For a State of Peace

Scottish campaigners mark the nuclear ban treaty’s second anniversary. The treaty marks an important step in exerting peace, and points to the role Scotland could play in creating that world.

On Sunday 22nd January disarmament campaigners in a Scotland and across the globe will mark the second anniversary of the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). States which join the TPNW are prohibited from having anything to do with nuclear weapons. As of today, the Treaty has been signed by 98 of the UN’s 193 states. Many more intend to join the Treaty, as shown by the fact that around 130 states regularly support it whenever it is on the agenda at the UN General Assembly.

What the Treaty does is to take existing international law on the conduct of war and applies its principles to the specific case of nuclear weapons. In this way it moves nuclear weapons into the same unspeakable category as chemical weapons.

Scottish musician and writer Pat Kane said:

“When we consider the mounting levels of existential risk humanity faces—climate, pandemic, out of control AI and of course nuclear war—our daily lives seem more and more absurd. Scottish independence has always had one exit door from this madness—which is to use our democratic sovereignty to remove nuclear weapons from our soil. One of our first acts as a nation-state should be to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition on Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), and tie the future of Scotland to an ultimate moral position. We need a state of peace in this world—and a peaceful, non-nuclear Scottish state should be our own, irreducible contribution to that.”

ICAN Scottish liaison Janet Fenton said:

“At a time when the horrifying and ongoing conflict in Ukraine is further heightening the risk of nuclear war the TPNW is a practical expression of the worldwide popular wish to be rid of these weapons for ever. It has been wonderful to watch the Treaty grow in stature and credibility in spite of attempts by the nuclear armed states to stop it in its tracks. Rebecca Solnit says that new ideas often travel from the margins and the shadows to the centre, to the limelight where people – judges, presidents, prime ministers, international bodies – make decisions. She’s right. Critically the Treaty is changing the whole discourse around nuclear weapons and will continue to do so.”

UN Headquarters in New York. Photo_ Seth Shelden

Our neighbour Ireland has joined the Treaty. It was notable that the legislation to make the Treaty part of Irish law went through the two parliamentary houses on unanimous votes – it was a complete no-brainer. In the Scottish Parliament a majority of MSPs have signed the ICAN Parliamentary Pledge to support the TPNW – in line with Scottish rejection of these inhumane weapons and our consistent wish to have the UK’s nuclear arsenal removed from the Clyde.

The UK, along with the other nuclear weapons states, persists in its refusal to engage with the Treaty, and at the same time is in clear breach of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty by increasing and modernising its nuclear weapons. We need a state of peace. Scotland can be that state.

 

 

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  1. SleepingDog says:

    The British Empire acquired nuclear weapons in an underhand, undemocratic way, essentially employing the Royal Prerogative. Queen Elizabeth II was the world’s longest-serving nuclear terrorist. Since national nuclear weapons systems require a centralised, typically monarchical command-and-control system, they warp politics away from democratic influence over a wide range of policy matters. The hereditary monarchy’s continued existence and grasp of power in the UK is partly due to their embrace of nuclear weapons, royal secrecy neatly dovetailing with nuclear secrecy.

    1. Mothership Empathy says:

      Well said SleepingDog!

      From childhood (Sixties) I felt an abnormality from this (so called) Monarchy Royal Oneness.
      The Queen, for me, held a darkness behind that smile.
      To her dying day, she played the game well, for her (Cuckoos in the nest) family.
      Leaving an abundance of wealth for her offspring, that, if given back to people and planet would see,
      “One giant leap forward for humankind”!

      In that mirror Universe, back to front thinking, Royalty says,
      “Make War not Love”!
      I leave this, written after watching – (Britain’s Queen Elizabeth is one of the richest women on earth and much of her profits are from arms trade including the notorious depleted uranium trade).

      “THE QUEEN’S NEW CLOTHES”
      “Look at the Queen”!
      She’s positively Glowing
      In that Uranium green
      Outfit she’s showing
      The money that bought it
      Where did it come from?
      Was it Tax Payer’s money?
      Or did it cost her a BOMB?
      Our planet is Poisoned
      While they Profit from War
      That Divide and Conquer
      Who is it ALL FOR?

      LONG TO REIGN OVER US WITH U-R-A-N-I-U-M
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm6P5sDXs3k

      (ME) The Empath – me/you/all

      1. SleepingDog says:

        @Mothership Empathy, so many crimes of such a magnitude. In Civilization VI, uranium is used to build Giant Death Robots, which seem positively benign compared to planet-poisoning-forever Queen Elizabeth II of the British Empire military-industrial-securocrat-royalist-theocratic-etc complex/death cult/atrocity wagon/embryo-ravaging omnicide machine.

        1. Mothership Empathy says:

          If life is indeed a lesson, experience brings wisdom.
          E.C.E.G (Easy Come Easy Go)
          Elizabeth Comes (and) Elizabeth Goes.
          To have a life of privilege where one expects you to do your duty.
          Do they ever appreciate that, or is it just a game of thrones?

          (To not see the wood for the trees) The Royal subjects endure much.
          Each to their own.

          (Knowing) Sometimes it is better “To let sleeping dogs lie”
          Hailing frequencies closed.

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