world_conf

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Make 60th anniversary of A-bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki a turning point

The 2005 World Conference against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs, which marks the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, will be held in Hiroshima and Nagasaki August 1-9. In an interview with Akahata, General Secretary of the Japan Council against A & H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo) Takakusagi Hiroshi talked about the significance of this year's World Conference.

Akahata: What will this year's World Conference be like?

Takakusagi Hiroshi: The general theme of this year's World Conference is "Act now for a peaceful and equitable world without nuclear weapons." This explains what it is going to be like. In this, the 60th year since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we want to make this World Conference as a springboard for accelerating the world's current flowing from war to peace and working for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

This call is being warmly received abroad. The number of international participants will reach 300, the largest since the first World Conference in 1955.

In addition, senior government officials are expected to take part in this year's World Conference, including a chief diplomatic negotiator from Malaysia and the deputy foreign minister of Egypt who will represent New Agenda Coalition countries. So, it will be a kind of major international joint action that involves grassroots anti-nuclear activists, nuclear victims, and government representatives.

What NPT Review Conference showed

During the World Conference, an international youth meeting will be held to help increase worldwide efforts to get nuclear weapons abolished. A large youth participation in the World Conference will make the movement vibrate with hope.

Akahata: The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in May did not produce positive results. How do you think this stalemate can be overcome?

Takakusagi: The unfortunate result of the NPT Review Conference was due to the "adverse currents" created by the U.S. administration which stubbornly rejects the call for the elimination of nuclear weapons.

However, it is important to remember that the Bush administration was basically isolated from the world when it moved to use force to destroy the world order by unilaterally invading Iraq and that it could not crush the growing world current moving toward the abolition of nuclear weapons. This ant-nuclear movement is now gaining in strength.

The non-aligned countries countered the U.S. emphasis on the question of nuclear proliferation by arguing that nuclear weapons abolition is the way the world should take. Even among U.S. allies, Canada and Germany called for the need to make efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons.

Of course, we cannot overlook the Bush administration's dangerous move toward using nuclear weapons in the same way as conventional weapons.

In the coming World Conference, we should put our energy on the effort to contain such dangerous moves with the firm conviction that the world's opinion is in favor of nuclear weapons abolition.

Akahata: The fact that the Koizumi government is uncritically following the U.S. Bush administration reminds us that the Japanese movement has an important role to play, doesn't it?

Takakusagi: I think at no time in history has the Japanese movement's role been more important than it is today.

The problem is that the Koizumi government does not live up to the role Japan should play as the only atom-bombed country with its war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution.

At the NPT Review Conference, the Japanese government representative showed an inability to state clearly that nuclear weapons must be abolished. In dealing with the question of North Korea's nuclear program, Japan should be more active in using its principle that international disputes must be settled by peaceful means. Believe it or not, the Japanese government asked the United States to not give up its policy of the first use of nuclear weapons. This is how the Japanese government is trying to act within the framework of U.S. policy.

World Conference that opens new era

The sub-theme of this year's World Conference is: "An international order of peace and Japanese Constitution's Article 9." We hope that various struggles in Japan converge on the World Conference.

Akahata: It will not be easy to develop national common action. What are the tasks needed to achieve this?

Historically, the Japanese Movement against A & H Bombs twice experienced a split. In the 1960s, it was due to foreign interference in the Japanese movement. The split in the 1980s was associated with a political current arising to accept the Japan-U.S. military alliance and agree to define the abolition of nuclear weapons as an ultimate task instead of as an urgent one.

But we do not say we will not cooperate with others if all are agreed on the appraisal of past issues. What we are trying to do is to increase cooperation and solidarity for the single demand that nuclear weapons must be totally banned. It is from this position that we called for dialogue and cooperation by setting aside differences on other issues.

I believe it important that this year's World Conference set forth a new direction that will open a new page in history in the effort to develop a vast movement for the common cause of abolishing nuclear weapons. I hope our movement will use the World Social Forum and other anti-war movements to increase international cooperation for peace and an equitable world, and go on the offensive. -- Akahata, July 16, 2005