Global Zero is on a mission to rid the world of the nuclear threat. Achieving it is hardly the work of one person, one organization or one campus. It will take thousands, maybe even millions, of people across the globe — especially young people, eager to engage in new ways.
With backing from Ploughshares Fund, Global Zero is enlisting young activists across the United States.
In dorm rooms, in parks, in garages and online, they’re demanding passage of the Markey-Lieu Bill to prevent the president from launching a nuclear war on his own.
They’ve even staged actions at Trump Hotel, in Washington, DC, where Global Zero activists have projected some of the president’s most terrifying threats above the entrance:
They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen...Nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me...Rocketman is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime.
Noting that Trump himself is a “bomb threat” we need to address, organizers call on members of Congress to speak out and pass Markey-Lieu. Silence in the face of such clear danger, they say, is complicity.
And while that danger is clearly planetary, Global Zero also emphasizes local ties in training new activists. Outreach to other young people — for instance, climate activists and other Trump resisters — is crucial to building a cohesive, interconnected movement that will last beyond the moment.
Each year, the group convenes supporters from across the country for Action Lab trainings. Action Lab provides deep learning on security briefings, training on lobbying, and skills building for connecting with future volunteers. Participants then carry those skills back to their towns, their campuses or their churches to start new Global Zero chapters.
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The threats of 2017 are not the threats of 2007 or 1997. These are extraordinary times and they require an extraordinary response. We need the support of people and places we haven’t had before to answer them.
Global Zero will help get us there. Ploughshares Fund's investment in their work is a wise investment in a more peaceful future.
Young, engaged activists at @GlobalZero are nurturing a new grassroots movement to #EliminateNukes.
Photo: Global Zero demonstrates against nuclear weapons, at McPherson Square while the Nuclear Summit takes place at the Convention Center. Flickr (cc) / Victoria Pickering
