« The right to survival, with its corollary the right of peoples to determine their own survival, implies the abolition of nuclear arms, which are weapons of mass destruction, massacre weapons, and arms for crimes against humanity. While they are totally useless against terrorism, they borrow the terrorists’ contempt for human life and multiply it many times over. They threaten to annihilate millions of people, entire populations, and humankind itself, for a nuclear war would make the earth uninhabitable. »
France has had these weapons since 1960. She has spent over 300 billion euros on them and keeps on developing them. Her 300 bombs could cause nearly a billion deaths. But they did nothing at all to stop the attacks on Charlie-Hebdo, on the Bataclan, and now in Nice. Just as the huge US arsenal did not prevent 9/11.
This situation flouts Human Rights. « It is contrary to international law, which obliges those states that have ratified the Non-Proliferation Treaty, as France has, « to pursue in good faith and to bring to conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects, under strict and effective international control » (International Court of Justice, advisory opinion of 8 July 1996). It is contrary to France’s Constitution , which places Human Rights above everything and requires respect for them, along with respect for treaties.
« It is contrary to good sense, for it is illogical to defend republican values such as fraternity while threatening to commit crimes against humanity ; illogical to link France’s ‘vital interests’ to the use of weapons that would prove suicidal against a country with similar weapons ; illogical to claim to guarantee this nation’s security with these weapons while forbidding other countries to acquire them ; illogical to encourage their proliferation in this way while claiming to be combatting it ; illogical to want to make budget savings and yet to waste billions on death-devices that cannot be used against other nuclear nations, and that cannot deter terrorists – yet would be fearsome in the hands of terrorists, were they to obtain some. »
Lastly, it is contrary to democracy, since the French people have never been consulted, and yet we know from a recent IFOP poll that 75% would respond YES to a question that the parliamentarains wish to see in a referendum : "Do you want France to negotiate and ratify with all the States concerned a treaty to ban and completely eliminate nuclear weapons, under mutual and international control that is strict and effective ?"
In the wake of July 14, the concluding part of this appeal is more compelling than ever :
« Thus the French people can open a path to a world without nuclear arms. We call on all members of our Parliament to give it this opportunity, and to all French voters to add their support to this initiative at the appropriate time by electronic means.
« Deliverance us from the nuclear Sword of Damocles will strengthen our security and our freedom, in the full respect of Human Rights and of the French Republic’s motto : liberty, equality, fraternity. »
Here follow the names and départments of the first sixty MPs and Senators to sign the bill.
Laurence ABEILLE (94), Brigitte ALLAIN (24), Sylviane ALLAUX (64), Pouria AMRSHAHI (HdF 9°Circ.)*, Isabelle ATTARD (14), Danielle AUROI (63), Serge BARDY (49), Michel BILLOUT (S.77)**, Christophe BOUILLON (76), Kheïra BOUZIANE-LAROUSSI, Jean-Pierre BOSINO (S60), Sabine BUIS (07), Jean-Jacques CANDELIER (59), Fanélie CARREY-CONTE (75), Jean-Michel CLEMENT (86), Laurence COHEN (S94), Sergio CORONADO (HdF3°C)*, Jean-Jacques COTTEL (62), Pascale CROZON (69), Cécile CUKIERMAN (S42), Yves DANIEL (44), Ronan DANTEC (S.44), Michelle DEMESSINE (S.59), Fanny DOMBRE COSTE (34), Cécile DUFLOT (75), William DUMAS (30), Martine FAURE (33), Hervé FERON (54), Geneviève GAILLARD (79), André GATTOLIN (92), Joël GIRAUD (05), Linda GOURJADE (81), Jean GRELLIER (79), Edith GUEUGNEAU (71), Conchita LACUEY (33), François-Michel LAMBERT (13), Jérôme LAMBERT (16), Pierre LAURENT (S75), Annick LE LOCH (29), Bernard LESTERLIN (03), Serge LETCHIMY (972), Noël MAMERE (33), Jean-René MARSAC (35), Véronique MASSONNEAU (86), Paul MOLAC (56), Philippe NOGUES (56), Dominique ORLIAC (46), Hervé PELLOIS (56), Philippe PLISSON (33), Elisabeth POCHON (93), Christophe PREMAT (HdF2°C)*, Catherine QUERE (17), Marie-Line REYNAUD (16), Barbara ROMAGNAN (25), Jean-Louis ROUMEGAS (34), Maine SAGE (987), Eva SAS (91), Gabriel SERVILLE (973), Suzanne TALLARD (17), Cécile UNTERMAIER (71).
(*) French Living Abroad
(**) S = Senator
Please sign on the Appeal for a French referendum on the participation of France in the abolition of nuclear weapons.
To be sent to: contact@acdn.net
First signatories:
Noam Chomsky, retired professor, MIT
Bill Kidd, Glasgow’s MP at the Scottish Parliament, Copresident of PNND
Yehuda Ataï & Gideon Spiro, Cofounders, Israeli Committee for a Middle East wtihout Weapons of Mass Destruction
David Krieger, Founder President, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
Alice Slater, Cofounder, Abolition 2000 Network
Beatrice Fihn, Director, International Campaign Against Nuclear weapons (ICAN)
Tim Wright, ICAN Australia
Aaron Tovish, Vision 2020 campaigner, Mayors for Peace
John Hallam & Peter King, Cofounders, Human Survival Project & International Peoples Tribunal on the Nuclear Powers and the Destruction of Human Civilisation
Greg Mello, Los Alamos Study Group, USA
Tarja Cronberg, Chair, Finish Peace Union
Joseph Rodgers, Alliance for Nuclear Accountbility (ANA), USA
Xanthe Hall, Co-Director, IPPNW Germany
Mikael Lindgren, Policy Advisor, Church of Sweden
Richard Lennane, Wildfire Inflammatory Officer, Wildfire Organisation
Phyllis Creighton, former board and executive member of Project Ploughshares and Science for Peace
Kathy Wan Povi Sanchez, TEWA WOMEN UNITED, NM USA