Remembering and Debunking 75 Years of Nuclear Deceit

Coretta Scott King joins the 1971 Women's March for Peace, the largest women's anti-nuclear demonstration of the 20th century.  Archival photo.

Decades of U.S. Nuclear Bamboozlement       Finally Acknowledged

 Commemorating Two Barbaric - and Totally Unnecessary - Events

 

  

New on EON's NoNukesCA Blog

 

We Remember and We Are Deeply Ashamed!

As groups around the world virtually gather to commemorate America's Atomic annihilation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, recognition of those unnecessary events' barbarity is beginning to widely dawn.

Does it raise any questions for us about the current industry/government propaganda barrage attempting to sell us the New Nuclear Arms Race?

https://nonukesca.net/commemorating-two-barbaric-and-totally-unnecessary-events/

Global Security Institute: Hiroshima/Nagasaki -- Events to Remember and Prevent

WORKING TO ACHIEVE A PEACEFUL SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FREE FROM THE THREAT OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Dear Friends, One road leads to greener pastures, another to blazing fires.  Mythical thinking is fine for addressing psychological understanding but insufficient for dealing with the laws of the natural world. The myth of a perpetual growth economy that ignores boundaries set by the very climate of the planet is but one example. Failing to be realistic is leading to blazing fires. Slow burn.  Mythical thinking in the development of weapons of mass destruction to enhance national security is similarly unable to produce a road map to peace. Strategic stability will not be enhanced by the use of nuclear weapons in battle as is asserted in the US Joint Chiefs doctrinal statement (https://fas.org/irp/doddir/dod/jp3_72.pdf) nor by a new arms race titled modernization that will squander trillions of dollars. In fact strategic stability regarding nuclear weapons is a mythical abstraction, utterly unverifiable and regularly assaulted by another myth, gaining security through the pursuit of overwhelming military strength. This second myth leads to arms racing, utterly incompatible with the alleged pursuit of strategic stability, and a theft from the resources needed to obtain a just sustainable future based on fulfilling real human security needs.   Realism dictates working to achieve human security. First and foremost in such an endeavor is a cooperative approach to the health of all people everywhere, a direction embodied in the UN Sustainable Development Goals to which all nations are pledged to pursue.   We have a wake up call that can help lead us to that greener pasture. The COVID-19 virus does not recognize distinctions of race, nation, social status, gender, or religion. The vaccine, when it comes, must be understood as a global common good. Its administration requires cooperation at a global level. Is the alternative a vaccine apartheid world? For more information I recommend https://www.vaccinecommongood.org. Similarly, security is a global common good and achieving it requires cooperation, diplomacy, law, and the best of our humanity. .  Failure to recognize the folly of pursuing security through the ongoing readiness to annihilate billions of people with nuclear weapons will lead to the blazing destruction evidenced by the first and hopefully the last uses of these devices: Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  So that we remember the past and pursue realistic ways forward, we share with you notices of several relevant events in which GSI is actively engaged. Please share these notices.  Warmly,

Jonathan Granoff President, Global Security Institute Senior Advisor and Special Representative to the UN for the Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates

Invitation: The 75th Commemorative Remembrance of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, featuring former President of the U.S.S.R. Mikhail Gorbachev, former U.S. Secretary of State George Schultz, and the Mayors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima August 6 and 9, 2020

Join us for an historic event. This one-hour presentation will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki August 6 and 9, 1945, and will honor the lifelong achievements of former President Gorbachev and former Secretary Shultz. The first Voices Youth Award will be presented. The nine actions listed in the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Accord will be introduced. Speakers will include: Kazumi Matsui, Mayor of Hiroshima Tomihisa Taue, Mayor of Nagasaki Former US Senator Sam Nunn Mohamed ElBaradei, former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Beatrice Fihn, Executive Director International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Jonathan Granoff, President Global Security Institute Kehkashan Basu, Winner 2016 International Children’s Peace Prize, Founder and President Green Hope Foundation

REGISTER: https://www.voices-uri.org/registration After you register, you will receive an email with the social media links to the different presentation platforms. VISIT FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ events/1451837814988410/ QUESTIONS? contact@voices-uri.org

