Serious progress on controlling nuclear weapons occurred when physicians and other scientists in the early 1960s discovered radioactive strontium 90 in the bones and teeth of children all over the world, from exposure to the effects of the hundreds of nuclear mushroom clouds from atmospheric nuclear testing. By 1963 the world agreed to the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, eliminating open air testing.
The next great success came from activists rallying millions of people in the 1980s when a million protesters from all walks of life descended on New York to rally against nuclear arms calling for a nuclear freeze, influencing Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev to consider the folly of their plans for war.
Their agreement began with huge reductions in the intermediate nuclear forces that eventually led to huge reductions in the insane numbers of nuclear warheads that existed in 1985.
Aldermaston Marches, CND, the Quakers, the Committee of 100, Greenham Common Peace Camp, Faslane Peace camp, Stop Trident, -and many many others organisations and protests in the UK have all been effective in bringing attention to the totally immoral, insane, illegal presence of nuclear weapons in Britain and the world.
In particular – there was widespread public protest against US nuclear weapons being deployed at European bases. In the UK the RAF base at Greenham Common, Berkshire became the site of a women’s peace camp for 19 years until the weapons and eventually the base itself were removed.
Most encouraging was the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by 122 nations in 2017 after a 10 year civil society effort to educate people about the horrific humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons. It came into force in 2021 and is now signed by 92 nations. This was the first time the non-nuclear nations took the initiative on nuclear weapons away from the nuclear weapons states, and declared that not only are they immoral; they were now illegal in large parts of the world.
From 1949 to 1989, the Soviet Union military carried out 486 nuclear weapons tests at Semipalatinsk in today’s Kazakhstan. The test site was closed down in 1991 – a success for which, among others, the Nevada-Semipalatinsk- Movement can take credit. It was established in 1989 as one of the first anti-nuclear movements in the Soviet Union. The organization’s name is an affirmation of solidarity with the radiation victims in Nevada. (Nuclear Free Future.)
IPPNW – International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear WarIPPNW is the leading medical organization dedicated to the global elimination of nuclear weapons. Since the very beginning of the nuclear age, with the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, physicians have recognized that the devastating consequences of nuclear war can only be prevented if these weapons of mass destruction are abolished. “We’ve made it [this far] having tempted fate with tens of thousands of the most destructive devices ever created, escaping within a whisker of global catastrophe more times than bears thinking about.” —Dr. Sue Wareham, IPPNW board member
ICAN—the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons—was launched by IPPNW in 2007, and received the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its work to achieve the TPNW. ICAN is a global campaign working to mobilize people in all countries to inspire, persuade and pressure their governments to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. ICAN is comprised of more than 500 partner organisations in over 100 countries. More information about ICAN can be found at www.icanw.org.
CND – the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament – launched in 1958 CND is a movement of people campaigning non-violently to get rid of nuclear weapons in Britain and worldwide.