CND conference calls protests

Around 150 people attended the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) international conference last weekend.

Speakers from the USA, Japan, Germany and France joined delegates from across Britain to challenge the re-emergence of nuclear proliferation.

Delegates were reminded of the threats of nuclear weapons, evidenced both from the aftermath of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, and the uranium tipped shells sprayed across Iraq. The recent high incidence of birth deformities, childhood leukaemia and cancer in adults in Fallujah and elsewhere shows the devastating impact of these weapons.

The recent forest fires in Russia highlighted the continuing radioactive pollution from the Chernobyl nuclear power station in 1989, with radioactive isotopes being traced in forest smoke over Moscow last August.

General secretary of CND, Kate Hudson, and Lindsey German, convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, spoke of the increasing threat posed by nuclear weapons. They highlighted the intensifying US incursions into northern Pakistan, destabilising the country.

CND continues to mobilise for direct action against the nuclear industry. The new generation of privately-owned power stations is linked directly to the billions being spent on the new generation of nuclear weapons. More than £1 billion a year is spent on the Aldermaston weapons laboratory and more than £3 billion a year on Britain’s nuclear weapons infrastructure.

CND has called a demonstration on Saturday 30 October in Plymouth to stop public sector cuts and scrap Trident. It is also joining with Stop the War Coalition to protest on Saturday 20 November in London to end the war in Afghanistan.

For more information on the Plymouth demonstration and blockade of Devonport Nuclear Base on Monday 1 November email plymouthaction@blueyonder.co.uk