Some of the WILPF members and friends who gathered on December 6 to support the Carrboro City Council’s passage of a resolution supporting the TPNW.
By Anne Cassebaum
Triangle Branch
January 2023
Triangle WILPF is working for nuclear disarmament by supporting the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons [TPNW] one local council at a time. The photo above features some of the 11 WILPF members and friends who gathered to support the Carrboro City Council which passed a strong resolution on December 6, 2022, in favor of the TPNW drafted by the International Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons [ICAN] Cities Appeal. Lucy Lewis, center, headed up the effort. This Appeal is certainly one of the roads and a local route toward nuclear disarmament.
The strategy of the Cities Appeal gets the costs and risk of nuclear weapons before councils. Citizens approach state, city, and town councils to support a simple statement urging all nations to ban nuclear weapons. The website, icanw.orgprovides resources.
Ideally councils send an official email that they have voted to support the statement, but if they do not wish to bring the matter to an official vote, they can simply sign a letter of support (as Asheville, NC did). Failing a majority vote in support, individuals in legislatures or on town councils can sign the Parliamentarian Pledge in support.
Right now not enough people have acted to call it a groundswell, but the movement is growing and has strong benefits.
It gives us a chance to educate and get media attention on the silent but imminent danger of nuclear weapons…and their costs. The mayors of Green Level, which passed the ICAN resolution, and Durham both expressed surprise at the amount of federal tax dollars that go for nuclear weapons and their maintenance…and not for housing, health, and other needs. National Priorities provides an easy, excellent source for those numbers, broken down town by town.
This effort has also unified local peace and justice groups as Triangle WILPF joins with others in NC to engage one council after another.