The Beginning of the End of Nuclear Weapons
The Beginning of the End of Nuclear Weapons focuses on how some 120 nations came to agree on the 2017 UN Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons. It includes background on the development of the atomic bomb, the impact of its use on Hiroshima, and progress over decades of anti-nuclear activism.
This June 2019 documentary is a collaboration of Spaniard Alvaro Orus, long a maker of films on nonviolence, and Briton Tony Robinson, co-director of Pressenza International Press Agency. Pressenza was a partner of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, which won the Nobel Peace Prize for promoting the ban treaty. It shows how stagnation after the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty led to a new chance, the “humanitarian initiative” which resulted in the ban treaty. The film’s title refers to the Nobel Laureate speech made by Hiroshima survivor Setsuko Thurlow. One of the many other activists interviewed dismantles arguments used to support the theory of nuclear deterrence.
Discussion after the screening will cover how local citizens can participate in the current US “Back from the Brink” campaign for federal policy changes to help prevent nuclear war. The discussion leader will be Gwen DuBois, president of Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility and co-founder of Prevent Nuclear War Maryland.
This program is planned by Prince George’s County Peace & Justice Coalition; contact or call Lucy Duff at 202-549-5574.
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