Appeal to get rid of Trident
THE recent articles in the M.E.N. and events in Manchester remind us of the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica Massacre in Bosnia, the worst genocide in Europe since World War Two.
In a few weeks’ time, the country will mark the 75th anniversary of the end of that war in Japan and the Pacific. Between the two, we also need to remember the first use of nuclear weapons and the start of the nuclear arms race that still destabilises and impoverishes the world.
Almost £60billion were spent last year on nuclear weapons; a $138,000 per minute.
Even before the end of the Second World War, President Roosevelt was determined that America must secure first position within the new world order, and the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9) were used as both a test of what damage they could inflict on big cities, and as a warning to the Soviet Union.
CND (the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) particularly remembers the hundreds of thousands who were killed by those first nuclear bombs which, as General Eisenhower said later, “Japan was already defeated … dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary”.
As we commemorate the ordinary people, the civilian victims in all these events, let us remind ourselves, and governments, that nuclear weapons continue to put the whole world at risk.
Millions of people, and towns and cities of peace around the world, support the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which has now been ratified by 40 states.
We urge our government to sign the Treaty and get rid of Trident and all nuclear weapons..
Steve Roman, Manchester CND