* Text informed by Park Jung-Eun on Jan. 20, 2011
일본 반핵운동단체, Gensuikyo 에서 모든 핵무기의 금지 서명 캠페인을 하고 있는데,
연명 요청과 함께 한국 평화,반핵단체에 뿌려달라는 요청이 와서 회람합니다.
회신은 antiatom@topaz.plala.or.jp 로 보내시면 됩니다.
박정은 드림
_____________________________________
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Gensuikyo
Date: 2011/1/18
Subject: Request for your endorsement to our ban nuclear weapons petition appeal
[..] please spread this appeal to your network so that we can get more endorsements from Korean civil society. Thank you. (Yayoi)
..........................................................................
Please support our new signature campaign
“Appeal for a Total Ban on Nuclear Weapons”
Dear friends,
At the start of the New Year, we would like to extend our heartfelt
gratitude to you for your continued understanding of and cooperation with
our movement.
In order for the current worldwide momentum for the abolition of
nuclear weapons to develop further and bear fruit, we are planning to launch a new
signature campaign in February 2011, calling on all the governments of the
world to take action to totally ban nuclear weapons.
In May last year, the Review Conference of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), in which 189 States took part, agreed on the Final Document
aiming to “achieve peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons”
and urged all governments to make special efforts to establish the necessary
“framework” to reach this goal. This was followed by the visit of U.N.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who called for
achieving a “world without nuclear weapons” in the lifetime of the
Hibakusha in his speech at the Peace Memorial Ceremony of Hiroshima on
August 6.
On the other hand, we continue to witness attempts by some to justify
the use or threat of nuclear weapons in the name of “deterrence” or the
“nuclear umbrella”, and the danger of nuclear proliferation by others who,
in response to these attempts, seek to develop nuclear weapons of their own.
However, as the experiences of Hiroshima and Nagasaki demonstrate,
human survival and security cannot be ensured by nuclear weapons. The only sure
way to prevent the use of nuclear weapons is to abolish all nuclear weapons,
as confirmed by the NPT Review Conference.
Through the new signature campaign, we, anti-nuclear movement from the
only nation to have suffered the A-bomb devastation, will urge that the tragedy
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki never be repeated, and call on the governments of
all states to build on the past agreements made in the international arena
to take the bold course of starting negotiations for a treaty totally
banning all nuclear weapons.
We plan to announce the launch of this signature campaign
simultaneously in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on February 15, and in cooperation with all the
people who support this initiative, we aim to insure that this demand is
reflected in public opinion nationwide, and that it goes on to gain broad
support internationally. The text of the signature campaign, “Appeal for a
total ban on nuclear weapons” is attached at the end of this letter.
Please have a read through the appeal, and send your endorsement, and if
possible your message, to us by post, fax or email. The list and messages
of the initial endorsers is to be announced together with the launch of the
signature campaign on February 15. We are convinced that your endorsement
will help bring a great deal of support internationally.
This signature campaign will be promoted in solidarity with all the
campaigns sharing the same goal of eliminating nuclear weapons, including
the Mayors for Peace signature campaign led by the cities of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki and the “International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
(ICAN)”. Starting with the signature campaign in the wake of the Bikini
hydrogen bomb test of March 1954, the anti-A and H-Bomb movement of Japan
has, through massive signature drives, been at the forefront in bringing
about the coalescence of public opinion calling for a total ban on and
elimination of nuclear weapons. This new signature campaign will carry
forward this tradition and help ensure the achievement of a nuclear
weapon-free world.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Appeal for a Total Ban on Nuclear Weapons
In August 1945, two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
instantly turned the two cities into ruins and took the lives of about 210 thousand
people. Even now, more than 200,000 Hibakusha, or A-bomb survivors, are
carrying with them scars. Their tragedy should not be repeated anywhere on
earth.
The call for the elimination of nuclear weapons is becoming ever
widespread across the world. Citizens are taking actions, and many governments are
endeavoring to reach this goal. The surest guarantee against there being
another Hiroshima, or Nagasaki, is a total ban and the elimination of
nuclear weapons.
In May 2010, the 189 parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT), including the Nuclear weapons States, agreed “to achieve the peace and
security of a world without nuclear weapons”. Now is the time to act to
accomplish it.
