“Think Outside the Bomb” (TOTB) represents a network of individuals from across the country who have come together because of the threat of nuclear weapons. We are part of a network of people who wish to create a new world. We want to live in a world without nuclear weapons and nuclear power. Individuals in our network know that nuclear power and nuclear weapons are inextricably linked, and we strive to build a world where clean and sustainable energy power our daily lives. We wish to live harmoniously with life around us and present real solutions to the urgent problems of both climate change and nuclear proliferation. TOTB will work to create the infrastructure and relations that can continue to sustain life and guide us into the future.
2010 is the year when the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) will be reviewed to decide whether or not five countries can have nuclear weapons or no countries can have nuclear weapons. This will be in New York on May 1st so stay aware of local events in your area or try to make it out to the large action in New York.
2010 is also the year following the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama, the president of a nation with nearly 10,000 nuclear weapons, because of his stated ambitions for a nuclear free world. The only other country with as many nuclear weapons is Russia, which has about 14,000; every other country with nuclear weapons has hundreds of weapons, not thousands. With this many weapons, the United States cannot move towards a nuclear free world while simultaneously making new nuclear weapons.
2010 is the year TOTB will work together to achieve these goals. We will come together in New York for the NPT. Organizers will also come together in New Mexico with a training in February and a huge convergence in August and work to prevent new, and end current, nuclear weapon production at Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory (LANL), where most of the national nuclear weapons research is done. Building a new plutonium pit production facility or “modernizing” nuclear weapons means building new nuclear weapons, not disarming. We will come together in solidarity and for the liberation of all peoples in local struggles across the nation. TOTB will work together, walking side by side with indigenous peoples and community groups in New Mexico to achieve this goal. Our network wishes to promote a culture of transformation and new beginnings and we will live our lives by example. We believe that love overcomes fear, and we must work to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons in our lifetimes.
To all past participants and young people who want to be nuclear disarmament organizers for 2010, join TOTB for a “Training for Trainers” February 18-21, 2010, near Los Alamos, NM. In past years, TOTB has thrived as a network that builds community and knowledge, attempting bigger and better things every year. Now, 2010 is our tipping point — between new plutonium pit facilities, new permitting requests for uranium mining and nuclear power plants, the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review, and President Obama’s call for disarmament, this country is faced with a watershed moment on nuclear weapons and power. Over the next year TOTB will have a concrete action plan with a vision that looks toward real nuclear abolition within our lifetimes. We are prepared to mobilize with the hundreds of young people who have come to our conferences and who represent organizations in dozens of communities around the country, to become major players in this crucial moment in the disarmament movement. We need you with us to do this. As organizers, we need to train together to develop new skills, deepen our understanding of the issues, strengthen our community, and extend our network like wildflowers.
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