BROADCAST TIMES: Thursday August 6, 2020: 5AM PDT San Francisco 8AM EDT New York 2PM UK, 5:50PM Dehli, 9PM Japan 12PM PDT San Francisco 3PM EDT New York, 9PM UK, 9:30PM Delhi, 4AM Japan (Aug.7) 5PM PDT San Fransisco, 8PM EDT New York, 2AM UK (Aug. 7), 5:30PM Delhi (Aug.7), 4AM Japan (Aug 7) Saturday August 8, 2020: 5PM PDT San Francisco, 8PM New York, 2AM UK (Aug.9), 5:30AM Delhi (Aug 9), 9AM Japan (Aug.9) Sunday August 9, 2020: 12PM PDT San Francisco, 3PM EDT New York, 9PM UK, 9:30 PM Delhi, 4AM Japan (Aug.10)

Register

Webinar: The Application of the Timeless Wisdom of Gandhi and King Today with the Hon. Ela Gandhi, Parliamentarian ( South Africa), Peace Activist, Granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi  August 6, 2020 6 pm to 8 pm India Standard Time 8:30 am to 9:30 am Eastern Daylight Time and rebroadcast on Facebook Organized by Department of English, Rajiv Gandhi University in Collaboration with Gandhi-King Initiative Centre, Stanford University, USA & Gandhi King Foundation, Hyderabad, India

The importance of the guidance of Gandhi and King in bringing justice peace and unity into action today. Keynote Address Jonathan Granoff President, Global Security Institute, USA Speakers 1. Ela Gandhi, Gandhi Development Trust. Durban, South Africa. 2. Tore Naerland, Bike for Peace, Norway 3. Christian Bartolf, Gandhi Information Centre, Berlin, Germany 4. Dr. Sriram Sonty, Chicago, USA 5. Willian Arias, Peace Activist, Columbia, US

Register

Watch on Facebook

United Religions Initiative Webinar: Lessons from Nagasaki August 8, 2020 7-8pm, EDT

Panelists: Amb. Thomas Graham, Jr. Barbara Newsome Jon Ramer Sachiko, a Nagasaki survivor.  The webinar will include youth calling for engagement in freeing the world from nuclear weapons and end with Interfaith prayers.  Interfaith Call to Action: The Rt. Rev. William E. Swing Swamini Adityananda Saraswati Jonathan Granoff Vincent Leong Dot Maver Lessons Into Action: Youth Voices Skyler Oberst Isaac Thomas

Click to Participate: August 8, 7 PM EDT

Senator Douglas Roche: 75 years after Hiroshima, I wonder if the goal of abolishing nuclear weapons is just a dream

Former senator Douglas Roche was Canada’s Ambassador for Disarmament from 1984 to 1989. In 2010, he was made an honorary citizen of Hiroshima for his work on nuclear disarmament. At 8:15 on the fateful morning of Aug. 6, 1945, as the Second World War was drawing to a close in the Pacific, an American atomic bomb exploded 580 metres above the heart of Hiroshima, Japan. Thermal rays emanating from a gigantic fireball charred every human being in a two-kilometre circle. Old and young, male and female, soldier and civilian – the killing was utterly indiscriminate and, in the end, 140,000 people were dead. Three days later, similar atomic carnage obliterated Nagasaki. That was the beginning of the nuclear age, 75 years ago. I was 16 at the time and I remember sitting at the kitchen table, listening to the radio news about “a new kind of bomb.” The destruction was so massive that government officials were predicting the war in the Pacific would be over in a matter of days. My parents sighed with relief: I would be spared having to go to war. There’s a dwindling number now of hibakusha – the name for Japanese people who survived the attacks – which means there are few left with direct memory of the horror of mass destruction. Soon Hiroshima and Nagasaki will be but history. But they are not history for me. With 13,400 nuclear weapons possessed today by nine countries, they are a living reality. The United Nations’ top official on disarmament affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, visited Ottawa recently and said that the risk of use of nuclear weapons deliberately, by accident or through miscalculation, “is higher than it has been in decades...” Keep Reading on Daily Globe and Mail PNND: Calendar of Official and International Events Commemorating Hiroshima/Nagasaki nuclear bombings 75th anniversary August 6 and 9, 2020 mark the 75th anniversaries of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There will be official commemoration ceremonies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki organised by these cities, as well as events organised by civil society around the world, many of which are happening online due to the pandemic. Abolition 2000, the global civil society network to eliminate nuclear weapons, has compiled a calendar of international and national commemoration events, including key events on Hiroshima Day, key events on Nagasaki Day, plus links to calendars of local events in Germany, the United Kingdom and the USA. For more information on the official commemoration events click here for national and international events and actions. Jane Goodall and Parliament of Parliament of the World Religions Present a Must-Watch Video GSI Advisory Board member and world-renowned primatologist Jane Goodall speaks with other world leaders on the value and threat to our tropical rain forests. Click on image to watch. GLOBAL SECURITY INSTITUTE RELIES ON DONORS LIKE YOU FOR OUR WORK AND OUR EXPANSION. PLEASE CONSIDER TAKING A MOMENT TO ASSIST US IN COMPLETING OUR VITAL WORK. THANK YOU: DONATE ‌