We call on all governments to enter negotiations without delay on a
treaty banning nuclear weapons.
Endorser’s name:
Position:
Organization:
Message:
Sincerely yours,
Hiroshi TAKA
Secretary General
=============================================
Japan Council against A & H Bombs (GENSUIKYO)
2-4-4 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8464 JAPAN
phone: +81-3-5842-6034
fax: +81-3-5842-6033
Email: antiatom@topaz.plala.or.jp
URL: http://www.antiatom.org/
=============================================
박정은
참여연대 평화국제팀 팀장
People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD)
http://www.peoplepower21.org
http://blog.peoplepower21.org/English
Showing posts with label Nagasaki. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nagasaki. Show all posts
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
[Site Fwd][Peace Philosophy Center] August 9 Memorial for Korean A-bomb Victims in Nagasaki ８月９日長崎原爆朝鮮人犠牲者追悼早朝集会 나가사키 원폭 조선인 희생자 추도 조조집회 메시지
* Peace Philosophy Center 평화 철학 센터
* Korea translation was provided from the original site.
* 국문 번역은 원 소스 사이트에서 온 것임.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Below is the keynote speech by Dr. Takazane Yasunori, Director of Oka Masaharu Memorial Nagasaki Peace Museum, and Chair of the Association to Protect Human Rights of Korean Residents of Nagasaki, at the early morning memorial gathering for the Korean victims of the Nagasaki atomic bomb, on August 10, 2010. Our Hiroshima/Nagasaki Peace Tour group always visits this memorial that starts at 7 a.m., before we visit the Shiroyama Elementary School memorial and Nagasaki City's main ceremony. The photo above is the monument for the Korean victims, located at Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Hypocenter Park.
The monument was built in 1979, and since then, a gathering in memory of the Korean victims has been held in front of the monument every year, to remember and to pay tribute to the over 20,000 Korean victims of the atomic-bombing of Nagasaki, and over 10,000 who were killed. This is the fourth year that I attended the ceremony, and I had an impression that the crowd was particularly large this year, perhaps around 400 people, compared to 200 or so for the previous years. This could be related to the fact that this year commemorates the 100th anniversary of Japan's annexation of Korea, and the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, a Korean national, visited both the Korean memorials in Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
The speech is available in Japanese and, for the first time, in Korean this year. Takazane takes months to prepare for this August 9 speech every summer, and the speech of this year places specific emphasis on the 100th anniversary of Japan's forceful annexation of Korea. To summarize the main points, Takazane called for Japan and its people to recognize the Korean victims of the atomic bombing, not just as victims of a nuclear weapon, but also as victims of Japan's colonization of Korea, and Japan's invasive war in Asia. He stressed the illegality and unjustifiability of the "Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty" of 1910. He pointed out there is crucial lack of consciousness in J
apan about their responsibility for the division of Korea, and condemned the Japanese government for continuing to implement policies that reinforce the division and hostility in Korean Peninsula. He also criticized the Japanese government's continued alienation and discrimination against Korean residents in Japan, particularly their exclusion of Korean schools from the tuition subsidy program for high school students. Referring to the unresolved issues of the military sex slavery and forced labour, he called for the government to legally recognize the responsibility for and provide individual compensation to the Korean war victims.
Takazane concluded his speech with the set of five demands to the Japanese government: 1)to declare the 1910 annexation treaty null and illegal; 2)to pave the way for the A
tomic Bomb Victims' Relief Law to be applied to the victims living in DPRK(North Korea); 3)to recognize the right to request compensation by individual victims of Japan's war, and to establish a "war reparations law"; 4)to include Korean high schools in the tuition subsidy program, and to waive tuition for the Korean elementary and junior high schools as well; 5)to resume a diplomatic relationship with DPRK.
Here is the speech, first in Japanese then in Korean.
