This time of year, Scottish CND invites some of its members as well as activists from other organisations to contribute to a magazine promoting peace and disarmament.
We’re delighted to launch this year’s edition of Nuclear Free Scotland, which is accessible to download for free!
In this year’s edition, SCND executive Bill Ramsay covers the current status of the Trident-launching submarines in Faslane, which are in an increasing state of disrepair. It also includes a report from SCND executive Margaret Ferguson Burns, who attended the Lakenheath peace camp in April this year to support the protest against the US nuclear bombers at the “RAF” base there.
Doug Haywood of CND North East Scotland gives an insight into police overreach in Scotland compared to England, and executive member Clare Phillips discussed the need for legislation to prevent ecocide in Scotland and internationally. SCND Chair Lynn Jamieson also delves into the myths about nuclear power and why we must resist new nuclear projects in Scotland. SCND Communications Officer Samuel Rafanell-Williams wrote about the UK’s ongoing involvement in the Gaza genocide.
The magazine also includes an essay from Almut Rochowanksi, associate fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, on the status of the Ukraine war. Cora Milner of SpaceWatch UK reports on her organisation’s recent visit to Unst on Shetland, where the SaxaVord spaceport recently received its launch-license. Emma Pike of Lex International writes about the huge importance of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons at a time of increasingly belligerent nuclear states, and Janet Fenton of Secure Scotland writes about the important work of the Scottish Parliamentary Cross-Party Group for nuclear disarmament.
There are also reports from our local groups across the country, who continue to spread the message of peace, and a vision of a safer Scotland, amongst their communities.
Below are some sample pages of the magazine!
If you would like a paper copy of Nuclear Free Scotland, a small A5 edition which runs to 28 pages, please contact our administrator Cristina at scnd@banthebomb.org to request one free. The magazine is also being sent to our members without email addresses.
In the editor’s note to preface the magazine, we highlighted the incredible pace of change in global events we are currently witnessing, in large part fuelled by the new US administration. As such, we were unable to foresee the dramatic and very frightening Israeli attacks on Iran that occurred just this morning. This clearly has come in the wake of US/Iranian negotiations on nuclear facilities having stalled over the past month, and Israel seeking to destabilise any diplomatic attempt at a new nuclear deal.
One of the main reasons Scottish CND opposes nuclear power is that it prefigures the development of nuclear weapons, and indeed many of the fissile materials used in nuclear fission and to make nuclear bombs are the same. There is a deep interdependency between the nuclear power and weapons industries in every nuclear state. That being said, there is no justification for Israel to launch assassination strikes against Iranian military figures and even civilian scientists. It is a shocking act of escalation and regional destabilisation that the international community must unite in condemning.
There is not too much more that can be said at this stage except that the best way to have prevented Iranian nuclear weapons development was the Obama-era JCPOA agreement, which capped Iranian uranium enrichment in return for sanctions relief. It was Trump in 2018 who abandoned that agreement, and today we have seen the disastrous consequences of that decision.
It’s a volatile world, and at such times the best tonic is good company with like-minded folk. We therefore want to invite you to our Hiroshima day commemorative film screening on August 6th at 7pm, at the CCA in Glasgow. We are suggesting donations of £5 or whatever attendees can afford.
On the 80th anniversary of the first nuclear bombing – in a world that has still not learnt the lesson that nuclear weapons are incompatible with humanity – join us to keep the story of the hibakusha nuclear victims alive, and reflect on Scotland’s role in the ongoing fight against nuclear weapons.
In peace,
Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
