https://youtu.be/mVLI5oVmRac

Greetings, Dear Friends. And Happy New Year!

May 2023 fulfil your dearest desires. May each one of us retain or regain good health, the presence of our loved ones, and living conditions that are worthy and satisfying.

Happiness is firstly a personal notion. But we all know that it depends also on conditions of life in society and on collective survival. One of these conditions is peace.

May I therefore, in the name of ACDN (Action des Citoyens pour le Désarmement Nucléaire), express two wishes that concern us all.

The first is for the War in Ukraine to end as soon as possible and be followed by a peace that is lasting, i.e. just and in conformity with international law.

The second is that the threat of atomic massacres will finally cease to weigh over the peoples of Europe and the world, including France.

To achieve this, there is only one means: the abolition of nuclear and radioactive weapons - their prohibition, yes, but also and chiefly their total elimination, with no exceptions. To arrive at the world without nuclear weapons, as required by the United Nations, we must have multilateral disarmament that is negotiated, methodical, planned and rigorously controlled.

France can contribute actively, by initiating negotiations among the five nuclear-armed states that have permanent seats on the Security Council and have signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) - negotiations which that treaty’s Article VI requires them to hold. Naturally this requirement must apply also to the other nuclear states.

Unfortunately neither France’s President nor France’s government are taking that road - quite the contrary. So the nation’s parliament and people need to force them to do so. How? By a "shared-initiative" referendum, that is a referendum proposed by 20% of the parliament (185 MPs or senators) and supported by 10% of all registered voters.

That is why ACDN is proposing to all MPS and senators, irrespective of political affiliation, that they co-sign a Bill to organise a referendum on this question:

"Do you want France to take part in the abolition of nuclear and radioactive weapons and to engage with all the States concerned in negotiations aimed at drawing up, ratifying and implementing a treaty to ban and completely eliminate nuclear and radioactive weapons, under mutual and international control that is strict and effective?"

According to an IFOP poll of September 2022, seven French citizens out of ten approve this proposition and say they would be ready to sign if 20% of parliamentarians sign it. Will there be 185 Just men and women among the 925 representatives of the French people? We hope so.

We therefore express this wish that in 2023 this referendum will be set in motion, thanks to the joint action of MPS, senators and ordinary citizens. A nuclear war would make us all victims.

Let us be the makers of peace who avoid that war while there is still time.

You will find the form for supporting this referendum Bill on ACDN’s website www.acdn.net

or by writing to contact@acdn.net.

Thanks in advance! And Happy New Year!

For ACDN, Jean-Marie Matagne, president