A Bulli art show will promote a world with no nukes, writes Gem Romuld, director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Australia
Did you know that there are still over 13,000 nuclear weapons on the planet? Nine irresponsible heads of state are clinging to these abhorrent weapons, with the capacity to incinerate entire cities and billions of people.
In 2020, mid-pandemic, the nuclear-armed countries spent $72 billion on these weapons. This money is handed out in contracts to nuclear weapons-producing companies, who then fund think-tanks and lobbyists to ensure the contracts keep coming. We all know these kinds of funds are desperately needed to address the very real problems we face worldwide, such as the climate crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is a coalition of non-governmental organisations in more than
100 countries promoting the prohibition, stigmatisation and elimination of nuclear weapons.
Our campaign was the driving force behind the adoption of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2017; the first global agreement to comprehensively ban nuclear weapons.
In 2017 the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to ICAN for our work to “draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and [our] ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons”.
This September, the Illawarra is celebrating this Australian-born campaign and the push for Australia to sign and ratify the treaty.
An art exhibition “ICAN see a world without nuclear weapons” will run from September 20 to October 2 at the Bulli Timber Mill.
Anyone who despises nuclear weapons but loves a Sunday beer, art and music is invited to the opening on the 26th of September from 2pm.
The Jodie Michael New Trio (jazz) and Mel Stjepanovic (folk) will be playing live.
We’ll also hear short speeches from local Councillor Mithra Cox, federal representative Sharon Bird MP and yours truly.
Our Nobel Peace Prize medal, the only one in Australia, will be on display.
One effective thing we can do in the Illawarra is raise the pressure for Australia to become part of the solution by joining the nuclear weapon ban treaty.
This goal has the support of 79% of the public, numerous unions the Australian Red Cross, the Australian Labor Party, the Australian Greens,
90 federal parliamentarians, 36 local councils, over 60 faith-based organisations and more than
80 diverse civil society organisations.
Australia has joined treaties banning chemical weapons, biological weapons, landmines and cluster munitions – and now the nuclear weapon ban treaty is the circuit-breaker we need to put nuclear weapons in the past.
‘ICAN see a world without nuclear weapons’: Exhibition: 20 September – 2 October at Bulli Timber Mill (email shaneladymoon@gmail.com to submit). Opening: Sunday, 26 September from 2pm.