By Vincent Intondi* The moment in August 2005 is seared into my memory. The train pulled up to the Hiroshima station from Kyoto. I stepped out with my mind full of images from 60 years ago, when the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on this pristine city of 340,000 people. (Hiroshima had been one of the few cities that escaped the fire-bombing campaign of Japan’s major cities led by U.S. Air Force General Curtis LeMay.) Initially, I was taken aback by what I saw: a modern city, filled with restaurants, hotels, shops, and lots of people, much like […]
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Remembering the Voices of the Hibakusha
Humanity stands at a crossroads. Nearly 75 years since the United States dropped two nuclear weapons on the people of Japan, we continue to worship the false idols of the nuclear age. We do so at all of humanity’s peril. The nuclear priests continue to practice their alchemy, working from the same, outdated bible created by men during the prehistory of the nuclear age. The mythos created out of this espouses the doctrine of deterrence, and is unable (or unwilling) to hear the voices of suffering they have brought on countless human beings. Furthermore, as a result of their separation, […]
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Blessed are the humble, for they shall inherit the earth
EDITOR’S NOTE: The author of the following poem, Phil J. Davis, is shown standing in the foreground of the featured photo (above) taken during the recent (May 9, 2020) vigil at the Bangor Trident base Main Gate. Phil was cited by the Washington State Patrol for intentionally blocking traffic entering the nuclear weapons base during a previous vigil. Phil wrote the poem as his mitigation hearing statement, which he read to the Judge on September 26, 2019 in the Kitsap District Court in Port Orchard, Washington. As Phil describes it: For past hearings after an arrest or traffic citation, I have carefully […]
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Beating Swords to Plowshares
*by Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence Inscribed on a wall across from the United Nations in New York City are ancient words of incalculable yearning: “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” – Isaiah 2:4 I’ve stood with activists in front of that same wall singing Down by the Riverside, a song promising we’ll lay down our swords and shields, -“and study war no more, no more.” In memorably eloquent words spoken after the onset of COVID-19, the […]
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Letters to the Editor – An Important Outreach Tool!
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following letters to the editor (one recently submitted and one published) are from activists dedicated to putting an end to the threat of nuclear war. Letters to the editor are an important tool in not only reaching our fellow citizens and sharing our views, and also reminding our news outlets know that this issue is of extraordinary importance to all of humanity. Please share your letters to the editor; send them to outreach@gzcenter.org. A Tale of Two Nightmares: Global Pandemic and Nuclear War By Mona Lee, Seattle At some level, human civilization has long been aware of […]
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