Mission

Coalition For Peace Action
40 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ 08542
Website: www.peacecolition.org

The Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA) is a grassroots citizens organization which brings together people of all ages, backgrounds, professions, and political persuasions in support of three goals: global abolition of nuclear weapons, a peace economy, and a halt to weapons trafficking at home and abroad.

Please help us achieve this mission with a donation to CFPA.

Global Abolition of Nuclear Weapons

The founding goal of the Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA) is the global abolition of nuclear weapons. While this goal may at first blush seem visionary and utopian, in fact it is the only way to prevent a nuclear holocaust.

There is much talk about keeping nuclear weapons out of the “wrong hands.” And certainly, keeping them from away terrorists and madmen does reduce the chance of their being used. Yet even in the hands of government, they will ultimately be used—as they were, twice, by the US in World War II.

History has proven that any weapon allowed to be kept in existence will be eventually be deployed, and whatever weapon is deployed will be used. Even now, over a decade after the end of the Cold War, the Bush Administration has officially issued a new nuclear doctrine that envisions the use of new nuclear weapons, such as the mini-nuke and the bunker-buster, in a wide variety of circumstances against at least seven countries.

Moreover, the world can’t forever endure a permanent double standard, where it’s legitimate for certain countries to possess nuclear weapons forever, but illegitimate for others ever to obtain them. Such a double standard is seen as hypocritical by the non-nuclear countries, and isn’t ethically or politically viable.

That is the reason that Article 6 of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty, which initially came into force in 1970 and was extended indefinitely in 1995, obligates the nuclear “haves” to abolish their arsenals. At the five year Review Conference in 2000, the US and the other four nuclear weapon states party to the treaty (Russia, Britain, France, and China) reaffirmed a solemn legal commitment to negotiate the multi-lateral abolition of their arsenals.

So long as tens of thousands of nuclear weapons, and tons of nuclear weapon grade materials, continue to exist, it is inevitable that nuclear weapons will be eventually be used—by terrorists who obtain them, by accident, or by states who feel their ultimate national interests are threatened. Global nuclear weapons abolition under strict and effective international control is the only way to prevent their future use.

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Peace Economy

A peace economy was added as a second priority of the Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA) in the late 1980’s, as the Cold War was winding to a close. The idea was that a major “peace dividend” could be reaped, that could be reinvested in urgent human needs at home and abroad—education, health care, the environment, job creation, housing, etc.

CFPA and many other groups and persons—including former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara—called for a 50% reduction in military spending. The rationale was that the Cold War was over, and that the estimated 60% of the military budget that had gone to defend Western Europe against a feared Soviet invasion could now be deleted from the military budget.

The remaining 50% would have still amounted to more than $150 billion, nearly four times more than the next closest nation (Russia). This would have been more than adequate for a very robust defense of the United States against any conceivable threat—except a nuclear attack. The only defense against that would be by prevention, i.e. globally abolishing nuclear weapons.

However, military spending never went down in actual dollars, though the rate of increase didn’t keep up with inflation for some years. In 2003, the US Congress approved a major increase in military spending to more than $400 billion. Over and above this was $67 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. This accounted for some 53% of total federal “discretionary” spending, i.e. money that Congress could allocate for whatever purposes it chose.

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Halt to Weapons Trafficking

This was adopted as the final of the three priorities of the Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA) in the early 1990’s, following the Persian Gulf War. It was learned that Sadaam Hussein had been equipped for his military adventures (including attacking Iran and invading Kuwait) by the US and other Western powers. The rationale was that he was a counter to the Islamic threat represented by Iran, and that we could “control” him by supplying his weapons.

This cynical policy, which we call “weapons trafficking,” simply leads to more and more nations—including dictators and human rights violators—in possession of high tech weapons supplied by the US and others. The last five times US forces were sent into combat, they faced US supplied weapons. This self-defeating phenomenon is called the “boomerang effect.”

CFPA and others worked hard on stopping such cynical, self-defeating policies by trying to change US policy regarding arms exports. It made sense to focus on the US, since we are by far the world’s largest weapons supplier. We proposed an “Arms Trade Code of Conduct” bill, which passed the US House of Representatives in the late 1990’s. However, the Code of Conduct never passed the US Senate and never became law.

In 1993, CFPA decided to broaden its understanding of our work on this priority. The NRA was trying at that time to rescind New Jersey’s Assault Weapons Ban, which had been signed into law just two years prior. We felt that if we were against weapons trafficking abroad, how could we look the other way when weapons of war were being legitimized and used within our own country?

Thankfully, together with other New Jersey groups, we defeated the NRA’s rescission effort. Subsequently, we played a major role in passing the Brady Bill, requiring a 3-day wait for a background check before being allowed to purchase a handgun; and the Childproof Handgun Bill in the NJ legislature. Governor McGreevy signed that bill into law in December 2002.

The Rev. Robert Moore
Executive Director, Coalition for Peace Action
December 10, 2003

Help us further this vital mission by donating to the Coalition For Peace Action, Princeton, NJ at the CFPA Website. Thank you for supporting the Coalition For Peace Action!

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