Subscription 790/year or 190/quarter

Why so passive, Brende?

Austria undertook to start work on a ban on nuclear weapons. Why is Norway holding back now?




(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)

COMMENT

This year we mark 70 years since the world saw Hiroshima and Nagasaki totally destroyed by two nuclear bombs. We have been aware of the disastrous humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons in 70 years, yet this weapon is still legal. This spring, it is ready for the non-proliferation supervisory conference. The conference, which has been held every five years for a number of years, intends to follow up the objectives of the non-proliferation agreement. The non-proliferation agreement aims to prevent the proliferation of several nuclear weapons, but also disarmament. It is important as the only legally binding international agreement on non-proliferation and disarmament. At the same time, the results have been waiting. Today, more countries have nuclear weapons than when the agreement came into force. In addition, nuclear weapons states are working on upgrading and modernizing nuclear weapons. This is contrary to the goal of disarmament. Therefore, we expect that Norway's delegation to the supervisory conference has a strong and clear focus on the obligations that lie with the nuclear weapons states in the non-proliferation agreement.

Norway must be more active. In the winter of 2013, Norway held the first conference on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, and started a completely new way of talking about nuclear weapons. The illusion of nuclear weapons as a magic shield burst, and we could see nuclear weapons as what they actually are – useless and cruel weapons. This conference and the two follow-up conferences in Mexico and Austria have created a political climate for discussing a ban.

Now, after the third conference in Austria, we have finally got what we have been waiting for: Austria has committed to starting work on a ban on nuclear weapons through The Austrian Pledge. This is something Norway initially started. Why are we holding back now?

A survey conducted by Respons Analyze on behalf of Norwegian People's Aid shows that eight out of ten Norwegians want Norway to work actively to ban nuclear weapons. SV, Venstre and Senterpartiet have put forward a representative proposal in the Storting which asks the government to be a driving force for an international ban on nuclear weapons, and at the Labor Party's national meeting last week it was decided that the Labor Party wants Norway to work actively for a ban. Despite broad agreement in the population and in the Storting, Børge Brende & co. to continue the work Norway started. One of the main arguments has been that Norway's NATO membership makes it difficult to work for a ban on nuclear weapons. This has long been rejected by international experts, who deny that there are any legal obstacles to Norway working for a ban. Even NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has pointed out that Norway, as a NATO member state, can be an active proponent of a ban. I would also like to remind the government that a world free of nuclear weapons is also a stated goal in NATO.

It is disappointing to see the passive, reluctant line the government has taken.

By arranging the first conference with emphasis on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, Norway has been one of the pioneers in this field. Therefore, it is disappointing to see the passive, reluctant line the government has taken. When both the people and the political majority want it, why will not the government work actively for an international ban on nuclear weapons? We expect a clear Norwegian delegation at the supervisory conference. The government has repeatedly expressed its vision of a world free of nuclear weapons, but if visions are to become a reality, something must be done to get there. Norway cannot jump off the train they started themselves.

Aspelund is the leader of Norwegian People's Aid Solidarity Youth.

- self-advertisement -

Recent Comments:

Siste artikler

Conservation of wild salmon

"Now they are on their way to making the same mistakes in Iceland as they have made in Norway. We have already seen terrible…

Who takes care of the salmon?

ISLAND:Salmon farming is an expanding industry that is fed by several Norwegian investors, and Iceland's biodiversity is in the pot. In scenic Iceland, there is a bitter battle between the farming industry and local activists. The open cages are a ticking bomb for both the environment and animal welfare.

When the truth becomes threatening

JULIAN ASSANGE: Aftenposten had learned from Julian Assange and sucked what they could from his WikiLeaks data universe, and millions of secrets, before quickly throwing him under the bus. Assange created the whistleblowers' perpetuum mobile, WikiLeaks, an unlimited infinity machine of truth where truth whistleblowers all over the world were given the opportunity to reach out – and lift the blankets that hide the lies of power, their war crimes, corruption, tax fraud, hidden bank accounts, fortunes and conspiracies. What now?