この長崎の街に原子爆弾が投下されて六五年目の今日、私たちは朝鮮人原爆犠牲者追悼碑の前に集いました。半世紀を超える歳月が流れたとはいえ、朝鮮人原爆 犠牲者の無念に思いを馳せずにはいられないからであります。絶対悪である核兵器を使用した米国の責任は人類史上永遠に追及されなければなりません。駐日大 使が広島の平和記念式典に参加したとはいえ、法的責任も道義的責任さえも認めず、ただ大量殺戮兵器としての脅威にのみ着目している現状は言語道断でありま す。しかしながら、原爆の投下責任を糺し、原爆の悲惨さと核兵器廃絶を訴えるだけで核時代を生きる私たちの使命は果たせるといえるでしょうか。私はそこに もエゴイスティックな思考が隠されていると思えてなりません。なぜならば、朝鮮人原爆犠牲者は核兵器の犠牲者であるばかりではなく、日本の朝鮮侵略とアジ ア侵略戦争の犠牲者でもあるからです。日本国民は自国のこの加害責任を深く心に刻み、反省と謝罪と賠償を怠ってはなりません。
日本が朝 鮮を侵略しなければ、朝鮮人が原爆の犠牲になることもありえませんでした。韓国強制併合から一〇〇年、「保護条約」から一〇五年の今年、日本国民はこれら の「条約」がいかに暴力的な威圧と欺瞞に満ちた不法なものであったかをどれほど認識しているでしょうか。「併合条約」の第一条と第二条をみるだけでもその 欺瞞は明らかであるにもかかわらず、日本政府をはじめ多くの国民も「合法的に交わされた有効な条約」と信じ込んでいる現実があります。第一条「韓国皇帝陛 下は韓国に関する一切の統治権を完全かつ永久に日本国皇帝陛下に譲与す」。第二条「日本国皇帝陛下は前条にかかげる譲与を承諾しかつ全然韓国を日本帝国に 併合することを受諾す」。韓国皇帝が統治権を譲与すると申し出たから承諾して併合するのだという。欺瞞であるのみか、これほど他国を侮辱した「条約」があ りうるでしょうか。当初から不法・無効であることは明らかです。
また、私はこの不法な「併合条約」のもとで断行された無数の暴虐に目を 向けるのみならず、侵略を賛美し推進した思想的背景にも着目しなければ、原爆犠牲者の無念も暴虐の犠牲者の無念も決して癒されることはないと思います。 「取り易き朝鮮・満州・支那を切り随え･･･」と弟子たちに説いた吉田松陰や、「朝鮮は腐儒の巣窟、上に磊落果断の士人なくして、国民は奴隷の境遇･･･ 斯かる軟弱無廉恥の国民･･･脅迫と決したる上は国務の実権を我手に握り、韓人等は単に事の執行に当たらしむるのみにして、･･･喙を容れしめず･･･」 と、偏見をほしいままにして脅迫による支配までも鼓吹した福沢諭吉の侵略思想はどれほど認識され、反省されているでしょうか。福沢諭吉が最高紙幣の肖像で あるところにも、反省はおろか、偉人として崇拝している現実があるといわざるをえません。侵略思想の大罪を告発し、二度とその轍は踏まないと誓うことこ そ、犠牲者を追悼する私たちの責務であると信じます。
日本は朝鮮の南北分断をもたらした根源的責任も問われます。日本の侵略がなければ 朝鮮の分断はありえないからです。それにもかかわらず、戦後日本は分断を煽り、統一を阻害する政策を一貫して執り続けました。昨年の政権交代によってもこ の政策を見直す気配はありません。私は南北融和から再び対立の傾向を濃くしている情況に憂慮の念を禁じえませんが、日本政府が相変わらず対立を助長する政 策に終始していることに失望と義憤を覚えます。南北分断の根源的責任の自覚が完全に欠如しているからです。対立に拍車を掛けるこの無責任な態度は内政にも 見られ、朝鮮学校の存在と民族教育を露骨に敵視しています。本来無償であるべき初等中等教育から朝鮮学校を排除して国費を一切支給せず、ましてや新たに実 施された高校無償化から朝鮮高級学校を排除して平等待遇を拒むとあっては人権侵害に他ならず、世界から指弾されて当然であります。国連機関から差別撤廃を 勧告され、韓国の言論界からも強く批判されています。日本政府は一刻も早くこの恥ずべき差別待遇を放棄しなければなりません。
