Logo developed by Tony Sahara for the ROSES TO MISSIONS action
by NYC groups thanking the 51 countries that have ratified the TPNW

NUCLEAR BAN TREATY

A Toolkit for New Yorkers

Prepared for Rise and Resist and Hibakusha Stories
by Robert Croonquist, MA and Kathleen Sullivan, PhD

PHOTO: JACKIE RUDIN

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) entered into force on January 22, 2021. As 2017 Nobel Peace Laureate ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, works with nations to sign and ratify the Treaty, Rise and Resist and the New York Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (NYCAN) are taking this opportunity to pressure the City to divest from nuclear weapons, establish a responsible committee for issues related to NYC’s status as a nuclear-weapons-free zone. While these efforts are in line with ICAN’s Cities Appeal the legislative package brings forth consequential legal obligations for New York City. Notably, calling the city to divest public pensions funds from companies involved in the production and maintenance of nuclear weapons; and the establishment of an advisory committee to educate the public and recommend policy issues related to nuclear disarmament. 

Given our City’s intimate history with nuclear weapons—the city’s institutions central role in the top-secret Manhattan Project, the secret storing of approximately 200 warheads in the surrounds of the city during the Cold War, and the storage of radioactive materials in Staten Island to name a few—this activist legislative efforts are particularly significant. You can read more about local anti-nuclear efforts in the report published by the New York Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons in ICAN’s website.

PHOTO: ERIK MCGREGOR

NUCLEAR WEAPONS THREATEN NYC

New Yorkers and New York City have a special role to play in disarming the Doomsday Machine. As Dr. Matthew Bolton, NYCAN member and Director of the International Disarmament Institute at Pace University describes New York City was a primary home to the Manhattan Project which oversaw the development of the world’s first nuclear weapons. An alarming two-thirds of the Manhattan Project’s supply of uranium was stored in Port Richmond, Staten Island, at the Archer Daniels Midland Company Warehouse. The Wolff-Alport Chemical Corp stored around 3.75 tons of thorium sludge in Ridgewood, Queens, now a Superfund site that includes a deli and an auto body shop. Some 150 tons of uranium materials were stored at the Baker and Williams Warehouses on West 20th Street next to the High Line in Chelsea. In 1989 a survey for the Department of Energy found radioactive contamination up to 38 times that which is federally allowed.

Few New Yorkers would know that during the Cold War, New York City was ringed by an archipelago of nuclear weapons, armed with 180 warheads. Two missile bases were within city limits at Hart Island and Fort Tilden. They deployed warheads of up to 30 kilotons (the yield of the Hiroshima bomb was 15 kilotons) right next to the public beaches at Jacob Riis Park. An indication of how dangerous these were to New Yorkers: in November 2001, American Airlines Flight 587, en route to the Dominican Republic, crashed in Belle Harbor, just 2.5 miles from the former Fort Tilden missile launch site. 

An interactive education resource to dive into the nuclear history of New York City can be found in NYCAN’S Nuclear NYC Map. The New York City Nuclear Map can be leveraged as an educational resource for local students in many ways. When diving into City history, educators can incorporate a section for students to investigate the history of radiation in the city—we recommend you review the The Legacy of Radiation Detectives — [GET UPDATED LANGUAGE FROM NATHAN] Nuclear Proliferation Class to get inspiration for your own curriculum. Alternatively educators can organize a field trip to one (or more!) of the sites highlighted in the map; encourage students to review some of the city-specific Art for Disarmament productions; or develop research projects that dive into different city-sites that have close ties to the nuclear industry.

CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER

Are we in even more danger now than we were at the height of the Cold War? Yes! The answer relates to the triple threat of nuclear war, climate chaos, and the demise of democratic institutions. The world watched in horror when, on January 6, 2021, the Capital Building in Washington DC, the seat of US democracy, was stormed by violent insurrectionists. This situation is extremely dangerous and still unfolding. But what became immediately apparent was the twin threat of a volatile leader and his unfettered access to nuclear weapons’ launch codes. In the United States, it is the sole authority of the sitting President to order a nuclear attack, at any time for whatever reason.

