Nuclear weapons are illegal at last – but where was the media fanfare?

This treaty is “jus cogens” or compelling law; that is, a peremptory norm from which there is no derogation (like piracy, genocide, or enslavement), as opposed to customary law, where parties have make a mutual agreement. States that ignore this are stigmatised, and stand revealed as criminal. And nuclear weapons are delegitimised. Yet this historic event was ignored by our media. Why?

READ MORE: David Pratt: How significant is the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons?

The first country to sign this treaty was the Vatican State. The Pope has said: “If we also take into account the risk of an accidental detonation as a result of error of any kind, the threat of their use, as well as their very possession, is to be firmly condemned”. He, along with other faith leaders, is unequivocal in his rejection of all strategies involving the use of nuclear weapons.

Now, President Biden is a Catholic and must make a choice: either to follow the unambiguous teaching of the Pope and cease policies of nuclear terrorism, or to ignore the Pope and just carry on regardless. But the Pope said: “Weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons, create nothing but a false sense of security. They cannot constitute the basis for peaceful coexistence between members of the human family.” This verdict remains undeniably true.

IN PICTURES: Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons celebrated in Edinburgh

The Vatican has called on all other states to ratify the TPNW “as soon as possible”, commending it as “an important step towards a nuclear-weapons-free world”. By adhering to the treaty, states formally reject “the fallacy that ‘might makes right’ and its pernicious modern corollary that some nations have the right to nuclear weapons while others do not”, and they affirm that “international peace and security consist in what supports the common good of all humanity”.

The pro-Bomb lobby has always said they believed in multilateralism. Here is a chance to prove it. Let all unite in supporting the TPNW.

Brian Quail
Glasgow

WHEN we try to educate Unionists, should we not ask: which of the real and substantive things that the UK provides could we as an independent nation not? Being able to wage nuclear or conventional expeditionary warfare from aircraft carriers and submarines does not count as necessary. Collaboration on medicines and engineering is commonplace between nations already – apart, that is, from little England and their Brexit fantasy. And of course point out that there are plenty of other nations of similar size to us who survive in the world perfectly well and in many instances doing things far better than what Westminster allows us to do.

Nick Cole
Meigle, Perthshire

IN response to the comments by Councillor Kenny McLean (Our success has come from learning from mistakes of the past, January 27), this is just the same PR propaganda that has been the only reply to requests from Maryhill community residents for meetings with Glasgow City Council (GCC).

We are occupying the land at Collina Street in Maryhill because the council will not meet with us to hear about the community’s alternatives to private housing development. We will leave the land when GCC or Transforming Communities: Glasgow, or whoever claims the right to sell this public land, stop the sale until a full and open consultation with the community has taken place.

Councillor McLean’s claim that Maryhill has a “Local Delivery Group” made up of residents and others to oversee and remain sensitive to needs and desires of the community is false. Six LDGs were set up in the eight Transformational Regeneration Areass. Maryhill was not one of them.

READ MORE: Kenny McLean: We must remember to learn from mistakes of the past when rebuilding communities

McLean also states that in the past decade there has been consistent consultation and communication with the community in Maryhill. Again not true. The last consultation was in 2007. We only found out about the sale of the land when the “for sale” sign went up in October.

Regardless of the merits of our plans, which take account of the present needs of the community and the environment in the changed circumstance from 2007, why will the GCC only communicate with us through the press? Is it because they can craft their statements to suit their own ends without the community view being heard? We have formally invited GCC to meet us on several occasions.

The numbers he quotes have never been ratified and change to suit the circumstances in which they are quoted.

They say they have learned from the mistakes of the past, but the mistake they are making again is that building houses with a wee bit of green space, regardless of tenure, is not building community. This is “we know best” patronising.

Again, to illustrate the contradictions, McLean says community ownership and community aspirations have played a major part in Glasgow’s success in rebuilding communities. How can this be when they will not consult? Top-down decision-making is not community consultation, more a case of a big boy did it and ran away!

Norman Cunningham
Wyndford Tenants Union