During the final stages of World War II, the 6th of August 1945, the United States dropped one atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima causing the death of almost 130.000 people. This bomb was followed by the one that, the 9th of August, hit Nagasaki, killing other 80.000. Also this year, the Viennese Peace Movement together with the Hiroshima Group Vienna will organise the annual manifestation in commemoration of the victims of the first atomic bomb ever employed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
This 67th anniversary stands in a moment in which the process of nuclear disarmament seems to be at a stalemate: the renowned Stockholm International Peace Research Institute SIPRI states in its annual report 2012 that worldwide there are 4.400 atomic warheads ready, 2.000 of them on red alert. Even though the absolute number of atomic weapons has been reduced since last year the remaining are being "improved" by the 8 nuclear weapons states and therefore become more dangerous all the time.
The devastating earthquake and tsunami catastrophe which has cost so man lives in Japan has also been proof of the various dangers of the so called peaceful use of nuclear energy: Fukushima is an urgent warning and a clear reminder for abandoning nuclear energy completely. It clearly showed the high risk potential and the imminent dangers of nuclear energy. As stated by the organizers of the manifestation, Andreas Pecha and Alois Reisenbichler, this shows that the lessons of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still to be learned: "The destruction of all nuclear weapons is still a claim not fulfilled, our endeavour for a world free of nuclear weapons and war is more important than ever".
The manifestation will start on the 6 August 2012, 18.00 p.m. in Vienna, at St. Stephan's Square and will be continued with a lantern march to the pond in front of Karlskirche at about 20.30 p.m. Other events will take place the 9th of August to commemorate Nagasaki: a Buddhist ceremony in the Pagoda of Peace and a meeting with Kazuo SODA, survivor of the Nagazaki bomb.
Send your message of support to the Peace Bureau Vienna until the end of July 2012
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More info at http://www.hiroshima.at/