The art of moving

WITH HUMAN DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL: The Norwegian documentaries Ibelin and Ukjent landskap, both of which have made a strong international impression, tell moving stories about special individuals – but at the same time provide enriching perspectives on our social life. Both films give heartwarming portrayals of a person who is no longer alive, but who has left a strong imprint.

When Muslims, Jews and Christians lived side by side

ETHNICITY: Maimonides is considered one of the most important Jewish thinkers ever. In his time, the relationship between the Muslim, the Arab and the Jewish was mutually enriching. Rather than viewing the relationship between Jews and Arabs in a polarized way, Maimonides' example shows that their enmity is redundant and intellectually debilitating. The conflict is not about religion, because Judaism and Islam have far too many central similarities.

Afropessimism, Afrofuturism and Afropolitanism

AFRICA: Disruption opens up for the capitalists a new display of power and new income: People, society and nature are reduced to raw material. The author Achille Mbembe's horizon is always the widest possible – the cosmic, earth-historical and planetary. Africa, despite all harrowing problems, is being called forth as a vibrant world center that still has powers in reserve, a teeming wildlife and a wealth of cultures.

How we sense other people and the world

SUBJECTS: Hartmut Rosa points out that today's late modern people react to the flood of information without "developing a stable understanding of what is relevant, of direction and prioritization". But does the well-educated academic here become an ideologue with religion as a weapon against an increasingly purpose-rational world where the economy colonizes the social?

Respectful and lovingly humorous

DOCUMENTS: In well-composed black-and-white images, Øystein Mamen follows four men in Halden prison. All inmates have committed particularly serious crimes. He shows what recognition and charity can do to people.

I was completely out of the world

Essay: The author Hanne Ramsdal tells here what it means to be put out of action – and come back again. A concussion leads, among other things, to the brain not being able to dampen impressions and emotions.

Silently disciplining research

PRIORITIES: Many who question the legitimacy of the US wars seem to be pressured by research and media institutions. An example here is the Institute for Peace Research (PRIO), which has had researchers who have historically been critical of any war of aggression – who have hardly belonged to the close friends of nuclear weapons.

Is Spain a terrorist state?

SPAIN: The country receives sharp international criticism for the police and the Civil Guard's extensive use of torture, which is never prosecuted. Regime rebels are imprisoned for trifles. European accusations and objections are ignored.

Is there any reason to rejoice over the coronary vaccine?

COVID-19: There is no real skepticism from the public sector about the coronary vaccine – vaccination is recommended, and the people are positive about the vaccine. But is the embrace of the vaccine based on an informed decision or a blind hope for a normal everyday life?

The military commanders wanted to annihilate the Soviet Union and China, but Kennedy stood in the way

Military: We focus on American Strategic Military Thinking (SAC) from 1950 to the present. Will the economic war be supplemented by a biological war?

homesickness

Bjørnboe: In this essay, Jens Bjørneboe's eldest daughter reflects on a lesser – known psychological side of her father.

Arrested and put on smooth cell for Y block

Y-Block: Five protesters were led away yesterday, including Ellen de Vibe, former director of the Oslo Planning and Building Agency. At the same time, the Y interior ended up in containers.

A forgiven, refined and anointed basket boy

Pliers: The financial industry takes control of the Norwegian public.

Michael Moore's new film: Critical to alternative energy

EnvironmentFor many, green energy solutions are just a new way to make money, says director Jeff Gibbs.

The pandemic will create a new world order

Mike Davis: According to activist and historian Mike Davis, wild reservoirs, like bats, contain up to 400 types of coronavirus that are just waiting to spread to other animals and humans.

The shaman and the Norwegian engineer

cohesion: The expectation of a paradise free of modern progress became the opposite, but most of all, Newtopia is about two very different men who support and help each other when life is at its most brutal.

Skinless exposure

Anorexia: shameless uses Lene Marie Fossen's own tortured body as a canvas for grief, pain and longing in her series of self portraits – relevant both in the documentary self Portrait and in the exhibition Gatekeeper.