ATOM Project Hon. Ambassador Karipbek Kuyukov featured in the Huffington Post

August 24, 2016

The following editorial by The ATOM Project Honorary Ambassador, global anti-nuclear weapons activist and renowned artist Karipbek Kuyukov was featured in the UK Huffington Post on Aug. 24.

Why The World Needs To Be Constantly Reminded Of The Consequences Of Nuclear Weapons

KARAGANDA – I am one of those who have been affected by nuclear tests in Kazakhstan. As a result, I was born without arms. I doubt a regular person with two arms can understand what it is like to use your feet for basic things like opening a door or grabbing a fork, or to sign your passport with your mouth. People stare at me. Then they empathise, but none can really, truly imagine what it is like, and no one really wants to.

I dream one day of standing up and facing all those who lobby for nuclear weapons. I want to look in their eyes and ask them why.

Kazakhstan is set to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the closure of the infamous Semipalatinsk nuclear test site on Aug. 29. Twenty-five years is a lot of time from a personal perspective, but little

The ATOM Project Honorary Ambassador, armless artist and anti-nuclear weapons activist Karipbek Kuyukov

from a historic point of view. Twenty-five years is how much time Kazakhstan needed to become one of the leaders trying to marshal the world to become nuclear-safe – and not without its own share of losing. Yes, I am not afraid to use the word losing, because there are no winners in war: nuclear weapons were created for intimidating, controlling and murdering.

Twenty-five years of my life covers the important period of time starting from the years of the Nevada-Semipalatinsk movement and up to the recent ATOM Project initiatives. This period of time, thanks to such initiatives, supported by the will of the people, and the wisdom of our President and other moral leaders such as Olzhas Suleimenov, Toktar Aubakirov and others, has propelled our country into a leadership role in nuclear non-proliferation. We are a part of that, and that is what we have to show for 25 years of hard, united work.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many things started crumbling: ideology, principles, morale. I remember the early 1990s – times were tough. They remind me of what I’ve learned about the great depression years in the U.S. I remember, like yesterday, how we had to break chairs and use the debris

ATOM Project Ambassador Karipbek Kuyukovbeing interviewed by German press

to start a fire in our yard to cook the raw meat of a slain sheep. What gave us strength and kept us going was our unity and the common cause – to survive. We gladly shared our last pieces of bread to make sure everyone got an equal part. We gave the last crumbs of bread to our youngsters, because we believed it was they who needed to make a change so nothing like this would happen again to their kids. These times are hard to forget, because they were recent, because they happened to me when I was old enough to remember, and because sometimes, when I am about to throw out a mouldy loaf of bread, I remember that there were times when I would have eaten even that.

After the break-up of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan inherited what was at the time the fourth largest arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world. Had we kept that arsenal …

To read the full editorial on the Huffington Post, click here