Nuclear Weapons as Systemic Threats: Disarmament Requires Global Solidarity and Structural Change
Original framing: “‘Nuclear Weapons Are Not Just Tools of War. They Are Weapons of Mass Suffering.’” — Global Issues
The history of nuclear weapons is deeply tied to colonial and imperial projects, from the Manhattan Project to the nuclear tests in the Pacific and Indian Ocean. These patterns reveal how nuclear power has been used to maintain global hierarchies and suppress resistance.
Nuclear weapons are not just military tools but systemic instruments of domination that sustain global inequalities and ecological destruction.
Indigenous and non-Western perspectives reveal the deep moral and ecological costs of nuclear proliferation, while scientific evidence underscores the existential threat they pose. To move toward disarmament, we must reframe security not as control but as collective well-being. This requires dismantling the geopolitical structures that benefit from the nuclear status quo and building a new global order grounded in justice, sustainability, and intergenerational responsibility. The voices of Hibakusha, Pacific islanders, and other affected communities must be central to this transformation.