The Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security
The 2020 World Conference against A and H Bombs
Watch Online: August 2, 6, 9 at 10:00 am-12:30 pm (JST); 03:00 am-05:30 am (CET); 09:00 pm-11:30 pm (EDT, previous day)
(August 1, 2020) — The 2020 World Conference has moved online with the International Meeting on August 2; Hiroshima Day Rally on August 6; Nagasaki Day Rally on August 9.
Please join live with many grassroots Japanese peace activists and important international speakers, including: Nakamitsu Izumi, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs; Amb. Syed Hasrin Aidid, Permanent Representative of Malaysia to UN; Setsuko Thurlow, Hiroshima Hibakusha; Hiroshima/Nagasaki Mayors; Kate Hudson, CND Secretary General; Philip Jennings, IPB Co-Chair; Beatrice Finh, ICAN Secretary General and many others. English translation is available for registered participants online.
Registration: http://www.antiatom.org/english/world_conference/
Contact: World Conference Organizing Committee: intl@antiatom.org
On August 6 and 9 you can join Hiroshimanagasaki75.org’s nationwide eight-hour virtual commemorations at https://www.hiroshimanagasaki75.org/events
You can watch a recording of our excellent webinar with Sueichi Kido, Secretary General of the Japanese Confederation of A- & H- Bomb Organizations, the historian Gar Alperovitz, and Poor People’s Campaign Co-Chair Rev. Liz Theoharis below:
A recent Massachusetts Peace Action (MAPA) webinar, “Fund Health Care Not Nuclear Warfare,” featuring Joseph Gerson, Elaine Scarry of Harvard University, Bill Hartung of the Center for International Policy, and Shally Gupta Barnes of the Poor People’s Campaign can be below:
Here are two resources that will take you more deeply into the human meanings of the Atomic Bombings than almost anything else.
First is Sumiteru Taniguchi’s memoir, The Atomic Bomb on My Back. Translated from the Japanese and edited by Joseph Gerson, it provides the painful history of one of the most tortured A-Bomb survivors, his courageous commitment to live a loving and full life, and the story of the creation and activities of the Hibakusha movement for nuclear weapons abolition and to secure government assistance. The book is available pre-ordered online or with the gift of a $100 contribution to the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security.
The other is the searing 17-minute Hiroshima Nagasaki 1945, comprised of film footage taken by Japanese photographers and locked away in a Pentagon vault for 20 years to prevent the Soviet Union from using it for propaganda purposes. It’s upsetting to watch, but like the video of George Floyd’s murder, it documents truths that we must know:
ACTION: A fact sheet you can use for writing letters to the editor and op-eds can be found at https://www.afsc.org/document/remembering-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-fact-sheet
• You can sign and circulate the Hibakusha Signature Appeal at: https://www.hiroshimanagasaki75.org/hibakusha-appeal
• For those of you in Massachusetts, you can find a listing of local events at:
The Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security advocates for peace and disarmament with justice. Our priorities include working for Common Security diplomacy among the great powers, as well as serving as a bridge between peace and nuclear disarmament movements in the US, Europe and Asia, and contributing to intersectional organizing.
Free Online Screening: “The Vow from Hiroshima”
World BEYOND War
(August 1, 2020) — August 6, 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. To commemorate the anniversary, we’re offering free online access to the film, “The Vow from Hiroshima,” on August 5 to August 7 (6:00pm ET). The screening is limited to 100 viewers, so register today to reserve your spot!
When you register, you will get the link to view the film online anytime during that time frame. When you register, you will also receive a Zoom link to join a live, online discussion to share your thoughts about the film and hear from other World BEYOND War members around the world on Friday, August 7 (7:00pm-8:00pm Eastern Time; GMT-4).
The Vow from Hiroshima. The Vow from Hiroshima is an intimate portrait of Setsuko Thurlow, a passionate, 85-year-old survivor of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. Her moving story is told through the lens of her growing friendship with a second-generation survivor, Mitchie Takeuchi.
Setsuko was miraculously pulled out of a burning school building after the bomb was dropped. She was unable to save her other 27 classmates who were burned to death. That experience shaped her life forever and she endeavored to keep a pledge she made to her friends — that no one should ever again experience the same horrible fate.
The film is a timely exploration of the global dangers of nuclear weapons and provides an insider’s perspective as we see Setsuko campaign with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). The culmination of Setsuko’s decades of activism is her acceptance speech at the 2017 Nobel Peace Awards.
David Swanson, Co-Founder/Executive Director of World BEYOND War, praised the film saying “Setsuko not only found a public voice speaking about the victims of war, but helped build an activist campaign to abolish nuclear weapons that has created a treaty ratified by 39 countries and rising — a campaign focused on educating people about the past victims and potential future victims of war . . . . What if we were to take Setsuko’s work and accomplishments not as a freak occurrence to be marveled at, but as an example to be replicated?”
World BEYOND War is a global network of volunteers, activists, and allied organizations advocating for the abolition of the very institution of war. Our success is driven by a people-powered movement — support our work for a culture of peace.
