Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

Author: Mairead Maguire

  • Let Mordechai Vanunu Go

    On leaving Israel/Palestine today, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate, who has spent the last 10 days in Israel-Palestine campaigning for an end to the detention of Mordechai Vanunu, said:

    “I believe it is sad and shameful that the Israeli Government continues to detain Mordechai Vanunu for this the 20 year of his internal exile within Israel. He has no secrets. He is no threat to Israeli security. I therefore call upon the Israel Government to uphold Mordechai Vanunu’s human rights to freedom of speech and freedom of movement and let him go.

    I also support his call for a Nuclear Free Israel, Middle East and world and call upon the Israeli Government to open Dimona for inspection, and to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation treaty.

    During my visit I have travelled to Jenin Refugee Camp, Hebron, and Bethlehem in the Israeli Occupied Territories. I have witnessed the daily suffering of the Palestinian people living under an increasing and worsening oppressive Israeli occupation.

    I believe there is a great desire for peace amongst all the people, but in order to move into serious dialogue and negotiations urgent steps, and the political will; particularly from the Israeli Government, need to be taken. I therefore make the following Appeal:

    1. I call upon the International Community, European Community, the United States of America, to intervene to end the 40 year occupation by Israel and to end the Palestinian suffering in Palestinian camps for 60 years. The International Community must not be intimidated and silenced by threats of being anti-Semitic or anti-Israeli, but must be bold in demanding Israel upholds it obligations under International Law.
    2. The way for peace must be for Israel to end the occupation and recognize and respect all the national and international human rights of the Palestinian people.
    3. I call upon the Palestinian people to use the methods of Jesus Christ, Badshan Khan, Gandhi, Martin Luther King of nonviolent resistance to the occupation and apartheid system, which continues to cause so much suffering to their people. And for the International Community to support such a nonviolent resistance by the Palestinian people.
    4. I call upon the Israeli Government to uphold International Court of Justice and dismantle the Apartheid wall, and the Apartheid system of injustice. To recognize the democratically elected Government of the Palestinian people and enter into serious dialogue with their new ‘partner for peace’.
    5. I call upon Israeli Government, European Union, United State, to restore Foreign Aid as the withdrawing of this, is in effect. a collective punishment of the Palestinian people, many of whom already live under great poverty and hardship, due to the continuing illegal occupation and colonization of the Palestinian Territories.
    6. I call upon all Israeli and Palestinian people to continue to hope and believe and act for peace, and to do everything in their power to begin to build trust and friendship amongst each other. Nuclear Weapons, militarism, and emergency laws will not build trust, but overcome the fear of each other, and continuing the great work already being done by both Israeli and Palestinian peace activists, and many others, will bring peace. The Israeli Government can help this process by making it possible for people to actually meet each other, and build a grassroots peace movement together.

    I have great hopes for both Israeli-Palestinian and leave strengthened and upheld by the love and affection I have received from my many Israeli and Palestinian Friends.

    Shalom/Salam,
    Mrs Mairead Corrigan Maguire Nobel Peace Laureate

    Peace People 224 Lisburn Road, Belfast. BT9 Northern Ireland – UK. www.peacepeople.com Tel: (44) (0)2890 663465 Fax: (44) (0)2890 381987 Email Info@peacepeople.com

    Mairead Corrigan Maguire received the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize and the 1991 Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Distinguished Peace Leadership Award. She recently participated in the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s 2006 International Law Symposium, “At the Nuclear Precipice: Nuclear Weapons and the Abandonment of International Law.”

  • Personal Responsibility and Nuclear Weapons

    One thing we humans often do, according to psychologists, is scapegoat others for our problems. It makes us feel better and above all takes away from any responsibility for our own actions. We tend to think that nuclear weapons have nothing to do with us. That is the business of politicians, scientists, etc. Others who are part of the chain of violence sometimes say, “I was only following orders.” Many people follow orders and keep their jobs, and progress up their career ladder. Yet, taking personal responsibility (as well as having rights) is so important if we are to really change things in our world today.

    Another way of not taking responsibility is to refuse to apply critical thinking and analysis to our actions, and to follow the way it’s always been done. I am been inspired by the writings of Thomas Merton, and particularly when he talks about the need to have a clear conscience, and to follow that conscience in doing what is right.

    We all have a responsibility to follow our conscience and do what is right, but particularly those who make weapons such as nuclear weapons, which, if used, would cause the death of millions of people.

    We live in an age of advanced technology and much of what has been produced by scientists has improved many of our lives (though tragically not the lives of millions in the developing world). What would we do without email and so much more, but on the other hand, we could have done well without weapons of mass destructions.

    In many prestigious American universities and others around the world, scientists have designed and continue to design advanced killing machines. These scientists must take responsibility for their actions and stop their misguided rationalization of the killing of human beings.

