Outraged conscience, careful argument, poetry and political analysis -- gathered here is the diversity of voices, traditions, and approaches that are weaving themselves into an anti-nuclear and peace movement in India and Pakistan. In these essays, written before, during, and after the May 1998 nuclear explosions, scholars and activists from both countries attempt to understand and challenge the nuclearisation of South Asia. The essays are an act of resistance against governments that see nuclear weapons as a currency of power, as symbols of prestige, as sources of security, as moments of glory in an otherwise dismal contemporary history.
The collection includes Mahatma Gandhi's response to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and recent writings by renowned scholars Eqbal Ahmad, Rajni Kothari, Ashis Nandy, and Amartya Sen, as well as Arundhati Roy and veteran anti-nuclear activists, academics and journalists. The volume also contains the texts of many of the historic public statements protesting the May 1998 nuclear tests which helped mobilise public opposition to the bomb in South Asia. There is a resource guide to books, films and websites on nuclear weapons, as well as information on many organisations now working on this issue.
Smitu Kothari is recognized as one of India's leading scholar-activists. He is based at Lokayan in Delhi, where he co-ordinates research and campaigns on political, ecological and cultural issues and co-edits the Lokayan Bulletin. He is a member of the Indian Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace, is President of the International Group for Grassroots Initiatives and has been a visiting professor at Cornell University and at Princeton University.
Zia Mian is a physicist from Pakistan at Princeton University's Center for Energy and Environmental Studies and a visiting fellow at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Islamabad. He has written extensively on nuclear weapons issues and is active in the South Asian peace movement and global anti-nuclear organising. He has also taught at Yale University and Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.
