2026-04-07 15:50 UTC
No matter how awful a president we South Africans elect, no matter how despicable his beliefs are, he cannot nuke anyone. This is because we chose to get rid of all of our nuclear weapons in the late 1980s, inviting in foreign inspectors in 1991 to certify that we had no stockpile and no ability to create one.
South Africa is a long way from perfect but we are the only people in the world democratic enough to have rid ourselves of weapons of mass destruction, and thereby limited the powers of any future bad presidents ahead of time.
Replies (5)
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@passenger@kolektiva.social 2026-04-07 15:52
People have asked me, as a pacifist, what the right move is for them when their leaders are suddenly intent on nuclear destruction. My answer is, you gotta plan this stuff ahead of time. It's not hard. We did it, you could do it too.
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@HayiWena@mastodon.online 2026-04-07 15:51
@passenger Oh yes, the moral high ground of getting rid of your nukes before turning over the keys to a Black majority democratic government. I remember it well.
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@HayiWena@mastodon.online 2026-04-07 17:07
@mawhrin @passenger Oh you read that article when he passed away last year, cool, good for you. My dad did work at Koeberg once, but please lecture me some more.
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@rightsprung@c.im 2026-04-07 16:59
@passenger Canada never had them but also passed a law banning them on our soil.
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@LeDiva@lediva.masto.host 2026-04-07 17:22
@passenger but you also gave the world Elon Musk