Congratulations to Edinburgh for making a capital move this week, with Green Councillors introducing a resolution for the city to become part of the ICAN Cities Appeal. The Cities Appeal describes the threat that nuclear weapons pose throughout the world, and insists that we all have the right to live free from such a catastrophic threat, and its consequences for people and the environment. The adoption of the treaty in 2017 is welcomed and Westminster is asked to join it. This appeal is being made to national governments by local legislative bodies throughout the nuclear-armed states in the world. They are calling for them to get on board and join the TPNW.

Edinburgh Council have taken the opportunity to add more, and introduce their resolution in line with Edinburgh’s status as an Nuclear Free Local Authority.

By working together, we could make sure that the majority of Scottish local authorities are signed up to the ICAN Cities Appeal before too long, and where the chance arises it can be added to as Edinburgh have done, either within the resolution or as a follow up.

Activists can be sure of support from the ICAN Scottish partners working on the Cities Appeal and our voices raised together will be heard. A simple message to your local councillor can go a long way! See the resources tab on this website for more details and contact the partner organisations via the links on the right or email us hello@nuclearban.scot.

ICAN
in Scotland

Press Release 31^st May 2019 – for immediate use

At a Council meeting this week West Dunbartonshire approved a resolution supporting the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), noting the catastrophic global effects of any use of nuclear weapons and deploring the transporting of the UK’s nuclear warheads on local roads.

The resolution¹ was moved by Councillor Ian Dickson, who said:

“We have clearly demonstrated our concerns, for our safety, health, environment, the global food chain, for future generations and their cultural inheritance. West Dunbartonshire doesn’t need or want these Nukes of Hazard passing through our local areas. These weapons of mass destruction are travelling far too close for comfort to our homes, schools, and workplaces and this motion reasserts that they are not wanted on our soil in West Dunbartonshire.”

The Council also passed a resolution relating to the climate emergency and calling on the Strathclyde Pension Fund (which handles pensions for the local authorities which replaced Strathclyde Regional Council) to divest from fossil fuels and also from nuclear weapons.

The TPNW², adopted at the UN in 2017 by overwhelming vote is expected to enter into force in 2020, when the necessary fifty states have ratified it.

West Dunbartonshire is the third UK jurisdiction to support the TPNW, after Manchester and Renfrewshire, and follows a rapidly developing worldwide trend for cities, states and council areas to express their alignment with the Treaty, including Paris, Toronto, Geneva, Washington DC, Sidney and Berlin, plus two US states, California and New Jersey.³

Janet Fenton, ICAN’s Scottish liaison, said:

“West Dumbartonshire joining other Scottish Councils in support for the UN Treaty to prohibit Nuclear Weapons shows how Scotland can contribute to the safer saner world that the the majority of countries around the world are working for. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Partners across the world are happy to see that Scottish cities as well as Scottish parliamentarians say “No nukes here – or anywhere.”

This is more than a gesture. It is a significant step in solidarity with those worldwide who are threatened by the nuclear-armed states. As the pressure for divestment shows, this is about practical moves to align with the Treaty. We would encourage all Scottish local authorities and cities to follow West Dunbartonshire’s example.”

Contact: Janet Fenton 07795 594573

nuclearban.scot

1Full text of resolution:

“Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
West Dunbartonshire Council is deeply concerned about the grave threat that nuclear weapons pose to communities throughout the world. We firmly believe that our residents have the right to live in a world free from this threat. Any use of nuclear weapons, whether deliberate or accidental, would have catastrophic, far-reaching and long-lasting consequences for people and the environment. Council fully supports the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) as one of the most effective ways to bring about long-term and verifiable nuclear disarmament and reaffirms our commitment to West Dunbartonshire’s designation as a Nuclear Free Zone. To this end council asserts its opposition to the illegal transportation of nuclear weapons on our roads and rail networks on moral and safety grounds. Council instructs the Leader of the Council to write to the UK Government to inform them of this resolution and urge them to take account of it.”

2 http://www.icanw.org/the-treaty/

3 http://nuclearban.org/cities

In the week beginning 11th March 2019 a series of meetings were held in Glasgow and Edinburgh featuring European visitors and discussing peace-building opportunities and challenges in the context of Brexit, the future of NATO and the militarisation of the European Union. A detailed compilation of their presentations over the three meetings is below this article.

