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Published on Tuesday, 06 July 2021 08:03

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From Faslane to Four Mile: The Nuclear Crisis - An interactive event drawing together campaigners from the UK and Australia to discuss the impact of nuclear industries on people and the planet.

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Warm Welcome for ICAN NATO Report

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Published on Thursday, 10 June 2021 17:24

Today the Nobel Peace Prize winning International Campaign Report for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) published its report: “Why NATO members should join the UN nuclear weapon ban”.

Scottish CND warmly welcomes this new, thorough and comprehensive report which makes a wholly compelling case for NATO member states to engage with the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). In doing so it dispels a number of myths and misrepresentations around the new Treaty.

In particular, it disposes of the claim that accession to the TPNW is incompatible with membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The current nuclear Strategic Doctrine is not intrinsic to the North Atlantic Treaty and there are no legal barriers to NATO states signing and ratifying the TPNW, though it would mean the end of any “nuclear sharing” and a renunciation by the state in question of any dependence on the nuclear arsenal of another state for their security. The report notes a new fluidity within NATO states in regard to recognition of the TPNW, reflected at party, parliamentary and popular level.

While the target audience of the report is NATO states (and mainly those which are not themselves nuclear-armed) the report has huge interest and relevance for a Scotland that is the involuntary host to the UK’s weapons of mass destruction. Scottish CND’s stance on NATO is unequivocal. NATO is an aggressive military alliance. As an independent Scotland its our place and key relationships in the wider world it will make absolutely no sense to align itself with a US leadership that remains committed to nuclear policies.

At the same time, we are but part of the global disarmament movement that has been given such new hope and momentum by the emergence of the TPNW. We need to recognise that the questions and the equations of compromise are different in different contexts.

It is heart-warming to see embedded in the report the following quotation from the Scottish First Minister:

“An independent Scotland would be a keen signatory (to the TPNW) and I hope the day when we can do that is not far off.”

We share her hope and her emphasis on the primacy of the Treaty. Early accession to the TPNW, as well as marking an absolute rejection of nuclear weapons, will also be a powerful signal that we want to join the world in tackling together the huge and varied challenges that we face. And we should be preparing for that right away, especially by making and strengthening links with the global movement.

Scottish CND Chair Lynn Jamieson said: “The original NATO treaty does not require the absurd self-delusion that nuclear weapons provide ‘safety’ or an ‘umbrella’. SCND opposes NATO because of its nuclear doctrine, ratcheting up of the arms race and for making Scotland an involuntary host to nuclear weapons. Until its member states sign the Nuclear Ban treaty, NATO is normalising unimaginable horror and doing harm to us all.

Devo Max is No Through Road, Say Anti-Nuclear Campaigners

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Published on Wednesday, 09 June 2021 15:30

 Scottish CND has reacted strongly to renewed suggestions that “Devo Max” is the way forward for Scotland. In recent days Kenny MacAskill and Iain McWhirter, among others, have touted the idea that Scotland should go for a quasi home-rule option that would mean the devolution of all powers except for defence and foreign policy.

Scottish CND Chair Lynn Jamieson said:

“The simple fact is that such a route can effect none of the transformation that we need for a wholesome and peace-loving nation.

Put in the negative, Devo Max would mean that we would continue to be both a launch pad and a target for hideous weapons of mass destruction, would be dragged into the UK’s military adventures, would continue to be the prime site for the UK’s military installations, and would be bound into the UK’s increasingly aggressive approach to international relations. It is also naive to think that any real economic freedom can exist alongside these critical reservations. It is sad when commentators of the stature of Kenny McAskill and Iain McWhirter don’t appear to grasp that the nuclear weapon question is a bell-weather when it comes to the vision of a new land – an utter rejection of that ultimate and genocidal violence is a fundamental requirement for human security and well-being.

Independence, as well as giving us the option of exiting that disastrous mix, gives us the chance to make something of our place in the wider world untrammelled by the old chauvinistic frameworks, and this at a time when there is a growing understanding of our interdependence and the need to face the real challenges in a spirit of co-operation. Devo Max means abandoning that vision.”

HMS Queen Elizabeth - war game voyage

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Published on Thursday, 03 June 2021 13:33

Opinion by David Mackenzie, Scottish CND

There seems no limit to human folly. As the UK’s latest aircraft carrier set off to sail the crowed reaches of the South China Sea, the First Sea Lord, Admiral Tony Radakin, opined that the warship would “operate in a "non-confrontational" fashion.  The UK carrier strike group consists of The Queen Elizabeth with 18 fighter planes, with six other warships and support vessels. The UK flotilla, although much-trumpeted, will be a small part of a huge NATO-plus-partners naval presence in the South China Sea. There will be warships from the US (already there in force), the Netherlands, Japan, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, France, the UAE, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Israel, India, Oman, and South Korea. The US claim is that the build-up of Chinese naval forces is a threat to the freedom of the seas in that quarter of the ocean but let Radakin’s tenuous grasp on reality sink in - darkening the horizon with hundreds of vessels of war, armed to the teeth, is “non-confrontational”.

A Decisive Result for Nuclear Disarmament

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Published on Saturday, 15 May 2021 10:12

Scottish CND welcomes the outcome of the Scottish Election, which saw widespread success for supporters of nuclear disarmament – reflecting the strong public support across Scotland for an end to nuclear weapons.

Two parties – the SNP and the Scottish Greens – made clear manifesto commitments to outlawing nuclear weapons in Scotland and working to abolish them around the world, through the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. In addition, a number of Labour MSPs who are committed to nuclear disarmament were elected, with Labour’s representative at the Scottish Peace Hustings making it clear that Scottish Labour have a distinct position on nuclear disarmament, which differs from Westminster’s.