Label
Council Members Melden and Gadus
Title
Resolution in Support of the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and to Welcome the Golden Rule Peace Boat to Toledo, OH.
Summary
WHEREAS, in 2023 the City of Toledo, Ohio joined Mayors for Peace, which has a vision to achieve a world in which all people can perpetually benefit from peace by realizing the total elimination of nuclear weapons and by attaining and maintaining peaceful coexistence between the whole of humanity; and
WHEREAS, the United Nations passed by a vote of 122 to 1 the language of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) on July 7, 2017 which prohibits the development, testing, production, manufacture, acquisition, possession or stockpiling, transfer, control or receipt, use or threat to use, stationing or deployment of nuclear weapons; and
WHEREAS, there are currently 92 signatories and 68 states parties to the TPNW, which became international law on January 22, 2021 when Honduras became the 50th state party to have ratified it; and
WHEREAS, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 for their part in passage of the UN TPNW; and
WHEREAS, since the height of the Cold War, the United States and Russia have dismantled more than 50,000 nuclear warheads, but 15,000 of these weapons still exist and pose an intolerable risk to human and planetary survival; and
WHEREAS, ninety-five percent of these weapons are in the hands of the United States and Russia and the rest are held by seven other countries: China, France, Israel, India, North Korea, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom; and
WHEREAS, as the effects of climate change place increased stress on communities around the world and intensify the likelihood of conflict, the danger of nuclear war will grow; and
WHEREAS, the use of even a tiny fraction of these weapons could cause worldwide climate disruption and global famine; for example, as few as 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs, small by modern standards, would put at least five million tons of soot into the upper atmosphere and cause climate disruption across the planet, cutting food production and putting two billion people at risk of starvation; and
WHEREAS, a large-scale nuclear war would kill hundreds of millions of people directly and cause unimaginable environmental damage and catastrophic climate disruption by dropping temperatures across the planet to levels not seen since the last ice age; under these conditions the vast majority of the human race would starve and it is possible we would become extinct as a species; and
WHEREAS, despite assurances that these arsenals exist solely to guarantee that they are never used, there have been many occasions when nuclear armed states have prepared to use these weapons, and war has been averted only at the last minute; and
WHEREAS, former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara said, speaking about the Cuban Missile Crisis, “It was luck that prevented nuclear war,” yet our nuclear policy cannot be just hope that this luck will continue; and
WHEREAS, the planned expenditure of over $1 trillion to enhance our nuclear arsenal will increase the risk of nuclear disaster and fuel a global arms race; and
WHEREAS, in February, 1958 four Quaker activists sailed the Golden Rule from California towards the Marshall Islands in an attempt to stop nuclear bomb tests; and
WHEREAS, when the Golden Rule had been provisioned in Honolulu and attempted to continue the voyage to the Marshall Islands, the U.S. Coast Guard twice forced the boat to sail back to Honolulu and arrested the crew on the basis of new (but illegal) Atomic Energy Commission regulations that prohibited them from entering the testing zone; and
WHEREAS, there were protests against the arrest of the crew of the Golden Rule around the country and around the world; and
WHEREAS, the actions taken by the Golden Rule crew in 1958 and subsequent protests helped convince President Kennedy to sign the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963; and
WHEREAS, the boat’s restoration from 2010 to 2015 was supported by Quakers, Veterans For Peace, hundreds of donors and volunteers; and
WHEREAS, thousands of supporters have seen the Golden Rule and hundreds have sailed on the small ketch; and
WHEREAS, the Golden Rule is now “Sailing for a Nuclear-Free World and a Peaceful, Sustainable Future” and the Golden Rule Project is the embodiment of the mission Veterans For Peace to “...end the arms race and to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons”; and
WHEREAS, the Golden Rule Project, an educational project of Veterans For Peace, is a member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and supports the TPNW and the “ICAN Cities Appeal” which calls on cities, counties and states throughout the world to call on their federal governments to support the TPNW; NOW, THEREFORE,
Be it resolved by the Council of the City of Toledo:
SECTION 1. That Toledo City Council urges our federal leaders and our nation to embrace the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and make nuclear disarmament the centerpiece of our national security policy; and be it further.
SECTION 2. That the City Council calls upon our federal leaders and our nation to spearhead a global effort to prevent nuclear war by renouncing the option of using nuclear weapons first, ending the President’s sole unchecked authority to launch a nuclear attack, taking U.S. nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert, canceling the plan to replace its entire arsenal with enhanced weapons, and actively pursuing a verifiable agreement among nuclear-armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals; and be it further.
SECTION 3. That the City Council declares support for Veterans For Peace and the Golden Rule Project and encourage all citizens to welcome the Golden Rule peace boat and her crew to Toledo, Ohio; and be it further.
SECTION 4. That the Clerk of Council is requested to transmit copies of this Resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, to the Minority Leader of the Senate, to each U.S. Senator and Representative from Ohio in the Congress of the United States, and to the Governor.
SECTION 5. That this Resolution shall take effect and be in force from and after the earliest period allowed by law.
.
Adopted: July 18, 2023, as an emergency measure: yeas 11, nays 1.
Attest:
Gerald E. Dendinger Matt Cherry
Clerk of Council President of Council
Approved: July 18, 2023
Wade Kapszukiewicz
Mayor