WLOE
e-news: 60th Anniversary Hiroshima-Nagasaki
August 6-9, 2005
August 5th --
In Japan and
elsewhere around the world, the first use of the atomic bomb on civilians is
being commemorated, amidst calls for an end to the nuclear era.
Anniversary Actions:
In the U.S. there
will be major actions at the "core nuclear weapons sites": Livermore
Nuclear Weapons Lab, California; Los Alamos Nuclear Weapons Lab, New Mexico;
Nevada Test Site, Nevada; Y-12 Nuclear Facility, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Details
and links are on the Abolition Now website:
http://www.abolitionnow.org/augustactions.html#us
The same site also offers a 'starting' list of international actions:
http://www.abolitionnow.org/augustactions_intl.html
but there will be literally thousands of events world-wide. The internet calendar
of the German peace movement lists some 200 alone.
Some actions in the UK can be seen on the website of the Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament
http://www.cnduk.org/pages/diary.html
On our site we offer a page with background on the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombing:
http://www.womenandlife.org/WLOE-en/information/peace/japan.html
and one on actions around the anniversary:
http://www.womenandlife.org/WLOE-en/action/alerts.html
Another page
honors the important work of one of our key network activists, Satomi Oba, founder
of Plutonium Action Hiroshima, and a dedicated opponent of nuclear weapons and
power -- worldwide. Her untimely passing in February 2005 has stilled an important
international voice. See her work at:
http://www.womenandlife.org/WLOE-en/information/peace/satomien.html
In 1999, Satomi concluded
an article on "Nukes and Japanese Society" by writing:
"For several years now I have been involved in the anti-nuclear movement
and I have seen many women and children crying, speaking, laughing, singing,
and throwing themselves in front of the authorities. I saw them in Korea, in
Taiwan, in Indonesia, in the Philippines, in Thailand, in India, and in Japan,
too. And I am convinced that women will find an alternative, supporting each
other. For we know that life has to be celebrated."
http://www10.antenna.nl/wise/index.html?http://www10.antenna.nl/wise/509-10/5013.html
We admire her determination to balance the devastation of atomic power with
the vision of a peaceful alternative. She is one of the activists mentioned
in this article by Heather Wokusch:
Women Activists
Fighting Nuclear-Weapons Proliferation
April 2005, Activist Magazine
http://www.heatherwokusch.com/
" Nuclear weapons are at the forefront of today's international conflicts,
yet women are often left out of the loop regarding crucial proliferation decisions.
Determined activists across the globe aim to change that..."
Women, war and peace...
"According
to a recent Zogby poll, there is a large gender gap on the issue of invading
Iraq; women are twice as likely to oppose sending US troops to Iraq than are
men.
It is clear to many women that the United States' aggressive policies in Iraq,
and elsewhere, are making the world less stable and less safe. These policies
will directly and indirectly escalate violence at home and abroad, and women
will be disproportionately affected. For women, this means more physical harm,
sexual violence, displacement, and a much harder struggle to meet the needs
of their families..."
http://www.peace-action.org/camp/cnfp/callweek.html
Women and anti-nuclear activism: In our last newsletter we mentioned
the nomination of 1,000 women peace activists for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.
The website of this project has a page where the nominees are sorted according
to their major area of work. The women listed below represent the many other
women worold-wide working for peace. We want to name and honor and thank them.
Short profiles of their work can be found at the 1000 peacewomen website:
http://www.1000peacewomen.org/eng/html/nominierte/suche.php
(enter keyword: "anti-nuclear activism")
Barbara Gladysch
(Germany), Helen John (United Kingdom), Rebecca Johnson (United Kingdom), Patricia
Gaffney (United Kingdom), Kumiko Yokoi (Japan), Solange Fernex (France), Jo
Vallentine (Australia), Sook-Im Kim (Republic of Korea), Holly Near (United
States of America), Annelise Ebbe (Denmark), Gabriela Ngirmang (Palau), Marilyn
Waring (New Zealand), Marion Hancock (New Zealand), Alla Yaroshinskaya (Russian
Federation), Hilda Lini (Vanuatu), Grace Paley (United States of America), Maria
Reinat-Pumarejo (Puerto Rico), Cora Weiss (United States of America), Rosalie
Bertell (United States of America), Cynthia McKinney (United States of America),
Amelia Rokotuivuna (Fiji), Diana Francis (United Kingdom), Carmen Bigler (Marshall
Islands, Dewe Gorode (New Caledonia), Saskia Kouwenberg (Netherlands), Nabeela
Al-Mulla (Kuwait), Suliana Siwatibau (Fiji), Joan Hinton (China), Muriel Helena
Duckworth (Canada), Zohl de Ishtar (Australia), Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta (Australia),
Natalya Berezhnaya (Russian Federation), Ingrid Eide (Norway), Unutea Hirshon
(French Polynesia), Olga Doronina (Russian Federation), Kavita Shrivastava (India).
Finally, here are two new articles on-line about the anniversary:
"Hiroshima
After Sixty Years: The Debate Continues"
by Gar Alperovitz, August 3, 2005
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0803-26.htm
..."Did the atomic bomb, in fact, cause Japan to surrender? Most Americans
think the answer is self-evident. However, many historical studies–including
new publications by two highly regarded scholars--challenge the conventional
understanding. In a recently released Harvard University Press volume drawing
upon the latest Japanese sources, for instance, Professor Tsuyohsi Hasegawa
concludes that the traditional “myth cannot be supported by historical facts.”
By far the most important factor forcing the decision, his research indicates,
was the Soviet declaration of war against Japan on August 8, 1945, just after
the Hiroshima bombing..."
"Unhappy Anniversary of the Bomb"
By Matthew Rothschild, August 4, 2005
http://progressive.org/?q=mag_wx080405
..."Now, 60 years later, the possibility that the United States would once
again recklessly use nuclear weapons cannot be discounted. We have leaders in
Washington who view atomic weapons as just another hammer in the toolbox.
Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld are dead set on "modernizing" our nuclear weapons,
and they are preparing scenarios for their use..."