“Roses to Missions,” an Event in NYC to Mark the Beginning of the End of Nuclear Weapons
January 22, 2021, will be an historic day for humanity. On this day the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will enter into force, establishing in international law a categorical ban on nuclear weapons, seventy-five years after their development and first use. The momentous occasion will be marked by actions, events, and celebrations around the globe and across the United States.
In New York City, volunteer members of Peace Action NYS, Hibakusha Stories, ICAN (recipient of 2017 Nobel Peace Prize), Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World and other organizations in the New York area will celebrate the historic moment by delivering roses and thank-you notes during the week of January 18 to the Permanent Missions to the United Nations of the 51 state parties that ratified the Treaty. They will comply with the CDC’s and New York State’s COVID-19 guidelines, including wearing masks and practicing social distancing, to protect themselves and others.
“We would like to express our deepest gratitude to those 51 state parties for their brave actions by ratifying the Treaty,” said Sally Jones, chair of Peace Action Fund of New York State, “despite enormous pressure from nuclear weapon states not to sign or ratify it. Right now, the Treaty does not legally apply to the United States, because we have not signed or ratified it, but that does not mean we will not be feeling the moral force of the Treaty. All nuclear weapons, including the US stockpile, have been declared unlawful by the international community.”
The “Roses to Missions” in New York City is just one of many events happening around the country. At nuclear weapons production sites in Tennessee, Kansas City, New Mexico and California, banners declaring NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE ILLEGAL will be hung on fences at the plant entrance. Letters will be delivered to members of Congress. University campuses that are engaged in support activities for weapons production will be asked to reconsider their activities.
“The entry into force of the Treaty is just a beginning of a new movement to confront nuclear weapon states and demand that they stop producing or upgrading any more nuclear weapons and agree to destroy those illegal weapons in accordance with the Treaty,” said Mari Inoue of Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World. “We also need to confront the states that rely on the so-called ‘nuclear umbrella’ of the nuclear weapon states that such reliance could be a form of conspiring to engage in unlawful activities under international law, because the Treaty not only prohibits nations from developing, producing, stockpiling or threatening to use nuclear weapons, but also it prohibits nations from encouraging or inducing anyone to engage in any of these activities. If you are residents of those states that rely on the nuclear umbrella of nuclear states, demand that your government not be part of such unlawful activities.”
For more information on other activities go to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) events page at www.icanw.org/events. For more information on local activities, contact: info@panys.org.
The “Roses to Missions” is endorsed by the following organizations:
A.J. Muste Memorial Institute
Brooklyn For Peace
Broome Tioga Green Party
Coalition Against Nukes
Concerned Citizens For Change
Environmentalists Against War
Granny Peace Brigade, NYC
Hibakusha Stories
Judson Memorial Church
Knowdrones.com
Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World
Move the Money NYC
New Jersey Peace Action
New York Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons NYCAN
North Country Peace Group
NY Committee of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism
NYC War Resisters League
Pax Christi Metro New York
Peace Action Fund of New York State
Peace Action of Staten Island
Ramapough Mountain Indians
Rise and Resist
Shut Down Indian Point Now
Sierra Club New York City Group
Sister to Sister International, Inc.
Stand with Okinawa NY
The Ribbon International
Upper Hudson Peace Action
Veterans For Peace - NYC Chapter 34
World BEYOND War
Youth Arts NY
Westchester Black Women’s Political Caucus
