Reviewing the Intro to Disarmament Series

By Carla Mae Streeter, OP PEP Member

Political Affairs Officer for the Office for Disarmament Affairs of the United Nations Diane Barnes has released a series of videos on the importance of disarmament to security and peace. The #Intro2Disarmament series is designed to drive interest and build understanding of what disarmament is and how it works. The videos can be used to engage anyone with an interest in international peace and security. The Peace Economy Project supports this video series.

The first in the video series is titled “What is Disarmament?” In viewing the first in the series I was shocked to learn that this is no distant concern. Our unchecked investment in arms alone robs all of us and our children of the aid and education that would provide us with a better quality of life. I provide a brief review below of only the first in the series. My conclusion? Maintaining this bloated arms race is insane. A wise people would choose differently. This is no way to continue wasting our hard-earned money.

The topic of the first in this series is the very simple question – what is disarmament? We intelligently ask, what are we talking about? What we are not talking about is the foolish disregard of our safety by neglecting our own defense. Far from it. It is one thing to have a reasonable defense plan and quite another to have a bloated program that is a colossal waste.

This first video deals with two issues: What disarmament really is, and why it matters.

 The Elimination of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Honest and safe disarmament admits the obvious: weapons that would wipe out the human race have no place among us. What benefit is there in producing, selling, or using weapons that would destroy the human family? They signify the failure of human diplomacy, leaving us only the option of self-annihilation.

The Regulation of Ordinary Weapons: It is the right of every people to defend itself. It is also the right of every people to prioritize what it values. Human need, food, medical care and education rank far above weaponry in what cultures rank in value. Yet if fear so distorts these priorities, we can become a people enslaved by weapon production to the sacrifice of what enhances our own humanness. Our self-protection becomes a malignancy.

The Development of International Norms for the Regulation of Technological Deployment of Weapons: Because we have a capability does not always mean we should use it. Technological prowess can become an idol that demands human sacrifice of us. Whether it be the use of chemicals, facial recognition, surveillance equipment, drones, or pollutants, their unregulated and unchecked use can imprison us all in a culture that has morphed into a police state while we sleep in unawareness.

Why Does it Matter?

 Well, I can’t concern myself with this…I have my own life and family to take care of, you say. This is an all too common first response, and it was mine. But it revealed a naiveté on my part. What I learned from this first video filled me with indignation and shame.

The data in the video reveals the following economic statistics:

• Our global weapons’ cost has reached over a trillion dollars, the highest since the Second World War.
• This computes to $250 for every man, woman, and child on the face of the earth.
• It is 12 times what we as a human community spend on aid for our people.
• 1 stealth bomber costs the equivalent of the education of 200,000 children.
• The cost of 1 tank would provide 26,000 people with medication for malaria.

Is this the bloated financial distortion that we want to pass on to our children? Is this the value system that we want to settle for even for ourselves? Yes, we want to encourage a reasonable defense system. Yes, at times we need to intensify our defenses. But no, we don’t want to live in a prolonged culture of bloated weaponry building, an industry that is robbing us and our children of the quality of human life that befits human dignity. Take a look at what this cancer looks like – hidden in plain sight. May you find the video as informative and mind-changing as I did.