Above photo: The Golden Rule sails in the waters off Diamond Head last August.
Fifty-one nations have now ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Will the United States sign?
Three and a half years ago, on July 7, 2017, the United Nations General Assembly approved the language of this treaty by a vote of 122 to 1.
The vote was a clear expression of the will of the world’s people and the treaty has now been ratified by 51 nations.
Under international law, nuclear weapons will join chemical weapons, biological weapons, cluster bombs and land mines as illegal weapons of mass destruction.
The Golden Rule anti-nuclear sailboat arrived in Hawaii on July 31, 2019 from San Diego, California. The 34-foot ketch, a project of Veterans For Peace, has now sailed to the islands of Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, Oahu and Kauai to promote the treaty.
The crew of the Golden Rule has presented to over 100 audiences on those islands and on Molokai about the dangers of nuclear weapons.
The Golden Rule Project has been welcomed by the Hawaii Legislature and the governments of each of Hawaii’s four counties. Mahalo, Hawaii, for your aloha spirit.
The nuclear missile attack scare in the islands three years ago compelled many of the people of Hawaii to join worldwide efforts to abolish nuclear weapons.
On Nov. 6, 2019, Honolulu County passed a resolution to welcome the Golden Rule and to urge the U.S. government to ratify the treaty and to take other measures to bring us back from the brink of nuclear war.
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons prohibits signatory countries from developing, testing, producing, manufacturing, acquiring, possessing, deploying, transporting, financing, using or threatening to use nuclear weapons and also from assisting or encouraging such acts.
The Nuclear Ban Treaty is a milestone in the long march toward nuclear abolition. This is a moment to urge all the nuclear powers to sign the treaty and begin the process of the de-nuclearization of the world.
Nowhere is this more important than in the United States, which holds almost half of the world’s nuclear weapons.
None of the world’s nine nuclear-armed nations have yet signed on to the treaty. These nuclear powers are in violation of the 50-year-old Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which requires them to negotiate in good faith to reduce and eventually eliminate all nuclear weapons.
Instead, the United States and other nuclear powers are developing new generations of nuclear weapons, alarming many experts who believe the threat of nuclear war is greater than ever.
The United States government will spend over $1.7 trillion of our tax dollars over the next 30 years to “upgrade” its arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Powerful and influential corporations make billions of dollars from the nuclear programs and contribute to members of Congress, who vote to continue nuclear weapons production. These corporations make astronomical profits from weapons that would doom civilization.
Our nation can be a leader in the peace race, but only if our leaders hear a loud message from the people: Nuclear weapons are very dangerous for humanity and now they are also illegal.
We must have a future free of weapons of mass destruction. The United States must take immediate actions to stop the possibility of nuclear war and to show leadership in the worldwide effort to eliminate all nuclear weapons. The future of humanity hangs in the balance.
Political leaders need to hear from everyday people who are rightfully concerned about the very survival of human civilization. We must demand that the United States and all the nuclear powers sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and begin the de-nuclearization of the planet.
The International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons was awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its leadership in working to pass the treaty. Veterans For Peace and the Golden Rule Project were a part of that campaign and share in the Nobel Peace Prize.
Celebrate the nuclear weapons ban treaty and talk with friends, neighbors, relatives and your elected representatives about the treaty and the need to prevent the possibility of nuclear war.