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Vote on resolution to negotiate a ban on nuclear weapons in 2017 (L-41) Green - Yes (123, 76%) Red - No (38, 24%) Beige - Abstained (Via @ILPIwmd - share on Twitter) |
"What do you notice . . . ?"
If I were lucky enough to be a high school or college teacher, I would seize the opportunity to invite my students to investigate a real life moment in global politics.
Last Thursday, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to proceed with negotiations in 2017on global nuclear disarmament - a worldwide ban on nuclear weapons.
It is a stunning lesson in global civics to observe who voted "YES" and who voted "NO" (and also who abstained) on L.41 - "taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations."
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ROLL CALL: votes on "taking forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations" |
The assignment is simple: Pick a country ... guess how you might expect them to vote, giving reasons for your answer ... then look at how they really voted. Next, try to think about additional reasons that might explain their actual vote. Final step: go online and see what others are saying about why the country voted the way they did.
This will prove to be a very illuminating exercise for anyone -- young or old -- who thinks they know which countries are working for the peace and safety of the world.
More information at on Common Dreams: "US Votes 'No' As UN Adopts Landmark Resolution Calling to Ban Nuclear Weapons"
For instance, see . . .
133 Is a Lot of #Nuclearban-Supporting Countries
Tlatelolco 50: A Gift to the World
SCIENCE MARCHES: Are All These Countries In the Dark About Nuclear Weapons?
VIETNAM and the NUCLEAR BAN: Out From Under the Shadow of US Nuclear Terror
Why People Want a Pacific (and World) Free of Nuclear Weapons
A Peace-building Commonwealth Wants to Ban Nuclear Weapons
and The Road to the Commonwealth Games Passes Through #Nuclearban Territory
NUCLEAR WEAPONS BAN TALKS: With Japan at the Table (Hopefully)
NOWRUZ: New Day for a World Without Nuclear Weapons
China DOES Have a Role in the Nuclear Ban Movement
USA: Bringing a Trumpian Posture to the Nuclear Ban Talks. (Bankruptcy.)
North Korea and #NuclearBan
(Most of) The Mideast Wants a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World
Where Will Europe Stand on #Nuclearban?
Additional resources
"Standing With the Nonwhite World to Ban Nuclear Weapons" by Vincent J. Intondi: "It is no surprise that this current attempt to eliminate nuclear weapons is being led by many nonwhite nations. In 1955, ten years after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, twenty-nine nations of Asia and Africa gathered in Bandung, Indonesia . . . "
"Nuclear weapons and the dialectic of universalism: the UN convenes to ban the bomb" by Kjølv Egeland: "[T]he nuclear ban-treaty movement marks the first time an instrument of international humanitarian law is forced into existence against a kicking and screaming European core. The civilising mission of normative stigmatisation has been taken up by those formerly on the receiving end."
. . . and links to more helpful explanations on the "Full voting result on UN resolution L.41" page on the ICAN website.
More related posts

(See 360 Degree Feedback in New York (2014 NPT Prepcom and How the World Views the United States))

(See HIROSHIMA: What does it mean to say, "We are ALL 'hibakusha'?")

(See FIRE AND BLAST: A Curriculum that Confronts Nuclear Danger?)
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