Eleven (11) individuals who were arrested on August 2nd in front of the U.S. Mission calling for nuclear disarmament will appear in NYC Municipal Count on Monday, August 22, 2022. At the press conference the eleven will explain their reasons for drawing attention to the continuing and, indeed, heightened threat of nuclear weapons with an act of civil disobedience.  Article about the arrest here.

Breaking news that Russia has rejected the call to create a demilitarized zone around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant and its six nuclear reactors has heightened concern about an imminent nuclear disaster, much worse than Chernobyl. See Reuters story here. This year, before war broke out in Ukraine, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists set the Doomsday Clock to 100 seconds before midnight stressing the alarming rise in international tensions and the lack of progress on reducing the threat of nuclear weapons. See Doomsday Clock article here.

On August 2, 2022, several groups committed to nuclear disarmament protested outside the U.S. Mission as diplomats from around the world gathered at the United Nations for the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. The goal of this treaty, which went into force in 1971, was to work towards disarmament. Humanity still faces annihilation from the nearly 13,000 nuclear weapons held by nine nations around the world. Ninety percent (90%) of these weapons are held by the United States and Russia.

Because there has been so little progress towards disarmament, the protestors (see sponsor list below) gathered together in front of the U.S. Mission on August 2nd, across the street from the United Nations. Eleven of the protestors were arrested as part of a civil disobedience action. The August 2nd protest took place 40 years after one million people marched and rallied in NYC on June 12, 1982 demanding an end to nuclear weapons and nuclear war. Some of those same 1982 protesters returned for the August 2, 2022 protest.

Since the United States initiated the nuclear arms race in 1945 and is the only country to have used nuclear weapons in war, the protestors demanded that the United States initiate a global nuclear disarmament race that would include:

• Stop proliferation of nuclear weapons by dismantling nuclear reactors

• Redirect resources from the military to meet human needs and repair the planet

• End military interventions in other countries

• Each nuclear armed country announce during the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference an immediate and significant step towards disarmament, and a plan to dismantle nuclear weapons and safely dispose of nuclear wastes

• Disarm unilaterally, starting with nuclear weapons

• Sign, ratify and implement the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

August 2nd 2022 Action Sponsors are: NYC War Resisters League, World Can’t Wait, Pax Christi NY State, Peace Action NYS, Brooklyn for Peace, Catholic Worker, Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World, NY Metro Raging Grannies, Code Pink, Kairos Community, The Nuclear Resister, Extinction Rebellion Peace, Uptown Progressive Action, Nukewatch, Veterans for Peace/Chapter 34, Rise & Resist, Brandywine Peace Community, Granny Peace Brigade

Monday August 22: Press Conference with Eleven Arrested at U.S. Mission

What:   PRESS CONFERENCE OUTSIDE NYC MUNICIPAL COURT with the Eleven Arrested at U.S. Mission on August 2nd to Protest Nuclear Weapons

When:  Monday, August 22, 2022 at 10:30 AM

Where: Reade St and Centre St, Manhattan, NY (Outside of The David N. Dinkins Manhattan Municipal Building)