On 10 January 2012, in view of the escalating global crisis, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock one minute on, taking it to 5 minutes to midnight. Midnight on the symbolic clock represents the end of civilisation: armageddon.
The clock was last placed at this close to midnight in January 2007 when the scientists explained that the ‘level of danger has escalated precipitously’; they warned ‘We stand on the brink of a second nuclear age. Not since the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has the world faced such perilous choices.’
In January 2010 the clock was moved back to six minutes to midnight as the group believed world leaders were trying to address global threat issues. In the statement announcing the recent change to five minutes to midnight the scientists stated ‘in many cases, that trend has not continued or been reversed.’
In 2007 Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! published a series of articles on the crisis facing the world, entitled ‘Five Minutes to Midnight’, which we believe our online readers will find of interest.
The last article of the 5-part series concluded,
‘We have no option but to get informed and to organise against the monopoly corporations and their political parties and governments. We who live in the imperialist countries must make solidarity with those in the oppressed countries who resist imperialism. We must support and learn from the Cubans who have resisted the mightiest imperialist power for so long and have begun to build a better world that inspires hundreds of millions of people in Latin America and across the globe. Above all – we must organise.’
All 5 articles can be read here on this site by following the links below.
- Part 1 – US and Israeli preparations for an attack on Iran, including the possibility of a nuclear attack
Five minutes to midnight – Part I - Part 2 – China’s challenge to US attempts to gain space domination and European capitalism’s tensions with the US over Iran.
Five minutes to midnight – Part II - Part 3 – The US need to establish regional allies to ensure its global reach.
Five minutes to midnight – Part III - Part 4 – The deteriorating economic condition of US imperialism, which is undermining its global ambitions.
Five minutes to midnight – Part IV - Part 5 – How the pursuit of profit and power is pushing the world to the brink of catastrophe
Five minutes to midnight – Part V
