August 7, 2015
A Hiroshima Day rally of the 2015 World Conference against A and H Bombs was held on August 6 which marked 70 years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima with 5,500 people, including 147 delegates from 20 countries, taking part. The conference adopted a resolution, “Appeal from Hiroshima”, calling for the scrapping of PM Abe’s war bills and the abolition of nuclear weapons.
At a session titled “From A-bombed city of Hiroshima to the world”, Hiroshima Hibakusha and this year’s nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize Setsuko Thurlow (now living in Canada) and Korean A-bomb survivor Kang Hojung appeared on the stage.
Nobel Peace Prize nominee Thurlow said that without global solidarity, people’s global target of banning nuclear weapons can’t be achieved. She called on participants to fight for a peaceful and just world without nuclear weapons.
Another speaker who is from Nagasaki, Hibakusha Taniguchi Sumiteru, who is also a nominee for this year’s Noble Peace Prize, appeared in a recorded video message. He was absent from the conference due to ill health. Taniguchi in the video said, “The current government is trying to turn the clock back to the era of violence. I feel rage about the war bills which will inevitably lead to wars.”
UN Acting High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Kim Won-soo and Cuban government representative Fernando Gonzalez Llort also gave speeches. The conference received a video message from Austrian Disarmament Ambassador Alexander Kmentt.
Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo delivered a speech in solidarity.
Shii said that the war bills, which allow the transport of nuclear weapons, should be killed. He called on participants to unite the movement seeking a world without nuclear weapons with the movement opposing the war bills and work to build a peaceful Japan as well as global peace.
Shii stressed that the citizens’ movement led by Hibakusha plays a vital role in realizing negotiations for a nuclear weapons convention and opening the path for a world free from nuclear weapons. He said, “The voices and efforts of each and every one of you could change Japanese society and the international society.”
At a session titled “From A-bombed city of Hiroshima to the world”, Hiroshima Hibakusha and this year’s nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize Setsuko Thurlow (now living in Canada) and Korean A-bomb survivor Kang Hojung appeared on the stage.
Nobel Peace Prize nominee Thurlow said that without global solidarity, people’s global target of banning nuclear weapons can’t be achieved. She called on participants to fight for a peaceful and just world without nuclear weapons.
Another speaker who is from Nagasaki, Hibakusha Taniguchi Sumiteru, who is also a nominee for this year’s Noble Peace Prize, appeared in a recorded video message. He was absent from the conference due to ill health. Taniguchi in the video said, “The current government is trying to turn the clock back to the era of violence. I feel rage about the war bills which will inevitably lead to wars.”
UN Acting High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Kim Won-soo and Cuban government representative Fernando Gonzalez Llort also gave speeches. The conference received a video message from Austrian Disarmament Ambassador Alexander Kmentt.
Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo delivered a speech in solidarity.
Shii said that the war bills, which allow the transport of nuclear weapons, should be killed. He called on participants to unite the movement seeking a world without nuclear weapons with the movement opposing the war bills and work to build a peaceful Japan as well as global peace.
Shii stressed that the citizens’ movement led by Hibakusha plays a vital role in realizing negotiations for a nuclear weapons convention and opening the path for a world free from nuclear weapons. He said, “The voices and efforts of each and every one of you could change Japanese society and the international society.”
