Emma Dent Coad will soon launch the London Nuclear Ban Communities initiative. She explains why you should get involved…
Jim Radford, Veteran for Peace
October 1928 to November 2020
London CND was sad to hear that Jim Radford died in November. Aged 92, he was a well-known figure on the London CND scene – a Veterans for Peace activist and a member of Lewisham and Greenwich CND. As a singer song-writer, Jim participated in many Hiroshima commemorations and other activities around the capital. Paul Steele and Helen Martins whose obituary appears in the December issue of Peace News, point out that he was the youngest known participant in the Normandy landings and recounted his experiences in a song he wrote, The Shores of Normandy. His death is a loss to the peace movement; he will be missed by many.
WATCH: Gender, Race & Nukes
Check this video exploring the links between gender, race and nuclear disarmament! Organised by London CND in collaboration with East Midlands CND and Youth & Student CND.
Learn why nuclear disarmament is a feminist, anti-racist and anti-imperialist struggle in a snappy video animated by two leading anti-nuclear campaigners from Australia and the US.
Structure: 25 min panel on Gender, Race & Nukes + 25 min ‘devil’s advocate’ game to equip ourselves with anti-nuclear arguments
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Speakers
Karina Lester is a Yankunytjatjara Anangu woman whose community was affected by the British nuclear testing program in South Australia in the 1950s. Her own father, Yami Lester, was permanently blinded by the nuclear fallout of Totem 1 when he was a child. During the negotiations for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, she travelled to New York with a petition from indigenous people across Oceania to promote the inclusion of provisions on assistance to nuclear survivors and environmental remediation. She will also tell us about uranium mining and plans to dump nuclear waste on Aboriginal lands in South Australia.
Ray Acheson is the Director of Reaching Critical Will, the disarmament programme of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She has been involved with intergovernmental disarmament processes since 2005, providing reporting and analysis on nuclear weapons, the international arms trade, armed drones and autonomous weapons. She was involved in developing the strategy and advocacy of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017, in the build up towards the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. ** Devil’s advocate game ** The perfect occasion to learn how to tackle pro-nuclear weapons arguments! Guided by Mélina and Jinsella from Demilitarise Education (dED), we’ve used digital sticky notes to respond to common comments on nuclear weapons in order to solidify our argument. Chilled atmosphere and witty rebuttals!
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3 KEY REASONS WHY bringing a gendered perspective on nuclear weapons is important:
You might think nuclear weapons kill all indiscriminately, but research shows that women and girls are twice more likely to develop cancer as a result of exposure to radiation or nuclear fallouts (ICAN, 2020).
Despite the disproportionate effects, women are vastly under-represented in decision-making regarding nuclear weapons: almost 1/2 of all country delegations at any international diplomatic meetings on nuclear weapons are likely to be composed * entirely * of men (ICAN, 2020).
And of course, the discourse around nuclear weapons is highly gendered. Being ready to use nuclear weapons is seen as masculine and strong, while wanting to disarm is often described as feminine and weak...
3 FACTS ABOUT RACE AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS
The question of race underpins the entire chain of nuclear weapons: from uranium mining, to nuclear research, testing and waste disposal.
From 1946, around 315 nuclear tests were carried out in the Pacific by the US, Britain and France. These nations’ largest ever nuclear tests took place on colonised lands and oceans, from Australia to the Marshall Islands, Kiribati to French Polynesia. This is referred to as ‘Nuclear Colonialism’
The total number of global cancer deaths as a result of atmospheric nuclear test explosions has been estimated at between 2 million and 2.4 million, the majority of which indigenous locals, even though these studies used radiation risk estimates that are now dated and likely underestimated the risk. (Swinburn University, 2020)
Nuclear Ban is here!
We made it ! Fifty countries have ratified the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which comes into force on 22 January. Another 84 countries have signed, but to the UK’s shame, our government has not signed up and says it never will.
London CND has joined the campaign to put pressure on Westminster to change this. In the coming year we will be asking MP, local authorities, and faith leaders in the Greater London area to sign a nuclear disarmament pledge and show their support for the Treaty. Expect more on this in January.
Nuclear weapons are the only weapons of mass destruction not banned under international law. The ratification of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons sets that right, and CND is holding a webinar about it on 16 Jan. Find out more here.
WATCH: Climate, Care & Nukes
Check this video exploring the links between the climate and care crises and nuclear disarmament! Organised by London CND in collaboration with Youth & Student CND, Stop the War Coalition, Extinction Rebellion UK and De-Militarise Education.
