WASHINGTON - August 2 - U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex - Sixty years after U.S. atomic bombs destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, survivors, children of survivors, and other radiation victims will take part in coordinated protest actions at U.S. nuclear weapons facilities to mark the 60th observance of the bombings with National Days of Remembrance and Action on August 6th and 9th, 2005.
“Hibakusha,” survivors of the nuclear bombs dropped by the U.S. on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, will visit active nuclear weapons research and production sites to deliver their message to the world: “No More Hiroshimas! No More Nagasakis! Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Now!” They will be joined by thousands of Americans at peace events in California, Nevada, New Mexico, Tennessee and Texas, to demand a fundamental shift in U.S. nuclear policy, an end to the development and production of nuclear warheads and delivery systems, and the immediate commencement of negotiations for the elimination of nuclear weapons worldwide.
On August 6th, demonstrations at the Nevada Test Site, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, will memorialize the countless victims of nuclear weapons, including uranium miners, production workers, atmospheric testing “downwinders” and hibakusha, and call for an end to nuclear weapons research, production and testing by the U.S. as an essential step towards the global abolition of nuclear weapons.
Recognizing the significance of this 60th anniversary, Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), on July 20, introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives calling for and outlining a comprehensive nuclear disarmament program. H. Res. 373, “Recognizing the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and calling on the President to engage in nonproliferation strategies designed to eliminate these weapons of mass destruction from United States and worldwide arsenals,” is available at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.RES.373.
On August 9th, local groups across the country will hold candlelight vigils at City Halls and other community events calling for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. Some groups will chalk outlines of human bodies on streets and sidewalks, recalling the shadows left by victims who were instantly vaporized by the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki . (http://www.shadowprojecthome.org)
A complete calendar of August 6th and 9th National Days of Remembrance and Action events and links to local sites is available at http://www.wagingpeace.org/august6and9
A press packet with additional information is available at: http://www.abolitionnow.org/augustpress.html
“NO NUKES! NO WARS!”
“The bombs being upgraded at the Y12 Plant in Oak Ridge today cast a shadow over the next century. We urge everyone who dreams of peace to take action, to join with the hibakusha who witnessed Hiroshima and Nagasaki to say NEVER AGAIN!” - Ralph Hutchison, Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, Oak Ridge, Tennessee (865) 483-8202
“The United States leads the global nuclear arms race. If we want to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, we have to stop it here.” - Amy Schulz, Nevada Desert Experience, Las Vegas, Nevada (702) 646-4814
"While thousands of miles and the Pacific's great ocean separate us from Hiroshima , we do have something in common: we have been witnesses to the horrors of nuclear weapons. As victims and survivors, we will do our part to eradicate this evil from the earth. And with the help of God and the support of universal friends we shall prevail." - Tony de Brum, Lolelaplap Trust, Republic of the Marshall Islands, a resident of the Northern Marshall Islands for the entire 12 years of the U.S. atomic and thermonuclear testing program in that country. At 9 years old he witnessed the BRAVO shot that terrorized his country. Mr. de Brum will speak in Nevada .
“On this horrific anniversary of the atomic bombing of Japan , the U.S. government should be offering an apology to the Japanese people. Instead, the U.S. is designing new earth penetrating nuclear bombs, threatening the annihilation of generations to come. We're calling on Congress to not only take deeper cuts out of nuclear weapons funding, but to fundamentally reorient U.S. nuclear policy.” - Tara Dorabji Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment (CAREs), Livermore, CA (925) 443-7148
“The U.S. launched an illegal war on Iraq based on a lie that Iraq had nuclear weapons. In reality it's the United States that is threatening other countries with nuclear strikes. The worldwide abolition of nuclear weapons is a core issue for the anti-war movement. That's why we're saying “NO NUKES! NO WARS!” – Leslie Cagan, National Coordinator, United for Peace and Justice (212) 868-5545
“The ‘do as we say, not as we do' U.S. nuclear weapons policy is dangerous, hypocritical and unsustainable, as well as immoral and illegal. As the only country that has used nuclear weapons in war, the U.S. must face up to the atrocities it committed in 1945 as a first and necessary step towards delegitimizing and eliminating all weapons of mass destruction worldwide.” – Jackie Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation in Oakland, California cell: (510) 306-0119
“Nuclear arms are the very height of violence and cruelty. We condemn the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , however we have never demanded ‘retaliation.' But from the beginning we have been asking the U.S. government to make an apology and to show its sincerity through an act: to realize its “unequivocal undertaking” to abolish its nuclear arsenals. Our answer to the atomic bombing, the greatest war terrorism, was and is ‘Never More Hibakusha, elimination of nuclear arms.'” – Mr. Satoru Konishi, Hiroshima survivor ( http://www.afsc.org/newengland/pesp/Hibakusha.htm )
“There will be no security for America or our world unless we take all steps necessary for nuclear disarmament. The measure that I introduced, H. Res. 373, calls on President Bush to ‘step up to the plate' and lead the world by ensuring America's fulfillment of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and reducing with the goal of eliminating America's nuclear arsenal.” - Representative Lynn Woolsey ( http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.RES.373 )
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