Speakers from Hiroshima Peace Museum

Ms. Watanabe Speaks - photo from last night's event.

Last night was the opening reception for the exhibit of “Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Image and stories from eyewitness accounts”. It was also the time for Ms. Watanabe, a survivor of the bombing of Hiroshima, and the peace delegation from Hiroshima, to speak. This happened at UNCA in Karpen Hall.

On our seats in the room for the presentation, there were tiny folded paper cranes, with two in a small bag. They were left there to promote peace and were made by the residents of Hiroshima. I ended up with four of them, in pink, purple, light green and dark green. The first speaker was from the Hiroshima Peace Museum.

He talked about the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which was established 40 years ago to eliminate nuclear weapons. It was re-promised in 2000 under Clinton and in 2005, the current president of the US said “no” to this treaty. This speaker said that we are on track to let everyone have nuclear weapons, which means that they are likely to be used. He also said that the people of the US make up 4% of the world’s population but use up 25% of the world’s oil, and we are destroying our world’s ecosystems. He said that we have to decide between solving problems in the world by violence or by rule of law. The people at the Hiroshima Peace Museum are very worried about the possibility of using nuclear weapons and feel that the peace community is not doing enough.

They are only here on tour as a warning to the future.

Ms. Watanabe is a survivor of the bombing of Hiroshima 63 years ago. She showed a photo of her family – mother, father, two brothers and grandmother. She said it was the first photo of the family all together, and was also the last. She showed a diagram of the city of Hiroshima and how it was affected by the bomb. Her home did not burn, but it partially collapsed. She had left the house on an errand, but returned home to get a parasol, since it was hot. This likely saved her life. She said the sky was bathed in an indescribable light that was yellow and orange. She crouched into the protective posture that she was taught at school, and she said she did not get scared until after the blast. Her mother came out of the house bleeding from her jaw (from glass from the windows) and they could not get her mother to a hospital, since it was burning. She saw people walking around with the skin from their arms hanging off of their hands. They were walking around with their hands out in front of them, with the skin dangling from their hands, held on only by the finger nails.

Her neighbor’s house was standing, but the glass from the windows had cut the 2 month old baby’s throat. That child died quickly. No one was in any shelters at the time of the blast, because they had been declared ‘all clear’ earlier. A neighbor’s son had his stomach outside his body, since it had exploded. People were trying to get out of the city crying ‘water, water, water’ while they were walking. Her father came home burned all over, and burned people laid in rows in the hospital. Her family took shelter a bit further out from the city where they knew people who would take them in. As they got there, the sky over Hiroshima was bright red. Her father asked for water, which they were told not to give to him. He died a few days later. Her brother was at home at the time of the explosion, but he had got into the city to look for his father. He was exposed to the radioactive ashes, and died of leukemia in middle age. When he first got sick, they said he had “A-bomb disease” which made many people sick.

Hiroshima bomb was small compared to today’s bombs. If we had nuclear war today, it could mean the annihilation of the human race. The Hiroshima Peace Museum is popular for school trips in Japan, and there are 32 survivors who work there and speak to the school children every day. Ms. Watanabe said that she was angry with the presidents who gave orders to drop the bombs, not with the military people who followed the orders.

The delegation from Hiroshima felt the best vehicle or organization for disarmament was the Majors for Peace project, and that they have a petition to sign to support this. They are also working on Parliamentarians for Peace. The World Court Project is asking if nuclear weapons states are acting in good faith. October 24, 2008 will be the first day of nuclear disarmament week. The speaker stressed that much grassroots work needs to be done since UN ambassadors say their population would not support or understand if their leaders took a stand against the US. They are putting a lot of pressure on Obama to get rid of all nuclear weapons.

A local veteran (former Marine) got up to speak. She said that she had rung the Peace Bell in Hiroshima and she gave a peace button to Ms. Watanabe. Then she said that we have to stop forgiving our military, since they are following unlawful orders (a violation of article 15 of the Code for Military Justice, I believe). She said it used to be honorable to get out and fight and kill our enemies, but that today we are advocating the death of others just because they are different, and this is not honorable or just. Ms. Watanabe said that if a Japanese soldier had said that during the war, he would have been killed immediately.

Another speaker pointed out that we can no longer solve problems by war (power) but will have to solve them by love.

The exhibit will be up until August 8, 2008. This has been sponsored by the Center for Diversity Education at UNCA and other various peace groups in the area.

On July 11, 2008, there will be two movies shown at UU church in Asheville on nuclear weapons and the human future. This starts at 7 PM.

On August 6, 2008, there will be a movie shown at UNCA called “White Light/Black Rain” about the bombing of Hiroshima.

On August 9, 2008, there will be a peace lantern ceremony at Sequoyah Hills Park in Knoxville Tennessee at 8:15 PM. I have heard that this is beautiful.

Please sign the petition for the Cities Are Not Targets project, that is part of the Mayors for Peace.