Antinuclear

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) gathers strength, especially among the young

Students across the world are participating in the campaign. Earlier this year, students from Gisborne Secondary College in Victoria (Australia) made 1000 paper cranes and delivered them to the parliamentary secretary to Australian prime minister, calling for ban on nuclear weapons.

The school’s Japanese language teacher, Noriko Ikaga, has been taking Years 10 and 11 students to Japan every alternate year. “It has become a tradition to make 1000 paper cranes when we visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. This year, the students also folded another 6000 paper cranes for the kids affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster,” Ikaga told IDN.

With Australia going to polls on September 7, these students are hoping that future leaders will take Australia’s nuclear obligations seriously.

ICAN AUSTRALIA SHOWS THE WAY TO ABOLISH NUKES BY NEENA BHANDARI | IDN-INDEPTH NEWSANALYSIS, 28 AUG 13,  SYDNEY (IDN) – Even as the nuclear-armed countries continue to amass new warheads and build and modernise ballistic missiles, bombers and submarines to launch them, the campaign for nuclear abolition is growing from strength to strength.

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons’ (ICAN) Paper Cranes Project – symbolizing support for nuclear disarmament – is urging governments to begin negotiations on a global treaty banning nuclear weapons this year. More than 190,000 paper cranes have already been delivered to world leaders, and messages of support have been received from the Secretary-General of the United Nations and amongst others national leaders of Australia, Afghanistan, Greece, Kazakhstan, the Marshall Islands, Mozambique, Slovenia and Switzerland.

“Our focus now is on getting responses from the presidents and prime ministers of other countries. This month around 70,000 paper cranes will be delivered to ambassadors in Tokyo, asking them to pass on the cranes to their leader. We will use the letters to demonstrate the strength and breadth of support globally for a ban on nuclear weapons,” ICAN Australia Director, Tim Wright, told IDN.

Students across the world are participating in the campaign. Earlier this year, students from Gisborne Secondary College in Victoria (Australia) made 1000 paper cranes and delivered them to the parliamentary secretary to Australian prime minister, calling for ban on nuclear weapons.

The school’s Japanese language teacher, Noriko Ikaga, has been taking Years 10 and 11 students to Japan every alternate year. “It has become a tradition to make 1000 paper cranes when we visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. This year, the students also folded another 6000 paper cranes for the kids affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster,” Ikaga told IDN.

With Australia going to polls on September 7, these students are hoping that future leaders will take Australia’s nuclear obligations seriously. ICAN’s Global Parliamentary Appeal is calling on all national governments to negotiate a treaty banning nuclear weapons and building political will for stringent action to bring global nuclear weapons stockpiles down from about 17,000 to zero.

“In Australia we are virtually ignorant to the risks that we, as a population, are under every day, due to the enormous amounts of nuclear weapons that still exist in the world. Our trip to Hiroshima made us determined to do something about it. We sought to show the Australian Prime Minister how much we cared, and that Disarmament was an issue that could not be ignored,” Holly Dwyer (17), a Year 11 student, told IDN.

Holly’s classmate, Joel Mackinnon (17), was surprised how little most students in her class knew about the nuclear weapons industry. “It genuinely scares me that we hold the fate of the world and humanity in the hands of such governments which appear to be almost willing to go to war. Participating in the Paper Cranes project is a start to saving the world from the unacceptable global threat posed by nuclear weapons,” Mackinnon told IDN.

An ICAN Australia’s Disarm Your Degree report, which examined Australian public university investments in nuclear arms makers, confirmed that four universities did invest in nuclear weapons producers and 12 did not. The information available for the remaining 17 universities was insufficient.

“Many university students have shown a strong interest in this campaign, and are working with us to raise awareness. The University of Sydney has indicated that it is in the process of adopting an ethical investment policy. None of the other universities have indicated that they intend to change their investment practices, but we will maintain the pressure,” Wright told IDN……… http://www.indepthnews.info/index.php/global-issues/1742-ican-australia-shows-the-way-to-abolish-nukes

August 28, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, weapons and war