In the 1990s something extraordinary happened. We saw a treaty to stop the emission of the gases which cause climate change. And we saw the signing of a treaty to stop nuclear testing.
Building an atomic bomb which can fit on a long distance missile cannot be done without testing. Like successful heart surgery the skills needed to do it can't be put down on paper. It can only be done through regular practice which develops the tacit skills needed. The U2 song isn't utopian. Humankind has a recipe for dismantling the atomic bomb and has begun to put it into practice.
The 1990s, then, showed that the political forces committed to global cooperation had already become sufficiently powerful that they could begin to make it a reality. This shows how much is at stake in the attempt to build a new generation of nuclear weapons. In the US small, more usable, nuclear weapons; in the UK, Trident's replacement.
Greenpeace's disarmament campaign, therefore, is based on the simple idea that once people see what is at stake in this wrecking agenda -- nothing less than the attempt to destroy the very idea that global co-operation is possible -- they will see we cannot let them win. Or put another way, paradise isn't something which lies in the past. It is something that is becoming possible in the present age for the first time and our task is to overcome those who would prevent its achievement. It is time to hear Blake's call to action: “I will not cease from mental fight / Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand / Till we have built Jerusalem / In England's green and pleasant land.”