Nuclear Weapons Abolition

Nuclear Weapons Abolition Committee (NWA)

To join our NWA committee, please email info@sfbaypsr.org.

NWA committee members are health professionals and others working locally to influence public awareness, civic engagement, and national policy toward a nuclear-weapons-free world.

SF Bay PSR is working closely with the PSR National office on efforts in three main areas related to nuclear weapons abolition goals envisioned in the Back from the Brink (BftB) campaign.

  • First, we are supporting legislation that would divert wasteful military spending, particularly on nuclear modernization efforts, to address graver threats to our country illustrated by our COVID pandemic.
  • We are supporting national legislation advocating for limits on sole Presidential authority to launch a nuclear attack, and for our government to declare a policy of no-first-use of nuclear weapons.
  • Finally, we are encouraging the Biden Administration’s return to diplomacy after the destructive “America First” policies of the Trump Administration.

GOAL

A world where everyone is free of the existential threats of nuclear weapons and proliferation.

In 2020, the world commemorated the 75th anniversary of the nuclear bombings (August 6-9, 2020) that killed more than 200,000 human beings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, and we are facing the dawn of a new global nuclear arms race that compounds the climate and pandemic threats to human survival. Given that Nuclear Weapons States possess more than 13,000 nuclear weapons, we must addr­­­ess the manifold threats posed by new global programs to expand and modernize nuclear weapons arsenals, the rejection of arms control treaties, as well as heightened great-power confrontation now accelerating in the Pacific region.

TACTICS

  • Affect nuclear weapons policy by moving California Members of Congress to take action on nuclear weapons in line with our policy and organizational priorities
  • Work in concert with other organizations toward expanding public awareness of and furthering the nuclear weapons abolition movement in California in part through print, radio, TV, and online media platforms
  • Educate and increase engagement of health professionals and others to learn and act on this critical issue
  • Bridge the gap between sectors that are intrinsically linked to nuclear abolition (including the climate crisis, environmental, and racial justice) to mobilize younger generations of health professionals to advocate and act across these interconnected existential threats to human survival
  • Raise awareness about the dangers of nuclear energy as a proposed alternative to fossil fuels.

PROJECTS

  • Policy development through national medical and public health organizations including the American Public Health Association (APHA)
  • Leadership of the Peace Caucus in affiliation with the APHA
  • Planning for and participation in the local and nationally streamed events commemorating the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, August 6 and 9
  • Education of health professionals and the public on nuclear-abolition issues through the SF Bay PSR Events Series and various other presentations and lectures
  • Participation in the national Back from the Brink campaign with local endorsements, public comments, and other advocacy efforts.
  • PSR Equity Campaign: #DemandAccess

    PSR’s Nuclear Weapons Abolition (NWA) program has launched a new campaign: #DemandAccess. This campaign centers around the idea that “For as long as we fund violence to ‘keep the peace’, our access—to healthy minds, bodies and environments—is denied.” The campaign is focused on advancing equity in a multitude of issue areas, recognizing the importance of health, focusing on the intersection of Nuclear Weapons abolition and topline military spending with other issues of social justice. The campaign recognizes that for as long as there are insecurities in communities, we cannot have a more peaceful and just world. READ MORE: Press Release

ECONOMICS AND SECURITY

While we face our unfolding planetary emergencies, the profound “opportunity costs” of our government planning to spend more than $4 million an hour over the next 30 years to potentially annihilate countless millions of people is unfathomable. We will present alternative visions offered by the global movements to abolish nuclear weapons epitomized by the 2017 United Nations’ Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and the prospects for connecting this with wider popular movements seeking to transform our global security priorities in the direction of climate, environmental, and social justice necessary for global survival.

LOCAL ISSUES

National policy has affected our backyard. San Francisco’s Hunters Point Shipyard was once home to the U.S. Navy’s largest applied nuclear testing lab that closed in 1994. This site’s widespread radiological contamination continues to be an ongoing public health risk for the predominantly African American community living nearby. In addition, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in Livermore, California, founded by the University of California, Berkeley, continues to work primarily on research and development of nuclear weapons.

More resources can be found on our Advocacy Tools page.

READ our 2023 ACCOMPLISHMENTS REPORT!