Given this extraordinary danger, on January 8, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi spoke with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, about “available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike.”

“The situation of this unhinged President,” Pelosi wrote, “could not be more dangerous and we must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy.” She later told her caucus she had received assurances that there were safeguards in place, according to a source on the call. It is unclear what those safeguards might be. To read more about this, we recommend you review the article “Nuclear deterrence is the existential threat, not the nuclear ban treaty” published by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 

Without a doubt, the most dangerous weapons in the world are nuclear weapons. Due to long-lived radioactive contamination, nuclear weapons also poison the land and water for generations to come, increasing the risk of cancer and genetic mutation for all living beings. Not only do they cause overwhelming, unimaginable devastation but recent scientific research reaffirms the concept of “nuclear winter,” finding that even a “limited” nuclear war could cause a global famine.

PHOTO: ROBERT CROONQUIST
PHOTO: KEITH GEMEREK

Given this extraordinary danger, on January 8, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi spoke with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, about “available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike.”

“The situation of this unhinged President,” Pelosi wrote, “could not be more dangerous and we must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy.” She later told her caucus she had received assurances that there were safeguards in place, according to a source on the call. It is unclear what those safeguards might be.

Without a doubt, the most dangerous weapons in the world are nuclear weapons. Due to long-lived radioactive contamination, nuclear weapons also poison the land and water for generations to come, increasing the risk of cancer and genetic mutation for all living beings. Not only do they cause overwhelming, unimaginable devastation but recent scientific research reaffirms the concept of “nuclear winter,” finding that even a “limited” nuclear war could cause a global famine.

TAKE ACTION

Contact the Office of the City Comptroller, Brad Lander, and demand that the City align its finances with its progressive values. The argument for divestment is laid out in Nuclear Weapons are Risky Business by Dr. Matthew Bolton. We need the Comptroller to educate the City’s pensions managers on what nuclear weapons mean and why continuing to fund their modernization and deployment is the antithesis of what we need to combat COVID-19, joblessness, homelessness, environmental degradation and the multitude of problems we face in the 21st-century. To divest from nuclear weapons would align New York City with a global majority that supports nuclear disarmament and the treaty.

These are a list of key talking points you can name in your communications with City Officials when demanding divestment from nuclear weapons: 

  • Demand the city to uphold the commitments of Resolution 976
  • Divest pension funds of city employees from companies involved in the production and maintenance of nuclear weapons. 

These calls for action are adapted from NYCAN’s 2021 report to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons commemorating New York City joining the ICAN Cities Appeal. 

You can call the Office of the City Comptroller at this number: 212-669-3916

Or, send them a letter to this address:  One Centre St., New York, NY 10007

Urge Congress members to sign the ICAN Pledge.

Educate yourself, your community and your elected officials on the nuclear threat. Learn more about nuclear weapons and what is being done to abolish them.

NYCAN activists and allies have generated over 400 pages of written testimony and 60 in person testimonies. This can be a good place to start! Click here to find NYCAN’s evidence document, prepared for the January 2020 hearing at City Council. The body of evidence includes:

  • research on nuclear weapons;
  • reports on divestment from nuclear weapon producers;
  • research detailing increased risk to urban areas and the harm nuclear weapons cause;
  • articles about nuclear war, militarism and climate chaos;
  • information on the health impacts in the US on indigenous people from uranium mining and nuclear testing;
  • ecumenical/interfaith resources on nuclear disarmament; and more.

Divest your personal finances — The research project Don’t Bank on the Bomb, part of PAX Netherlands, provides excellent analysis of financial institutions that include nuclear weapons as part of their controversial weapons policies. Don’t Bank on the Bomb regularly publishes the latest information on private companies involved in the production of nuclear weapons and their financiers. Click here for a checklist of what constitutes a good policy. For a list of outstanding financial institution policies, see here.