Bromley Borough White Poppy Ceremony
Bromley Borough Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament held its annual White Poppy Ceremony on Remembrance Sunday , as part of the South East London CND Peace Coalition . This ceremony commemorates all victims of war not just those who fought in wars.
The White Poppy was devised in 1933 by the Co-operative Womens’ Guild to remember all those who had died as a result of the First World War. Since 1934 responsibility has been taken by the Peace Pledge Union.
Richard Hart, Chair of Bromley Borough Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament said ‘ We feel that in these dangerous times the voice for peace needs to be made. I just wear a white poppy although some attendees wear a red one as well . We also commemorated Jim Radford a local peace campaigner who died on Friday. He had been a cabin boy on D Day when he was just 14 and until recently had been a leading light for Veterans for Peace and a performer on the local Folk Music Scene. His message lives on !’
Introducing the new London CND Coordinator
Hello, my name is Julie and I am delighted to join the London CND team as LRCND Coordinator!
I recently finished my assignment as co-Arts and Culture Coordinator at the The World Transformed, a month-long festival of politics, arts and culture throughout which I organised an inter-generational working group of volunteers in multiple locations and oversaw the organisation of fully-digital talks and creative events.
That’s me!
My campaigning background is in climate activism, student activism and West Papuan liberation, for which I designed diplomatic documents for 3 years, organised an international conference in Oxford and coordinated a march to the United Nations in Geneva. I have also supported 17 campaigns, charities, and think-tanks in producing websites, brand identities and social media graphics. As Environment and Ethics Officer at Warwick Students Union, I gained an excellent command of social media campaigning aimed at students and I am hoping to boost the number of young people involved in the campaign.
I’m on the left, making a banner with other students at the University of Warwick
History must change track, and I cannot wait to lend my experience and creativity to this ever-pressing campaign. If you’d like to be friends on Facebook, here is my professional account: https://www.facebook.com/julie.saumagne. Don’t hesitate to send me a request and drop me a message, I’m really looking forward to meeting and learning from you all!
In peace,
Julie
WATCH: South East London CND Peace One Day event
In September 2001 United Nations GA resolution 55/282 was unanimously adopted by the General Assembly, establishing the UN International Day of Peace as an annual day of global ceasefire and non - violence, fixed in the calendar as September 21st. Peace One Day has successfully driven the initiative to establish this day in many countries throughout the world. It is marked in many different ways, for example - with real ceasefires in conflict zones, arts festivals,and educational projects in schools. The South East London CND Peace Coalition marked it on Sept 22nd this year due to organisational demands, with music, poetry, a speaker about the Gaza settlements, and film extracts about the history of the organisation and a Woodcraft Folk peace project.
00:00:00 Introduction - Gini Bevan (SE London CND groups), Richard Hart and Ann Garrett (Bromley Peace Council)
00:08:43 Music - Nick Jeffrey and The Lewisham Folk Mob
00:38:30 Film - Tracy Cleveland (Woodcraft Folk)
00:47:15 Music - North Kent and Petts Wood musician via La Dolce Vita Folk Club – Paul Steele
00:56:12 Film - Peace One Day, introduced by Hannah Kemp Welch (London Region CND)
01:02:56 Talk - The Gaza Settlements, Michael Coulston (Stop the War) + with Ang Swee Chai 01:19:28 Music - La Dolce Vita Folk Club - Curtis Savage
01:28:20 Poetry - Richard Hart. Roisin Robertson, Leon Silver, Ben Silver, Patricia Lower, Ann Garrett and Ruth Fabricant (local SE London peace poets and singers)
01:28:03 Music – a song from each of the musicians 02:05:32 Final announcements and thanks
Kingston Peace Vigil for Hiroshima Day
Kingston Peace Council held their Hiroshima event on the riverbank at Canbury Gardens, Kingston, where for many years they have organised an evening ceremony. Below are some photos from the commemorations and peace vigil. This year members held up posters in Kingston town centre for an hour, before moving on to the riverbank at lunchtime for a shortened ceremony, joined by the Mayor of Kingston upon Thames Thay Thayalan.
Commemorating Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Bromley 2020
On Saturday 1st August members and supporters of Bromley Borough CND assembled opposite the central library to commemorate the use of nuclear weapons against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6th and 9th August 1945. We maintained a two hour presence outside the library before processing on a silent and dignified walk around Bromley High Street. We all wore our face masks as a mark of respect to the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and also to victims of the Covid 19 virus. We then walked to the lake in the Library Gardens where we scattered chrysanthemum petals on the lake. Afterwards we read poetry written by members of Bromley Borough CND.
