Can a Sunflower Stop Nuclear Weapons? by John Trinkl

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Can a Sunflower stop nuclear weapons? Hundreds of thousands of people and more than 800 organizations think so. Almost as soon as nuclear weapons were invented, people have been organizing against these incredible weapons of mass destruction. The latest effort, and one that might have a good chance of success, is the Abolition 2000 campaign. The campaign is a loose network of organizations around the world seeking to establish an international convention by the year 2000 that will formally set up a time line for the Abolition of nuclear weapons. The campaign's web site (http://www.abolition2000.org) has information and documents about Abolition 2000. The campaign was launched in 1995 at a meeting of some 60 Non-Governmental Organizations in Geneva. The campaign adopted the sunflower as its symbol in 1996. At a ceremony when Ukraine officially gave up its nuclear weapons, US Secretary of Defense William Perry said "Sunflowers instead of missiles in the soil will ensure peace for future generations. " Robert Manning, a local organizer for Campaign 2000, noted that the campaign has three aspects: --a petition campaign which has collected thousands of signatures. --resolutions by cities and municipalities in support of the Abolition 2000 campaign. To date, about 170 cities around the world have formally adopted resolutions in support of the campaign. --a Nuclear Weapons Convention, drafted by the group Lawyers for Nuclear Policy, which will be formally introduced in the United Nations General Assembly in March. Precedents for this are the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention adopted by the UN. A more recent and direct precedent is the International Landmines Convention, signed by some 180 countries, which was also launched by grassroots groups and Non-Governmental Organizations. "The campaign is definitely a human rights issue, " Manning said. In 1996 the Moorea Declaration was added to the Campaign Statement expressing the impact of nuclear weapons on indigenous people around the world. The statement notes "how the lands, water and air of many indigenous peoples were taken without consultation for the mining of uranium, the testing of nuclear weapons and the transportation and storage of nuclear materials, " Manning said. The Campaign is being coordinated by the New Age Peace Foundation (http://napf.org )in Santa Barbara, California. The NAPF's web site also has links to an extensive list of other peace groups (http://www.wagingpeace.org/peacelinks.html). Manning noted that the Internet was established by the Pentagon in large part as a communications vehicle able to survive a nuclear attack. "But now the Internet is being used a powerful tool for positive social change, " he said.