TPNW negotiator reviews the Treaty at Peace Coalition’s Educational Forum

Anthony Donovan, a lifelong anti-nuclear weapons activist, addressed the West Suburban Peace Coalition Tuesday night via Zoom on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Donovan participated in the UN negotiations which ratified TPNW, 122-1 on July 7, 2017.

The treaty prohibits the development, testing, production, stockpiling, stationing, transfer, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons, as well as assistance and encouragement to the prohibited activities. It is the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons with the ultimate goal being their total elimination.

Alas, the U.S., all other 8 nuclear powers and all the non-nuclear NATO nations boycotted the Treaty negotiations at the UN, and refused to sign onto or ratify it after its UN passage. TPNW became international law on January 22, 2021, with its ratification by 50 nations. Six others have ratified since. The U.S. and its nuclear compatriots are international outliers in the effort to prevent Nuclear Winter.

Donovan explained how the military, the nuclear weapons makers, and the congresspersons they’ve essentially purchased, have effectively kept America from joining the worldwide effort to abolish nuclear weapons.

Donovan has been working this critical issue for over 45 years. Check out his many contributions at his website www.anthonydonovan.com. In addition, contact your senators and House representative to request they join the tiny congressional faction which supports U.S. ratification of TPNW. Make the U.S. a leader in abolishing nuclear weapons, not a leader in nuclear proliferation.