日本軍 「慰安婦」問題と強制連行問題をはじめ、未解決のまま今日に至っている問題も忘れてはなりません。国家間の戦後処理で「解決済み」とすることは許されませ ん。国家といえども個人の損害賠償請求権を奪うことはできないからです。朝鮮人原爆犠牲者の無念の叫びに応えるためにも、私は次の五点を日本政府に強く要 求します。皆さんの賛同を得られれば幸いです。
一、 「韓国併合条約」は当初から不法・無効であることを宣言すること
一、 朝鮮民主主義人民共和国在住の被爆者に被爆者援護法適用の道を開くこと
一、 個人の損害賠償請求権を認め、抜本的「戦後補償法」を制定すること
一、 朝鮮高級学校の無償化に加え初級中級学校の国費による無償化を図ること
一、 朝鮮民主主義人民共和国との国交正常化を実現すること
最後になりましたが、日本軍「慰安婦」問題や遺骨の返還運動に全力を注ぎ、韓国政府の「日帝強占下強制動員被害真相糾明委員会」の任務にも日本との懸け橋 となってかけがえのない貢献をされた福留範昭氏の急逝に衝撃と哀しみを抑えることができません。同委員会の調査員と共に長崎にも度々来られた氏の面影を偲 び、偉大な思想と実践に深く思いをいたしながら、朝鮮人原爆犠牲者追悼碑の前で哀悼の誠を捧げたいと存じます。
二〇一〇年年八月九日
長崎在日朝鮮人の人権を守る会代表 高 實 康 稔
나가사키 원폭 조선인 희생자 추도 조조집회 메시지
이 곳 나가사키에 원자폭탄이 투하된지 65년을 맞이하는 오늘, 우리는 조선인 원폭 희생자 추도비 앞에 모였습니다. 반세기를 넘는 세월동안 풀리지 못한 조선인 원폭 희생자의 한을 생각하지 않을 수 없었기 때문입니다. 절대악인 핵무기를 사용한 미국의 책임은 인류사상 영원히 추궁당해야 마땅합니다. 주일 미국대사가 히로시마 평화기념식전에 참석했다고는 하나, 법적인 책임이나 도의적인 책임도 인정하지 않은 채, 단지 대량학살무기의 위협에만 주목하고 있는 현상은 언어 도단입니다. 그러나 원폭투하의 책임을 규명하고 원폭의 비참함과 핵무기 폐기를 호소하는 것만으로 핵시대를 살아가는 우리의 사명이 완수된다고 할 수 있을까요? 저는 여기에도 이기적인 사고가 숨어 있다고 생각합니다. 왜냐하면 조선인 원폭 희생자는 핵무기의 희생자일뿐 아니라 일본의 조선침략과 아시아 침략 전쟁의 희생자이기도 하기 때문입니다. 일본 국민은 자국의 가해 책임을 마음 속 깊이 되새기며, 반성과 사죄와 배상을 소홀히 해서는 안 됩니다.
일본이 조선을 침략하지 않았다면, 조선인이 원폭에 희생되는 일도 없었을 것입니다. 한국 강제병합 100년, (을사)'보호조약'으로부터 105년이 흐른 올해, 일본 국민은 이들 '조약'이 얼마나 폭력적인 위압과 기만으로 가득찬 불법인가를 얼만큼 인식하고 있을까요. '병합 조약' 제1조와 2조를 보는 것만으로도 그 기만성은 명백하지만, 일본정부를 시작으로 많은 국민이 '합법적으로 체결된 유효한 조약'이라고 믿고 있는 것이 현실입니다. 제1조 "한국 황제폐하는 한국에 관한 일체의 통치권을 완전히 그리고 영구히 일본제국 황제폐하에게 양여한다.", 제2조 "일본국 황제폐하는 전 조항에서 제기한 양여를 승낙하며, 한국을 완전히 일본제국에 병합하는 것을 수락한다." 즉, 한국 황제가 통치권을 양여하겠다고 스스로 요청했기 때문에 그것을 승낙하여 병합하는 것이라는 뜻입니다. 이는 기만일 뿐 아니라, 이 정도로 타국을 모욕한 조약이 있을 수 있을까요. 이 조약은 당초부터 불법・무효라는 것은 명백합니다.
