United States of America Mission to the UN
Russian Federation Mission to the UN
September 19th, 2023
Dear Esteemed H.E. Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya
and Esteemed H.E. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield
To save all humanity, we rally to support the international law, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
One nuclear weapon is capable only of murdering millions of innocent people. That is all it can do.
One meeting of leadership can save the world. We’ve done it before together. This bravery, wisdom and personal diplomacy is what we urgently ask of you.
Our militaries did not stop the near annihilation of civilization in 1962. One-to-one personal diplomacy did, with President Kennedy and President Khrushchev giving their all behind the scenes. Pres. Kennedy’s June 10th, 1963 speech embraced the pathway toward our universal aspirations. At the height of the Cold War their efforts together led to the first nuclear weapon test ban, meant to be the first step toward total nuclear abolition.
Pres. Kennedy also reminded us of our vital alliance with Russia and the extreme price they paid to end the rule of utter tyranny. Since the 1960’s there have been innumerable Soviet and US citizens exchanges from all levels of artists, writers, scientists, and politicians toward greater solidarity. When the arms race charged ahead again, hundreds of thousands took to the streets year after year to demand to end the mutual madness. The people voted with their feet. They voted for you, and all future generations.
President Michael Gorbachev wrote that sitting at Reykjavik with President Ronald Reagan overlooking the sea, the two of them came within a hair breath of an agreement. They later told one other that they envisioned themselves together at the dismantling of the last missile. At the White House, signing arms reduction agreements, President Gorbachev credited and thanked publicly all the people of the US and around the world who stood up.
The world is in imminent grave nuclear danger. The TPNW does not ask you to get rid of your nuclear weapons. It requests your participation in a careful, orderly, verified process that enables us all to fulfill our promise to the world to begin to do so. There is little hope of any future without this.
https://disarmament.unoda.org/
We have several U.S. Representatives attending the Second Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW to observe. We have two pieces of legislation in the current U.S. Congress urgently supporting the TPNW, H.R. 2775 and H. Res.77.
Respectfully,
Anthony Donovan is a hospice nurse who lives in the East Village. He is has been a political campaigner and activist from the age of 12, ending up in jail three times for nonviolent civil disobedience against the Vietnam War. Donovan is the producer of several documentaries, including Dialogues: A More Effective Path to Deal with Global Terrorism (2004), and Good Thinking, Those Who’ve Tried To Halt Nuclear Weapons (2015). His long time passion remains the abolition of nuclear weapons. He is an associate member of New York City Veterans For Peace. For his 9/11 story and work around facing “terrorism” see anthonydonovan.com.