Support for the Stop Trident national demonstration is pouring in from organisations around the globe. Here are some of the messages we have received so far.
Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Gensuikyo)
On the occasion of your historic action to stop the replacement of Trident Nuclear Submarines, scrap the nuclear arsenals and to lead in the struggle to rid the world of nuclear weapons, we convey to you our warmest greetings of solidarity from our movement against atomic and hydrogen bombs in the only A-bombed country, Japan.70 years ago, the United Nations met in the first General Assembly in London and set out a goal to eliminate atomic and other weapons of mass destruction from every national arsenal. We should achieve this unfinished agenda … right now … let us act together to win a total ban on nuclear weapons, to open a door for a world of peace, justice and without nuclear weapons.
Nathalie Gauchet for Le Mouvement de la Paix (France)
The French Peace Movement send you the warmest peace greetings on the occasion of historical action … in London to protest against the British nuclear arsenal and the replacement of Trident nuclear submarines. It is time for people to make their voices heard to the governments of nuclear countries. It is time, for the sake of humanity, that budgets now in place to strengthen the nuclear arsenal of some states, go to education, health and welfare.
Your battle is our battle! We have to loudly raise our demands to live in a world free of nuclear weapons and all weapons of mass destruction.
From Lucas Wirl for The Cooperation for Peace (an association of 60 peace groups and initiatives in Germany)
We wish the demonstration to Stop Trident all possible success. This demonstration and the thousand attending, are affirming the message that Trident and all weapons of mass destruction have to be scrapped, and we are sure that this will constitute a beacon for peace in Britain, Europe and throughout the world.
We share your message- peace and disarmament are essential prerequisites to developing societies that are as just and fair as possible. However, recently published figures show that the volume of international transfers of major weapons has grown continuously since 2004 and rose by 14 per cent between 2006–10 and 2011–15. We pledge our solidarity and will carry further the beacon for peace that you have lit!
Colin Archer for The International Peace Bureau (Geneva)
Greetings to the March against Trident from the International Peace Bureau! Disarmament campaigners in several continents are following closely the developments in the British anti-nuclear movement, and especially the mass demonstration today and its impact on the Government’s decision. Millions are with you in spirit, even if we cannot be with you in person.
This demonstration builds on political and educational work done by CND and many others over a period of decades. The breadth and depth of this mobilisation are quite extraordinary. But the challenge is also extraordinary, so let us continue to apply the maximum pressure, over the coming months and beyond. With alarming signs of a new Cold War appearing, the last thing we all need is a new generation of nukes. As the Japanese hibakusha say, “humanity cannot co-exist with nuclear weapons”. Good luck!
Lisa Clark for Beati i costruttori di pace (Blessed Are the Peacemakers) and Rete italiana per il disarmo (Italian Disarmament Network)
We support your total opposition to TRIDENT. We back your struggle to rid the UK of nuclear weapons, and stand with you in the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons, the most inhumane and devastating weapons ever invented. The possession and use of nuclear weapons must be prohibited, for all countries. There are no right hands for the wrong weapons!
The huge amounts of money being spent on nuclear weapons systems should instead be used for schools, for universal healthcare, for antipoverty social measures, for development programmes. We send support and solidarity for STOP Trident, Decision Time, national demonstration in London.
From Luigi Mosca, for the “Armes Nucléaires STOP” network (France)
We strongly support the CND initiative “Stop Trident” initiative – it is a unique opportunity to start inverting the process of modernization by the other nuclear weapons states – an escalation which increases the risk of a nuclear war every day, while we are already “at 3 minutes to midnight!”
Nuclear deterrence is a suicidal illusion and a powerful engine of proliferation, while the human potential involved in it could more effectively be used to solve the real problems of humankind: mass poverty, catastrophic climate change, clean energy and water shortage.
From Barney Richards for the New Zealand Peace Council
More power to your arm in your battle to dump Britain’s cursed nuclear weapons plans. It would be wonderful to see the success we have had in New Zealand – the US has stopped sending any of their navy here – nuclear armed or not. A DOUBLE VICTORY!
From Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action (USA)
[We] send warm greetings and this message of solidarity on this historic Stop Trident National Demonstration. Trident, both in the US and UK, is at the core of the threat of nuclear annihilation facing humanity; building a new generation … will only serve to increase that threat … one Trident submarine is capable of causing a global catastrophe, the 14 in the US and 4 in the UK are capable of ending civilization and extinguishing life on our planet.
The nuclear-armed nations have stonewalled too long … now it is time for citizens of the world to rise up and make our voices heard. We join with you in solidarity … on your Stop Trident National Demonstration and in your continuing work to scrap Trident. We recognize and appreciate your leadership in our common work. May this be the year that results in real action towards the abolition of nuclear weapons.
From Rick Wayman for The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (USA)
[We are] happy to support the tens of thousands of people in the streets of London demanding “Stop Trident” and an end to nuclear weapons worldwide. There is no excuse for the British government to go ahead with replacing Trident. On 9th March the International Court of Justice will hear oral arguments in a lawsuit filed by the Marshall Islands against the United Kingdom. The lawsuit claims that the UK is in breach of existing international law through its refusal to negotiate in good faith for an end to the nuclear arms race and for nuclear disarmament.
