Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

Tag: university

  • Message to First Annual Student Movement for Nuclear Disarmament Conference

    This message was delivered to the First Annual Student Movement for Nuclear Disarmament Conference at Soka University of America on November 17, 2012.


    David KriegerI want to congratulate you for organizing this conference and for bringing together students to form a movement for nuclear disarmament.  It is a much needed effort.  As someone who has worked for nuclear weapons abolition for most of my adult life, I believe firmly that the involvement of students is necessary for achieving the goal of a nuclear weapons-free world. 


    You did not create nuclear weapons, but you have inherited them, and they will remain a threat to your future for so long as they exist.  Thus, your awareness, your engagement and your voices are critical to your own future as well as to the future of your children and grandchildren.


    Nuclear weapons are illegal, immoral and costly.  They do not make their possessors safer or more secure; they only assure that their possessors are targets of some other country’s nuclear weapons.


    If the most powerful counties in the world behave as though nuclear weapons are useful to them, as they do, they assure that other countries will seek nuclear weapons for themselves.  Thus, the possession of nuclear weapons encourages the proliferation of nuclear weapons to other countries.   


    The more nuclear weapons proliferate, the greater the chances are that they will end up in the hands of terrorist organizations.  In truth, though, any country that relies upon nuclear deterrence for its security is threatening the use of nuclear weapons against innocent people, and thus behaving as a terrorist nation itself.


    We must recognize nuclear weapons for what they are.  Some, like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, see them as an “obscenity.”  Others, like Josei Toda, view them as an “absolute evil.”  I see them as a human-designed threat to the future of civilization and perhaps to all complex life on earth.  By our technological cleverness, we humans have created the means of our own demise.  We cannot allow this to continue.


    Our great challenge is to abolish nuclear weapons before they abolish us.  It is not an easy goal to achieve, but it is not an impossible one.  It is a necessary goal, and it gives me hope that your conference is taking place and that each of you is involved and joining in the effort to create a world free of nuclear threat. 


    The only number of nuclear weapons that will assure a human future is zero.  No significant goal, such as the abolition of nuclear weapons, can be accomplished without awareness, boldness, creativity and hard work.  I hope that you will never lose sight of the need to achieve a world with zero nuclear weapons and that you will always choose hope as an impetus for building a better world.  Be persistent, persevere and never give up.

  • An Open Letter to Graduates

    Dear Graduates,


    David KriegerHaving received a college degree, you are among the 6.7 percent of the world’s most educated elite.  If your education has been a good one, you are likely to have more questions than answers.  If your education has been mediocre, you are likely to think you have more answers than questions. 


    Did you have a chance in college to ponder these questions: What does it mean to be human?  Why are we here on Earth?  What are the greatest goals one can pursue in life?  What are the keys to a happy and fulfilled life?  If you didn’t, it’s not too late.


    You may have taken many introductory courses during your college years, but was there a course on Global Survival 101?  If not, you may not be prepared to make a difference in ending the great dangers to humanity in the 21st century. 


    Do you know how many nuclear weapons there are in the world?  Do you know which countries possess them?  Do you know what nuclear weapons do to cities?  Do you know whether these weapons are legal or illegal under international law?  Do you know whether they could end civilization and the human species?


    Do you know about the Nuremberg Principles, those that were derived from the tribunals at Nuremberg that held the Nazi leaders to account after World War II?  Do you know that these principles apply not just to Nazi leaders, but to all leaders who commit heinous crimes under international law?  Do you know what those crimes are? 


    Have you studied the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?  Do you know to whom these rights apply?  Do you know that these rights encompass economic and social rights as well as political and civil rights?


    Do you know that we all live on a single fragile planet and that we humans are the caretakers and stewards of this planet, not only for ourselves, but for future generations yet unborn?


    Do you realize that you are about to enter a world of vast inequities, as measured in money, health and happiness?  Do you understand that throughout the world there are more than a billion people who are malnourished and go to bed hungry every night?  Can you comprehend that in our world there are still 25,000 children who die daily of starvation and preventable diseases?


    Does your education lead you to believe that money will buy happiness?  It may buy fancy material things, and even status, but it is unlikely that it will buy happiness or fulfillment in life.  Caring for others and living with compassion, commitment and courage offers a far surer path to a fulfilled and happy life.


    Graduating from college is a commencement, not an ending.  It is a commencement into responsibility for one’s society and one’s world.  Exercising this responsibility is a daily task, a necessary and never-ending task.  It is a task that will require further education, outside the college classroom, but inside the multiversity of life. 


