Trident Ploughshares are joining international groups fasting for the 4 days, from August 6th, the anniversary of Hiroshima, till August 9th, the anniversary of Nagasaki, to express our total opposition to nuclear weapons, and to call for their complete abolition.
We will be joining the fasts in London, Paris and Dijon. We are ashamed and horrified by the irresponsible and criminal vote at Westminster on 18th July to replace and modernise the UK Trident nuclear weapon. The UK, along with the other 8 nuclear weapon states, are refusing to engage in nuclear disarmament and are financing nuclear modernization programs. In NATO countries hosting nuclear bases, the United States wants to modernize bombs and missiles, and to use them to equip new aircraft bombers. In France plans are being drawn up for a new nuclear submarine program and are sharing scientists and research to keep their nuclear arsenals modernised. All this leaves the world perilously close to a global nuclear meltdown.
Kate Holcombe, an English woman living in France and part of Trident Ploughshares, says, “French and English Governments are joint enemies of peace and security. It is very encouraging to see French and English people uniting to counter the threats inflicted upon them by their governments and corporate partners.”
The COP21 meeting in December 2015 expressed in very strong terms the urgency of devoting major efforts to the fight against climate change, whose cost was estimated by COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009 as $ 1,000 billion; this amount is the global budget for nuclear weapons over the next 10 years, representing an outrageous waste in comparison. The clock of the Apocalypse has been estimated to be at 3 minutes to midnight, in other words the risk of nuclear attack is considered comparable to the most dramatic moments of the Cold War. 16,000 nuclear weapons are currently in active service, including 2,000 on alert.
The UN General Assembly decided in December 2015 to begin an Open Ended Working Group to implement a treaty to ban nuclear weapons. The nuclear countries oppose such a treaty, which shows their bad faith with respect to their commitment to nuclear disarmament made in Article VI of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. A surge in public opinion is essential. The possession, production and threatened use of nuclear weapons must be prohibited.
Angie Zelter, from Knighton in Wales, joining the fast in Paris and then in Dijon, said, “I am fasting in France this year to strengthen the links in civil society between France and the UK. The corporate and military links between our 2 countries are leading us to a nuclear armegeddon and people must rise up.”
Trident Ploughshares fasters can be contacted through
Marc Morgan, in London at marcwmorgan@btinternet.com and on 07563725829 and Angie Zelter, in Paris at reforest@gn.apc.org and on 07454573135.
See https://tridentploughshares.org/category/fast-2016/