By DrArunMitra
The news that there is fire in the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine has sent ripples in the minds of people around the globe. Even though no radiation leak has been reported so far, but the danger cannot be ruled out till the fire is extinguished and the plant is finally inspected and given safety clearance by the IAEA. Accidents in the nuclear power plants have grave health and humanitarian consequences. This is well proved in the Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents. Therefore the global concern over this fire is genuine. The forces of peace and nuclear disarmament have warned of such an event since the outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine over two years ago. The nuclear plant has been under the control of Russia since 2022. Now both Russia and Ukraine are blaming each other for this fire. But whosoever may be responsible, if the fire in the plant increases the impact would be felt in the far flung areas.
It no more appears to be a war between Russia and Ukraine; instead, with the persistent support by the US, NATO and several EU countries the war has taken serous dimensions. It is unfortunate that despite several efforts by the UNO and the peace loving forces the war is not coming to an end. Ukrainian forces entering into Russian region at Kursk has further intensified the war. In this situation no serious peace talks are visible in near future.
The situation in Middle East too is getting worse. Israel’s war on children, women and the elderly has further intensified as the IDF airstrike killed nearly 100 people on Tabeenschool (turned into shelter) in central Gaza. The Israel has said that it attacked to destroy the Hamas command centre. Their claim has been denied by the Hamas. It is strange that the Israeli defence forces have not been able to destroy Hamas even after 10 months of most barbarous aggression of the on-going century. Almost 80% of the infrastructure in Gaza has been turned into rubbles. Even the city of Rafah has been damaged and large number of people killed and hundreds of thousands displaced. People of Gaza are running helter and shelter but no place at any time is safe for them. The humanitarian aid including food is reaching in a very limited supply. There is no hygienic place for them to live in. As a result disease and hunger are spreading. Israel’s motive seems clear, that is annihilation of Palestinians.
After the killing of leader of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, situation in the middle-east has now taken a serious turn. Both Iran and Israel are nuclear weapons state and are dead enemies of each other. Iran has vowed to revenge the attack. Israel has intensified aggression on the west bank and Lebanon and Hezbollah is retaliating in return. Further escalation of war in the region is very imminent as the Israeli government has refused to acknowledge any decision of the ICC and the ICJ and completely ignored the warnings by the UNO and several other countries.
As the situation gets worse in both regions, the danger of use of nuclear weapons in the region can be a real possibility which will have extremely grave consequences. Since the end of cold war the world has never been under so much threat of use of nuclear weapons as today. This is happening at a time when we are observing 79th anniversary of the atomic bombing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to pay homage to the victims of nuclear bombing by the US army on 6th and 9th August 1945. Any threat of use of nuclear weapons is extremely worrying for the whole mankind.
The 2nd world war led to death of over 60 million people, including about 15 million military personnel and 45 million civilians. The atomic bombing on Japan killed 210000 people. Present day nuclear weapons are much more deadly. Studies carried out by the IPPNW have shown that any nuclear exchange between two major nuclear powers, Russia and the USA could be end of modern civilization built through thousands of years of human labour. And any such exchange between India and Pakistan using 100 nuclear weapons would put over 2 billion people at the risk of starvation and death.
The atomic bombing on Japan unleashed a nuclear arms race with several countries joining the nuclear club. From two nuclear weapons in 1945 their number rose to over 61000 in 1985 (USA 21392 and USSR 39197). Maximum nuclear weapons tests were carried out between 1960 to 1969 total 706 of which 418 by the US and 232 by USSR. There are enough reports of harmful effects of these tests on the local population. An International Scientific-Practical Conference dedicated to the 30th anniversary of “Nevada-Semey” International Antinuclear Movement (IAM “Nevada-Semey”) held in Astana on 18th September 2019 highlighted this fact. Similar reports from Marshall Islands corroborate these facts.
However this was also the time when people raised their voice for disarmament particularly the nuclear disarmament. Massive information outflow by the peace organisations played a vital role in spreading the message of danger of arms race and necessity for complete abolition of nuclear weapons. West Berlin in 1983 is said to have witnessed a large antinuclear protest which had about 600,000 participants. In October 1983, nearly 3 million people across Western Europe protested nuclear missile deployments and demanded an end to the nuclear arms race. A large anti-nuclear demonstration was held in May 1979 in Washington, D.C., when 65,000 people including the Governor of California, attended a march and rally against nuclear power. In New York City on 23rd September 1979, almost 200,000 people attended a protest against nuclear power. Similar protests were organised in different parts of India as well.
Perceiving the threat and public pressure the major nuclear weapons countries the USA and USSR cut down the number of nuclear weapons. After the end of the cold war the number of nuclear weapons came down from 51000 in 1990 to 13400 in 2020.
To achieve lasting peace, it is important that nuclear weapons be abolished completely. Expenditure on arms race has to be reduced and mutual negotiations held to resolve the conflicts. On the contrary there is an increase in the expenditure on arms. The world military expenditure rose to $2240bn in 2022 with $82.9bn spent on nuclear weapons alone. As per the International Campaign to Abolish of Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), in 2023, the nine nuclear-armed states spent $10.8 billion (13.4%) more on their nuclear arsenals than the year before, which means $2,898 per second.
The major powers have to play a constructive role. The US administration must not exhibit double standards. Their persistent arms supply to Israel and instigation to Zelensky will not ease the situation. They have to be forthright in stopping arms supply to the Israel. It is unfortunate that the G7 did not participate in the event organised by Japan to pay homage to the victims of Nagasaki because Israel was not invited. This is not a good stance. Time is now to promote peace and nuclear weapons abolition by joining the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Peace movement has to be more proactive and organised civil society in much bigger way than in 1980s to achieve the goal of abolition of nuclear weapons. We need even bigger public protests against war and nuclear weapons. (IPA Service)
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