Do nuclear disarmament coalitions at the city level make sense?
Yes, of course they make sense. Local coalition is the basis for and sign of a citizen movement, which is what we need, and not just here in Los Angeles, either, but in every major city around the world.
At the national and international levels the grass roots are invisible. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has recently said that the time is right for a big push for a "world free of nuclear weapons". He is going to use every opportunity in his "meetings with government leaders and [his] outreach to civil society to forge partnerships and mobilize action." Well this is a wonderful development and we all applaud and really feel hopeful, but if the average citizen gets even a whisper of it, it will only be because of coordinated efforts at the local and city level.
Working together the organizations that see the importance of nuclear disarmament can bring in mainstream organizations and then with this wider base, boost educational efforts so a much larger portion of the citizenry understands the issues and participates vociferously.
Change.org recently had a well publicized online vote to select 10 issues to bring to President Obama's attention. Nuclear disarmament did ok in the vote, but failed to make the cut. If there were more energy in the nuclear disarmament movement, we would have been right up there in the top five at least, as the facts justify. That's what we need - more energy in the movement and outreach to the mainstream - and we can't get that without coordinating our efforts at the local level. Others in other cities will be doing the same as us, for the same reasons, or if not, then we just have to export our revolution.
While important initial steps such as getting America and Russia off hair-trigger alert, and adopting a no first use policy are very doable in the new Obama era, the Global Zero goal is much much more difficult, and will require a massive world-wide grass roots movement to succeed. We have to think big and we have to build the infrastructure. That means among other things, coalitions at every level and then working partnerships with people who are similarly mobilized around the other crucial issues - global warming, social and economic justice, human rights. general disarmament and so forth.
As I see it, the human race must transcend the international system, which for all its great promise is still mired in the old us vs them thinking. Yes, we love our nations, AND we need to honor human unity as the bedrock of all our dealings. I am hopeful that our dialog software will give us the edge as we attempt this miracle of fire and ice (thank you Edith Wharton)!
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