At first glance the contributions of the four speakers to the meetings could be seen as diffuse, with no obvious unifying theme. Given time to digest the inputs, the messages are both coherent and relevant.

One element in the meetings was represented by two speakers from small countries, Scotland- sized but independent, Anne Palm from Finland and Roger Cole from Ireland. Both nations, in tension with that independence and a good track record on positive international diplomacy, have behaviours that place them firmly in one or more of the world’s major power blocs and with dubious connections to global conflict. Ireland has the notorious Shannon airport contradiction and is content to play its part in the militarisation of the EU. Finland provides intelligence to NATO and has a significant arms exporting record, some of it to dubious regimes. There is a marked difference between Anne and Roger on the EU. Ann sees the EU as a positive institution and feels the military plans do not amount to much while Roger reckons that the EU has imperial ambitions that it is increasingly ready to back up with a genuine war-making structure.

Many will feel that tension within their own take on the EU and on Brexit, responding on the one hand to the early post-war European vision for peace across the continent and the EU’s institutional frameworks for human and workplace rights and for environmental standards, and on the other to the realistic recognition that the Union operates as a global trading bloc on neo-liberal economic principles, making it highly plausible that it will aspire to a fully-fledged military identity. It also seems highly likely that Brexit will serve to accelerate that process, given that the UK has been resistant to a clear EU military identity on the grounds that it will undermine NATO and reliance on the US for military security.

All these questions and suggestions are sharply relevant to a Scotland moving towards independence. Those of us who want our country to be for peace will interrogate such options as we will have. This will include looking twice at any EU membership option and exploring whether Danish-style military opt-out protocols are possible. Can we be genuinely non-aligned or do fail to set our ambitions beyond a fudge in which our bloc alignment actions are covert or simply downplayed? On the positive side will we match Ireland and Finland in contribution to genuinely inclusive international institutions? Will our concept of security be limited to conventional military threat-related perspectives or be based (as Anne Palme proposed) on real human needs?

The scrutiny of the future options also impels current action. There is much that we can do right now to contribute to the inclusive international institutions by seeking assertive and imaginative ways to participate on the basis that so much of our aspiration for a peaceful world is subverted by being formally represented through the narrow channel of the UK.

There are the tricky but inescapable challenges in Scotland’s arms exporting and the support the Scottish government give to it. There’s education, formal and otherwise.

Then there is the question of whether we will have any future at all. Dave Webb’s presentation of one of two (known) existential threats we face was stark He made it clear that our response needs to be global in its perspective, in the way it works at solidarity, in the way it links the grass-roots with the governmental and diplomatic, in the requirement to work together worldwide to provide the essential counter-narrative. Working for the TPNW covers all these elements.

Ann Paterson’s contribution took us to the heart of the dynamics of violence and of peace. Her warning that internecine violence can break out at a moment’s notice is to be heeded. We are aware that our social and political discourse has become more and more polarised. We need to balance our commitment to good and just stances with the ability to cross the boundaries and identify common values. In the peace movement we have the resources to hand to do this but we have to give this part of the work greater prominence and status within our programmes and personally.

David Mackenzie February 2019

Compilation

Dave Webb, chair of UK CND, has a science background and at one time worked for the MoD on assessing Soviet threats in space. Appalled by the confrontational “worse-case scenario” approach of the planners he got involved in politics during the mass movements of the early 80s. The possibility of intermediate range nuclear weapons coming back into Europe is alarming. NATO has completely reneged on the agreement it made at the time of the break up of the Soviet Union that the Alliance would not seek members among those states physically closest to Russia in order to have a buffer zone. Acknowledging that there was currently no such mass movement confronting the current perilous situation but there is hope that one can now be built, especially given the grass-roots impetus behind the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). The SNP in changing to a pro-NATO policy has made a serious error given that the UK’s nuclear weapons are allocated to the alliance and how the NATO military infrastructure is designed to be inter-operable with US systems to the benefit of US arms corporations. In this scenario the UK cannot fail to have a first-strike nuclear policy since that is the NATO stance. As regards the increasingly militarised EU, do we leave or stay in and attempt reform. We should bear in mind that there are three forms of violence, direct, structural and cultural and all need to be resisted. Co-operation and negotiation has to be the way forward.

