Hiroshima Mayor’s Peace DeclarationーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS
Peace declaration. 80 years ago, Hiroshima was strung with bodies too damaged to distinguish man from woman. When Hibaka ignored the many glass shards piercing her body to cremate her father with her own hands. I don’t care if I die. Please give me water, cried another. A woman ignored those pleas and survived. Says she made up for her regrets by fighting to eliminate nuclear weapons. Another hibbaka spent his life alone because the parents of the women he loved refused to let her marry anyone exposed to the bomb. One hibakia leader frequently reminded younger audiences building a peaceful world without nuclear weapons will demand our never give up spirit. We have to talk and keep talking to people who hold opposing views. Today, conveying the ardent thieves for peace derived from hibakshia experiences is more crucial than ever. The United States and Russia still possess about 90% of the world’s nuclear warheads. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the chaos in the Middle East are accelerating military buildups around the world. Feeling the pressure of the situation, policy makers in some countries even accept the idea that nuclear weapons are essential for national defense. This disregards the lessons the world should have learned from past tragedies. They threaten to topple the peaceuilding frameworks so many have worked so hard to build. Despite the current turmoil at the nation state level, we the people must never give up. Instead, we must work even harder to build civil society consensus that nuclear weapons must be abolished for a genuinely peaceful world. Our youth, the leaders of future generations must recognize that misguided policies regarding military spending, national security, and nuclear weapons could bring utterly inhumane consequences. We urge them to step forward with this understanding and lead civil society toward consensus through expanded participation at the grassroots level. In this process, we must all remember to think less about ourselves and more about each other. Thinking of others is how humanity has resolved much conflict and turmoil on our path. to the present day. Clearly, nations too must look beyond narrow self-interest to consider the circumstances of other nations. In expanding grassroots initiatives, solidarity will be indispensable. Exchanges of arts and sports contribute enormously to the culture of peace we seek. Young people can easily take the lead in fostering that culture of peace. For example, through peace centered art and music projects or planting seeds and saplings from atomic bombed trees. These are some of the things they can do in their daily lives. The city of Hiroshima continuously offers opportunities to experience the culture of peace built by Hiroshima’s Hibbakia and other predecessors in their spirit of mutual support. The more our peace culture transcends national borders, the more it will pressure policy makers now relying on nuclear deterrence to revise their policies. Policy makers around the world. Can you not see that security policies derived from narrow self-interest are fermenting international conflict? Nations now strengthening their nuclear arsenals and other military forces must engage constructively in talks aimed at abandoning reliance on nuclear weapons. Please visit Hiroshima. Witness with your own eyes what an atomic bombing does. Take to heart the peaceloving spirit of Hiroshima. then begin immediately discussing a security framework based on trust through dialogue. Japan is the only nation to suffer a wartime atomic bombing. Japan’s government represents a people aspiring to genuine lasting peace. Hiroshima demands it lead the way in unifying our divided world. As president of Mayers for Peace, the world’s largest network of peace cities, Hiroshima will collaborate with our more than 8,500 members worldwide to instill the culture of peace in opposition to military force, urging leaders to revise their policies. We call on Japan to sign and ratify the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons, TPNW, and begin to address the hopes of our hibbakia represented by Nihong Hidango, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and manifest the spirit of Hiroshima. The nuclear non-prololiferation treaty is on the brink of dysfunction. The TPNW should serve as its strong support, keeping it the cornerstone of the nuclear disarmament and non-prololiferation regime. We demand that next year during the first TPNW review conference that Japan participate as an observer. Furthermore, in light of the intensified global challenges of coping with radiation damage due to nuclear testing for all Hibbakia whose average age now exceeds 86 facing myriad hardships caused by the harm to their minds and bodies, we demand that our government strengthen measures of support, including for those living abroad. At this peace memorial ceremony marking 80 years since the atomic bombing, we offer our heartfelt condolences to the souls of the victims of the atomic bombings. We renew our determination to work together with Nagasaki and with like-minded people around the world to reach humanity’s long sought goal, the abolition of nuclear weapons leading to lasting world peace. Mati Kazumi, mayor of the city of Hiroshima. The doves represent peace.
Hiroshima Mayor Matsui Kazumi delivers the city’s “Peace Declaration.” It’s a call for a world without nuclear weapons. #japan #hiroshima #ww2 #peace #nuclear
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