Global Security Institute | 220 East 49 Suite 1B,   New York, NY 10017

The Lessons We Haven't Learned

Seventy-five years after the U.S. atomic bombings of Japan, we remain perched on the precipice of unparalleled catastrophe.

As published in The Progressive

By Helen Caldicott, Beyond Nuclear's Founding President

Free Video Presentation | Catholics Commemorate 75 Years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Catholics Commemorate 75 Years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki

This pre-recorded webcast features: ​Most Reverend Mitsuaki Takami, archbishop of Nagasaki and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan Most Reverend David Malloy, bishop of the Diocese of Rockford, Illinois and chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Dr. Maryann Cusimano Love, associate professor of international relations at the Catholic University of America On August 6 and 9, 1945, two atomic weapons were detonated over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombs shattered the cities, immediately killing upwards of 80,000 people in Hiroshima and 35,000 people in Nagasaki. For months and years afterward, people continued to die from burns, radiation sickness, and other injuries. On a visit to Nagasaki in November 2019, Pope Francis spoke forcefully on the abolition of nuclear weapons, saying “A world of peace, free from nuclear weapons, is the aspiration of millions of men and women everywhere. To make this ideal a reality calls for involvement on the part of all.” This year on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the bombings, prominent Catholics in the United States and Japan are working together in solidarity and friendship to promote a world free of nuclear weapons. Building on the Holy Father’s appeal, this commemoration recalls in solidarity the tragic devastation wreaked by nuclear warfare. Archbishop Mitsuaki Takami and Bishop David Malloy offer short reflections on the meaning of the bombings today. Archbishop Takami recalls the personal tragedies inflicted on his family, Bishop Malloy speaks to the need for nuclear disarmament, and together they offer prayers for peace. The event is moderated by Dr. Maryann Cusimano Love and incorporates a visual memorial of the destruction in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  This event is hosted by Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and the Catholic Peacebuilding Network, in partnership with the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Keough School of Global Affairs; Northwestern University’s Sheil Catholic Center; the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan, Japan Catholic Council for Justice and Peace; the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Office of International Justice and Peace; Catholic University of America’s Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies; the International Federation of Catholic Universities; and Pax Christi International. This is one of a series of initiatives of the Project on Revitalizing Catholic Engagement on Nuclear Disarmament. related | The mayor of Nagasaki’s peace message to Illinois and the world

Upcoming Event
August 6, 2020
Pondering Hiroshima 

In this conversation, scholars and religious leaders will reflect upon the legacy and tension caught up in the event that was Hiroshima. Berkley Center Senior Fellow Fr. Drew Christiansen, S.J., will be joined by Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the fourth Archbishop of the Military Services USA; Andrew Bacevich, professor emeritus of international relations and history at Boston University; and Joseph Capizzi, ordinary professor of moral theology at the Catholic University of America.

