Global Nuclear Experts Return to
Pugwash, Canada, for Historic Meeting
Press Release
For Immediate Release
June 18, 2007
(Washington DC – New York – Pugwash, Nova Scotia, Canada) Fifty years after nuclear scientists from East and West held a historic meeting in the village of Pugwash to discuss peace, a new generation of experts is returning to Nova Scotia to discuss ways to revitalize nuclear disarmament.
On July 6 and 7, the Nobel Prize–winning Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs and the influential New York–based Middle Powers Initiative will bring together 25 scientists, diplomats and former military officers from 15 countries for a “Revitalizing Nuclear Disarmament” strategy workshop. The meeting will be held near the Thinkers’ Lodge, the site of the first meeting in 1957.
“Fifty years ago from Pugwash, Nova Scotia, nuclear scientists helped alert the world to the dangers of nuclear weapons, and especially the newly developed hydrogen bomb,” said Paolo Cotta-Ramusino, Secretary General, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. “Today, we are working with experts from around the world for global action to revitalize nuclear disarmament and the final elimination of nuclear weapons.”
“Not since the inaugural meeting at the Thinkers’ Lodge in 1957 has there been such an important meeting of nuclear disarmament experts in Canada,” said Hon. Douglas Roche, O.C., Chairman of the Middle Powers Initiative (MPI). “We will take a page from MPI’s Article VI Forums and work in a cooperative manner to overcome the cynicism that too often characterizes other disarmament discussions.”
The locally based Pugwash Peace Exchange is hosting the weekend of events that include historical lectures and a commemorative dinner with the Premier of Nova Scotia, Hon. Rodney MacDonald, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Hon. Peter MacKay, and Senator Roméo Dallaire, Honorary Patron of the Pugwash Peace Exchange.
“It is appalling to observe the increasing potential for many regional nuclear arms races, shameless plans to modernize nuclear arsenals and bald-faced threats of pre-emptive nuclear use,” said Senator Dallaire. “Only by revitalizing discussion and implementation of disarmament leading to abolition can we ensure that these genocidal devices will never again be used.”
In July 1957, at the onset of the Cold War, wealthy industrialist and Pugwash son Cyrus Eaton invited the world’s greatest minds to come to his family home in Nova Scotia and address the emerging threat of nuclear war. Inspired by Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell, 22 scientists from East and West gathered in a controversial meeting to discuss peace.
In 1995, recognizing its role in ending the Cold War and averting global nuclear disaster, Pugwash and its founder, the late Manhattan project scientist Joseph Rotblat, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
For further information:
Jim Wurst, Program Director, Middle Powers Initiative/Global Security Initiative (New York, USA)
o. 646-289-5170 jwurst@gsinstitute.org
Jeffrey Boutwell, Executive Director, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs (Washington D.C., USA)
h.o. 540-972-3706 o. 202-478-3440 c. 202-468-3440 pugwashdc@aol.com
Krista Chiasson, Director of Communications, Pugwash Peace Exchange (Pugwash, Nova Scotia, Canada) o. 902-243-2328 c. 902-664-6136 krista@pugwashpeaceexchange.org
Steven Staples, Director of the Rideau Institute, and Pugwash communications consultant (Ottawa, Canada) o. 613-565-9449 c. 613-290-2695 sstaples@rideauinstitute.ca
Media kit: www.gsinstitute.org/mpi/docs/Pugwash_media_kit.pdf
Pugwash, Nova Scotia program of events, July 5–8, 2007: http://pugwashpeaceexchange.org/events.aspx
Workshop Backgrounder: “Towards 2010: Priorities for NPT Consensus,” http://www.gsinstitute.org/mpi/docs/Towards_2010.pdf