There are many actions that can be taken for nuclear disarmament, and they can vary depending on whether you are in a nuclear-armed or allied country or a non-nuclear country. Youth Fusion concentrates on actions which can be taken in any country and which can impact on policy. We also concentrate on actions that make the connections between nuclear disarmament, climate protection, COVID-19 recovery and the sustainable development goals.
Below are a few actions. We include additional actions in our newsletter and blogs.
Nuclear-Weapon-Free World, Protect People and the Planet
Please sign this appeal and circulate it to your colleagues and networks. The appeal calls on parliaments and governments to de-escalate the nuclear arms race, redirect nuclear weapons budgets and investments to meet human security needs, and commit to the total elimination of nuclear weapons by 2045, the 100th anniversary of the UN. The appeal will be used by the Abolition 2000 Youth Network and our partners to promote nuclear disarmament in various forums, including the United Nations, Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference (January 2021), Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in March 2021 (IPU has 178 Member parliaments), national parliaments and directly to world leaders.
Move the Nuclear Weapons Money
We encourage you to participate in the Move the Nuclear Weapons Money social media campaign. It highlights what could be supported if we slashed the $100 billion global nuclear weapons budget. Send us your photo plus a quote of what you would like done with that money, and we will turn this into a photographic/meme for posting on social media. For examples, see youth memes, memes on nuclear weapons and COVID, all memes.
Origami crane making
Origami is the art of paper folding. The crane is the Japanese bird of peace and good health. The origami crane is associated with the impact on children and youth of the nuclear weapons detonated in Hiroshima, August 6, 1945. It arises from the story of Sadako, a girl who got Leukemia from the radioactive fallout, and who started folding the cranes as her hope for peace and life. She died from the sickness, but her classmates continued folding paper cranes as their message that a nuclear war must never again be fought, and now it is undertaken in classrooms and by youth all over the world. Fold a crane. Teach others how to fold one and tell them the story of Sadako as you are making cranes. And then send them to your mayor, local parliamentarian, Prime Minister or anyone else to encourage them to support nuclear abolition. For more information contact the Peace Crane Project.
Where the Wind Blew or The Man who Saved the World
Organise a movie screening in your school or university, and use this as an occasion to inform and engage other youth. We recommend two excellent movies for which we have organized a number of screenings, and for which we can assist if you decide to screen:
The Man Who Saved the World
An award-winning, feature length docu-drama which re-creates the events of September 26, 1983, when a nuclear war was nearly triggered by accident. The film fast-tracks forward to just a few years ago, when Stanislav Petrov, the Soviet officer responsible for preventing the 1983 incident from leading to nuclear war, was invited to the United States to receive a UN award, meet his hero Kevin Costner and visit a former nuclear weapons missile site in Colorado. His interactions in the US highlight that the nuclear threat today is as high, if not higher, than during the height of the Cold War. Click here for the trailer.
Where the Wind Blew
A documentary about the impact of Soviet nuclear testing in Kazakhstan and the US nuclear testing in Nevada. The documentary shows how impacted communities from America and the Soviet Union joined forces to close down the Soviet nuclear test site in Kazakhstan and pave the way for the achievement of a Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The catastrophic, trans-generational impact of the nuclear tests demonstrates why we must ensure nuclear weapons are never used again, in wartime or in peacetime. Click here for the trailer.