Ann Patterson oBelfast Peace People. In Ann’s experience most people are peace people. The roots of her own pacifism was the accounts of the Holocaust told her by her Jewish teacher. Ann worked with the Quakers and was aware of their good reputation in Ireland. On one occasion amidst the anger of a big protest against the release of 3 convicted British soldiers her Quaker minibus was let through the crowds by protesters who said that the Quakers had saved so many during the Famine. She had engaged in prison education in the infamous H Block. The horrors of ISIS and Syria recalled for her the terrible state of NI during the troubles. The founding of the Peace People resonated very deeply across the polarised and divided community, and very quickly resulted in the formation of nearly four hundred small but vociferous and active groups forming and demonstrating locally every week, eventually this included together travelling to London where together they filled Trafalgar Square.

Ann showed a moving film about the NI Troubles and the widespread revulsion at one particular tragedy that led to peace-making across the boundaries. There was the sense that the community had lost its soul and that the violence had to stop somehow. The Brexit threat to the open border between north and south is very worrying since violence can break out so very quickly in an apparently calm and stable situation.

Ann Palme, of the Finnish Wider Security Network (formed 2015) spoke of the Finnish view on peace. The Network operates in an integrated way with Finnish Government rather than just as a pressure group.

Finland has not been involved in armed conflict since 1944 and is currently at No 7 on the Global Peace Index. Current concerns are the Trump unpredictability, Russian aggression, the general descent into power politics and Brexit – all indicating a decline in international co-operation. Ann was very positive about the EU and the need for a common security and defence policy. In her view the European army was hardly a reality. She said that Finland has stayed out of all alliances and plays a big part in peace-keeping via the UN and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Finland only became independent in 1917 after being part of Sweden and then Russia with whom it shares a 1340 kilometre border. Finnish people just want a quiet life! Finland has not signed the TPNW due to its NATO alignment and says that the NPT is the important treaty in regard to nuclear weapons. added that the main parties in Finland wanted to stay out of NATO, a stance affected by Russia’s proximity, but still remain closely co-operative with it. Peace-building and mediation are essential and we need more women and young people to be active in these fields. In its mediation activities, Finland pays special attention to measures that enhance the role and ownership of women in peace processes in line with the UN Security Council Resolution 1325, “Women, Peace and Security”. Finland has its own National Action Plan for the implementation of Resolution 1325, and Finnish experiences have been shared with partners in countries such as Kenya and Afghanistan.A big advantage in Finland is government funding, without strings, for NGOs. Scotland could play a significant part in peace-building and mediation. The Finnish have the word “sisu” (stoic determination, tenacity of purpose, grit, bravery, resilience and hardiness) to describe their national character, a term similar to the Scottish “smeddum”!

Roger Cole of the Irish Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA). PANA is committed to Irish independent operation in the context of the UN and was instrumental in initiating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Roger spoke of the growing militarisation of the EU and the recent mentions by Macron and Merkel of the European Army. Based on its concerns about neutrality PANA had campaigned at a series of referenda on Europe, including successfully at the first referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. The plan for developing the EU as a military power is in the Lisbon Treaty leading to battle groups and the 2017 EU Permanent Structured Cooperation on Security and Defence Organisation (PESCO), and it could involve nuclear weapons. It is notable that Denmark in joining the EU did so on the basis of protocols which excluded it from the the military dimension. As things stand for Ireland membership of the EU and involvement in the military aspect mean that the Irish have given up their loyalty to their own country in favour an external union. PANA is in favour of an economic partnership and does not advocate leaving the EU. Independence and neutrality are key. Irish neutrality is of course critically compromised by the use of Shannon airport for regular transit of US forces. Most Irish people, though against the never ending wars, know nothing of this – it is not reported in mainstream media and we have to harness the power of social media to get the story out. PANA now has the support of 52 Irish parliamentarians and 70% of the population is against the US use of Shannon. While stressing neutrality and independence Roger was clear that PANA’s is not a “Little Irelander” stance and it supports independence for others, such as currently Venezuela.

END

On Monday 18^th February campaigners from the Trident Ploughshares Peaton Peace Pirates affinity group will visit the consulates or other representatives of four of the “P5” nuclear-armed states to ask them to engage urgently in diplomatic moves to defuse what the protesters see as the current critically dangerous situation.

Visits will be made to the US, French and Chinese consulates, and to the Scotland Office as the representative office of the British state. The visits are a follow-up to a letter sent last week to the offices requesting a meeting. The Russian Consul-General has agreed a meeting later in the week and so his office will not be visited on Monday.