또한 저는 이 불법적인 '병합 조약' 아래 단행되었던 수많은 포학 행위에도 관심을 갖되, 침략을 찬미하고 추진했던 사상적 배경에도 주목해야 한다고 생각합니다. 그렇지 않으면 원폭희생자의 원통함도, 잔인한 학대에 희생되었던 사람들의 한(恨)도 결코 치유될 수 없다고 생각합니다. "빼앗기 쉬운 조선・만주・지나(중국)를 정복하고･･･"라고 제자들에게 가르쳤던 요시다 쇼인(吉田松陰)이나 "조선은 부패한 유학자들의 소굴･･･위로는 도량이 크고 결단성 있는 선비가 없으며, 백성들은 노예의 처지･･･이러한 연약하고 염치가 없는 국민･･･협박한다고 결정한 이상은 국무 실권을 우리 손에 잡아, 한인 등은 단순히 일의 집행만 맡게 하고･･･참견하지 못하게 하여･･･"라는 등 제멋대로 편견을 들이대, 협박에 의한 지배마저 고취했던 후쿠자와 유키치(福沢諭吉)의 침략사상을 우리는 얼만큼 인식하고 반성하고 있을까요. 후쿠자와 유키치가 일본 엔화의 최고 화폐인 1만엔 짜리 지폐의 인물이라는 점은, 반성은커녕 그를 위인으로 숭배하고 있다는 일본의 현실을 뒷받침합니다. 침략사상의 대죄를 고발하고, 두 번 다시 전철을 밟지 않겠다고 맹세하는 것이야말로 희생자를 추도하는 우리의 책무임을 믿습니다.
일 본은 한반도의 남북 분단을 초래한 근원적인 책임도 추궁당하고 있습니다. 일본의 침략이 없었다면 조선의 분단도 있을 수 없었기 때문입니다. 그럼에도 불구하고, 전후 일본은 오히려 한반도의 분단을 부추기고, 통일을 저해하는 정책을 일관되게 펼쳐 왔습니다. 지난해 정권교체에 의해서도 이 정책을 재검토하는 기색은 보이지 않습니다. 저는 남북이 화해의 흐름에서 다시 대립 국면으로 기울어가는 정황에 우려를 금할 수 없습니다만, 일본정부가 변함없이 대립을 조장하는 정책을 시종일관하고 있다는 점에 실망과 의분을 느낍니다. 남북분단의 근원적 책임에 대한 자각을 완전히 결여하고 있기 때문입니다. 대립에 박차를 가하는 이 무책임한 태도는 내정에서도 엿볼 수 있어, 일본 정부는 조선학교의 존재와 민족교육을 노골적으로 적대시하고 있습니다. 본래 무상이어야 할 초중등교육에서 조선학교를 배제하고 국비를 일체 지급하지 않으며, 또한 새롭게 실시된 고교 무상화 정책에서도 조선 고급학교는 베제해 평등한 대우를 거부하고 있습니다. 이는 인권침해와 다름없으며, 세계로부터 지탄받아 마땅합니다. 유엔기관도 차별 철폐를 권고하였으며, 한국의 언론에서도 강한 비판을 제기하고 있습니다. 일본 정부는 조속히 이 부끄러운 차별대우를 포기해야 합니다.
일 본군 '위안부' 문제와 강제연행 문제를 시작으로 하여, 오늘 이 시점까지도 미해결 상태로 남아있는 문제 역시 잊어서는 안 됩니다. 국가간의 전후 처리로 '해결 완료'라고 하는 것은 용납될 수 없습니다. 국가라 해도 개인의 손해배상청구권을 박탈할 수는 없기 때문입니다. 조선인 원폭 희생자의 한맺힌 절규에 응답하기 위해서도, 우리는 다음과 같은 다섯 항목을 일본 정부에 강력하게 요구합니다. 여러분이 찬성을 해주시면 감사하겠습니다.
1. '한국 병합 조약'은 당초부터 불법・무효라는 것을 선언할 것.
1. 조선민주주의 인민공화국(북한)에 거주하고 있는 피폭자에게 피폭자 원호법 적용의 길을 열
것.
1. 개인의 손해배상청구권을 인정하고, 근본적인 '전후 보상법'을 제정할 것.
1. 조선 고급학교 무상화와 더불어, 초중급 학교의 국비에 의한 무상화를 꾀할 것.
1. 조선민주주의 인민공화국(북한)과의 국교정상화를 실현할 것.
