“It’s the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and tensions between nuclear powers are spiking again. Citizen movements against nuclear weapons have always been crucial to avoiding nuclear war, and we need them as much as ever.

Seventy-nine years after the United States dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, most of us rarely think about nuclear weapons. The oversight is understandable, but mistaken – and dangerous.

It’s understandable because while nuclear weapons are destructive and expensive, they seem like a distant risk. There are almost always more pressing or promising issues to attend to. But it’s dangerous to ignore them because an occasionally attentive public may be the main reason we’ve avoided a nuclear war thus far. Citizen movements against nuclear weapons during the Cold War helped significantly reduce nuclear risks. As global nuclear tension spikes again, we urgently need a renewed antinuclear movement.”

Continue reading: https://jacobin.com/2024/08/nuclear-weapons-antiwar-peace-movement