|
|
|
CND in the News
CND in the News: 26 May-1 June 2005
…………………………………………….
1 Ban the bomb back on the agenda
BBC News website, Friday, 27 May, 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4584509.stm
As negotiators from 160 countries make last ditch efforts to agree how
to tackle nuclear arms and their proliferation, a five-million-name petition
calling for disarmament is being handed into Downing Street.
Veteran campaigner Bruce Kent talks of the movement's renewed hope.
Campaigning for nuclear disarmament is back in vogue
Seemingly out of fashion since the collapse of the Soviet Union, support
for CND is now something young people are proud of -
or so the organisation claims. Membership has increased significantly
since protests against the Iraq war began - a conflict predicated on the
need to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
And a new generation of young activists now campaign alongside more elderly
peace lovers.
The campaign's vice president Bruce Kent, who led CND
during the 1980s, says: "There was a period of time when campaigning
for nuclear disarmament was, in those terms, not fashionable. "Especially
once the threat of a conflict between the US and the Soviet Union was
out of the picture." But now, with a 5m-name petition calling for
"real steps" towards disarmament in the UK in his back pocket
ready to hand in to Downing Street on Friday, "all sorts of voices
around the world" are joining the disarmament debate, he says.
Mr Kent points to converts like Vietnam war era US secretary for defence
Robert McNamara, and Labour's Roy Hattersley. Even the last pope was anti-nuclear,
he says, recalling Pope John Paul II's claim that nuclear deterrents were
"obstacles to world peace".
He even predicts that the campaign for nuclear disarmament will form part
of the anti-poverty debate being led by the much-celebrated Make Poverty
History Campaign. "More and more anti-poverty organisations recognise
that war is a major contributor to poverty and we can't talk about one
without the other. "We can't have preparations for war and make poverty
history at the same time."
But will these sentiments be reflected in the nuclear non-proliferation
treaty (NPT) review talks which are entering their last day in New York?
Despite huge efforts from non-nuclear states, such as New Zealand and
Malaysia, the treaty looks unlikely to push the disarmament agenda forward
- despite an agreement in 2000 that nuclear weapons states take steps
towards disarmament.
And, CND admits, there is little appetite within the
Cabinet for dropping Britain's nuclear deterrent, Trident.
Chancellor Gordon Brown has said: "The issue in the world is not
whether the existing powers cease to be nuclear...I think the issue is
whether we can prevent proliferation."
'Loopholes'
Fears about North Korea and Iran's quest for nuclear weapons have overshadowed
the conference. In March, President Bush called for "strong action
to confront non-compliance with the NPT" and for "loopholes"
that allow states to build nuclear bombs under the cover of civilian nuclear
programmes to be closed. Critics charge the US with breaching its disarmament
obligations by undertaking new nuclear weapons research, even though the
administration says it has eliminated 13,000 nuclear weapons since 1998.
As Democrat congressman from Massachusetts Ed Markey told a recent press
conference: "The US cannot preach temperance from a bar stool."
And the same goes for Britain, Mr Kent argues. "If we tell other
countries by our behaviour that these are essential for our security then
I can't see the logic in telling other countries they can't have them."
This battle between the haves and the have-nots has been at the heart
of the month-long NPT review which is threatening to end in deadlock.
But if no new statement is agreed, does it mean the treaty talks have
failed? Not so long as the hard-won commitment for weapons states to take
steps towards disarmament remains, says Mr Kent. His main concern now
is the potential for a catastrophe caused by a nuclear accident. "Sooner
or later we are going to see that. We are walking across the high wire,"
he warns.
……………………………………………..
2 Birds of Anti-Nuclear Hope Fly to No 10
Fri 27 May 2005
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4612141
Paper cranes fashioned by school children from Hiroshima were handed in
to Downing Street by anti-nuclear campaigners today. The model birds,
regarded as a symbol of hope in Japan, were accompanied by a 14,700-strong
petition calling for disarmament.
The CND and Abolition 2000 delegation is part of a world-wide
campaign and visited No 10 on what is the last day of the nuclear non-proliferation
conference at the UN in New York. Many more British signatures were on
an international petition handed in there at the beginning of the month.
