Headlines
Campaigner Bruce Kent talks to students
Trident nuclear weapons: Immoral or indispensale?
6th March 2007
Campaigner Bruce Kent talks to students
The topic of Trident replacement has been widely debated recently. In just a few weeks time a vote will be held in the Commons over the replacement of our nuclear weapons, and in recent weeks thousands of people have taken to the streets to join in marches across the country in protest against Tony Blair's plans. On Tuesday 27th February, Hereford Sixth Form College students and teachers filled over 100 seats in the recital room, as well as much of the floor, to hear Bruce Kent, Vice President of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), give a talk on the proposed renewal of Trident nuclear weapons.
The talk opened with a video made at the College, which showed Theology students giving their views on nuclear weaponry, as well as footage of the bombing of Hiroshima. Bruce Kent thanked students for their powerful film, and gave an insight into how he went from serving in the army to being one of Britain's most well-known peace campaigners.
Kent expressed the illogical nature of arguments for nuclear weaponry, saying that rather than increasing our security, the weapons increase our danger. This danger, he said, is through risk of accident, through encouraging other countries to arm themselves, and through presenting terrorists and other political groups with the possibility of acquiring nuclear weapons of their own.
Kent criticised Tony Blair's white paper, calling the document "fraudulent", and warned that time was running out for the major public debate to have any effect on our country's decision makers. For this reason, Kent urged students to "get fired up" about the issue, to get at the media, write to MPs, and to circulate their film.
The point was raised that Kent's proposal for world leaders to sit down together and agree to fulfil the promises made in UN treaties to disarm was utopian and unrealistic. Kent answered that whilst it may seem impossible to make a difference in the world, public opinion can be changed. He gave the example of women's rights, and how radically they have changed in the past hundred years. He also highlighted the hope that has already emerged through significant anti-Trident feelings in Scotland, the implications of which could lead to Scottish independence if Blair goes ahead with his plans.
Kent was thoroughly interrogated by both students and staff. A wide range of intelligent questions tested his knowledge on the environmental repercussions of nuclear warheads, Iranian possession of the weapons, the position of the scientific community, and the situations in China, America and the UK.
Throughout his talk, however, there seemed to be one dominating point that Kent was trying to communicate to the students – that the future is in the hands of young people, and that decisions such as those surrounding nuclear weapons, are the ones that will shape the world that we will grow up to control. Kent urged us to stand up and speak and act for what we believe in. Tony Blair is building our future. Do we like the weapons he's putting into it?
Genni Jones (Studying AS Critical Thinking, AS Government & Politics, AS Modern History, AS Physics and AS Sociology)