Europe at Peace?: VIII Convention for European Nuclear Disarmament

by Josep Palau (Editor)

When the European Peace movement held its Eighth Convention on European Nuclear Disarmament in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain in July 1989, it was glad to celebrate the potential reversal of the arms race, against which it had struggled for so many years. Mr Gorbachev's initiatives had led to the signing of the treaty banning land based INF missiles. Tension between East and West had eased considerably. Already the bloc system was loosening. But there could be no justification for complacency. The agenda and debates in Vitoria recognized that these developments, while most welcome, only served to highlight the fundamental problems that remained. Arms expenditure remained grotesquely large. Work on new and more sophisticated weapons and delivery systems was continuing. Meantime, the Third World was mired in poverty and debt. Grave threats to the environment were becoming daily more apparent. These issues, and many related themes, were treated comprehensively in the Eigth Convention. The key contributions are to be found in this book, which demostrates the maturity and relevance of the peace movement in the face of the manifold threats to civilized life.

300 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990