Make sure your bank does not invest in nuclear weapon producers! NYCAN applauds New York based Amalgamated Bank for their public refusal to invest its money in weapons manufacturers. Amalgamated is part of a movement among financial institutions, internationally, to support the TPNW.

Please consider donating to any of the following NGOs, dedicated to nuclear abolition: 

Nuclear Truth Project: the Nuclear Truth Project is “an international initiative connecting Indigenous and First Nations Peoples, affected community members, international and civil society organizations, experts and governments working for nuclear abolition.” The Nuclear Truth Project is centered on developing Protocols for working with impacted Peoples and communities; education through new research and resources; and building networks between affected Peoples and allied communities and governments.

Reaching Critical Will: RCW is the one-stop shop for basic facts on disarmament treaties including treaty language and analysis, plus an excellent inventory of country statements, and original research. Staff monitor UN meetings and provide excellent editorials on all UN disarmament fora. Sign up for their daily newsletter during ban treaty negotiations, and find archived research on their content rich site. RCW is a project of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons: ICAN is a coalition of some 500 non- government organizations in one hundred countries and territories. ICAN’s work advocating for a strong and effective nuclear weapon ban treaty, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, has been recognized around the world resulting in the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War: Focusing on health and medical issues IPPNW was founded by Russian and American doctors during the height of the Cold War. Convinced that nuclear war would be the ‘final epidemic’ they joined together to alert the public to the dangers of nuclear weapons and radiation. In 1985 they were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Institute for Energy and Environmental Research: IEER’s Energy and Security newsletter comprises first-rate research on nuclear non-proliferation, disarmament and energy sustainability, and is available on-line in English, French, Spanish and Russian, with select articles in Korean, Chinese and Japanese.

Multicultural Alliance for a Safer Environment (MASE) is a multicultural organization rooted in the experiences of uranium-impacted communities of the southwestern United States. MASE works to restore and protect the natural and cultural environment through the respectful promotion of intercultural engagement among communities and institutions for the benefit of all life and future generations. 

National Radioactive Waste Coalition (NRWC) promotes national radioactive waste policy that emphasizes the needs of affected communities, environmentally responsible handling of radioactive wastes, and principles of environmental justice. 

Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) is a national non-profit organization devoted to a nuclear-free, carbon-free world. Since 1978, the NIRS has primarily served as an information and networking hub for people and organizations concerned with nuclear power, radioactive waste, radiation and sustainable energy. 

Tewa Women United Started in 1989 as a support group for women from the Pueblos of the northern Rio Grande concerned with the traumatic effects of colonization, religious inquisition, and militarization. Through critical analysis and the reaffirming and embracing of cultural identity Tewa Women United has pursued educational, social, and benevolent efforts. 

Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium: Started by Tina Cordova and the late Fred Tyler in 2005 the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium compiles data on the cancers and other diseases affecting communities surrounding the Trinity Test on July 16, 1945. The Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium is focused on amending the Radiation Exposure Act (RECA) to assure that those in need of assistance and remediation receive it.

If You Love This Planet: Setsuko Thurlow’s Speech on the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, United Nations, NYC by Amber Cooper-Davies & Hibakusha Stories/Youth Arts New York, 7 July 2017.

Illuminating the #NuclearBan: Produced by Kathleen Sullivan; filmed by Owen Crowley and The Illuminator; edited by Owen Crowley; for nuclearban.org, January 2021.

Engage On Social Media

Post and repost! ICAN’s X and Instagram feeds are a great place to start your social media engagement with the anti-nuclear movement. Find them! Visit ICAN’s Twitter feed @nuclearban

Online Curriculum Portals

Here are some online educational resources you can use to dive into disarmament education: 

  • UNPD Curriculum PDF