United for Peace and Justice objects in the strongest possible terms to President Donald
Trump’s August 8 nuclear threat to “rain fire and fury like the world has never seen” on
human beings. Trump doubled down on his alarming threat to North Korea two days
later, saying: “Maybe it wasn’t tough enough.”
Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un on TV in Nagasaki as Tensions Escalated
The world has seen the devastation caused by the “fire and fury” of nuclear weapons
used by the United States on August 6 and 9, 1945, which indiscriminately incinerated
tens of thousands of people in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. By the
end of 1945 more than 210,000 people – mainly civilians – were dead, and the surviving
hibakusha, their children and grandchildren continue to suffer from physical,
psychological and sociological effects.
In the words of hibakusha Setsuko Thurlow, “…remember those who died and express
the hope of those who survived that no human being should ever have to experience
the inhumanity and unspeakable suffering of nuclear weapons”
During last week’s 72 nd anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings, Trump’s nuclear threat
was particularly reprehensible. We deplore any acceptance of the legitimacy of such
threats.
Let us not forget:
Today, nearly 15,000 nuclear weapons, most an order of magnitude more powerful than
the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, 94% held by the U.S. and Russia, continue to pose
an intolerable threat to humanity and the biosphere.
A nuclear war using as few as 100 weapons anywhere in the world would disrupt the
global climate and agricultural production so severely that the lives of more than two
billion people would be in jeopardy.
Nuclear war has no “winners.”
UFPJ demands that the U.S. de-escalate tensions and intensify diplomacy with North
Korea now.
- No more provocative rhetoric from Trump.
- The United States should fully respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea).
- The United States and South Korea should immediately cease provocative joint military maneuvers in the region, providing North Korea with an opportunity to reciprocate. The THAAD missile defense system deployed near the North Korean border must be de-activated and removed.
- The United States should engage in good faith direct talks with North Korea, without pre-conditions, to bring these two nuclear powers back from the brink.
- The United States should negotiate in good faith with North Korea, South Korea and China to replace the 1953 Armistice Agreement with a Peace Agreement, finally ending the Korean War.
- The United States should sign, ratify and rigorously implement the treaty to prohibit the possession, development, testing, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons adopted by 122 countries at the United Nations on July 7 – over U.S. objections. The U.S. is legally obligated under the 1970 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to negotiate in good faith the elimination of its nuclear arsenal. Signing the new Ban Treaty when it opens for signature on September 20, 2017 would be a good first step.
We call upon local peace groups and organizations to take action (protests, vigils, calling
your elected representatives, letters to the editor) against the unhinged nuclear threats
coming from the White House. Look at the faces of your loved ones and the trees
outside your window and take nonviolent action.
The UFPJ Coordinating Committee
