Peace Coalition Vigil: Nuclear Disarmament

Date/Time
Date(s) - 08/02/2025
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Location
Carbondale Town Square

Categories No Categories

The Peace Coalition of Southern Illinois will hold the Monthly Peace and Justice Vigil on Saturday, August 2, Noon to 1 P.M. at the corner of Main and Illinois Ave., Carbondale. On Sunday, August 3, 2:00 -3:00 P.M. join the weekly Rally for Peace in Gaza, to call for a permanent ceasefire and a return to full U.N. and Humanitarian organization delivery of supplies to Gaza, corner of Main and Illinois Ave in Carbondale.

The US and Russia have 90% of the total 2025 global inventory of some 12,241 warheads on the planet. These weapons pose the threat of annihilation and nuclear winter, either by accident or in a panic to destroy our “enemies.”

According to Alice Slater: “The US has rejected many opportunities over the years, starting from the very beginning of the nuclear age when Stalin proposed to Truman that the US put its new and terrifying nuclear weapons under the control of the newly formed United Nations, devoted to “ending the scourge of war” with its first resolution calling for nuclear disarmament. Truman refused, and Russia got the bomb.”

When Gorbachev dissolved the Warsaw Pact and freed all of occupied Eastern Europe, he proposed to Reagan that the countries could eliminate their nuclear arsenals provided the US would end its Star Wars program to dominate and control the military use of space.

The US refused, and Gorbachev withdrew his offer. The US assured Gorbachev and Yeltsin that we would not expand NATO one inch to the east. Clinton began the expansion, NATO most recently added Sweden and Finland during the Ukraine War.

The US keeps nuclear weapons in five NATO states. Russia recently placed its nuclear weapons in Belarus during the Ukraine War. A deal should be made to remove the US weapons in Europe in return for Russia taking its newly placed nuclear weapons out of Belarus.

There is only one way to protect against nuclear weapons: sign and ratify the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and use it to pressure nuclear powers to disarm.

Appropriate signs will be provided at the vigil, but all are invited to bring their own. The next monthly meeting of the Peace Coalition will be held on ZOOM, Wednesday, August 20, 6pm. For a link to the meeting, contact