nuclear weapons are the most
immediate threat to humanity, but they are not the only technology that could
play and is playing havoc with the future of life. The scale of our
technological impact on the environment (primarily fossil fuel extraction and
use) is also resulting in global warming and climate chaos, with predicted
rises in ocean levels and many other threats – ocean acidification, extreme
weather, climate refugees and strife from drought – that will cause massive
death and displacement of human and animal populations.
In addition to the
technological threats to the human future, many people on the planet now suffer
from hunger, disease, lack of shelter and lack of education. Every person on
the planet has a right to adequate nutrition, health care, housing and
education. It is deeply unjust to allow the rich to grow richer while the vast
majority of humanity sinks into deeper poverty.
It is immoral to spend our
resources on modernizing weapons of mass annihilation while large numbers of
people continue to suffer from the ravages of poverty.
Doing all we can to move the
world to Nuclear Zero, while remaining responsive to other pressing dangers, is
our best chance to ensure a benevolent future for our species and its natural
surroundings.
We can start by changing
apathy to empathy, conformity to critical thinking, ignorance to wisdom, denial
to recognition, and thought to action in responding to the threats posed by
nuclear weapons and the technologies associated with global warming, as well as
to the need to address present human suffering arising from war and poverty.
The richer countries are
challenged by migrant flows of desperate people that number in the millions and
by the realization that as many as a billion people on the planet are
chronically hungry and another two billion are malnourished, resulting in
widespread growth stunting among children and other maladies.
While ridding the world of
nuclear weaponry is our primary goal, we are mindful that the institution
of war is responsible for chaos and massive casualties, and that we must also
challenge the militarist mentality if we are ever to enjoy enduring peace and
security on our planet.
The fate of our species is
now being tested as never before.
The question before us is
whether humankind has the foresight and discipline necessary to forego some
superfluous desires, mainly curtailing propensities for material luxuries and
for domination of our fellow beings, thereby enabling all of us and succeeding
generations to live lives worth living. Whether our species will rise to this
challenge is uncertain, with current evidence not reassuring.
The time is short and what
is at risk is civilization and every small and great thing that each of us
loves and treasures on our planet.
* This Open Letter has been
published in The Nation on January 14, 2016.
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