OMNI Hiroshima
Nagasaki Remembrance and
Nuclear Abolition Campaign 2022
Bill
Offenloch. “Kings Bay Plowshares
Seven.” The Catholic Worker (Jan.-Feb. 2021). The seven were sentenced for their
disarmament action at the Trident naval base in Georgia. The author describes each defendant and
selects key statements from their defenses.
They speak of their faith in the divine reality that sustains them. Humanists might call them, as would Daniel
Ellsberg, miracles. I recommend this newspaper. –Dick
Chomsky:
From Hiroshima to Fukushima, Vietnam
to Fallujah, State Power Ignores Its Massive Harm
STORYMARCH 11, 2014
Watch Full Show
Volume 53%
Listen
Media Options
TOPICS Japan Nuclear Power
Hiroshima & Nagasaki Fukushima
GUESTS Noam Chomsky world-renowned political
dissident, linguist, and author. He is Institute Professor Emeritus at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he has taught for more than 50 years.
LINKS See
Democracy Now’s coverage of Japan
This is viewer supported news. Please do your part today.
DONATE
World-renowned political
dissident, linguist, author and MIT Professor Noam Chomsky traveled
to Japan last week ahead of the three-year anniversary of the Fukushima crisis.
Chomsky, now 85 years old, met with Fukushima survivors, including families who
evacuated the area after the meltdown. “[It’s] particularly horrifying that
this is happening in Japan with its unique, horrendous experiences with the
impact of nuclear explosions, which we don’t have to discuss,” Chomsky says.
“And it’s particularly horrifying when happening to children — but
unfortunately, this is what happens all the time.”
Transcript
AMY GOODMAN: We
end our Fukushima anniversary special with the words of world-renowned
political dissident, linguist, author, MIT Professor Noam Chomsky,
who also traveled to Tokyo last week. Noam Chomsky is now 85 years old. He met
with survivors from Fukushima, including families who evacuated the area. Their
meeting was filmed by the independent online media channel, OurPlanet-TV.
This is Professor Chomsky speaking in Japan.
NOAM CHOMSKY: Particularly
horrifying that this is happening in Japan, with its unique, horrendous
experiences with the effect of the nuclear explosions, which we don’t have to
discuss. And, of course, it’s particularly horrifying when it’s happening to
children, who are defenseless and innocent. But, unfortunately, this is what
happens all the time. I mean, I had two daughters about—when they were about
the age of your daughter, they would come home from school telling us how in
school they were taught to hide under desks in case there was a nuclear war.
This was right after the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the world came very close
to nuclear war. And children were very upset. I mean, I knew children who were friends
of families who were sure they were never going to survive because the world
was going to be destroyed by a nuclear war. But the official line was: “Don’t
worry; everything is under control.” The same was true—again, my daughters,
when they were about her age, we stopped feeding them milk, because the
scientists, who were concerned, recognized that there was a very high level of
strontium-90 in the milk that was coming from atomic explosions the U.S. was
carrying out, many open-air explosions. And the government assured everyone
that there was no problem, but we just—a lot of people, like us, just stopped
feeding the children, gave them only powdered milk, which came from before the
explosions.
It happens all the time. So, right now, for example, in Iraq,
there is a city, Fallujah, which was attacked by U.S. forces using weapons that
no one understands, but they leave a high level of radiation. And there’s
studies by Iraqi and American doctors showing a very high level of cancer among
children, far higher than before, in the whole neighborhood of Fallujah. But
the government denies it. The U.S. government denies it. The Iraqi government
doesn’t function. The international organizations refuse to look. So it’s all
being carried out by independent organizations and citizens’ groups.
And this is simply everywhere. I mean, in 1961, the
United States began chemical warfare in Vietnam, South Vietnam, chemical
warfare to destroy crops and livestock. That went on for seven years. The level
of poison—they used the most extreme carcinogen known: dioxin. And this went on
for years. There’s enormous effects in South Vietnam. There are children today
being born in Saigon hospitals, deformed children, and horrible deformations.
Government refuses to investigate. They’ve investigated effects on American
soldiers, but not on the South Vietnamese. And there’s almost no study of it,
except for independent citizens’ groups.
It’s—can add case after case, but it’s a horrifying
story, and particularly horrifying for you because you’re suffering from it.
But that’s the way governments operate: They protect themselves from their own
citizens. Governments regard their own citizens as their main enemy, and they
have to be—protect themselves. That’s why you have state secret laws. Citizens
are not supposed to know what their government is doing to them. Just to give
one final example, when Edward Snowden’s revelations appeared, the head of U.S.
intelligence, James Clapper, testified before Congress that no telephone
communications of Americans are being monitored. It was an outlandish lie.
Lying to Congress is a felony; should go to jail for years. Not a word.
Governments are supposed to lie to their citizens.
AMY GOODMAN: Author
and MIT Professor Noam Chomsky, speaking during his visit to Tokyo
last week. Special thanks to OurPlanet-TV. You can visit our website to see our
three days of coverage
from Tokyo, Japan,
at democracynow.org. . . .
Abel I think I have a blog for the following; if not
please make one, and include the above posted 7-27-22
OMNI Hiroshima Nagasaki Remembrance
and
Nuclear Abolition Campaign 2022
Compiled by Dick Bennett
for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology, August 6, 2022
HIROSHIMA DAY
CONTENTS
"The Day
After" film screening and discussion online (or earlier YouTube)
APCJ, WAND. Hiroshima annual commemoration at the
Promenade in Hillcrest, Little Rock
Union
of Concerned Scientists. Commemorate the atomic bombings in Hiroshima &
Nagasaki
Coalition
for Peace Action. Be Active Today to Prevent Being Radioactive Tomorrow!
Your event is coming up!
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Montréal for a World
BEYOND War 8-5-22
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8:14 AM (6 hours ago)
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to me
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Dick,
The event you signed up for, "The
Day After" film screening and discussion, is coming up on
Saturday, August 06, 2022 at 12:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time (US & Canada)
(GMT-04:00). Here are the event details:
"The Day After" film
screening and discussion
Start: Saturday, August 06, 2022 12:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time (US
& Canada) (GMT-04:00)
End: Saturday, August 06, 2022 3:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time (US &
Canada) (GMT-04:00)
This is a virtual event
Host Contact Info: Montreal@WorldBEYONDWar.org
Add this event to your calendar: Apple Google Outlook Outlook Web Yahoo
Find the time in your time
zone using this converter.
Here is the Zoom link to join the film
& discussion on August 6 at 12:00pm Eastern:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89132779712?pwd=c2Z6T3d3TlVYUFJ2ZkFxZWFZL2JRQT09
Meeting ID: 891 3277 9712
Passcode: DayAfter6!
Or if you'd like to watch the film in
advance, here is the link to watch
it on YouTube.
If you watch the film in advance,
please note that the presentations and discussion part of our event
will begin at approximately 2:10 pm EDT, so be sure to join us then.
See you then,
-- Montreal for a World BEYOND War
Montreal for a World BEYOND War brings together activists
who believe that war and violence are unnecessary and beneath us as a
species that aspires to achieve equality, compassion, ecological
balance and an understanding of the oneness of all existence. We
organize and attend rallies, protests, educational events and more.
Please join us!
Montréal pour un monde sans guerre rassemble des militants et
militantes qui croient que la guerre et la violence sont inutiles et
indignes d'une espèce qui aspire à l'égalité, = l'équilibre écologique
et la compréhension de l'unicité de toute existence. Nous organisons et
participons à des rassemblements, des protestations, des évènements
éducatifs et plus encore. Joignez-vous à nous !
Donate to support our
people-powered movement for peace.
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Hiroshima annual commemoration, on
August 6, 2022, at the Promenade in Hillcrest, Little Rock
You’re
invited!
Join us at our annual event commemorating August 6, 1945, the fateful dropping
of the world’s first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan, and its
citizens by American forces towards the end of WWII.
It takes
place at the Promenade, next to Hillcrest on Kavanaugh Blvd on August 6; the
program begins at 7 pm, but come early at 6:45 and help make posters. Comments
or remarks during the program will come from our “Conversations,” which we will
encourage from any participant. Given
the state of the world today, with serious changes confronting everyone, we’ve
decided it is time to devote to hearing from “us,” from our “Conversations,”
what have we to say about things, about atom bombs, domestic politics, the
future, about scandal and ethics and even wars?
We’ll
remember Hiroshima, its deplorable destruction and deaths, the condition of our
nuclear arsenal, while feeling free to address other issues at large in the
world. Our “Conversations” will, we
hope, lead us to re-dedicate our efforts to both listen to our fellow-citizens
and to act together for desirable change.
Signed,
Arkansas Coalition for Peace & Justice (ACPJ)
Womens’
Action for New Directions (WAND)
For more information, contact John Coffin at 501 952 8181 or
at joticof@aol.com
July 25
Commemorate the atomic bombings in Hiroshima & Nagasaki
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Union of Concerned
Scientists 8-5-22
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ACT NOW
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8:20 AM (4 hours ago)
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Dear Dick,
The anniversaries of the 1945 atomic bombings in Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, Japan, are an invitation to mourn, reflect, and act. We're taking
this moment to join thousands around the world to share a message of hope
and action against the threat of nuclear weapons.
We invite you to fold an
origami crane and share it on social media with the hashtag
#CranesForOurFuture, along with a caption about what a world free of
nuclear weapons means to you. If
you are not on social media, you can still take action.
When the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, tens of thousands of civilians were killed instantly. By the end
of 1945, the blast, burns, and radiation from the atomic bombings had
killed more than 210,000 people. Survivors, called Hibakusha, suffered not
only physical aftereffects of radiation such as cancer, but also life-long
psychological trauma and social discrimination from the stigma of being a
survivor.
Despite the stigma, many Hibakusha have been fighting
tirelessly towards a world without nuclear weapons.
"We Hibakusha are
not merely survivors of the atomic bombing. We are the ones who have been
taking action to save mankind from this crisis...I'm still here to tell you
our ardent and sincere desire of all the Hibakusha. Please learn, think,
speak and act to abolish nuclear weapons, as citizens of the earth, and as
scientists with your precious and noble mission." -
Masako Wada, Assistant Secretary General Japan Confederation of A- and H-
Bomb Sufferers organizations
We won't sugar coat it—we have a long way to go to achieve a
world free from nuclear weapons threats. The US Congress
just gave hundreds of billions of dollars to the Pentagon, defense
contractors are using the war in Ukraine as a justification to build
unnecessary and destabilizing new nuclear weapons, and President Joe Biden
is not doing enough to set us on a safer course.
But there have also been recent victories, including a
two-year extension of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, progress on
the Treaty of the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and Chicago becoming
became the largest midwestern city to pass a Back from the Brink
resolution, calling on President Biden and Congress to reduce the threat of
nuclear weapons.
We need to keep the momentum going, and one way to do so is
to use social media to shine a
spotlight on the critical threat that nuclear weapons pose.
On these anniversaries, UCS feels more committed than ever to
keep fighting for victories that will continue to reduce nuclear threats.
To build on these successes and get us closer to a world without nuclear
weapons, we need your help to spread the word.
Mark the anniversaries of the
Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings by folding a paper crane, a
universal symbol of peace, and sharing your vision for a safer world, on
social media and beyond.
Sincerely,
Madison Arnold-Scerbo
Outreach & Communications Specialist
Global Security Program
Union of Concerned Scientists
P.S. – Want to join others in your community commemorating
these anniversaries? Check out this calendar showing
local in-person and virtual Hiroshima and Nagasaki commemoration events
compiled from our partners at Physicians for Social Responsibility.
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Science for a healthy
planet and safer world
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Receive opportunities
to defend science from UCS on your cell phone: Text SCIENCE to 67369
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Be Active Today to Prevent Being Radioactive Tomorrow!
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Coalition for Peace
Action <cfpa@peacecoalition.org> 8-5-22
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9:41 AM (2 hours ago)
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THE COALITION FOR PEACE ACTION (CFPA)
* 40 Years of Peacemaking *
www.peacecoalition.org
Dear Dick,
As the 77th anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on
August 6 and 9 approach, I was struck by UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres' warning in his August 1 address to the Nuclear Nonproliferation
Treaty Review Conference, “Humanity is just one misunderstanding, one
miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation.”
The latest of many examples of miscalculations by world leaders
was the extreme one of Putin's assumption that Ukranians would welcome Russia's
invasion of Ukraine and that he would take Kiev within days. We are now six
months into that catastrophic war, with no end in sight. Moreover, the danger
of it turning into a nuclear war remains real, as Russia has a policy of initiating
the use of tactical nuclear weapons if they are on the verge of losing a war.
On August 3, I submitted this op-ed titled Be Active Today to Prevent Being
Radioactive Tomorrow! Top experts are
saying that another use of nuclear weapons in war since 1945 has not been due
to prudent policies, but has been "mostly luck." There is an
urgent need to revitalize and rapidly enlarge the nuclear weapons abolition
movement for humanity to respond in time to prevent nuclear annihilation.
I deeply appreciate the support of people like you who have sustained
nuclear weapon abolition activism over time, but we must rapidly increase our
organizing to prevent nuclear war. We can only do that with your
help. At this time when we will commemorate the anniversaries of the first
two uses of nuclear weapons, below are some ways you can help.
· Attend either of
both of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Commemorations CFPA is co-sponsoring: in person on Sunday, August 7 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church
in Camden; and in person or online on Tuesday, August 9 in Princeton. We plan to send a
follow-up email on Monday about whether the Princeton event will be at the
rain site, so please be watching for that. Even if you are too far away to
attend in person, you can watch the Livestream.
· Forward my op-ed
and/or the above Commemorations to your contacts to urge them
to read and/or attend. There is also a one page hard copy flyer of the Princeton Commemoration you can use to hand
to contacts you may see in person.
· Click here or below to contribute to CFPA. We are currently
in the summer doldrums of fundraising, so donating now as generously as you can
gives us the financial resources to ramp up our organizing as strongly as
possible, especially as we approach the crucial 2022 elections!
Sincerely,
The Rev. Robert Moore
Executive Director, Coalition for Peace Action &
Peace Action Education Fund
40 Witherspoon Street, Princeton, NJ 08542
Everything following disappeared 8-5, but reappeared 8-8. I sent the above out 8-5, and added the below
to the blog 8-8
Aug. 9 Hiroshima/Nagasaki Commemoration in Princeton features
Nuclear Experts, Music, Origami Cranes
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Coalition for Peace
Action <cfpa@peacecoalition.org> 8-1-22
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THE COALITION FOR PEACE ACTION (CFPA)
* 40 Years of Peacemaking *
www.peacecoalition.org
Dear Dick,
Every year since our founding in 1980, CFPA has sponsored an
annual Commemoration of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We must
remember the terrifying reality of those bombings, to motivate and inform the
continued pursuit of our founding goal of the global abolition of nuclear
weapons. That is the only sure way we can ensure these
omnicidal weapons will never again be used. CFPA's 2022 Hiroshima/Nagasaki Commemoration will be in
person at 7 PM on Tuesday, August 9, the anniversary of the
Nagasaki bombing.
Tell Congress: Nuclear Testing Survivors Deserve Our Support
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Nuclear Weapons
Updates 8-4-22
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Thu, Aug 4, 2:21 PM (1
day ago)
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to me
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View online ›
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Dear James,
Seventy-seven years ago
this week, a nightmare unfolded in Japan.
Two nuclear bombs,
dropped from American B-29s on Aug. 6 and 9, leveled the cities of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki. At least 110,000 people—mostly civilians—were killed. Thousands
more died in the coming weeks, months, and years due to radiation exposure.
With that carnage came
an enduring lesson: The world can never know true peace so long as
nuclear weapons exist.
The threat of nuclear
confrontation with Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran is growing. Right
here in the United States, thousands continue to suffer the health
consequences of nuclear testing without proper compensation from the
government.
We can chart a better
future together. Here are two ways for you to act:
· Write
Congress: Urge your lawmakers to support
the RECA Amendments of 2021 (H.R. 5338) to address the harm caused by U.S.
nuclear testing.
· Cranes
for Peace: Fold an origami paper crane as part of the #CranesForOurFuture campaign and
share a message on social media about what a world free of nuclear weapons
means to you.
Every voice matters. We
hope you’ll join us in taking action!
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Sincerely,
Allen
Hester
Legislative Representative
Nuclear Disarmament and Pentagon Spending
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Update your contact information.
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LOOKING BACK AT EARLIER OMNI REMEMBRANCES
Greg Mitchell interviewed by Amy Goodman. “Atomic Cover-Up: The Hidden Story Behind the
U.S. Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”
AUGUST 09, 2011. Atomic
Cover-Up: The Hidden Story Behind the U.S. Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Aug 09, 2011
Watch Full Show
Volume 53%
· Greg Mitchell editor
of Nuclear Times magazine from 1982
to 1986. He has written widely about the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic
bombings, including Hiroshima in America: A Half Century of Denial,
with Robert Jay Lifton. His latest is Atomic Cover-Up: Two U.S.
Soldiers, Hiroshima & Nagasaki and The Greatest Movie Never Made. Mitchell
is a daily contribute to TheNation.com and has been chronicling the lead-up to
the bombing in a series of blog posts called “Countdown to Hiroshima 1945.”
LINKS
ATOMIC COVER-UP: Two U.S.
Soldiers, Hiroshima & Nagasaki, and The Greatest Movie Never Made,"by Greg Mitchell (Sinclair
Books). “From Hiroshima to Fukushima: Lessons for Today's Nuclear
Crisis.” By Greg Mitchell. (The Nation, August 8, 2011). Democracy
Now!’s Reports on Japan’s
Nuclear Crisis.
This is viewer supported news. Please do your part today. DONATE
As radiation readings in
Japan reach their highest levels since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power
plant meltdowns, we look at the beginning of the atomic age. Today is the 66th
anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki, which killed some 75,000 people
and left another 75,000 seriously wounded. It came just three days after the
United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing around 80,000 people
and injuring some 70,000. By official Japanese estimates, nearly 300,000 people
died from the bombings, including those who lost their lives in the ensuing
months and years from related injuries and illnesses. Other researchers
estimate a much higher death toll. We play an account of the 1945 atomic
bombing of Nagasaki by the pilots who flew the B-29 bomber that dropped that
bomb, and feature an interview with the son of Pulitzer Prize-winning
journalist George Weller, who was the first reporter to enter Nagasaki. He
later summarized his experience with military censors who ordered his story killed,
saying, “They won.” Our guest is Greg Mitchell, co-author of Hiroshima in America: A Half Century of
Denial, with Robert Jay Lifton. His latest book is Atomic Cover-Up: Two U.S. Soldiers, Hiroshima & Nagasaki and The
Greatest Movie Never Made.
Transcript MORE
https://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/9/atomic_cover_up_the_hidden_story
A look back at
OMNI’s H-N Remembrance and Abolition of Nuclear Weapons
Contents of OMNI’s Hiroshima-Nagasaki Newsletter, August 6, 2014 (now titled
Anthology)
OMNI’s Hiroshima-Nagasaki Remembrance,
August 10, 2014
Dick, Bibliography: No Rationalizations for
Hiroshima/Nagasaki, Abolish Nuclear Weapons
Gerry Sloan, “6 August 1945”
UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon
Noam Chomsky, “Hiroshima Day,” 2014
David Swanson, Truman’s Motives
John Pilger, Lies About Hiroshima, Lies
Today
Hiroshima Day, August 6, 2014, Google
Search
Anti-Nuclear Weapons Organizations,
Google Search
War Resisters League, Uranium’s Legacy
and Nuclear Free Zones
A BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY QUESTIONING THE BOMBINGS OF
HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI (Causes, Consequences) and ADVOCATING THE ABOLITION OF
NUCLEAR WEAPONS. Prepared by Dick Bennett for OMNI’s 2014
Hiroshima-Nagasaki Remembrance: A New Generation of Truth.
UNDERSTAND THE BOMBINGS OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI
Pearl Harbor: No Choice But War—for the Japanese. . .and the
US
Roland Worth, Jr. No Choice But War: The United States
Embargo Against Japan and the Eruption of War in the Pacific. 1995. The US
instituted a severe embargo “knowing full well its probable result.
Hence. . .the Pacific war was caused by the United States launching a policy of
economic destruction against the Japanese nation” (218).
Surrender Imminent, Soviet Invasion August 9, 1945
Tsuyoshi Hasegawa. Racing the Enemy: Stalin,
Truman, and the Surrender of Japan. 2005. “In his 2005 book, Racing the Enemy,
Hasegawa puts forward the view that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were
not the main decisive factor in the Japanese decision to surrender,
ending World War II,
specifically the Pacific Theater.
Instead, Hasegawa looks to the breaking of the Neutrality
Pact by the Soviet
Union, and the imminent fall of Manchuria and Korea to the Soviet
invasion of Manchuria.[3] This
view is in contrast to earlier critics of the bombing, who argued that US
President Harry S. Truman's
underlying objective was showcasing US military might, as a deterrent to Soviet
leader Joseph Stalin's
ambitions. Hasegawa emphasizes the extent to which Japanese decision-making was
independent of the nuclear attacks. According to British historian Geoffrey
Jukes: "[Hasegawa] demonstrates conclusively that it was the Soviet
declaration of war, not the atomic bombs, that forced the Japanese to surrender
unconditionally."[4]
Bombings Did Not End WWII in the Pacific
In the piece below,
John Pilger readily debunks the myth that the bombing of Hiroshima was either
needed or intended to end the war in the Pacific. . . . Judith Norman
“The Lies Of Hiroshima Are The Lies Of Today Aug 06, 2008” By John
Pilger
http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/3578
Kill Japanese and
“Harry Truman and Memory of Mass Murder”
By David Swanson 06 August 2013.
High officials intended to kill as many
Japanese as possible. Since then, the US
has threatened to use nuclear weapons a dozen times.
Revenge
“America's Habit of Revenge” by James Carroll.
Published on August 5, 2003 by the Boston Globe. [Also published in Carroll’s book, Crusade:
Chronicles of an Unjust War. 2014. Carroll was an USAF General, and
his magnificent book about the Pentagon, House of War, won the
National Book Award. –Dick]
Alternatives Not Tried, War Crimes Committed
Are There Any [Good] Arguments for Nuking Hiroshima? by Bretigne Shaffer
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2011/08/bretigne-shaffer/are-there-good-arguments-for-nuking-japan/
The Bombs were not the only options available
to the US. Truman and his administration wished to hit the Japanese, and
in doing so they committed two of the most atrocious of all war crimes—the
deliberate murder of several hundred thousand innocent civilians.