We know the extreme costs — financial, moral and environmental — that nuclear weapons bring. Thank you for standing up for current and future generations who would suffer greatly if a Trident replacement were produced and, even worse, used. Thank you for all you are doing to Stop Trident, prevent the further modernization of nuclear weapons, and achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.
From David Swanson for World Without War
Rejecting Trident sends an ideal message to the United States, whose leaders voice the popular demand to abolish nukes while investing over $1 trillion in making them “usable.” We need more examples of nations ridding themselves of nuclear weapons entirely (including publicly insisting that the United States not hold its “nuclear umbrella” over them) in order to debunk claims that nukes are needed for safety.
People in the United States are counting on their brothers and sisters who first said no to bombing Syria in 2013 and who over the years have first said no to all sorts of imperialist activities. Say No to Trident. Know that people in at least 129 countries, inlcuding millions of people in the United States stand with you. End it. Don’t Mend it!
From Joseph Gerson for Peace & Planet Network and American Friends Service Committee
CND’s struggle to stop Trident replacement could serve as a turning point in the struggle for a nuclear-weapons free world. Your demonstration, with tens out thousands of people, with Jeremy Corbyn who has the courage to say that he would never push the nuclear button, and with international support will surely impact the debate in Britain and inspire the world’s movements for nuclear weapons abolition.
We are angry and disgusted at U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter’s recently shameful call for Britain to modernize its nuclear arsenal for the 21st century in order to play an “outsized” role in the world and to maintain its “special” – imperial – relationship with the United States. This is both extremely dangerous and fundamentally immoral. The Hibakusha teach us that human beings and nuclear weapons cannot coexist. May your rally be a great success and may it fuel CND’s campaigning and the world’s hopes in the coming months. Together we must prevail.
From Kevin Martin for Peace Action (USA)
Peace Action, the largest grassroots peace and disarmament organization in the United States, stands with and applauds our sisters and brothers of CND and other UK organizations in calling for an end, rather than replacement or upgrade, of the Trident nuclear weapons-carrying submarines. Your persistence and clarity in calling for the end of this exorbitant, provocative and unnecessary weapons system, which far from providing for “defense” or “deterrence” threatens life on Earth, is an inspiration for peace-loving people everywhere.
At a time when the warmongers in all countries, particularly the nuclear weapons states, impose austerity for all but the very rich and their corporate cronies, your steadfast opposition to Trident replacement is the height of common sense and advocacy for the common good. May the end of Trident in the UK be an important early step on the road to global abolition of the scourge of nuclear weapons.
From Alfred Marder for U.S. Peace Council
We pay tribute to the contribution CND has made, and continues to make, to the global struggle for the total abolition of nuclear weapons. With wars raging in the Middle East and reckless provocation by US/ NATO on the borders of Russia, CND’s militant struggle against the Trident should spark a renewed mobilization of the global peace movement. The members of the US Peace Council join hands with you.
From Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa coordinators, The Nuclear Resistor (USA)
We fully support CND and their call to STOP TRIDENT. We are working to stop proposed Trident replacement in the United States, and believe that stopping Trident in Britain would bring a significant boost to efforts in the United States and around the world to achieve nuclear disarmament. We endorse and applaud your national demonstration in London on February 27, and join in your call for a world free of nuclear weapons.
Union County Peace Council & Hiroshima/Nagasaki Remembrance Committee, New Jersey
How can we expect any other nation to dis-avow nuclear weapons development and acquisition as long as the major nuclear weapons holding states of the world continue to maintain their own supply of such weapons of mass death and destruction? Such glaring hypocrisy must not be allowed to continue to stand.
The message of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is clear (as well as the victims of nuclear bombs testing sites – in the U.S. Southwest, in the South Pacific and French Polynesia). The surviving victims are saying “Never Again” and “NO MORE” and we owe it to the memory of those who perished and suffered from the horrors of nuclear bombs and nuclear contamination to work together to rid the earth of this pernicious threat and nuclear scourge. Thank you for all your good work and may we all unite in creating a more peaceful, just, sane and healthy world for everyone!
From Pacem in Terris , Delaware, USA
We formally and enthusiastically support CND’s protest against the development of a new Trident submarine. We concur with your sentiment that the development of this submarine is wrong for obvious economic, political and moral reasons and feel strongly that your efforts in the UK could send a message to all the nuclear weapon states that public sentiment favours the abolition of nuclear weapons.
From Michael J. Passarini, Boston, Massachusetts
The energy of the anti-Trident movement in Britain and the amount of support it’s receiving from the U.K. public is incredibly inspiring to all who wish to see these instruments of mass murder be consigned to the dustbin of history … as I stood outside one of the facilities most crucial to the continued existence of Trident last week, chanting “NO MORE TRIDENT, NO MORE NUKES,” I was deeply gratified by the knowledge that the sentiments of that tiny action will be echoed on a massive scale at the London anti-Trident march and rally. I wish I could be there.
Support and best wishes have also been received from:
Abolition 2000;
Angelo Baracca, Professor of physics, University of Florence, Italy;
Kathy Lipscomb,San Francisco, California;
Nuckear Watch, New Mexico;
Sean Morris (Secretary) and the Nuclear Free Local Authorities Steering Committee (UK);
Senator Doug Roche, Canadian Senator and founding Chair of the Middle Powers Initiative, former Chair of the UN Disarmament Committee (Canada).