FCNL Nuclear Calendar

Calendar | Nuclear Issues | Subscribe | Submit Calendar Items It is Monday, August 3, 2020. As reflected in the links below, many around the world will pause and reflect during this week's anniversaries of the 1945 nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. Unless otherwise noted, all times are local to the event host. Depending on Congress's timing and actions this month, the Nuclear Calendar will publish email updates less regularly during the month of August. Monday, August 3, 1:00 PM Catholics Commemorate 75 Years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki [Online] Georgetown University, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs Washington, DC Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and the Catholic Peacebuilding Network (​Most Reverend Mitsuaki Takami, Archbishop of Nagasaki and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan; Most Reverend David Malloy, Bishop of the Diocese of Rockford, Illinois, and Chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Dr. Maryann Cusimano Love, Catholic University of America); pre-recorded webcast.  Event Information  Monday, August 3 Senate Votes on Closing Debate on Nomination of Mark Menezes to be Deputy Secretary of Energy U.S. Capitol Washington, DC U.S. Senate  Event Information  Tuesday, August 4, 9:00 AM Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on Nominations SD-50 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC To consider the nomination of Shon Manasco, to be Under Secretary of the Air Force; John E. Whitley, to be Director of the Department of Defense Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation; Michele A. Pearce, to be General Counsel of the Department of the Army; Liam P. Hardy, to be a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. COVID-19 restrictions remain in effect.  Event Information  Wednesday, August 5, 10:00 AM Senate Enviroment and Public Works Committee Hearing on S.___, American Nuclear Infrastructure Act of 2020 SD-106 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC COVID-19 restrictions remain in effect.  Event Information  Wednesday, August 5, 10:30 AM Pakistan’s National Security Outlook [Online] U.S. Institute of Peace Washington, DC U.S. Institute of Peace (Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on National Security and Strategic Policy Planning Moeed Yusuf)  Event Information  Wednesday, August 5 75th Anniversary of the Bombing of Hiroshima Washington, DC Livestream of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony 2020 begins on August 6 at 6:30 AM Japanese Standard Time/August 5 at 5:30 PM U.S. Eastern Daylight Time.  Event Information  Thursday, August 6, 9:00 AM Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on Nominations SD-50 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC To consider the nominations of: Lucas Polakowski, to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs; Jason Abend, to be Inspector General of the Department of Defense; Bradley Hansell, to be Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security; Louis Bremer, to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict. COVID-19 restrictions remain in effect.  Event Information  Thursday, August 6, 11:00 AM #stillhere: 75 Years of Shared Nuclear Legacy Washington, DC A national virtual event featuring highlights from local events nationwide commemorating the 75th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. All times U.S. Eastern Daylight Time. Additional commemorative events can be found at https://www.hiroshimanagasaki75.org/local-events.  Event Information  Thursday, August 6, 9:00 AM 75th Commemorative Remembrance of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Introducing the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Accord [Online] Online San Francisco, CA Voices for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons (multiple speakers)  Event Information  Thursday, August 6, 5:00 PM Baltimore's Hiroshima Commmemoration Near Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus Baltimore, MD Baltimore Nonviolence Center, Baltimore Peace Action, Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility, Homewood Friends Meeting, Maryland Peace Action and Prevent Nuclear War Maryland. Wear a mask, and do social distancing.  Event Information  Saturday, August 8 75th Anniversary of the Bombing of Nagasaki Washington, DC Livestream of the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony begins on August 9 at 11:00 AM Japanese Standard Time/August 8 at 10:00 PM U.S. Eastern Daylight Time.  Event Information  Sunday, August 9, 1:00 PM Baltimore's Nagasaki Commemoration Homewood Friends Meeting Baltimore, MD Baltimore Nonviolence Center, Baltimore Peace Action, Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility, Homewood Friends Meeting, Maryland Peace Action and Prevent Nuclear War Maryland. Refer to the link for more information.  Event Information  Sunday, August 9, 2:00 PM #stillhere: 75 Years of Shared Nuclear Legacy Washington, DC A national virtual event featuring highlights from local events nationwide commemorating the 75th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. All times U.S. Eastern Daylight Time. Additional commemorative events can be found at https://www.hiroshimanagasaki75.org/local-events.  Event Information  Sunday, August 9, 2:00 PM Sacramento Regional August Peace Event 2020 [Online] Physicians for Social Responsibility Sacramento Chapter Davis, CA 75 Years After Hiroshima/Nagasaki: Rolling Back the Nuclear Arsenal is a 60-minute film presented via livestream featuring: Setsuko Thurlow (hibakusha), Critical Issues Forum (Monterey), environmental speakers, elected officials, and actions that citizens can take.  Event Information  Sunday, August 9, 7:00 PM A Discussion on the Connections Between Black Lives Matter and the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki [Online] Baltimore, MD Baltimore Nonviolence Center (Dr. Vince Intondi, Montgomery College)  Event Information  An email version of the Nuclear Calendar is published every Monday morning when Congress is in session.  Founded by David Culp. Edited by Anthony Wier and Jeff Pudlo. The Nuclear Calendar has been supported in part with funds from the Nuclear Threat Initiative. Its contents represent the views, findings and opinions of the authors, and are not necessarily those of the Nuclear Threat Initiative. Additional support comes from the Ploughshares Fund, an anonymous foundation, and the individual contributors and supporters of the Friends Committee on National Legislation and the FCNL Education Fund.