The Future of Nuclear Non-Proliferation (Wake Up!)

When I reviewed movies and other pop culture for the late, lamented Guardian Newsweekly, I urged, from time to time, that, as the paper of record for the U.S. Left, the Guardian also run meeting reviews. As some might surmise, I proposed to do the job myself.

Were I writing such reviews today, I would use adjectives like "riveting" and maybe even "spellbinding" to describe arms expert Frida Berrigan’s talk on nuclear non-proliferation last night at New York City’s West Side Peace Action.

I should disclose here that I am not a nuclear non-proliferation fan. Not that there’s anything wrong with nuclear non-proliferation—au contraire, I’m sure it’s lovely—but, unfortunately, the term itself has always had a profoundly soporific effect on me; indeed, last night may have been the first time I ever stayed awake for all nine syllables. So did everyone else in the room, and almost all of them were even older than I am—that’s how riveting a speaker Berrigan is. (I should also disclose that she and I are friends and colleagues on the national board of the War Resisters League; I don't, however, habitually describe people in either category as "riveting" speakers.)

I said I’d use the word "riveting." “Lucid” would be another, and amazingly, considering the subject matter, “entertaining” would be yet another. Berrigan, an arms analyst at the New America Foundation's Arms and Security Initiative, was at Peace Action to drum up enthusiasm for the peace movement demonstrations planned for New York City this coming May, when the U.N. Non-Proliferation Treaty talks come to town. In language consistently clear and peppered with engaging asides, she laid out the 65-year history of the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the equally long, parallel histories of the nuclear disarmament movement and the efforts, by the first nuclear powers, to limit the possession of such weapons; and the relationship of the Bush and Obama administrations to such efforts, particularly the early promise of Obama’s arms reduction rhetoric and the betrayal, in large measure, of that promise. Finally, having roused the entire room to a sense of urgency, she handed out flyers for the May actions.

Joe Friendly was there filming and said he’d post the presentation on YouTube. Keep an eye out for it. If you want to know anything about nuclear non-proliferation, watch it. If you want to know how to speak to an audience, watch it over and over. I will.