Lynn Jamieson, Chair of Scottish CND is with the Scottish delegation at the 3rd meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons at the UN in New York.

“The Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament’s role is to expose the everyday harms of the nuclear weapons in our midst and the reality of their worthlessness for defence despite the mythical status they are given. We campaign for the removal of nuclear weapons from Scotland, the UK and the world under the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Politicians advocating for nuclear weapons choose blithe disregard for our future that is inherent in threat of nuclear weapons. We call on Scotland’s representatives to retain, or to find, the courage for nuclear disarmament. This would align them with half the countries in the world in support of the TPNW.

Pacifism is not a founding principle of CND but we unequivocally repudiate the assumption that massive force is a solution to fear and insecurity. This view has led to the existential threat of our civilisation ending in nuclear war. There are uses of force that are more genuinely defensive and do not threaten indiscriminate extermination. For example, protecting fishing rights, preventing cyber attacks or being able to contribute personnel to overseas missions which seek to defuse conflict and build peace. These are very different from participating in US led NATO exercises posturing the threat of massive force ending in world war three.

There are very good reasons for suspicion about calls to increase military spending given the relentless lobbying of the arms industries, their unprecedented profits and government failure to prevent the arms trade from enabling the murder of many civilians. A switch in military spending from nuclear weapons to boosting armed-service men and women might be welcome but not if they remain part of the support system that perpetuates a nuclear mentality.”