Daisy Alliance - Make the World free from WMD

March 2010

Daisy Alliance will be hosting a panel event, "Getting to a Middle East Nuclear Weapons Free Zone," during the 2010 NPT Review Conference at the UN. The event will be on Friday, May 7, 2010, from 10:00 to 1:00, in NGO room A. For more information, please contact Holly Lindamood, Program Director.

Good Reads

Confronting Nuclear War

by Bill Wickersham, educational psychologist and adjunct professor of Peace Studies at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and Jared Gassen provides an insightful look into the danger posed by the U.S. nuclear arsenal and how citizens can work together to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons. This book is an excellent resource for activists. Its target audience is educational, social, and religious activists, and it focuses on how everyday people can work to change the common mindset through dialogue and reframing worldviews. Dr. Wickersham provides a chilling account of the dangers faced by nuclear mishaps, reinforced through personal accounts and interviews. He advocates change via the Roadmap for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, a "comprehensive step-by-step outline" produced by leading nuclear abolition activists. This book is a great read and provides excellent recommendations to eliminate nuclear weapons.

2010 Student Scholarship/Essay Contest Winners Announced Congratulations to the winners of the Daisy Alliance 2010 Student Scholarship/ Essay Contest,"The Role of NATO in the 21st Century." 1st Place-$1,000: Maria Pelipas, Brussles, Belgium 2nd Place-$500: Kathryn Pratt, Atlanta, GA 3rd Place-$250: Jennifer Carter, Redford, MI

Spotlight on the 2010 NPT Review Conference

One of the fundamental principles of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), an essential part of the nonproliferation bargain, is the right of NNWS to produce nuclear power for peaceful use in exchange for abstaining from acquiring nuclear weapons. In light of the upcoming NPT Review Conference, this month's opinion piece, "To Have or Have Not: The Inalienable Right to Nuclear Energy?" analyzes the disputed Article IV (peaceful use) rights and obligations. Do the rights afforded to non-nuclear weapons states under Article IV conflict with the overarching purpose of the NPT? How can we reconcile the right of peaceful use with nonproliferation goals?

Take Action!

The 2010 NPT Review Conference is just two months away. Nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament NGOs from all over the world will show up in force to lobby states parties to include our recommendations in the final document, but we need your help! Governments typically prepare their positions in advance of the meetings, so now is the time to lobby our government officials to ensure a strong statement on nuclear weapons.

Contact your government representatives and request that they express clear and unqualified support in their official statements for the commencement of negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention. For more information on the proposed Nuclear Weapons Convention, see the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons "Nuclear Weapons Convention Briefing Paper."

U.S. Contacts: President Obama and Ambassador Susan E. Rice, New York Permanent Mission

International Contacts: New York Permanent Missions

Global Support Growing for U.S. Disarmament

Since President Obama's 2009 Prague speech, we have witnessed increasing international support for the vision of a nuclear weapons free world. In the past six months, both Japan and U.S. European NATO allies have spoken out in support of a reduced role for nuclear weapons, changes to US and NATO nuclear weapons policies, and the removal of U.S. nuclear weapons from Europe.

In "Japan and NATO Are Ready for the U.S. to Reduce Nuclear Weapons," Alyn Ware, international consultant on nuclear disarmament, discusses the Japanese commitment to global nuclear disarmament.

In "Burying Nuclear Relics of the Cold War," Anne Penketh argues that the removal of U.S. nuclear weapons from Europe would be an important disarmament confidence-building step.