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Nobody with any sense wants to see another Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Yet
after 30 years of talking about disarming their nuclear weapons, the
world's nuclear states still hold up to 30 000 nuclear weapons. It is
time for people to speak up for peace and demand the end to the
continued threat of nuclear weapons.
TAKE ACTION
- Make a peace flag
- View the peace flag photo gallery.
- Attend a - Hiroshima and Nagasaki commemoration this weekend.
- Call on your mayor to create peace.
- Learn more about our peace campaign.
This weekend Hiroshima and Nagasaki commemorations are happening around Australia. We have been asking people to create a peace flag to bring along. Hundreds of Australians have responded to our call to create a flag and we expect thousands to attend rallies and vigils all around Australia. Make sure you are one of them.
This year's Hiroshima events are supported by more than 40 Australian mayors who have signed up as 'Mayors for Peace'. This is a global movement of civic leaders who have responded to the Mayor of Hiroshima's call for Mayors to represent ordinary citizens in a call for the total elimination of nuclear weapons by 2020.
"In any war, it is cities and the people living in them that suffer. As Hiroshima and Nagasaki attest, this suffering becomes total destruction when nuclear weapons are involved,” said Hiroshima’s Mayor Akiba. “To protect their citizens' lives, it is incumbent on all mayors to make every effort to prevent war and eliminate nuclear weapons.”
The US is adopting an increasingly aggressive nuclear doctrine, which includes the use of pre-emptive nuclear strikes even against countries without nuclear weapons. The US is also determined to build a new generation of nuclear weapons – smaller, more targeted bombs with names like ‘Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator’. It's a stance that is inflaming tensions in Asia and the Middle East.
Former US Secretary of Defence Robert Macnamara told the ABC's Background Briefing that current US nuclear policy is ‘insane’.
“The US have deployed 6,000 strategic nuclear warheads, each one on average with a destructive capability 20 times that of the Hiroshima bomb... 2,000 are on hair-trigger alert, ready to be launched on 15-minute warning by one man without any consultation, the President. That’s insane. And it’s insane secondly, because it stimulates others, the North Koreas, the Irans to try to move towards development of nuclear weapons, which is contrary to their national security interest, and certainly contrary to ours.”
Hopes that the US and the world's other nuclear powers – Russia, the UK, France, China (and the unofficial nuclear states – Israel, India and Pakistan), would stick to their commitments under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty to disarm their nuclear arsenals, were dashed in May this year. The Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference made no progress towards setting a timetable for disarmament.
The world's leaders need to see that we, the people, demand a nuclear free world. Make this Hiroshima Day a powerful message for disarmament with your presence.
TAKE ACTION
- Make a peace flag
- View the peace flag photo gallery.
- Attend a - Hiroshima and Nagasaki commemoration this weekend.
- Call on your mayor to create peace.
- Learn more about our peace campaign.
This weekend Hiroshima and Nagasaki commemorations are happening around Australia. We have been asking people to create a peace flag to bring along. Hundreds of Australians have responded to our call to create a flag and we expect thousands to attend rallies and vigils all around Australia. Make sure you are one of them.
This year's Hiroshima events are supported by more than 40 Australian mayors who have signed up as 'Mayors for Peace'. This is a global movement of civic leaders who have responded to the Mayor of Hiroshima's call for Mayors to represent ordinary citizens in a call for the total elimination of nuclear weapons by 2020.
"In any war, it is cities and the people living in them that suffer. As Hiroshima and Nagasaki attest, this suffering becomes total destruction when nuclear weapons are involved,” said Hiroshima’s Mayor Akiba. “To protect their citizens' lives, it is incumbent on all mayors to make every effort to prevent war and eliminate nuclear weapons.”
The US is adopting an increasingly aggressive nuclear doctrine, which includes the use of pre-emptive nuclear strikes even against countries without nuclear weapons. The US is also determined to build a new generation of nuclear weapons – smaller, more targeted bombs with names like ‘Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator’. It's a stance that is inflaming tensions in Asia and the Middle East.
Former US Secretary of Defence Robert Macnamara told the ABC's Background Briefing that current US nuclear policy is ‘insane’.
“The US have deployed 6,000 strategic nuclear warheads, each one on average with a destructive capability 20 times that of the Hiroshima bomb... 2,000 are on hair-trigger alert, ready to be launched on 15-minute warning by one man without any consultation, the President. That’s insane. And it’s insane secondly, because it stimulates others, the North Koreas, the Irans to try to move towards development of nuclear weapons, which is contrary to their national security interest, and certainly contrary to ours.”
Hopes that the US and the world's other nuclear powers – Russia, the UK, France, China (and the unofficial nuclear states – Israel, India and Pakistan), would stick to their commitments under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty to disarm their nuclear arsenals, were dashed in May this year. The Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference made no progress towards setting a timetable for disarmament.
The world's leaders need to see that we, the people, demand a nuclear free world. Make this Hiroshima Day a powerful message for disarmament with your presence.
