January 16, 2018
An early-morning emergency alert mistakenly warning of an incoming ballistic missile attack was dispatched to cellphones across Hawaii on Saturday (Jan 13, 2018), setting off widespread panic. (See NY Times Jan 13). Many in Hawaii were already on edge because of escalating tensions between the United States and North Korea, making the false warning very believable.
"45 minutes ago I thought I was going to die by ballistic missile and now I'm making pancakes. Life is wild." Darcy Hanneman, Hawaii.
The alert was mistakenly sent by someone in the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency pushing the wrong button on a computer. (Just as well it was not the red nuclear button 'on the desk' of KimJong-Un or President Donald Trump).
Meanwhile, Basel Peace Office and Swiss Physicians for Social Responsibility (affiliate of IPPNW) organized three nuclear disarmament actions at the Basel Peace Forum yesterday - a #3DnukeMissile (to stop the nuclear missiles being launched), a competition to indicate where nuclear weapons are deployed in Europe, and an action for people to stop banking on the bomb.
The forum was organized by swisspeace and attended by approximately 200 experts and practitioners from around the world. It included a keynote address on nuclear disarmament by Daniel Hogsta from ICAN, an international campaign for nuclear abolition that recently won the Nobel Peace Prize.
#3DnukeMissile: Stop the nuke being launched
Members of Swiss PSR and Basel Peace Office 'prevent the nuclear missile from being launched.'
This 3D painting, At the Nuclear Abyss, exposes the nuclear threat to human civilization from nuclear weapons hidden from sight in missile silos, submarines and airbases around the world. Members of public can interact with the art piece by holding or standing on the chains to 'stop it being launched'. They are then invvited to post their photos on socil media with the hash-tag #3DnukeMissile, and to take additional actions to help prevent nuclear weapons being used and to achieve global abolition.
The art piece was conceived and commissioned by World Future Council and the Basel Peace Office, and designed by 3DJoe&Max Art.
Are you banking on the bomb? Move the Nuclear Weapons Money.
The global nuclear weapons budget is $100 billion per year. Most of the weapons and their delivery systems are manufactured by public companies which actively lobby their parliaments and governments to continue allocating funds to nuclear weapons. And they support think tanks and other public initiatives to promote the ‘need’ for nuclear weapons maintenance, modernization or expansion. Many governments, banks, other institutions and indivduals are currently investing in these companies. Two international campaigns - Don't Bank on the Bomb and Move the Nuclear Weapons Money, are workign to end such investments.
Participants at the Basel Peace Forum were assisted by Basel Peace Office staff to check if their banks were amongst those investing in nuclear weapons. If so, they were given information on how to encourage their bank to end such investments, or to switch their accounts to banks which don't have such investments.
You too can check if you are banking on the bomb, and take other action to shift investments from nuclear weapons to better enterprises. See Don't bank on the bomb and Move the Nuclear Weapons Money.
Where are the Nukes? Competition winners.
Competition winners Quratulain Fatima and Julia Pickhardt with Basel Peace Office Director Alyn Ware and President Andi Nidecker
Congratulations to the winners of the competition Where are the nuclear weapons in Europe, which was held during the Basel Peace Forum.
Runner-up Quratulain Fatima from Pakistan correctly indicated the names, locations and approximate numbers of the US nuclear weapons located in nuclear-sharing countries Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Turkey. Winner Julia Pickhardt from Switzerland correctly identified the above, as well as the French and UK nuclear weapons bases, and the Russian nuclear weapons that are possibly in Kaliningrad.
First prize is a trip to Geneva to observe or participate in a UN nuclear disarmament deliberation/negotiation as a member of the Basel Peace Office delegation.