Target X:50+ installations already

By Alex Rosen, IPPNW Germany

Dear friends all around the world,

During the IPPNW Biking Aganst Nuclear Weapons Tour (BAN) this summer, we organized a number of Target installations all along our tour. You can view photos and descriptions of these events, as well as the more than 50 Target installations to date on our website: ippnw-students.org/Target. Organized by our colleagues in Canada, the US, Ecuador, El Salvador, Brazil, Peru, Finland, Sweden, Norway, the UK, France, the Netherlands, Estonia, Russia, Georgia, Switzerland, Germany, Portugal, Italy, India, Iran and Australia, these Target installations have helped bring the issue of nuclear abolition to the people on the street and stir public debate about the subject.

We are certain that events such as NWIP, Nuclear Weapons – my cup of tea, Target X and bike tours are valuable and effective ways to use our moral authority as doctors and medical students in order to influence discussion on a local and national level. By documenting and showcasing these events, we even attempt to create some international leverage – similar to the Million Pleas Campaign. All of these activities neatly fit under the umbrella of ICAN – our wonderful international campaign, which we try to make more known through our activities.

For the future, we hope for may more successful Target installations – especially in the nuclear weapon states, but also in places that people would not normally associate with nuclear abolition. We’ve had a number of very successful events at universities in Latin America – showing that students there share the rest of the world’s concerns about nuclear proliferation and the immense weapon stockholds of Russia and the US. We should demonstrate IPPNW’s global aspect by trying to organize Target installations in countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Mexico, Mongolia, Indonesia, etc., etc. In most of these countries we now have vibrant IPPNW student groups who could take on this subject. Although it may not be their primary concern or the main reason for being active within IPPNW, it would show solidarity and support for our global campaign and be a great project for local groups to organize.

So:

• if you’ve already held a Target installation and it’s not on the website ippnw-students.org/Target, please contact me and I’ll upload the photos and reports.
• if you’re interested in organizing a Target installation in your city and the information on the website is not sufficient for you, please contact me.
• if you have good ideas for future Target installations or the website, please contact me
• if you’re interested to become more involved in the coordination of Target installations around the world, please contact me

I truly look forward to hearing from you…
All the best from Germany,
Alex Rosen