From the Editor

By Metta Spencer | 2010-04-01 01:00:00

Canadians and peaceniks from all over the world will be traveling to New York in May in a growing demand for a Nuclear Weapons Convention at the Non-Proliferation Review Conference. Politicians need all the support we can give them, for there are powerful people (in the United States particularly) who want to keep the arsenal. Indeed, the US/Russia START treaty extension has been delayed because of Russian objections to US plans for a defensive missile system in Bulgaria and other Eastern European sites. That delay, along with the stalled peace process in Israel/Palestine, and the ongoing (but not yet successful) surge of NATO troops in Afghanistan, give us pause. Yet several NATO countries are pressing for a change in NATO’s nuclear policy. The most useful thing we can do now may be to write to Prime Minister Harper, urging him to support the growing abolition movement. Hurry!

A reminder: If you missed last November’s Zero Nuclear Weapons Forum in Toronto in November, you still can watch the videos — and encourage your friends to have a look too—at www.zeronuclearweapons.com/. Also you’ll be hearing more soon from the world-wide movement, and you can keep up with it at www.globalzero.org/. You may want to volunteer to help with the campaign and new movie.

Pugwash Canada has produced a new report written by Steve Staples and Mike Wallace. It’s on ridding the Arctic of nuclear weapons. See http://bit.ly/bF5zbu

Finally, I have a question: Do you often work the crossword puzzles, and if so, do you enjoy them? We’ve been producing them for several years — with little feedback. They are more fun to create than to solve, but they do take a lot of time. Perhaps we should use the space for something else. Please send me your thoughts by e-mail at mspencer@web.net — and feel free to suggest some alternative uses for the space. Any other editorial feedback is also welcome.

Letter-Writing Campaign

Several Canadian peace organizations invite you to participate in abolishing nuclear weapons by writing a letter (not an e-mail), on behalf of a child whom you name, to Prime Minister Harper at Parliament. Ask him to commit Canada to (a) promote a Nuclear Weapons Convention at the NPT Conference in May, aiming to abolish nuclear weapons by the year 2020, and (b) reduce the atmosphere’s CO₂ to 350 parts per million. (No stamp is required.)

Send a copy of your letter to the child or her parents, and e-mail a copy or note to me: mspencer@web.net. I will keep count until we reach 5,000 letters. And ask at least 10 of your friends and relatives to do the same. I am sending one such letter each month.