Nuclear remembrance and action week - August 6-9, 2015

Action ideas for the 70th anniversary of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Peace & Planet - the Global Mobilization for a Nuclear-Free, Peaceful, Just, and Sustainable World – has called for actions and events around the world to commemorate the 70th anniversaries of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Peace & Planet will host an online database of such actions and events.
Global Wave 2015, a project of Peace & Planet, has prepared this short guide with suggested actions you could take. Please inform us of any actions/events organised in your town or by your organisation. Send event/action notices to [email protected].

Global appeal (petition) for nuclear abolition

The Japan Council against Atomic & Hydrogen Bombs (Gensuikyo) is circulating a Global Appeal for a Total Ban on Nuclear Weapons. 8 million people have signed so far. Help us get to 10 million endorsers by the end of Nuclear remembrance and action week.

Actions:

• Sign the global appeal;
• Organise signature gathering events in local shopping centres, market places, universities, work places, churches, mosques, synagogues, temples (and other places of worship);
• Circulate the appeal to your social network.

Origami crane

It is believed that folding 1,000 origami cranes brings one a peaceful and healthy life. Following the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, origami crane folding became an action for peace and nuclear abolition, particularly for young people.

This arose from the story of Sadako Sasaki, a child at the time of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. Sadako contracted leukaemia from the radioactive fallout. She tried to make 1000 cranes but passed away before she could finish. Her classmates finished the 1000 cranes for her, and then made crane making their message for peace. They raised funds for a memorial to Sadako in the Hiroshima Peace Park. Origami crane making is now taught in schools around the world.

Action: Organise a crane-making workshop at your local school, youth group, workplace or place of worship.

Resources:

• Video on folding a paper crane;
• The story of Sadako and the 1000 origami cranes;
• The Peace Crane Project.

Religious and faith-based communities

Religious and faith based communities can reflect on the morality of nuclear weapons, the role that ethics can play to abolish nuclear weapons, and the peace-making power of religious leadership and action.

Actions:

• Organise a special service at your church, mosque, synagogue, temple or other place of worship.
• Organise an interfaith statement – or a joint statement of religious leaders and parliamentarians in commemoration of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Resources:

• Nuclear Disarmament for Religious Leaders and Communities. Available in Arabic, English, German, Japanese and Spanish).
• Joint Statement of Japanese Religious Leaders and Parliamentarians commemorating the 70th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
• Religions for Peace.

Engage your legislator/parliamentarian

Parliamentarians play a key role in determining government policy regarding nuclear abolition. They are able to ask questions in parliament (to which governments have to reply), propose motions, release joint statements and organise events.

Over 800 parliamentarians from across the political spectrum have joined Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND) in order to enhance their impact globally. The Inter Parliamentary Union, a body of over 160 parliaments, has adopted a resolution (by consensus) calling on parliaments to work with governments to eliminate the role of nuclear weapons in security doctrines and negotiate a nuclear weapons convention.

Actions:

• Invite your legislator/parliamentarian to join PNND and attend the 2015 PNND Assembly in Prague;
• Ask your legislator/parliamentarian to ask a question in parliament, or submit a motion, commemorating the 70th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and calling on the government to support the total abolition of nuclear weapons;
• Organise a joint statement of religious leaders and parliamentarians in commemoration of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Resources:

• Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament
• World body of parliaments calls for negotiations to abolish nuclear weapons
• Joint Statement of Japanese Religious Leaders and Parliamentarians commemorating the 70th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Join the international fast for remembrance week

For four days, from August 6-9, there will be a number of group fasts for nuclear abolition. Currently these are planned in Dijon-Valduc (Centre for the modernisation of French Nuclear weapons); Bordeaux-Mégajoule, (laser research center for perfecting new nuclear weapons); Büchel, Germany (Nato base where 20 nuclear weapons are stationed); London, UK; Livermore Lab, California (NIF laser for perfecting new nuclear weapons); Los Alamos, New Mexico (laboratory for the modernisation of US nuclear weapons); and Kansas City, Missouri (National Nuclear Security Administration centre).
Action: Organise a four-day fast in your city centre
Resource: International Appeal of fasters commemorating Hiroshima and Nagasaki Days.

Engage your mayor and city council

Over 6000 cities are members of Mayors for Peace, which is led by the Mayor of Hiroshima. The Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign has projects which member cities can support – including ‘I was her age’ and ‘Cities are not Targets’.

Actions:

• Organise a commemoration event at your city council or at a suitable site in your city (Peace Garden, Peace memorial….). Invite the mayor to speak. Present the Hiroshima Peace Declaration which will be released for August 6;
• Ask your city council to adopt a motion honouring the 70th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and supporting the call for the total abolition of nuclear weapons. The resolution could also support the ‘I was her age’ and ‘Cities are not Targets’ projects.
• Organise an exhibition in city hall during the week, or a showing of the video I was her age.

Resources:

• Resolution of the US Conference of Mayors on June 22, 2015 commemorating the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and calling for nuclear abolition;
• UNFOLD ZERO: Will the United Nations ban nuclear targeting of populated areas?

Engaging peace, justice and environment constituencies

One of the missions of Peace & Planet is to broaden and deepen the connections between nuclear disarmament and other related issues and movements. This includes those against militarism and war, to reverse climate change and protect the environment, to move public spending from militaries to social and economic needs, to end poverty, and to support civil rights and end racism.

Actions:

• Commemorate August 9 as both Nagasaki Day and the UN International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
• Outreach to peace, justice and environment movements to inform them of Aug 6-9 activities and to find out what actions they are doing in which you could support or participate.

Resource: International Peace Bureau – the international coalition of grass-roots peace and justice organisations, with a focus on disarmament for sustainable development.

Nuclear disarmament film/video event

Organise a nuclear disarmament film event. Documentaries include Nuclear Savage and In my Lifetime. Movies include Thirteen Days (based on the Cuban Missile Crisis), Crimson Tide and The Peacemaker.

Share your action

Send event/action notices to [email protected]
Post your action on facebook and share with www.facebook.com/globalwave2015
For more information visit www.peaceandplanet.org and www.globalwave2015.org