Room: 115
28.08.2010, Sat 10.30 - 12.00
Organizer: Dr Bill Williams, MBBS, President Medical Association for Prevention of War (Australia), International Councillor International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
Speakers: Dr. Bill Williams and Kazuo Matsui, retired oto-laryngologist [ENT], Director of Physicians Against Nuclear War Japan; Steven Staples, Director Rideau Institute, Ottawa, Canada; Xanthe Hall, Program Coordinator of the German affiliate of IPPNW; John Gunnar Maeland, M.D. Ph.D professor, University of Bergen, Norway, Chair, Norwegian Physicians against Nuclear Weapons
Many 'non-nuclear weapons states' (NNWS) rely on US nuclear weapons under a doctrine known as 'extended nuclear deterrence'. The stability provided by the so-called 'nuclear umbrella' is precarious and illusory: a country that relies upon a proxy nuclear arsenal for its security is making a bargain with the devil. It entails a pledge to inflict catastrophic retaliation on any state that uses these weapons first. It increases the ways and places in which a nuclear war might start. It makes the security of its people and land hostage to nuclear security and restraint elsewhere. Workshop speakers will give an outline of current national postures - American, Asian, European and Australasian. Participants will focus on international campaign synergies - including on 'nuclear sharing' - and identify potential activities for affiliate engagement to end reliance on nuclear weapons in the defence postures of NNWS.