Hiroshima rejects rhetoric of revenge--Akahata 'Current' column, August 7When the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the then Pope protested against the U.S. Government. U.S. President Harry Truman in a letter replied that one has to respond to beasts with beastly ways. The Japanese Imperial Army was certainly brutal, and the U.S. president was enraged at the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and the killing of POWs by the Japanese forces.
The brutality of the enemy, however, doesn't justify the use of atomic bombs, which was a genocide in the name of revenge. In the words of Muranaka Yoshio, a peace activist in Hiroshima, the United States also "turned into a beast."
By contrast, the peace movement in Hiroshima was set born when the people of Hiroshima got over the reflex urge for revenge. At first, the mood in Hiroshima was that of a grudge against the United States. Gradually, Hibakusha (A-bomb survivors) reached an awareness that the most important thing was to never again let such a brutal thing take place in the world.
Today, the United States is resorting to the rhetoric of retaliation. It dares to hint at the possibility of using nuclear weapons in its war against terrorism.
The "2002 Peace Declaration" which Hiroshima City Mayor Akiba Tadatoshi delivered at the peace memorial ceremony on August 6 referred to the Hibakusha's frustration. The city's peace declaration grieved that Hibakusha's call for taking the "path of reconciliation" to "sever chains of hatred, violence, and reconciliation" has been abandoned. It urged U.S. President Bush to visit Hiroshima to encounter the "human legacy." This demand may have struck hard on the ears of Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro, who regards himself to be allied with Bush. (end)