Nuclear Disarmament v. Nuclear Abolition | Ep. 193

What are the differences between nuclear disarmament and nuclear abolition? How do disarmers and abolitionists balance the need for policy change with the need for sustainable, intersectional organizing? In this episode, Jasmine Owens discusses how Black and Indigenous thinkers inform her vision for the future of the nuclear abolition movement. She reminds us that “small is all” when it comes to organizing, and that community is everything.

Transformative justice is integral to community building. Indigenous folks are on the frontlines of radiation exposure from nuclear tests, uranium mining, and the dumping of nuclear waste. In 1990, the U.S. government created the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) to aid some of those harmed, but the program has expired. This September, members of several Indigenous communities and allies are traveling from New Mexico to D.C. with a simple message: Pass RECA before we die. 

Please consider donating to help bring Indigenous radiation survivors to D.C.: https://chuffed.org/project/pass-reca

And read Jasmine’s recent work, here:

The false equivalency of nuclear disarmament and nuclear abolition, The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

Understanding the Gap Between Vision and Practice: Understanding Emergent Strategies for Authentic Intersectional Organizing in the Nuclear Abolition Movement, Win Without War

Building The World Anew: The Case for Radically Redefining the Nuclear Abolition Movement, Win Without War