By Leonard Eiger Originally published by the National Catholic Reporter on Aug 23, 2021 “I am grateful for having been invited to speak to you on disarmament because it forces me to a kind of personal disarmament. This is a subject I have thought about and prayed over for many years. I can recall vividly hearing the news of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. I was deeply shocked. I could not then put into words the shock I felt from the news that a city of hundreds of thousands of people had been devastated by a single bomb. Hiroshima challenged […]
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Welcoming the people of the Marshall Islands to Ground Zero Center
Welcoming the people of the Marshall Islands – Hiroshima-Nagasaki Day Weekend at Ground Zero Ctr. and the Pacific Northwest Peace Walk July 24- August 9, 2021 By Senji Kanaeda, Nipponzan Myohoji Na Mu Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo On August 7, 2021, the day after the Hiroshima Day Lantern Ceremony in Seattle, special visitors were received at the Ground Zero Center for nonviolent action (founded in 1977). These special visitors were 25 people from the Marshall Islands. The United States military conducted 67 tests of nuclear and hydrogen bombs in the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific over a period of […]
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A HIROSHIMA GRANDMOTHER’S PLEA TO AMERICANS
As the United States pushes the world closer to nuclear war, stories of atomic bomb survivors continue to urge us to resist idolatry and dismantle our nuclear weapons. By Rev. John Dear Originally published at WagingNonviolence.org, August 5, 2021 Recently, a peace activist friend told me about visiting a physical therapist to help with some issues. They got to talking, one thing led to another, and the therapist told an unusual story. Years ago, she spent her junior year in college in Hiroshima, Japan. She stayed with a family near the local university to help learn the language. The family’s […]
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We Must Listen to the Voices of the Hibakusha!
This weekend people around the world are commemorating the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The historical importance of these anniversaries is of special significance because we must maintain the collective consciousness of the bombings or humankind is certainly doomed to the consequences of continuing as slaves to the myth of the necessity of nuclear weapons for our protection. Of special standing in the telling of this history are the Hibakusha, the survivors of the atomic bombings. Some have told their stories to be recorded to share with future generations, while some have yet to do so. As the Hibakusha […]
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Frida Berrigan, Living with World’s End in Plain Sight
GZ Editor’s Note: The following article by Frida Berrigan was originally published in TomDispatch on June 24, 2021, and provides a sobering alternative to the jingoistic revelry of July 4th. Frida lives in the shadow of General Dynamics Electric Boat, which built the first generation of Trident submarines, and is building the next generation (12 New Tridents!!!) as you read this. I have included Tom Englehardt’s introduction. If you aren’t familiar with TomDispatch, you will find truly independent journalism and hard-hitting writing about the waning days of The American Empire. Just the thing for the Fourth of July! ************ Frida Berrigan, Living […]
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