    I am reminded of the words of Galileo: “If only I had resisted, if only the natural scientists had been able to evolve something like the Hippocratic Oath of doctors, the vow to devote their knowledge wholly to the benefit of mankind! As things now stand, the best one can hope for is a race of inventive dwarfs who can be hired for anything. I surrendered my knowledge to those in power, to use, or not to use, or to misuse just as suited their purposes.”

    They will of course argue they need nuclear weapons to protect the world. However, the world has changed. The main conflicts now are not between states, but intra-state. The violent conflicts we see, as in Northern Ireland, are ethnic/political or failed states. These problems cannot be solved by dropping nuclear weapons on them. Nor will threatening to use nuclear weapons on other countries help dialogue, negotiations and trading, all of which are necessary in our inter-dependent, inter-connected world. Nuclear weapons are big money for governments, arms manufacturers and distributors. They rob the poor of their right to justice and equality. We all want security, but I believe the best form of security for us all is to make friends with our enemies. We all have a responsibility to do this, people to people, government to government, and solving problems through nonviolent conflict resolution.

    I once met Fr. George Zabelka, the chaplain who blessed the crew which flew the Enola Gay plane. This was the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. He applauded the crew upon their return on a job well done. Years later, after visiting Japan, he was horrified to meet with people who had survived the bombings, but carried the scars of radiation and pain for the rest of their lives. George Zabelka dedicated his life to campaigning for abolishment of nuclear weapons. He went around the world saying he was sorry for his part in this horrific act of desolation and desecration of the Japanese people by the US Administration.

    We can and must all speak out against nuclear weapons. It will not be easy. Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli nuclear weapons whistleblower, is still held in Israel after 20 years. He told the world that Israel had a nuclear weapons program. He tried to warn us against the dangers of nuclear weapons. We salute him for his courage and his sacrifice to humanity, and we look forward to the day he will be released from Israel and we can personally thank him.

    In the meantime, let us take up the challenge Mordechai places upon us all. Let us take personal responsibility not to be part of the chain of violence of nuclear weapons by supporting the nuclear policies of the American, or any government, and instead dedicating our lives to being part of the work of celebrating and enhancing life for all our brothers and sisters wherever we live in this little planet, of which we are planetary citizens.

    Mairead Corrigan Maguire received the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize and the 1991 Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Distinguished Peace Leadership Award. She recently participated in the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s 2006 International Law Symposium, “At the Nuclear Precipice: Nuclear Weapons and the Abandonment of International Law.”

  • Perestrojka for International Policy, Too?

    In Northern Ireland, we sometimes tell the following joke. A man was traveling in his car and lost his way. He asked a farmer, the way to the town. The farmer replied, “If I was you I wouldn’t start from here.”

    I believe, we the human family, like the traveler, have lost our way. We are on the wrong road. Our government’s international policies, particularly those of the United States of America , are taking us down a dangerous road. Most of us wish that we did not have to start from here, but we have to face the facts of where we currently stand.

    Policies, such as: ongoing wars, pre-emptive strike, unilateralism, increased militarism and nuclearism, invasions, occupations, imperialism, erosion of civil and political liberties, ignoring the United Nations and humanitarian and international laws, government sanctions of murder (Pentagon’s SAP – special-access program), state sanctioned systematic torture (Abu Ghraib prison, etc.), unethical corporate globalization, and run-away capitalism

    Not only will such policies take us around a cul-de-sac of counter-violence, but they may also take us well over the cliff of total destruction.

    We need urgently to move onto a new road. We can choose to do this individually, by seeking truth and living our lives with as much integrity as possible. But in order to bring about the enormous changes necessary, we have to demand our Governments change those current national and foreign policies, which are destroying the lives of millions of our brothers and sisters on the planet, and damaging the earth itself. We have to challenge our governments to abolish these policies and take a different road to where we want to go, as a united human family.

    I suspect when Mr. Gorbachev initiated Perestrojka, it was because he recognized that the Soviet Union and the world were on the wrong road. His courage in initiating reforms, and his vision, not only brought about great changes such as the ending of the Cold War, but in that period of history, he gave hope to humanity. Millions

    of us were high on Hope. We were aflame with unlimited possibilities. We too shared his vision of stopping the nuclear and arms race. We believed that everyone could share in the Peace Dividend. We too wanted stop the madness of such huge military spending, and spend it instead on tackling the real enemies of the human family, poverty, diseases, etc.,

    Alas, it is for historians to record why so many Governments and people, never took the different road. But we don’t need historians to tell us what we now in our hearts – the World missed a ‘golden opportunity’ to demilitarize, denuclearise, and unite together as the human family to tackle the enormous problems, which no one nation can solve alone.

    Well, maybe we are slow learners. However I believe this generation is now being graced with another opportunity to make, yet again, new and better choices. But will we.?

    Yes, I am convinced we will. One great hope lies in the fact that there is a new consciousness in our World, particularly among young people. We recognize we are inter-connected as the human family, and Global Citizenship is upon us. In this increasingly multi-cultural, multi-faith, pluralist world citizenship, we are challenged to build Unity in our diversity.