David Mackenzie said:

“Our message will be simple and we will be peacefully assertive in getting it across. The risks are real. The consequences of nuclear conflict will be utterly horrific. Start talking to each other now. Begin to engage with the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. It’s the end of nukes or the end of us. Along with the threat of catastrophic climate breakdown this emergency requires a constructive global engagement. In the case of the risk of nuclear war the new TPNW provides the ideal platform for that process.

We believe that the risk of global nuclear war is at present very serious. There is the underlying and constant risk of catastrophic error within complex delegation and computerised systems. Also in the background is the current and ongoing modernisation and sophistication of the weapons – a real arms race – as well as the danger from non-state actors and fragile governments worldwide. Right now there are the signs (including the collapse of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty – the INF) that what arms control measures we have had are crumbling away amid criminally reckless posturing.”

Notes:

1.
Visit Timetable:

10.00
a.m. Scotland Office (UK), 1 Melville Crescent, EH3 7HW

11.45
a.m. French Consulate, Lothian Chambers, West Parliament Square, EH1
1RN

1.30
p.m. US Consulate, 3 Regent Terrace, EH7 5BW

2.45
p.m. Chinese Consulate, 55 Corstorphine Road, EH12 5QG

2.
Consular letter

I am writing to respectfully advise that we will call to your consulate on the 18^th February, at the time noted below, to discuss our deep concerns about the current lack of peaceful diplomacy offered by member states of the UN Security Council to the world order. Instead, all of them are upgrading and modernising their nuclear arsenals. Coupled with recent US and Russian statements on the 1987 bilateral agreement to limit the deployment of nuclear weapons (Intermediate-Range Forces Treaty, or INF) the Security Council is showing reckless disregard for the safety of the planet and all life on it.

The INF is a bilateral treaty, but we consider that it is the responsibility of the Security Council at the UN to ensure that states commit to the rules-based regime that is supported by civil society across the world. This regime is fundamental in keeping global citizens safe, and for intergovernmental disputes to be subject to scrutiny and resolved without the use of force.

The majority of member states wish to prohibit and eliminate these weapons; many non-governmental organisations share that view, and further consider that the Security Council member states are putting the future of both our planet and children at risk with this retrograde step.

All the Security Council member states should join the 70 states which have signed the UN’s 2017 Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is the course of action to which all of the Security Council should be committed if they are serious about multilateral disarmament, as they repeatedly say that they are.

The INF Treaty was agreed when films such as The War Game, Threads, and The Day After were instrumental in making the horrific reality of nuclear weapons apparent to the world’s people, who then put their governments under enormous public pressure. Reagan and Gorbachev were deeply affected by The Day After, which became a catalyst in their agreeing the INF. Now, we need more than reversible arms control — we need discussions leading to all nuclear armed states joining the TPNW. For this reason, we also request the consul’s attendance at a screening of The War Game on the 18^th February at 8.00pm at 6/1 Glenallan Drive, Edinburgh EH16 5QX.This invitation is extended to the local US, China, Russian, French consulates in Edinburgh and the Scotland Office of the UK Government.

We look forward to seeing you at the consulate on the 18^th at the time indicated.

Please RSVP to this email address

Aifauldly,

Janet Fenton, David Mackenzie, Jean Oliver, Douglas Shaw and Jamie Watson

The
Peace Pirates Affinity Group, Trident Ploughshares

From Tuesday to Thursday next week (12^th to 14^th February) Scottish CND is hosting a series of meetings¹ with an impressive panel of European visitors to discuss peace-building opportunities and challenges in the context of Brexit, the future of NATO and the militarisation of the European Union.

Nobel Laureate Ann Patterson of Belfast Peace People has been deeply involved along with Mairead McGuire in peace work, both in Ireland and worldwide. Roger Cole is chair of the Irish Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) which advocates Irish Neutrality and and opposes the use of Shannon Airport by the US military. Dave Webb is a member of the World Beyond War Coordinating Committee and Chair of the UK Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), as well as Vice President of the International Peace Bureau (IPB) and the Convenor of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. Anne Palm is the Executive Director of the Wider Security Network (WISE), a Finnish network with the strategic goal of encouraging public analytical discussion of the practical meanings of human and broad security. Anne has previously worked with Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Arthur West, Chair of Scottish CND said:

“NATO
has its 70^th
anniversary in April and its future is under question. The European
Union is growing its military ambitions, and a second Scottish
independence referendum is on the cards. We need to be giving serious
thought to the interlocking of all these developments and what the
options are for peace-building. The visit of our European friends is
unmissable chance to engage with these vital issues and to work on
our vision of a Scotland for Peace.”

