International Meeting
2001 World Conference against A & H Bombs

Ellen Thomas
Proposition One Committee
USA

LET'S MAKE NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT THE LAW!

187 countries have promised to abolish nuclear weapons, but haven't set a date. Our purpose here is to make it happen, to make global nuclear disarmament the LAW. There are others who can't be here who share our purpose. I bring you greetings from our relatives across the sea: From the Peace Park Antinuclear Vigilers -- who have had signs and literature outside the White House, all hours and weather, for twenty years, and successfully brought nuclear disarmament to the voters of Washington DC; and from the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Peace Committee, who are holding their 20th annual commemoration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings in Washington DC now, as we speak.

Greetings from Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has introduced the resulting "Nuclear Disarmament and Economic Conversion Act" into the US House of Representatives five times. If her bill becomes law, the US must --

• eliminate ALL its nuclear weapons, if everyone else does;
• use the billions of dollars saved each year to shut down and clean up the nuclear weapons industries and convert other war industries. For example, instead of missiles and bombs, why not produce solar panels and windmills? Clean-energy prototypes exist; now we need production lines. This way, everybody wins!

I love my country. Which is why I can say --
The United States is the most shameless bully on Earth. Our political leaders speak of peace, and make war. The philosophy of "Peace through Strength" poisons the Earth, its waters, air, and minds; breeds fear, apathy, rage, rebellion, and war.

The US is not the only sick place, of course. There are now eight nuclear-weapons countries, with more at the door. There are arms and arguments of varying ferocity on all continents.

But, as patriots boast, the US is Number One:

• Number One Arms Dealer. Since 1990 the US has exported more weapons to combatants around the world than any other nation. Of the 42 active conflicts in 1999, the US supplied arms or military technology to 39.
• Number One on Earth and in Space. The US hopes to have military control of space by 2020. President Bush supports a "missile defense" system, which likely won't work, at enormous financial and diplomatic cost, while cutting social and environmental spending. Despite the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, scientists continue so-called "subcritical" nuclear tests and develop "burrowing" nuclear bombs. President Bush reportedly favors resuming full-scale nuclear testing. There are 5,000 US nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert.
• Number One with Foreign Bases. US nuclear weapons can be stored in, and launched from, all NATO countries -- and the volatile Balkans may soon join! There are an obscene number of US military bases on Japanese soil, still, 56 years after the end of World War II. And now, due to US influence, Japan's evolutionary Peace Constitution is endangered.
• Number One "DU" Terrorist. US military-industrialists have shipped radioactive "depleted uranium" ammunition to 24 countries -- 19 NATO and six others -- including Japan. The US government denies its danger. Why? Perhaps because -
• US military have practice-bombed oceans and beaches -- including Japan's.
• US military bombarded Iraq with 700,000 rounds (or 320 tons) of DU in 1991, and dumped DU on Bosnia in 1996.
• NATO dropped 10+ tons of DU on Kosovo in 1999.
• Number One Police State. The US funds and trains global police and military forces, which are increasingly used against peaceful demonstrators. While the US and NATO claim their military incursions are to protect "freedom," the US imprisons a larger portion of its population than any other nation. Prisons have become a profitable business.

• A Presidential proposal to build new nuclear power plants.
• Plans to transport tons of nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, which has several earthquakes each year.
• Delayed worker compensation at nuclear facilities which criminally mishandled radioactive materials.

Native American tradition holds that those who lead must plan seven generations into the future. The seventh, or fifth, or third generations will curse us for failing to protect them. We can only protect them by changing the minds and hearts of our leaders.

There are billions of people on this planet who should take responsibility, but most are sleepwalking. Thankfully you, here, are awake. Some have been awake a long time, such as the Hibakusha who travel the world telling their stories year after year. To you we say, "Thank you!" Some are newly awake. To you we say, "Tell us how we can help you, for YOU are our future." TOGETHER we must plant the seeds of peace.

Remember...

• War is not inevitable. Only change is inevitable. WE determine its direction. Evolution, not revolution, is the key. Work, don't "fight," for peace.
• Honor the whistleblowers. No secrets! When you learn the truth, forgive.
• Take heart and learn from people who banish nuclear plants, toxic dumps, and military bases from their backyards, who keep working, even alone.
• Educate our politicians, reporters, and workers! They're human! Letters, phone calls, visits can change minds! Tell them why it's important to stop designing, building, deploying, selling or buying weapons, nuclear or otherwise, on Earth or in space. Tell them we ALL WIN if we de-alert nuclear weapons, stop arms sales, change armies into peace corps, turn arms factories into clean energy producers. And be sure to tell them you support Proposition One, the "Nuclear Disarmament and Economic Conversion Act," the first step toward abolishing nuclear weapons.