Nuclear Weapons Are Not a Fact of Life

[Image compliments of ICAN.]

An op-ed of this title was just published in the New York Times by Beatrice Fihn.

Fihn is is the director of Lex International Fund and the former executive director of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

(Beyond Nuclear is an ICAN member.)

She reminds us of the power of individual action, especially united to build a movement:

“Consider the pivotal moments of nuclear activism in America. In the 1980s, 25 of the largest U.S. trade unions supported the nuclear freeze movement, which sought to stop and reverse the nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Professional organizations like International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War mobilized medical professionals. Artists, including Bruce Springsteen, created cultural moments like the “No Nukes” concerts at Madison Square Garden in 1979. Filmmakers, such as those who made the influential film “The Day After,” helped shift public perception and even influenced political leaders, Ronald Reagan among them. Local engagement was particularly powerful; in 1982 several states, hundreds of city governments and over 400 town halls in New England passed freeze resolutions.”

She concludes “We have the power to turn nuclear weapons into relics of a misguided past.”