Interviews.
All the panel will be available for interview outwith the meetings.
To make arrangements email hello@nuclearban.scot
or call 07795
594573

1
Tuesday 12th February
7:00pm – Yes Hub (31
Lasswade Road, Edinburgh, EH16 6TD

Wednesday
13th February 6:30pm – Quaker Meeting House Elmbank Crescent
Glasgow G2 4PS

Thursday
14th February 7:30pm – Quaker Meeting House 7 Victoria Terrace,
Edinburgh, EH1 2JL

On Monday 4^th February there will be a peaceful protest at both the Russian and US Consulates in Edinburgh to register alarm at the breakdown of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

The INF is a bi-lateral treaty between the US and Russia and bans the deployment of nuclear weapons with a range of between 300 and 3400 miles. The INF was agreed by Reagan and Gorbachev in 1987 in a mutual recognition that land-based mobile weapon systems like the US Pershing and the Soviet SS 20 dangerously reduced the threshold for all-out nuclear war. Intermediate-range nuclear weapon systems were the main focus of disarmament movements in the 80’s, such as at Greenham Common. In the last few days both the US have said they will withdraw from the treaty, effectively causing its collapse.

Janet Fenton, of ICAN’s International Steering Group, said:

“Thanks to 1980’s civil society’s heightened awareness of the terrible danger and the enormous public pressure on governments, the US and Russia agreeing the INF was effective in reducing the threat of nuclear war. The nuclear arms race we now face carries even more horrific risk in such a fluid and volatile world order, involving weak governments and non-state actors added to the political spectrum and cyber attack possible on the weapons systems. The nuclear-arms states must cease their criminally infantile brinkmanship and start real constructive talking again. Above all, this dangerous episode illustrates how vulnerable arms control measures are to political change. The only irreversible solution is elimination of nuclear weapons. Again civil society is demanding change,with prohibition and elimination as the purpose of the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)¹ which includes provision for nuclear armed states to disarm while addressing their security concerns.”

Michael Orgel, of Medact Scotland, said:

“The suspension of the INF Treaty today heightens risks for all of us. An escalating nuclear arms race will lead us further to the brink of nuclear war by accident or design. Any medical response to a nuclear attack would be extremely limited and largely ineffective because of the complete devastation caused to roads, buildings and electricity supplies. Even if some medics could treat those not killed instantly by the immense force of the blast, they would lack the resources to provide meaningful care. Researchers estimate that more than two billion people could die of starvation in the years following even a ‘limited’ nuclear war. And just 1.5% of the world’s nuclear weapons could dim the sunlight and cause a nuclear winter resulting in the possible extinction of the human race.”

Gari Don, Director of UN House Scotland, said:

The hitherto global commitment to Sustainable Development Goal 16² is being challenged to breaking point. We have until 2 August 2019, the date the US withdrawal can be revoked, to bring back the sanity of a rules-based world order. It appears to be impossible for States Parties to achieve and maintain this, so we in civil society must do everything we possibly can to highlight the lunacy of legal anarchy. This is the time for all of us to recognise, support and deliver the momentum behind the moral rationality of the TPNW.

The protests will take place at the Russian consulate in Melville Street at 9 a.m. , and at the US consulate on Regent Terrace at 10.15 a.m.C

1 The Treaty On the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was adopted at the UN in July 2017. It will enter into force when it has been signed and ratified by 50 member states –un.org/disarmament/wmd/nuclear/tpnw/

The International Campaign to abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)icanw.org was founded in 2007 and has partner organisations in one hundred countries world wide. It was awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its contribution to the TPNW. Scottish partner organisations are: Scottish CND www.banthebomb.org, Edinburgh Peace & Justice Centre peaceandjustice.org.uk, UN House .www.unhscotland.org.uk, MEDACT (Scotland)medact.org/project/scotland, Northern Friends Peace Boardnfpb.org.uk and Trident Ploughshares – tridentploughshares.org.

2 UN Sustainable Development Goal 16 is for Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions