This May First, hundreds of thousands of activists will march through the streets of New York. This won’t be a traditional May Day parade, not even a watered down “Workers Memorial Day”. No, if anything, this “May Day” is more in the nautical vein of “Save us!” On that Sunday, United for Peace and Justice and Abolition 2000 will lead a march down First Avenue, past the United Nations, down 42nd Street and back up to Central Park for a massive rally against the war in Iraq and in favor of complete nuclear disarmament.
It was two years ago, on May 1, 2003, that George Bush landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln, thrust his stuffed crotch in the general direction of a salivating press corp and declared “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq. Of course, the war has just gotten bloodier and more hopeless in the ensuing time.
Meanwhile, the United Nations will debate whether to renew the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in May. This global agreement, signed long ago, was meant not only to stop the spread of nuclear arms to new countries, but committed the declared nuclear states (the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China) to dismantling their own nuclear arsenals. Of course, the U.S. has flagrantly violated this treaty, keeping over 5,000 nuclear weapons on hair trigger alert, while the Bush administration publicly contemplates a first use policy against “rogue states” like North Korea and Iran.
The Bush crew alleges that those last two angles of the “Axis of Evil” have nuclear ambitions. Well, why shouldn’t they? The world’s only remaining superpower has true weapons of mass destruction pointed directly at them, just waiting for Bush to press the button. Moreover, the United States’ disrespect for the Non-Proliferation Treaty has inspired Israel to build a huge nuclear arsenal that is the worst kept secret in the world and sworn enemies India and Pakistan to loudly test their own nukes. Russia refuses to decommission its own nuclear weapons until the United States does likewise, leaving the world’s terrorists a handy stockpile of poorly guarded nuclear material.
There is no question that Bill Clinton should have taken advantage of the end of the Cold War and his Democratic majorities in the House and Senate to push the U.S. to finally live up to its treaty obligations and save the world from the nuclear threat. He failed us, and Bush has aggressively made matters worse. There’s a real risk that the nations of the world may abandon even this thin tissue of an agreement to spare the world from our own destruction. This could lead to a real nuclear free-for-all. This is why UFPJ has chosen now to demand a complete abolition of nuclear weapons.
One final point, and that’s that the amount of money that the United States spends every year to service its existing nuclear stockpile (something on the order of $10 billion) is enough money to feed, clothe and house every single person on the planet. Where are our priorities?
That last statistic can be found in a power point presentation, and in other literature, that UFPJ will shortly make available on their website. Please bookmark it, and continue to visit. While you’re there, be sure to donate money to the organization. It takes slightly less than $10 billion to fund an anti-war movement, but you can be sure that they need every penny you can afford to give.