Rebecca Johnson - openDemocracy (Page 6)

South Korea: destroying the lives of the Haenyo ‘sea women’

A naval base being built on Jeju Island threatens to destroy the livelihoods of the iconic women shellfish divers and raise levels of rape and prostitution in the surrounding villages. On her return from Jeju, Rebecca Johnson says international action is needed to stop the military construction

By Rebecca Johnson

/ 18 Nov 2011

After Fukushima

As we pursue the abolition of nuclear weapons, we also need to phase out reliance on nuclear energy. Both are incompatible with our environmental and human security, says Rebecca Johnson.

By Rebecca Johnson

/ 24 Mar 2011

"The rising of the women means the rising of us all"

In the 1970s, the women’s liberation movement had a badge that proclaimed: women who seek equality with men lack ambition. We don’t want to participate as equals in the violence, oppression and greed of patriarchal power, says Rebecca Johnson.

By Rebecca Johnson

/ 9 Mar 2011

No more 'Little Boy' and 'Fat Man'

As a political instrument of power projection and status, nuclear weapons carry a peculiarly masculine symbolism. In the 1980s, Greenham women were at the forefront of challenging masculine ideologies of defence and security. We need to seize the initiative and again become the agents of security

By Rebecca Johnson

/ 3 Nov 2010

NATO: fiddling with nuclear bombs while the planet burns

Next month NATO members meet in Lisbon to agree on a new Strategic Concept. Rebecca Johnson argues that if we treated nuclear weapons as the previous century’s problem to be disposed of, instead of fetishizing them as instruments of high strategic value, we would stand a far better chance of maint

By Rebecca Johnson

/ 6 Oct 2010

NPT: challenging the nuclear powers' fiefdom

The NPT Review provided a bridge between the partial non-proliferation approach of the NPT and the comprehensive abolition objectives of a nuclear weapons convention. It will no longer be possible for governments to dismiss calls for a comprehensive nuclear abolition treaty

By Rebecca Johnson

/ 15 Jun 2010

NPT: the gulf between the nuclear haves and have-nots

The key question as the conference enters the endgame is whether the P-5 nuclear weapon states are willing to drop their demands for the removal of so many of the disarmament commitments that are important to the non-nuclear countries, including references to a nuclear weapons convention or time b

By Rebecca Johnson

/ 26 May 2010

NPT conference: half time glass half full

Frustration at the failure of nuclear weapon states to honour the agreements made at previous NPT Conferences is growing. In heated exchanges in New York the 184 countries without nuclear weapons want to ensure that this time the NPT outcome has direction, accountability and muscle. Half way throu

By Rebecca Johnson

/ 17 May 2010

United States at the NPT: how far will the 'good guy' go?

Unless the role and value assigned to nuclear weapons in deterrence is challenged among the nuclear-armed states, the notion of nuclear deterrence will remain seductive – and a proliferation drive. Those wanting to bring about real security in a non-nuclear-armed world need to do far more at this

By Rebecca Johnson

/ 11 May 2010

Nuclear weapons: beyond non-proliferation?

The stakes are high and the outcome too close to call as the Review Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty opens for four weeks of intense debate in New York.

By Rebecca Johnson

/ 29 Apr 2010