NH #591: Nuclear Weapons & the UN Treaty to Ban Them – Ray Acheson

Nuclear Weapons & the UN Treaty to Ban Them: Ray Acheson

This Week’s Featured Interview:

Two years ago, October 24th 2020, the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was ratified by the 50th member nation and thus qualified for implementation as international law.

To mark this anniversary, we’re revisiting an interview we did at that time with Ray Acheson. They is an organiser, activist, and writer. They are Director of Disarmament at the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), the world’s oldest feminist peace organization. They serve on the steering group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its work to ban nuclear weapons, as well as the steering committees of Stop Killer Robots and the International Network on Explosive Weapons.

We spoke on October 30, 2020.

Links from the Interview:

• Find out if your country has joined the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons – and which cities, parliamentarians, and local organizations are supporting it. ICANW List of TPNW signatories and supporters.
• Report on the First Meeting of States Parties

Books by Ray Acheson:

• Banning the Bomb, Smashing the Patriarchy
• Abolishing State Violence: A World Beyond Bombs, Borders, and Cages

Nuclear Hotseat Hot Story with Linda Pentz Gunter:

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!” exclaimed Shakespeare’s sprite, Puck, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Indeed we are. Somehow, we are still here, despite our reckless possession and use of nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Who can we rely on to save us from our foolishness? Ironically, on at least two occasions, it has been Russian military men, recalls Beyond Nuclear’s Linda Pentz Gunter in this week’s Nuclear Hotseat Hot Story.

Numnutz of the Week (for Outstanding Nuclear Boneheadedness):

Oh, Greta! Say it ain’t so!

LINKS:

• Nuclear is Not a Climate Solution – six video excerpts from a Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World webinar.
• IF YOU LOVE THIS PLANET – interview with Dr. Helen Caldicott
• Expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act – PETITION
• Dealing with Nuclear Anxiety – from ICAN
• NEIS Night with the Experts – Dave Kraft – Thursday, October 20, 2022, 7 PM Central
• Vasily Arkhipov saved the world
• Harvey Wasserman article: Nuclear Power Isn’t Clean — It Creates Hellish Wastelands of Radioactive Sewage