Hiroshima survivors to visit Dublin

On Wednesday, 17th October, Irish CND will have the privilege of hosting two hibakusha from Hiroshima on a one-day visit to Dublin with Peace Boat, a Japan-based international NGO which is represented on the steering group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize winners. 

Ms Tsukamoto Michiko was 10 years old at the time of the bombing, and Ms Sora Tamiko was 3 years old. Both were affected by radiation exposure in the aftermath of the bombing.

A number of events have been organised in the course of the day, including meeting officials at the Department of Foreign Affairs to discuss Ireland's role in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and a reception hosted by the Lord Mayor. 

They will hold a joint press/political briefing at 16:30 in Buswell's Hotel, followed by a conversation on their experiences and hopes for a nuclear-weapons-free world with local peace campaigners. 

Peace Boat left the Japanese port of Yokohama on September 1st on its current Global Voyage for Peace, and will return there on December 17th, after visiting 24 ports across Asia, the Mediterranean region, western Europe and North and South America. 

Annual commemoration of Hiroshima bombing, Monday, August 6th

The annual commemoration for the victims of the Hiroshima atomic bomb will take place on Monday, 6th August, the 73rd anniversary of the bombing, at 1.10 p.m. at the memorial cherry tree in Merrion Square park, Dublin 2.

An estimated 80,000 people were directly killed by the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, with casualities reaching 140,000 within a year. Approximately 15,000 nuclear weapons remain in the world today. While this is less than the Cold War peak, it is still enough to destroy life on earth as we know it many times over.

The ceremony will take place at the memorial cherry tree planted by Irish CND in 1980. Ms Kotoha Itakura, Political Attachée at the Japanese Embassy in Ireland, and Cllr Claire Byrne, representing the Lord Mayor of Dublin, will speak at the ceremony, as will the President of Irish CND, Canon Patrick Comerford.  There will be short contributions of poetry and music from Irish and Japanese artists (weather permitting) and the laying of a wreath at the memorial tree. Representatives of several other embassies will also be in attendance. 

This annual ceremony gives us all an opportunity to stand in solidarity with the victims of these horrific weapons of mass destruction, and to affirm our determination to work for their elimination, the only way to ensure that the ghastly events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will not be repeated. Please do come and attend this moving and inspiring ceremony if you can. 

On Sunday 5th August, the Galway Hiroshima Peace Event will take place in Eyre Square from 1.00 p.m. The event will include music, dance and an address by Frank Keoghan of the People's Movement. 

The choice for the world in 2018: Fire and fury, or peace?

"They will be met with fire and fury, and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before."

"Processions of ghostly figures shuffled by. Grotesquely wounded people, they were bleeding, burnt, blackened and swollen. Parts of their bodies were missing. Flesh and skin hung from their bones. Some with their eyeballs hanging in their hands. Some with their bellies burst open, their intestines hanging out. The foul stench of burnt human flesh filled the air."

Which is more chilling? Setsuko Thurlow's eyewitness description of the horrific destructive power of the nuclear bomb which obliterated her hometown of Hiroshima in the summer of 1945, or President Donald Trump's thinly-veiled threat to unleash nuclear weapons amid the volatile mix of international relations in the summer of 2017? 

The past year saw nuclear weapons thrust back to the top of news headlines with more prominence than any time since the end of the Cold War. North Korea's missile and nuclear tests, trading provocations with Trump's belligerent rhetoric, returned the spectre of nuclear destruction to public consciousness around the world. As 2017 drew to a close, former chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen warned that the threat of nuclear war is, in his opinion, closer than ever before. 

Concern that nuclear weapons might actually be used (again) is an inevitable consequence of their continued existence. Only by outlawing and eliminating nuclear weapons can the world as we know it be safe from the threat of nuclear destruction. At a time when the structure of life on earth faces unprecedented threats on a huge scale, such as global warming and plastic pollution, getting rid of these ghastly weapons of mass destruction should be a relatively simple step towards a safer world. 

During the past year, despite the shadow of a possible war, we have also seen positive signs that the world has woken up to the need to deal conclusively with nuclear arms. Over 120 countries - a substantial majority of UN member states - took part in two lengthy sessions of negotiations which resulted in the Treaty of on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) becoming a reality in July 2017. From an Irish point of view, it was very positive to see Ireland as one of the proposers of the initial UN resolution which set up the talks, and as a strong advocate for a robust treaty during the negotiations. 

While the new treaty will not eliminate nuclear weapons overnight, it has the power to create a new international norm whereby, for the first time, development, possession, use, and the threat of use of nuclear weapons are clearly illegal. Providing assistance with any of these activities will also be illegal. Ireland was among the first states to sign the treaty when it opened for signature at the UN in September, and Irish CND will continue to work with politicians of all persuasions for speedy ratification of the treaty by the Oireachtas in 2018. 

The award of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) highlighted both the urgency of nuclear disarmament, and the shift in international momentum in favour of meaningful steps towards nuclear abolition. Irish CND is proud to be one of ICAN's partner organisations. The Nobel Peace Lecture, delivered by ICAN's Executive Director, Beatrice Fihn, and Hiroshima survivor, Setsuko Thurlow, sets out a powerful rationale and a clear road map for nuclear disarmament. As Beatrice Fihn said during the lecture: "Nuclear weapons, like chemical weapons, biological weapons, cluster munitions and land mines before them, are now illegal. Their existence is immoral. Their abolishment is in our hands. The end is inevitable. But will that end be the end of nuclear weapons or the end of us? We must choose one." You can view ICAN's latest campaign video, including extracts from the Nobel lecture, here. 

As we look ahead to 2018, we hope that we will see this positive momentum towards a safer world continue to grow and bring results. Formal ratification by Ireland of the TPNW will be a priority for Irish CND's work. We will also work to promote the treaty, and meaningful steps towards disarmament, through our shared work with our international partners.