Collaborative Spaces
Aligning Action
In 2022 we launched Aligning Action, a fieldwide initiative to coordinate emergency alignment activities, originally created in response to heightened nuclear tensions surrounding the Russo-Ukrainian War. Ploughshares and our partners recognized the unique opportunity we had to leverage shifting political dynamics and greater public awareness to advance our goal of a world safe from nuclear threats. In response, we convened experts and created a digital platform, on Basecamp, for our partners to align their existing work, identify gaps, and direct additional, collaborative action as needed.
An early example of success has been our effort to seize the unique opportunity presented by the release of Christopher Nolan’s biographical film about J. Robert Oppenheimer, Oppenheimer, to raise public awareness about the ongoing threats posed by nuclear weapons. Rather than each organization working individually to harness the movie with duplicative events and messaging (which would dilute the field’s overall impact), we led collaboration amongst over two-dozen partner organizations to organize sold-out screening events in six cities where we held conversations between arms control experts and members of the communities impacted by the Manhattan Project and other nuclear weapons and uranium mining activities. This pilot project’s success has demonstrated to our partners the efficacy of greater collaboration and transparency, as well as our commitment to working as a backbone organization for the field.
Aligning Action continues to evolve.
It is a place for new efforts to align on communications tactics, and a home for working groups to share their progress and gain support for wider grassroots efforts. If you are interested in learning more please reach out to us at fieldbuilding@ploughshares.org.
The Adaptive Challenge
The nuclear threat reduction field has existed since the conceptualization of the first nuclear weapon. Ploughshares has supported different parts of the nuclear field for over forty years - and through that time we have seen shifts occur in the people and organizations that make up this movement. The field has made immense progress to increase diversity, include those impacted by the legacy of nuclear weapons, and expand the voices of those at the nuclear security table. Striving towards this goal is key to our long-term success as a field, as only through increased diversity of all types that we will engage in better problem solving and more effectively challenge the nuclear status quo.
There is still much work to be done to foster a community of practitioners that can strive towards a world free of the nuclear threat. The good news - there is an immense appetite for change.
The first step is to be aware of the dynamics within this field and what it has been like for many to work in this space. We hope the resources below can illuminate what Ploughshares and our partners are working to course-correct through our field building strategy.