International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons -Oslo Meeting, March 2011
During the first weekend of March I joined a group of about 20 European campaigners in Oslo to talk nukes- both strategy and tactics. A lot of issues were brought forward during the two day meeting. One thing was abundantly clear- nuclear weapons are not illegal and they should be.
We spent two days talking about what approaches to take to make nuclear weapons illegal. Should we lobby politicians? What if those politicans already agree with us? Should we lobby civil servants? What if those civil servants already agree with us? How can we make this issue political again?
We discovered that almost everyone we talk to already thinks that nuclear weapons should be illegal- for everyone. Yet they aren’t, so what do we do?
We considered a lot of options- should we mobilise the masses? Educate in schools? Get more political leaders to write influential opinion pieces? Encourage divestment from nuclear weapons industries?
We agreed that all of these are key tactics in the global efforts to enact the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons. We also recognized that some have more skills and better access to certain target audiences than others.
Meeting under the banner of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons provided us with a clear platform for action. Abolish the weapons, now. Start negotiations to make them illegal, now. This is the clear and concise call from ICAN, and one that connects well with our campaign strategies.
ICAN support a nuclear weapons free world.
ICAN talk to people about making nuclear weapons illegal.
ICAN encourage immediate action to make this dream, a reality.
Can you?