–Kevin Martin
President, Peace Action and Peace Action Education Fund.
I’m grateful to be with all of you today here in New York, and away from Rome-on-the-Potomac, or as most people call it, Washington, DC. I don’t think I need to tell any of you how awful the politics of our nation’s capital are, though it is a lovely place to live with a beautiful, diverse population of people from all over the country and the world.
The NPT RevCon taking place at the United Nations feels like an alternative universe, a glimpse of the world as it ought to be, where there is comity and diplomacy between nations, and treaties and international law are respected and upheld, in stark contrast to the US federal government in Washington, the belly of the beast of the war machine, where seemingly only military might, war, threats of annihilation and violence rule. And Washington is sadly far from the only national capital that operates thusly.
However, people all across this country have rejected the foolish, senseless, illegal US/Israeli war of aggression against Iran, and also oppose US support for Israel’s genocide against the people of Gaza, as well as its attacks in the West Bank and Lebanon. And just about ten days ago, 40 of 47 Democrats in the US Senate voted to stop sending Caterpillar bulldozers to Israel, and 36 of 47 voted to stop the transfer of 12,000 half-ton bombs.
While monolithic Republican support for continuing to arm Israel prevented the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval, introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders, against those weapons transfers from passing, the political transformation is stark. Congressional votes are usually a lagging indicator of public opinion, and that is certainly true on those votes, as well as the recent Iran War Powers Resolutions, again almost entirely partisan, with Democrats opposing the war and Republicans supporting it, other than a small handful of Members of Congress.
What was significant about the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to stop the transfers of bulldozers, used to demolish Palestinian homes as Israel grabs more land, and the half-ton bombs, used in Gaza, Iran and Lebanon, is not only that they were the highest ever vote totals on any such measures to stop US weapons to Israel. It’s also that every Democrat thought to be considering running for president voted to stop the transfers, and several of them had not voted to prevent any weapons transfers to Israel before.
Perhaps most notable was Sen. Cory Booker from New Jersey, just across the river, previously a staunch supporter of arming Israel to the teeth. He did not suddenly become a dove on this issue. His constituents in New Jersey have organized, agitated, and pressured him incessantly over the last few years (and I was proud to twice be part of delegations with many Palestinian and Muslim-American constituents from New Jersey lobbying his office very strongly). He certainly realized that if he wants to run for president, he has to get on the right side of the base of the party, the voters who want an end to MAGA wannabe fascist policies in the United States.
Without overplaying the significance of these votes, what used to be a bipartisan consensus of almost unquestioned political and military support for Israel on Capitol Hill has changed dramatically, because of persistent, unwavering pressure, so that now Israel can count on only a handful of Democrats to keep the flow of US weaponry going.
I cannot guarantee this new momentum we have created will be sustained, nor would I state with great confidence we in the US and elsewhere will overcome the war machine’s relentless push for ever higher budgets, while human and environmental needs are neglected, and ever more catastrophic conventional and nuclear weapons.
But as the great Stephen Stills wrote, and I believe this applies to our work for a better world, “Rejoice! Rejoice! We Have No Choice, But to Carry On!”
As many speakers today have noted, we convene at a startlingly perilous time in global affairs, and I read with interest the commentary by the Review Committee’s chair, Do Hung Viet of Vietnam, in the journal The Diplomat last week. His article was titled, “Why the 2026 NPT Review Conference – and Diplomacy – Must Not Fail.
Viet wrote, with succinct accuracy, “A profound deficit has corroded the very foundations of international cooperation. International law is seen as binding only on the weak, while the powerful act with impunity. Sovereignty and territorial integrity are treated as negotiable. Nuclear powers neglect their disarmament commitments while demanding that others uphold non-proliferation obligations. Non-nuclear-weapon states grow ever more skeptical of a regime they perceive as fundamentally discriminatory.”
The piece concludes with the following:
“The diplomatic path is demanding, often frustrating, and rarely produces the dramatic breakthroughs that capture headlines, but it remains the only path that does not court catastrophe.
As presiding officer of the 11th NPT Review Conference, I am under no illusion that we can expect a smooth sailing. But I refuse to believe that the international community has reached a point of no return.
So come April 27, as we gather to deliberate the fate of this treaty, and in many ways, the fate of our planet, let us remember that the pursuit of peace is not a sign of weakness, but the ultimate expression of human reason.”
I appreciate his wise words, and look forward to his skillful chairing of the conference, which as he notes will not be an easy task.
While we hope, and will press for, a good outcome of the Review Conference, what gives me hope is all of you, our collective work together, and the necessity of convincing humanity to join our quest for peace, disarmament, and justice.
The deranged president of the United States infamously threatened, “A Whole Civilization Will Die Tonight.” Not only must we reject such insanity, we must instead realize:
We will survive together, or not at all.
We will thrive together, or not at all.
We will grow together, or not at all.
We will evolve together, or not at all.
We will live together, or not at all.
Let the call of the Hibakusha ring out one more time:
No More Hiroshimas!
No More Nagasakis!
No More Nuclear Weapons!
No More War