“Roses to Missions,” an Event in NYC to Mark the Beginning of the End of Nuclear Weapons

January 22, 2021, will be an historic day for humanity. On this day the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will enter into force, establishing in international law a categorical ban on nuclear weapons, seventy-five years after their development and first use. The momentous occasion will be marked by actions, events, and celebrations around the globe and across the United States.

In New York City, volunteer members of Peace Action NYS, Hibakusha Stories, ICAN (recipient of 2017 Nobel Peace Prize), Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World and other organizations in the New York area will celebrate the historic moment by delivering roses and thank-you notes during the week of January 18 to the Permanent Missions to the United Nations of the 51 state parties that ratified the Treaty. They will comply with the CDC’s and New York State’s COVID-19 guidelines, including wearing masks and practicing social distancing, to protect themselves and others.

“We would like to express our deepest gratitude to those 51 state parties for their brave actions by ratifying the Treaty,” said Sally Jones, chair of Peace Action Fund of New York State, “despite enormous pressure from nuclear weapon states not to sign or ratify it. Right now, the Treaty does not legally apply to the United States, because we have not signed or ratified it, but that does not mean we will not be feeling the moral force of the Treaty. All nuclear weapons, including the US stockpile, have been declared unlawful by the international community.”

The “Roses to Missions” in New York City is just one of many events happening around the country. At nuclear weapons production sites in Tennessee, Kansas City, New Mexico and California, banners declaring NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE ILLEGAL will be hung on fences at the plant entrance. Letters will be delivered to members of Congress. University campuses that are engaged in support activities for weapons production will be asked to reconsider their activities.

“The entry into force of the Treaty is just a beginning of a new movement to confront nuclear weapon states and demand that they stop producing or upgrading any more nuclear weapons and agree to destroy those illegal weapons in accordance with the Treaty,” said Mari Inoue of Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World. “We also need to confront the states that rely on the so-called ‘nuclear umbrella’ of the nuclear weapon states that such reliance could be a form of conspiring to engage in unlawful activities under international law, because the Treaty not only prohibits nations from developing, producing, stockpiling or threatening to use nuclear weapons, but also it prohibits nations from encouraging or inducing anyone to engage in any of these activities. If you are residents of those states that rely on the nuclear umbrella of nuclear states, demand that your government not be part of such unlawful activities.”

For more information on other activities go to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) events page at www.icanw.org/events. For more information on local activities, contact: info@panys.org.

The “Roses to Missions” is endorsed by the following organizations:

A.J. Muste Memorial Institute

Brooklyn For Peace

Broome Tioga Green Party

Coalition Against Nukes

Concerned Citizens For Change

Environmentalists Against War

Granny Peace Brigade, NYC

Hibakusha Stories

Judson Memorial Church

Knowdrones.com

Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World

Move the Money NYC

New Jersey Peace Action

New York Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons NYCAN

North Country Peace Group

NY Committee of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism

NYC War Resisters League

Pax Christi Metro New York

Peace Action Fund of New York State

Peace Action of Staten Island

Ramapough Mountain Indians

Rise and Resist

Shut Down Indian Point Now

Sierra Club New York City Group

Sister to Sister International, Inc.

Stand with Okinawa NY

The Ribbon International

Upper Hudson Peace Action

Veterans For Peace - NYC Chapter 34

World BEYOND War

Youth Arts NY

Westchester Black Women’s Political Caucus