Former UK Royal Navy Commanders Call for Nuclear Cuts to Help Address Covid-19
Move the Nuclear Weapons Money
(April 3, 2020) — Three former UK Royal Navy Commanders sent a letter to all UK parliamentarians on April 1 questioning the policy of maintaining a continuous at sea nuclear deterrent.
The commanders note that the £2 billion a year cost of maintaining this nuclear posture and readiness for war appear to be unjustifiable, especially as the economic costs of the coronavirus pandemic are mounting, and while there appears to be no threat of a ‘bolt from the blue’ nuclear attack against the UK, for which the policy is intended to counter.
In addition, the letter questions the decision by parliament to invest even more substantial resources in building new nuclear warheads and the submarines to carry them.
“It is completely unacceptable that the UK continues to spend billions of pounds on deploying and modernising the Trident Nuclear Weapon System when faced with the threats to health, climate change and world economies that Coronavirus poses,” said Commander Robert Forsyth RN (Ret’d), a former nuclear submariner, signatory to the letter and supporter of the Move the Nuclear Weapons Money campaign.
The letter was organised by the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation and sent to all members of the UK House of Commons, UK House of Lords, Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales, and Northern Ireland Assembly.
“This pandemic, and the inability of the British government to either prepare for or effectively respond to such an immediate threat to life, demonstrates the twisted priorities at the heart of nuclear weapons spending,’ said Tom Unterrainer, Director of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation. “Rather than work to guarantee real security this government prioritises the acquisition and deployment of weapons of mass murder.”
The signatories to the letter hope that their efforts to question the nuclear ‘Continuous At Sea Deterrent’ will encourage politicians and the wider public to begin to question the morality and the feasibility of nuclear weaponry.
According to Commander Robert Green RN (Ret’d), former nuclear-armed aircraft bombardier-navigator and one of the other co-signers of the letter, ‘Nuclear deterrence is no more than a repulsive, unlawful protection racket used as a counterfeit currency of power, and hugely profitable to the corporate arms industry.’ (Commander Green is also a supporter of the Move the Nuclear Weapons Money campaign).
The letter was supported by a number of peace and disarmament movement leaders including Bruce Kent(Vice-President of the Campaign for Disarmament), and a number of UK parliamentarians including Rt Hon Ian Blackford MP (SNP Westminster Group Leader), Lord Green of Deddington, Baroness Sue Miller of Chilthorne Domer and Bill Kidd (Member, Scottish Parliament). Baroness Miller and Mr Kidd are the UK Co-Presidents of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND).
‘It is very encouraging that three senior British Naval Officers agree that spending billions of pounds on another nuclear weapon system, which is not even independent, is a foolish waste of public money,’ said Mr Kent. At this time of a grave public health crisis it is the NHS (National Health Service) that needs our support and increased finance. CND members will continue to promote the’NHS not Trident’ message.’
“Covid-19 is showing us that humanity’s worst threats- pandemics and climate change are shared globally,’ said Baroness Sue Miller. ‘We should not waste resources on renewing nuclear weapons as we should be using all resources we can in tackling these all too real issues.’
All of the nuclear weapons powers, and those states which are supportive of them, are wasting precious resources on the likes of Trident against the wishes of their peoples, when they should be addressing the real and deadly enemy in the form of COVID19,’ said Bill Kidd MSP, who also serves as the Convenor of the Cross-Party Group in the Scottish Parliament on Nuclear Disarmament.
“With human beings and national economies under genuine threat, it is the duty of governments and parliamentarians to pull back from nuclear war planning and preparation, and to instead cooperate internationally on facing down this deadly pandemic,” concluded Mr Kidd.
African Youth Call for a Ceasefire and Nuclear Weapons Cuts to Help Address Covid-19 Pandemic
Move the Nuclear Weapons Money
(April 5, 2020) — Young Africans from Children for Peace and the African Network of Young Leaders for Peace and Sustainable Development (ANYL4PSD) have given strong support for the UN Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire. And they have joined the Move the Nuclear Weapons Money campaign to cut nuclear budgets in order to help fund the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and address the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a detailed statement Armed conflict, corona virus pandemic and a ceasefire: Impact on children in Africa, Divina Maloum (pictured above), founder of Children for Peace and co-winner with Greta Thunberg of the influential 2019 International Children’s Peace Prize, outlines the impact of armed conflict on children and on public health systems in Africa. She warns about the dire humanitarian consequences if governments and militias continue fighting rather than cooperating to prevent spread of the coronavirus and mitigate its impact on public health and the economy.
‘Healthcare systems across Africa could collapse under the weight of the coronavirus pandemic since conflict-hit regions have many hospitals that have already been damaged and the basics such as clean water and soap necessary to fight the virus are in short supply due to armed conflict. The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war. The global ceasefire is absolutely essential for an effective response to the crisis in areas of conflict. War doesn’t make any sense when we have an epidemic that affects us all.’
Divina Maloum, founder of Children for Peace and winner of the 2019 International Children’s Peace Prize.
The Guardian reports that eleven countries that are locked in long-term conflicts have now responded to the UN call for a worldwide ceasefire, and the total number of countries supporting the ceasefire call has risen to 70. (Click here for a joint statement from 53 supporting countries). However, the UN Secretary-General notes that “there was still a distance between declarations and deeds in many countries”. He has asked his special envoys across the globe to redouble their efforts to persuade combatants to lower their guns to allow humanitarian workers to combat the coronavirus.
A global petition supporting the ceasefire has already gained over 1.6 million endorsers. Click here to add your support.
Divina and other members of Children for Peace and ANYL4PSD, have also submitted memes for the Move the Nuclear Weapons Money social media campaign, making the connections between nuclear disarmament, peace, sustainable development and public health. Below are a few of these.
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