Japan Press Weekly

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2011 July 20 - 26 [ANTI-N-ARMS]

Hibakusha stage sit-in against US nuclear tests

Atomic-bomb survivors (Hibakusha) on July 21 assembled in Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park to hold a sit-in action protesting against U.S. subcritical nuclear tests held in December 2010 and in February this year.

The fact of the U.S. nuclear tests was uncovered on July 19 from a report issued by the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration.

The action was organized by the Hiroshima Prefectural Council against A and H Bombs (Hiroshima Gensuikyo) and the Hiroshima Federation of A-Bomb Victims Organizations (Hiroshima Hidankyo).

They adopted a statement condemning President Barack Obama for “turning his back on the international effort working for a total ban on nuclear weapons and adhering to the possession and further development of nuclear weapons.”

Hiroshima Hidankyo Secretary General Okoshi Kazuo said, “In solidarity with the movement demanding compensation for radioactive damages caused by the Fukushima nuclear accident, we will move forward with our movement for the abolition of nuclear weapons.”

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Peace organizations, including the Japan Confederation of A & H Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo) and the Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo), sent statements of protest to President Obama.

The Hidankyo statement said that conducting the experiments to confirm the reliability of nuclear weapons indicates that “the U.S. government maintains its stance of developing and possessing nuclear weapons and is thus unacceptable to Hibakusha.”

While criticizing Obama for allocating a budget for a nuclear arms buildup, the statement demanded that the president take the lead in concluding an international treaty to ban nuclear weapons and eliminating such weapons without delay.

Gensuikyo in its statement denounced the U.S. nuclear tests for clearly contradicting Obama’s call for “seeking a world without nuclear weapons.” It also urged the president to abandon all plans for nuclear testing and development and to promptly launch an effort to achieve a conclusion of an international treaty banning nuclear weapons.