    The world needs to change.  We cannot continue to teeter on the precipice of nuclear and ecological disasters.  We cannot continue to exist divided into those who live in abundance and those who live in scarcity.  We cannot allow the greed of the few to overwhelm the need of the many.  We cannot continue to exploit the planet’s finite resources, in effect, stealing from the future.  We cannot continue to draw lines on the planet and separate ourselves into warring factions. 


    For the world to change, new peace leaders and change makers will be needed.  The first and most important questions you must ask yourself in your new role as graduates are these: Will I be one of the peace leaders and change makers, devoting myself to building a better world?  Or, will I choose to be detached and complacent in the face of the 21st century’s social, economic, political and military threats to humanity? 


    As the little prince, in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s book by that name, stated so clearly, “It’s a matter of discipline….  When you’ve finished washing and dressing each morning, you must tend your planet.”  Look around.  Our beautiful planet needs a lot of tending.

  • University Students Create Peace Leadership Chapter

    The Nova Southeastern University chapter of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s Peace Leadership Program has successfully completed its first cycle! The cycle lasted a total of 8 sessions with each session focusing on the application of specific leadership skills in promoting peace at the interpersonal, intergroup and international level. Although the program was marketed to various disciplines in the undergraduate school, the majority of participants were currently enrolled in the Conflict Analysis and Resolution graduate program at NSU. Each session included a skill building training, participation in a related activity, a lively discussion on a current domestic or international conflict and a presentation made by one of the participants. The format of the sessions encouraged participants to learn leadership skills, brainstorm peaceful resolutions to current conflicts, and practice leadership through presenting on a topic they felt passionately about.



    Back row from left to right: Safeer Bhatti (USA), Lauren Marx (USA), Farouk Raheemson (Nigeria), Grace Okoye (Nigeria), Keyvan Aarabi (Iran/USA), NWANNE DORIS ELEKWACHI (Nigeria), Stacy-Ann Palmer (Jamaica/USA).


    Front row from left to right: Bobby Huen (China/USA), Athena Passera (Trinidad/USA), Ian Dozier (USA), Roxan A Anderson (USA)


    The participants in cycle 1 hailed from Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the U.S and typically had a variety of academic and professional backgrounds. The diversity of the group provided a spectrum of cultural and intellectual perspectives that produced a remarkably high quality of social and political discourse during the sessions. One of the most powerful experiences throughout the cycle occurred during session 5 when the students participated in an international negotiation simulation. The simulation divided the participants into two groups with one group representing Israeli interests and the other Palestinian interests in a dispute over water resources in the West Bank. During the simulation students were asked to perform as leaders, navigating diverging goals, emotional flare-ups, and deep seated feelings of mistrust to reach a peaceful resolution. The final resolution reflected hours of negotiation and brainstorming. This activity helped students understand the complexities in international conflicts, the often incompatible interests of leaders and the power of creativity in brokering a peaceful resolution.   


    As the founder and lead facilitator of the NSU chapter of the NAPF Peace Leadership Program I had a the opportunity to promote the message of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation while given the freedom to find creative mediums to educate and motivate future peace leaders. Paul Chappell provided me with the mentorship and support I needed to successfully promote, conduct and complete this cycle. My experience helped me to build upon my own skills as a public speaker, teacher and leader for peace. In addition to imparting knowledge, I also learned an incredible amount of information from the participants. In the first session the group watched the NAPF video titled The Myth of Nuclear Deterrence. Following the video, I asked each student, if they were the leader of their respective country, to state the position they would take on nuclear arms. The answers varied, and I learned the challenges of changing the dominant role that deterrence plays in nuclear discourse. Listening to the rationale behind each student’s position helped me to learn the impact that prevailing social dogma and acculturation has on the formation of opinions on nuclear weapons.


    The first cycle of the NSU Chapter has been successfully completed with a total of 10 students graduating and the group is currently working on doing philanthropy work by donating their time to helping those in our community. A wonderful product of this cycle was the creation of a cohesive group that is unified by the shared goal for peace. One aspect that made my role easier was having the support of all of the group members and, in particular, having Lauren Marx as a co-facilitator and co-developer. The second cycle is about to begin with a new group of students and a new set of perspectives through which to understand and develop leadership for peace. I will learn from this experience and work towards making each new cycle a better version of the first. The NAPF Peace Leadership program has just begun its impact in South Florida. I am committed to pushing ahead by beginning the second cycle at NSU and actively working toward starting new chapters at other universities here in South Florida. I am eternally grateful for this opportunity to work with the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, including Paul Chappell, Rick Wayman and Dr. David Krieger, to help promote their mission toward a more peaceful nuclear free world.  

