The following text is of a speech by Sophie Bolt, incoming general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), at the World We Want conference held in London on 12 October 2024.
Sophie’s speech outlines the current geopolitical situation, in particular the risk of nuclear war, and the need for a mass movement to demand peace and disarmament. She observes that US global dominance is the number one obstacle in the way of a “peaceful, just, sustainable and nuclear-free world”. While many may have hoped that the end of the Cold War would have brought about a more peaceful world, the US developed an aggressive new strategy – the “Wolfowitz doctrine” – which aimed to prevent the rise of any rival power that could challenge US hegemony. “Using its political, economic and military might, the US has attempted to force countries to subordinate their economic and political interests to it. A carrot-and-stick approach, in which the US nuclear arsenal is the ultimate stick.”
Sophie notes that the global economic and political situation is changing, particularly with the emergence of China and the rise of BRICS. In a state of relative decline, the US is increasingly resorting to the use of military power to maintain and reassert its hegemony. “This is the key driver of global tensions which is pushing the world to the brink of destruction.”
The speech calls on the peace movement to mobilise against the US-led drive to war – including the New Cold War on China – and to support peace initiatives emerging from the Global South. For example, Brazil and China are coordinating towards peace talks between Russia and Ukraine; meanwhile South Africa has been blazing a trail on international legal action against Israel for its war crimes in Gaza.
Sophie concludes:
We must take hope and courage from these significant, progressive developments taking place across the global South. And the determined, committed movements that are growing here in the global North.
The text of the speech was first published in the Morning Star on 14 October 2024.
So, the world we want to see! For the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, we want a peaceful, just, sustainable and nuclear-free world. But, given where we currently are, how can we secure such a world?
From CND’s perspective, central to this question is overcoming the major obstacle — which is US global dominance.
Since the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the US has pursued a military doctrine that allows no rival economic or military power to emerge that can challenge it.
Far from ending the second world war, the dropping of these nuclear bombs was a ruthless, barbaric act to ensure the US emerged as the major superpower. It was a warning to every other country.
The bombing unleashed the nuclear arms race and started the cold war, taking the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation.
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, this doctrine was explicitly formalised, coined the “Wolfowitz doctrine,” after Paul Wolfowitz, under-secretary of defence to Dick Cheney. This is why — rather than disbanding Nato — the US aggressively expanded the nuclear-armed alliance right up to Russia’s borders.
Using its political, economic and military might, the US has attempted to force countries to subordinate their economic and political interests to it. A carrot-and-stick approach, in which the US nuclear arsenal is the ultimate stick.
But today, China’s economic growth has overtaken the US, and it is now the biggest economy in the world. Economic co-operation between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — known as Brics — means these combined economies are larger than the G7. And this economic co-operation is growing, with Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates joining this year.
So, the US is increasingly using military power in a desperate attempt to reassert its dominance. This is the key driver of global tensions which is pushing the world to the brink of destruction.
In eastern Europe, the proxy war between nuclear-armed Nato and Russia over Ukraine has seen the repeated threat of nuclear weapons being used. The conflict has been used to justify huge military spending at the expense of investment in climate action.
The global impact of sanctions on Russia has intensified the financial crisis, and pushed millions more into extreme poverty.
But the global South has refused to back Nato escalation. And, horrified by the devastating human cost of this conflict, the overwhelming majority of populations in Europe and the US now want a negotiated settlement.
Public opinion — unlike their political leaders — is on the side of peace. So let’s increase the pressure on the British government. We need mass lobbying of MPs alongside the ongoing protests at the Nato air base at Lakenheath.
In the Asia Pacific, the US is intensifying military provocations to try to destabilise China and neighbouring countries. Now 400 US military bases encircle the region. This has pushed China to increase its nuclear weapons.
Alongside this, the US’s economic warfare against China is being justified by whipping up sinophobia.
But the majority of countries in the Asia Pacific want peaceful co-operation with China. They want to live in peace and continue to rise out of poverty.
So we have to speak out against this new cold war against China — a war that would threaten the entire planet.
And of course, in the Middle East, Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, simultaneously attacking Lebanon and now striking at Iran, could only be carried out because of the political, financial and military backing of the US.
Israel’s threats to attack Iran’s oil fields and nuclear facilities risks all-out war, creating another humanitarian catastrophe. And it could push Iran to develop nuclear weapons, thus raising the threat of a nuclear-armed confrontation.
We have to continue our efforts for an arms embargo on Israel, to secure a ceasefire and urgently up our campaigning efforts against a war on Iran.
So, across the world, we see the threat of nuclear war on many fronts.
However, a strengthened, more co-ordinated global South is not only providing an alternative economic framework, it’s also giving political leadership to try and halt these escalations.
Progressive leaders like Lula, in Brazil, is working with China to secure peace talks with Ukraine and Russia. Lula was again raising this at the UN last month.
The South African government’s monumental achievement — securing the International Criminal Court ruling that Israel’s violation of the Genocide Convention was plausible — has been decisive in exposing the barbarism of Israel, the moral bankruptcy of the US as its key backer, and all countries selling weapons to Israel.
This paved the way, I’m sure, for the unprecedented UN vote last month demanding Israel end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
And it is the global South — whose populations know the human cost of nuclear testing — which is driving support for nuclear weapons-free zones and the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
So, these global South states are absolutely central to securing peace. We need to find a way to be a part of these initiatives and movements that are led by the global majority.
So, how else can we strengthen our movements for peace and global justice here in Britain?
Britain’s historic military alliance with the US means its interests are subordinated to the US, and its military and nuclear arsenal are under US command.
So, our efforts for an independent foreign policy, to secure Britain’s progressive role in the world and break with the US military project, are absolutely critical.
The sharpening of the international crisis is increasingly exposing the barbaric nature of the US and its allies and how they are prepared to threaten the entire planet.
This means that much wider layers of society are prepared to speak out and protest. We are seeing this with the unprecedented mobilisations for Palestine — which are the largest across Europe.
This sharpening also shows more starkly the inter-connectedness of our struggles against war, militarism and nuclear annihilation — and for peace and global justice.
This means massive investment in climate action. It means developing an economy that’s not rigged against the global South. And it means challenging racism and hatred being whipped by the far right which is shoring up government support for war.
So, let’s strengthen our unity and the co-ordination of our efforts.
We must take hope and courage from these significant, progressive developments taking place across the global South. And the determined, committed movements that are growing here in the global North.
History shows that it is in the most challenging and dangerous times that there can be greater chances for progressive, transformative change.
Let’s keep going — and we will secure the world we want!