CND’s Bruce Kent said: “The global petition
makes it clear that the people of the world want abolition. “Without
total nuclear disarmament we will never have true peace and security.”
……………………………………………..
3 Blair sent mass petition to abandon nuclear weapons
May 27, IRNA
http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-239/0505270544170117.htm
UK CND-Nuclear Weapons
Britain's veteran Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)
Friday handed in a mass petition to Prime Minister Tony Blair calling
on nuclear power countries to take immediate steps to eliminate their
nuclear weapons arsenals.
The petition, which included 14,700 signatures to represent over five
million collected worldwide, was delivered to coincide the final day of
the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference in New York. "It
will be a grave set back if a final document is agreed on Friday which
undermines the 2000's 'unequivocal undertaking to work towards the total
elimination of their nuclear arsenals' and the agreed 13 steps to disarmament,"
CND chair Kate Hudson warned. "It will send a clear message
that the nuclear weapon states do not wish to comply with their crucial
side of the NPT bargain," she said in a statement obtained by IRNA.
Millions of signatures on the same petition, which was originally launched
by the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to mark the 60th anniversary of
US atomic bombs being dropped on their towns, were handed in during the
first week of the NPT Conference in New York. "The outcome of this
year's NPT conference is crucial to the future security of the planet.
There have been brave and persistent attempts by the majority of the non-nuclear
weapon states to ensure that disarmament remains at the heart of the NPT,"
Hudson said.
The veteran vice-president of CND, Bruce Kent, who handed
in the petition to Blair's office, said the NPT is "constantly being
misrepresented as if it was only concerned with stopping other countries
from obtaining nuclear weapons." "In fact, it lays down a clear
obligation on the nuclear weapon powers to negotiate the abolition of
their own. This obligation was clearly spelt out by the International
Court of Justice in 1996," he said.
CND is one of Europe's oldest and biggest single-issue
campaigns, with over 32,000 members in the UK alone. It said it also handed
in paper cranes, made by Japanese children in Hiroshima, with the petition
to remind Blair of the true horror of nuclear weapons.
……………………………………………..
4 Birds of hope swoop on Downing St
27 May 2005
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/londonnews/articles/PA_LONA66206311117188179A0?source=PA%20Feed
Paper cranes fashioned by schoolchildren from Hiroshima were handed in
to Downing Street by anti-nuclear campaigners. The model birds, regarded
as a symbol of hope in Japan, were accompanied by a 14,700-strong petition
calling for disarmament.
The CND and Abolition 2000 delegation is part of a world-wide
campaign and visited No 10 on what is the last day of the nuclear non-proliferation
conference at the UN in New York.
……………………………………………..
5 March against the G8 in Sheffield on 11 June
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=6623
Socialist worker, 4 June 2005
Preparations are underway in Sheffield to protest against the G8 justice
and interior ministers’ summit.
A march for peace and justice has been organised by Sheffield Stop the
War Coalition for Saturday 11 June to show the ministers are not welcome.
The march is being supported by Stop Political Terror, Sheffield Trades
Council, Sheffield Muslim Association of Britain, Sheffield Palestine
Solidarity Campaign, Sheffield CND, Sheffield Green Party
and Sheffield Respect.
Alex, a student from Silverdale school, has been collecting signatures.
He said, “It’s clear that the people of Sheffield are really
taking an interest in what is going to happen at the G8 meeting, and want
their views heard.
“I took a copy of the petition to a gig on Saturday night, and collected
over 30 signatures, handed out lots of leaflets and was asked for the
details of the planned protests by nearly everyone I spoke to.”
The march on 11 June will end in the Peace in the Park festival, which
has grown out of the anti-war movement. Speakers at the festival will
include former Guantanamo Bay detainee Martin Mubanga and Dr Adnan Siddiqui
from Stop Political Terror.
March Saturday 11 June, assemble 10.30am, Devonshire Green, Sheffield.
……………………………………………..
Back to Top
| |
