Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 6. August 2007 / Timeline August 6, 2007
Version 3.55. August 2007, 7. August 2007
08/06/2007
Hiroshimadag
Amerikansk atombombe eksploderer
over den japanske by
Hiroshima, 1945.
08/06/2007
Why Hiroshima Day Events Matter
By Lawrence S. Wittner
The 62nd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima occurs
today, August 6, 2007, bringing with it thousands of commemoration
ceremonies in cities and towns around the world. Such events have
become part and parcel of the nuclear era, and include the lighting
and floating of lanterns in memory of the dead, silent vigils,
religious observances, the chalking of human "shadows" on the
ground, readings of John Hersey's Hiroshima, and leafletting.
As touching as these ceremonies and activities sometimes are, have
they served any practical purpose? A brief survey indicates that
they have.
Fittingly, these ventures began in Hiroshima. On August 6, 1946,
the local branch of the Japanese Association of Religious
Organizations sponsored a Memorial Day, presided over by Buddhist,
Shinto, and Christian clergy. The following August, a broader
coalition of Hiroshima-based organizations sponsored a citywide
peace festival. At the 1947 event, which drew 10,000 people to a
public park, a message was read by the U.S. occupation commander,
General Douglas MacArthur, who emphasized that the development of
the atomic bomb had dramatically changed the nature of war and
threatened the destruction of the human race. Speaking at the same
ceremonies, Hiroshima's new mayor, Shinzo Hamai, organized prayers
against the future employment of nuclear weapons and issued a Peace
Declaration, calling on the world to rid itself of war.
As demonstrations memorializing the atomic bombings became regular
events in Hiroshima, they began to spread to other countries. In
1948, the Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto, a Methodist minister portrayed
in Hersey's Hiroshima, initiated a campaign to have nations around
the world draw upon August 6 as World Peace Day. That year,
citizens in twenty countries responded to his call, holding prayer
meetings and other public gatherings on Hiroshima Day.
Tanimoto had a particular impact in the United States,
where--sponsored by the Board of Missions of the Methodist
Church--he toured during a substantial part of 1948 and 1949,
garnering support from pacifist and religious groups for a
Hiroshima peace center. Thanks to the efforts of Norman Cousins,
Pearl Buck, Hersey, and other prominent Americans, the center was
established in New York City in March 1949. In 1950, it opened in
Hiroshima, where it arranged for the "moral adoption" of atomic
bomb orphans by Americans and undertook welfare services for other
victims of the atomic attack.
Cousins visited Japan in 1949 for the August 6 memorial ceremony,
and returned to the United States with a Hiroshima Peace Petition,
signed by 110,000 residents of that city. Although President Harry
Truman refused to accept the petition, Tanimoto eventually
presented it to Carlos Romulo, President of the U.N. General
Assembly.
From the start, then, there were two themes highlighted by the
Hiroshima Day ceremonies. The first was that nuclear war was such
an abomination that it should never be waged again. The second was
that the development of nuclear weapons brought war itself into
question; or, as some have phrased it, in the nuclear age there is
no alternative to peace.
Over the ensuing decades, peace groups have hammered away at these
two themes--and with some success. Rather remarkably, they have
created mass movements that have played a key role in curbing the
nuclear arms race and in preventing the waging of nuclear war. This
development is unique in human history, for when have
governments--which have waged war for as long as there have been
competing territories--pulled back from its most devastating forms
and abandoned its most destructive implements?
Of course, peace groups have been less successful in bringing an
end to war itself. And yet, there are signs here, too, that some
progress has been made. A United Nations, a European Union, and
other viable international organizations have become vital fixtures
of the modern world. Not only has the planet not erupted into a
third world war since 1945, but--as numerous scholarly studies have
shown--in the last two decades the level of international violence
has declined significantly. This is why the Bush administration,
with its stubborn penchant for military victory, seems so out of
touch with the rest of the world, and even with the American
public.
Of course, for anyone concerned with building a sane and secure
world, these developments, while heartening, are not
sufficient.
Why have the Hiroshima-based arguments for ridding the world of
nuclear war and war itself not had a greater impact? One reason is
that, over the course of thousands of years, governments have had
the prerogative for waging war and, in this connection, employing
whatever weapons they want. The "great powers," especially, do not
look forward to surrendering this prerogative. In addition, the
public is occasionally lured into support for particular wars
thanks to deception, nationalism, and what appear to be (and
sometimes are) genuine threats to their security. Moreover, for
understandable reasons, many members of the public would prefer not
to think too much about nuclear war (i.e. universal doom).
In this context, Hiroshima Day events really do matter. They help
break into the consciousness of rulers and ruled alike, telling
them that nuclear war is really not acceptable. Such events also
remind them that, in the modern world, war itself is an
anachronism--a deadly habit that must be overcome.
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