Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896
January
29, 2021
Protesters
call on Hopkins to drop nuclear weapons research
By CHRIS H. PARK and MIN-SEO
KIM | January 27, 2021
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A protester holds up
the text of the TPNW that he plans to tape on the door of the Nichols House
where University President Ronald J. Daniels resides.
Members of Prevent Nuclear
War Maryland, a Baltimore-based anti-war, anti-nuclear weapons organization,
protested the University’s involvement in nuclear weapons research with the
U.S. government on Friday, Jan. 22.
The group also celebrated
the ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) — a
legally binding international treaty prohibiting the development, ownership and
deployment of nuclear weapons by nations.
A United Nations working
group was formed in 2016 with a mandate to devise legal provisions to create a
nuclear-free world. While it was supported by 123 countries, the U.S., the
U.K., France and Russia voted against the group alongside Israel, a country
that is widely believed to
be a nuclear power. China, India and Pakistan abstained.
The working group’s
recommendations led to the TPNW, which was adopted on July 7, 2017.
The treaty went into
effect on Jan. 22, 2021, 90 days after the 50th nation, Honduras, ratified it.
As no nuclear power, including the U.S., is a signatory or a party to the
treaty, it was largely a symbolic step in the global movement for nuclear
abolitionism.
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A car caravan circled the
Homewood campus several times throughout the protest.
On Friday, around a dozen
protesters held bright yellow banners reading “nuclear weapons are illegal” on
the Charles Street median and in front of the marble Hopkins sign on the
Merrick Gateway, conversing with passers-by. Protesters criticized the
University’s engagement with nuclear weapons research at the
Applied Physics Lab (APL).
Hopkins is the top
recipient of federal research and development funds, receiving $2.351
billion in a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) in 2019. The
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons identified Hopkins to be one
of the universities involved in developing and maintaining the U.S. nuclear
arsenal in its 2019 report.
Max Obuszewski, one of the
co-founders of Prevent Nuclear War Maryland, said he has been protesting
nuclear weapons for over 30 years. He believes that continued development and
possession of nuclear weapons poses an existential threat to the world.
“Our government is going
to spend trillions of dollars to refurbish the nuclear arsenal. We have to make
the legislators give us security, like health care and education. We don’t have
any of that,” he said. “What we’re doing now is to shame the United States and
the nuclear weapons contractors into joining the treaty.”
Prevent Nuclear War, the
parent organization of the group Obuszewski founded, has worked to mobilize
support for the “back from the brink” resolution in local and state
governments. The resolution calls on the federal government to renounce its
nuclear first-use policy, limit presidential authority to launch a nuclear
attack, reduce spending on nuclear weapons research and work with other states
to eliminate nuclear weapons.
Baltimore was the first major city to
endorse its version of the resolution, introduced by
then-City Councilman Bill Henry.
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COURTESY OF CHRIS H. PARK Protesters called on Hopkins to
declassify APL research and cancel nuclear weapons contracts with the Defense
[sic] Department.
Because APL research is
classified — unlike work in other University divisions — it is unclear how many
of its contracts with the DOD are related to nuclear weapons.
In an email to The
News-Letter, Karen Lancaster, the assistant vice president of
external relations for the Office of Communications, noted that the APL was a
research division of the University, not an academic one, thus is exempt from
the University-wide rule on not allowing classified work.
“The Laboratory’s
scientists, engineers and analysts serve as trusted advisors and technical
experts to the government, ensuring the safety and reliability of complex
technologies that safeguard America's security and advance the frontiers of
space,“ she wrote.
Lancaster did not comment
specifically on APL’s nuclear weapons research program.
Dr. Gwen DuBois, a
co-founder of Prevent Nuclear War Maryland, stated that the University should
turn its efforts to research that would have immediate positive effects on
people’s lives. She is an alum of the Bloomberg School of Public Health and
teaches part-time at the School of Medicine.
“Johns Hopkins University
of Medicine has played a great role in the COVID-19 pandemic. That is what we
expect of this great institution, but not profiting off immoral and
illegal weapons,“ she said. “What we want to see from Hopkins is to pull out
from contracts with nuclear weapons. Hopkins is knee-deep in this stuff and
isn’t transparent.”
Obuszewski also stated
that nuclear weapons research is a reckless avenue to allocate University
resources.
“We think it’s
abominable,“ he said. “Especially in this pandemic, let’s not waste all this
money on nuclear weapons.”
DuBois expressed hope that
Hopkins students and faculty would pressure the University leaders to stop
engaging in this research, citing the impact made by students who protested the now-suspended plans
to create a private police force.
“[TPNW] is an opportunity
for universities and corporations to reassess what they do. For corporations,
it’s going to come from the shareholders. For universities, the pressure’s
going to come from the students or professors,“ she said. “There’s nothing that
gives us more hope than seeing students help us. If nothing else, if this opens
up a dialogue with the University, that would be tremendous: Bring it out into
the open and let the University debate this.”
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Donations can be sent
to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206,
Baltimore, MD 21212. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at]
comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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