On Monday, October 21 the “Reel & Meal” show in Greenbelt will feature The Beginning of the End of Nuclear Weapons, a documentary focused on how over 120 nations came to sign the 2017 UN Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons.  It includes background on the development of the atomic bomb, the impact of its use on Hiroshima, and progress over decades of anti-nuclear activism.  The free show begins at 7 pm at the New Deal Café, 113 Centerway in Roosevelt Center. An optional vegan buffet at $14 will be served from 6:30 pm.

This June 2019 documentary is a collaboration of Spaniard Alvaro Orus, long a maker of films on nonviolence, and Briton Tony Robinson, co-director of Pressenza International Press Agency. Pressenza was a partner of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which won the Nobel Peace Prize for promoting the ban treaty. The film’s title, “The Beginning of the End of Nuclear Weapons,” refers to that treaty as described by Hiroshima survivor Setsuko Thurlow in her Nobel Laureate Speech in December 2017, when ICAN campaigners were presented the Peace Prize. Another of the many activists interviewed is Ward Wilson, author of Five Myths about Nuclear Weapons. He dismantles arguments used to support the theory of nuclear deterrence.  The film shows how stagnation after the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty led to a new chance, the “humanitarian initiative” which resulted in the ban treaty. So far the treaty has been ratified by 34 nations, of fifty required to put it into effect. 

Discussion after the screening will cover how  local citizens can participate in the current US “Back from the Brink” campaign for federal policy changes to help prevent nuclear war.  One such policy is US support for the ban treaty. The discussion leader will be Gwen DuBois, president of Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility and co-founder of Prevent Nuclear War Maryland.

For more about the film see http://theendofnuclearweapons.com/.  This program is planned by Prince George’s County Peace & Justice Coalition;  reply to this message or call Lucy Duff at 202-549-5574.  Other sponsors of the monthly “Reel & Meal” series are Beaverdam Creek Watershed Watch Group, Green Vegan Networking and Utopia Film Festival.