ANTI-ATOM-ICAN APPEAL
Already over 100 German cities and municipalities
On Tuesday, July 13th, we received the following reader’s letter on the article “The Confederation is Responsible for Nuclear Weapons” in the Badische Zeitung:
The BZ devotes half a page to the arguments of Breisach’s mayor Oliver Rein, who refuses to give advice to the local council about joining the ICAN’s city appeals. The appeal addresses the threat posed by nuclear weapons and calls on the German government to join the 2017 UN Treaty on the Ban on Nuclear Weapons. There are supposedly formal reasons that Rein gives, “because Breisach is not directly affected”.
Why have over 100 German cities and municipalities already joined the appeal? Including Freiburg, Munich, Tübingen, Erlangen, Karlsruhe, Konstanz, Lahr, Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Heidelberg, Müllheim and many more, including entire federal states and districts. According to Rein’s argument, none of them are directly affected!
In this context, one would have liked the BZ to present the reasons why three parliamentary groups in the municipal council submitted the request. Although this was reported in detail six weeks ago, it can hardly be assumed that the statements of the mayor, who hides behind formal reasons, have now gone unchallenged.
Why cities and municipalities should join the appeal is justified on the ICAN website: “Nuclear weapons pose a particular threat to cities and inhabited areas. In an emergency, they are the primary targets of an atomic attack. They are directly affected and should be themselves therefore get involved in the discussion on this question. “
It is true that the federal government is responsible for nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, Germany refuses to sign the 2017 UN Nuclear Weapons Prohibition Treaty, which came into force in January 2021 after ratification by 50 states. (…)
Jürgen Lieser, Wittnau
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