    However, with this new consciousness, comes too the realization that the old structures, institutions, and ways of doing things no longer work, nor do they meet the needs of our struggling into birth a united world. The Organization, which represents us all, the United Nations, is I believe much in need of re-financing, renewal and reform, but we do not have, to date, world institutions that are truly democratic, and which would constitute genuine World Government.

    These, we are challenged to build, both across the international level, but also downwards, and on a local level. We have to do both. Politics begin where people live, in villages, communities, etc., so empowering people at a local level is most important. Economic, political and social restructing starts at a local level but is necessary also on an international level. We can all play our part, as village and world citizens, in building what Martin Luther King called, “the beloved community.”

    Change, can only be built by each one of us, and joining together as a United People of the World. By rejecting violence and war, and adopting a local and international ethic of nonviolence, we can start to reshape our own lives, our communities, our countries, and our world. It must be done person-to-person, group-to-group, building nonviolent and truly democratic societies from the ground up. There is no alternative, but slow hardwork, which each of us must do.

    There will be no quick fixes. We are on a long journey, but at least if we change onto a new road now, and insist our governments do likewise, we can travel together united as the human family, celebrating the gift of life, the gift of each other, and the joy of simply being alive. For the journey we gain inner strength by following our own spiritual paths, but also from the example of others whose courage and self-sacrifice uphold and uplift us.

    Speech by Mairead Corrigan Maguire At 5th World Summit at Nobel Peace Laureates in Rome 10-12 November, 2004

  • Act to Save the Children of Iraq

    August 6, 2002 (Hiroshima Day) marked the 12th year of the economic sanctions against Iraq. These economic sanctions were described to me during my visit to Iraq by an Iraqi teenager as being a “silent nuclear bomb that drops into every home and is slowly destroying not only the children but the whole Iraqi nation.” Well over a half million Iraqi children have died of malnutrition and preventable diseases (resulting from the after-effects of the Gulf War and continuing economic sanctions) and each day more children die unnecessarily.

    Now, as the Bush Administration is making extremely clear, Iraq is in serious danger of an all-out US assault in the coming months. This week when the Iraqi government offered weapons inspections, the American administration responded by saying it is not about weapons inspections. Rather than going into yet another war causing further untold suffering to Iraqi civilians (also effecting the Middle East and the entire human family, as we are now so interconnected), every diplomatic option must be tried to divert war. The age of wars has gone, such barbaric activity is not acceptable at any time. But even for those who believe in war, it should not be acceptable when diplomatic options are readily available as has been, and continues to be, the case with Iraq.

    The American Government has a responsibility to uphold its democratic constitution, abide by international law, and respect the democratic wishes of many American people and the vast majority of governments and peoples of the world, who are calling for a non-violent solution to this crisis. War on our Iraqi brothers and sisters would be a war on the spirit and dignity of the entire human family.

    We are currently in the UN Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World (2001-2010). This challenges us all to focus on the children and do all in our power to see they have clean water, food, medicine, and a safe environment and safe world. Children in Iraq do not have these things because of UN/USA/UK sanctions. The continuing death and suffering of Iraqi children is preventable. Let us therefore prevent it.

    Oppose US war against Iraq and work for diplomatic options, including the lifting of economic trade sanctions against the Iraqi people, who have been living and dying under these brutal sanctions and effects of war for too long.
    *Mairead Corrigan Maguire, a member of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s Advisory Council, is a Nobel Peace Laureate from Northern Ireland and a founder of Peace People.

  • Perspective of a Nobel Peace Laureate and Co-founder of Peace People

    Belfast, Northern Ireland:

    “It is with the greatest sadness that the people of the World watched the tragedy of the horrific events of Tuesday 11th September, 2001, in America.

    The day of this atrocity will remain in all our memories; it has moved many millions of people to tears of shock and sadness.

    We share in the American peoples’ grief during this time of need, and send our condolences to all.

    We understand the depth of feelings of loss and pain but we would appeal that there be no retaliation.

    Violence serves no purpose. Violence solves no problems. Retaliation would mean the further deaths of many more people. This would, in turn, add to an increasing sense of fear, anxiety, and hopelessness, being felt around the world.

    As the human family we need HOPE, and this can come from the people of the World, when they rise above their immediate feelings of pain and anger at such inhumanity, and in a calmer atmosphere allow reason to guide their decisions. In this way ‘wisdom’ can find a response to this terrible atrocity which does not add to the terrible death and destruction already perpetrated on our fellow brothers and sister in the United States.

    In this the new millennium, the human family has an opportunity to move away from the old responses of ‘an eye for an eye’ and deal with their problems in a collective and civilised manner, befitted the great goodness that lives in every human heart.

  • A Nonviolent Political Agenda for a More Humane World

    https://wagingpeace.davidmolinaojeda.com/articles/wagingpeaceseries/maguire.pdf