  • Three Reasons for the University of California to get out of the Nuclear Weapons Business

    Three Reasons for the University of California to get out of the Nuclear Weapons Business

    We’ve all heard about the inspections that took place in Iraq to find weapons of mass destruction and programs to make them.  As we know, none were found in Iraq.

    That would not be the case if the inspectors were to come to the University of California.  They would find that programs to research, design, develop, improve, test, and maintain nuclear weapons have been going on under the auspices of this University for more than 60 years and that they are going on today.  They would find that the University of California provides management and oversight to the nation’s two principal nuclear weapons laboratories: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory.  They would find that today these weapons laboratories are engaged in attempting to make new and more usable and reliable nuclear weapons.

    For a fee, the University of California has provided a fig leaf of respectability to the research and development of the most horrendous weapons known to humankind.  It is ironic that our government cannot tolerate the possibility of Iraqi scientists creating such weapons, but at the University of California such a horrid use of science is called “a service to the nation.”

    Two of the weapons developed at Los Alamos were used on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  These were relatively small weapons, and they caused the deaths of over 200,000 persons, mostly innocent civilians, by incineration, blast and radiation.  There are no guarantees that the nuclear weapons being developed today under UC auspices will not be used again.  In fact, the odds are that if we continue as we are, they will be used again, by accident or design.

    There are three important reasons the UC should get out of the nuclear weapons business.  First, the UC is a great University, and no great University should lend its talents to making weapons capable of destroying cities, civilizations and most life on Earth.  The function of a University is to examine the amazing wonders of our world, to collect and categorize knowledge, to expand the knowledge base, and to pass important knowledge from the past on to new generations.  How can a great University allow itself to be co-opted into becoming complicit in creating weapons of mass destruction?  How can the UC Board of Regents justify this as “a service to the nation”?

    Second, there is no moral ground on which nuclear weapons can rest.  These are weapons of mass murder.  They cannot discriminate between combatants and civilians.  They kill indiscriminately – men, women and children.  By continuing to develop and improve these weapons, the United States, economically and militarily the strongest country in the world, is signaling to other nations that these weapons would be useful for them as well.

    Third, the International Court of Justice has stated that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is illegal under international law.  It allowed only one possible exception in which the “very survival of a state” was at stake.  In such a situation, it said that the law was unclear, but under any circumstance the use of nuclear weapons would not be legal if it violated international humanitarian law by failing to discriminate between civilians and combatants or causing unnecessary suffering.  There is virtually no possibility that nuclear weapons could be used in warfare without violating these precepts of international humanitarian law.

    Sir Joseph Rotblat, the only Manhattan Project scientist to leave the project on moral grounds and the 1995 Nobel Peace Laureate, asked: “If the use of a given type of weapon is illegal under international law, should not research on such weapons also be illegal, and should not scientists also be culpable?  And if there is doubt even about the legal side, should not the ethical aspect become more compelling?”

    In 1995, Nobel Laureate Hans Bethe, a senior physicist on the Manhattan Project, issued this plea: “I call on all scientists in all countries to desist from work creating, developing, improving and manufacturing further nuclear weapons – and, for that matter – other weapons of potential mass destruction such as chemical and biological weapons.”

    If we are ever to end the nuclear weapons threat to humanity, we must heed the words of words of wise individuals such as professors Rotblat and Bethe.  Even if for personal reasons the scientists and engineers at the nuclear weapons laboratories are unwilling to give up their role in creating and improving nuclear weapons, then at least the larger UC community could send a message to the rest of the country and the world that it is no longer willing to participate in the management and oversight of laboratories making weapons of mass murder.

    The motto of the University of California is Fiat Lux, meaning “let there be light.”  It is unlikely that the light the founders of the University had in mind was the flash “brighter than a thousand suns” from the explosion of a nuclear weapon.  I think they meant the light of knowledge, truth and beauty.  Unfortunately, the University of California’s relationship to the nuclear weapons laboratories, renewed at Los Alamos in 2005, casts a dark shadow over the higher values that a university is charged with passing on to future generations.

    David Krieger is president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (www.wagingpeace.org).  He is the author of many studies of peace in the Nuclear Age, including Nuclear Weapons and the World Court.