마 지막이 되었습니다만, 일본군'위안부' 문제나 유골 반환 운동에 온힘을 다했으며, 한국 정부의 '일제강점하 강제동원피해 진상규명위원회'가 업무를 수행하는 과정에서, 한국측 위원회와 일본을 잇는 가교가 되어 그 누구도 대신할 수 없는 공헌을 했던 후쿠도메 노리아키(福留範昭)씨의 갑작스러운 죽음에 충격과 슬픔을 억누를 길이 없습니다. (한국의 강제동원진상규명 위원회) 조사원들과 함께 나가사키에도 몇 차례 방문하였던 후쿠도메 씨의 모습을 그리며, 그 위대한 사상과 실천에 마음 깊이 생각을 옮겨 봅니다. 조선인 원폭희생자 추도비 앞에서 진심으로 애도의 마음을 올리고 싶다고 생각합니다.
2010년 8월 9일
나가사키 재일 조선인의 인권을 지키는 모임
대표 다카자네 야스노리(高實康稔)
* Korea translation was provided from the original site.
* 국문 번역은 원 소스 사이트에서 온 것임.
Monday, August 30, 2010
August 9 Memorial for Korean A-bomb Victims in Nagasaki
８月９日長崎原爆朝鮮人犠牲者追悼早朝集会
나가사키 원폭 조선인 희생자 추도 조조집회 메시지
８月９日長崎原爆朝鮮人犠牲者追悼早朝集会
나가사키 원폭 조선인 희생자 추도 조조집회 메시지
Below is the keynote speech by Dr. Takazane Yasunori, Director of Oka Masaharu Memorial Nagasaki Peace Museum, and Chair of the Association to Protect Human Rights of Korean Residents of Nagasaki, at the early morning memorial gathering for the Korean victims of the Nagasaki atomic bomb, on August 10, 2010. Our Hiroshima/Nagasaki Peace Tour group always visits this memorial that starts at 7 a.m., before we visit the Shiroyama Elementary School memorial and Nagasaki City's main ceremony. The photo above is the monument for the Korean victims, located at Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Hypocenter Park.
The monument was built in 1979, and since then, a gathering in memory of the Korean victims has been held in front of the monument every year, to remember and to pay tribute to the over 20,000 Korean victims of the atomic-bombing of Nagasaki, and over 10,000 who were killed. This is the fourth year that I attended the ceremony, and I had an impression that the crowd was particularly large this year, perhaps around 400 people, compared to 200 or so for the previous years. This could be related to the fact that this year commemorates the 100th anniversary of Japan's annexation of Korea, and the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, a Korean national, visited both the Korean memorials in Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
The speech is available in Japanese and, for the first time, in Korean this year. Takazane takes months to prepare for this August 9 speech every summer, and the speech of this year places specific emphasis on the 100th anniversary of Japan's forceful annexation of Korea. To summarize the main points, Takazane called for Japan and its people to recognize the Korean victims of the atomic bombing, not just as victims of a nuclear weapon, but also as victims of Japan's colonization of Korea, and Japan's invasive war in Asia. He stressed the illegality and unjustifiability of the "Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty" of 1910. He pointed out there is crucial lack of consciousness in J
apan about their responsibility for the division of Korea, and condemned the Japanese government for continuing to implement policies that reinforce the division and hostility in Korean Peninsula. He also criticized the Japanese government's continued alienation and discrimination against Korean residents in Japan, particularly their exclusion of Korean schools from the tuition subsidy program for high school students. Referring to the unresolved issues of the military sex slavery and forced labour, he called for the government to legally recognize the responsibility for and provide individual compensation to the Korean war victims. Takazane concluded his speech with the set of five demands to the Japanese government: 1)to declare the 1910 annexation treaty null and illegal; 2)to pave the way for the A
tomic Bomb Victims' Relief Law to be applied to the victims living in DPRK(North Korea); 3)to recognize the right to request compensation by individual victims of Japan's war, and to establish a "war reparations law"; 4)to include Korean high schools in the tuition subsidy program, and to waive tuition for the Korean elementary and junior high schools as well; 5)to resume a diplomatic relationship with DPRK. Here is the speech, first in Japanese then in Korean.
長崎原爆朝鮮人犠牲者追悼早朝集会メッセージ
この長崎の街に原子爆弾が投下されて六五年目の今日、私たちは朝鮮人原爆犠牲者追悼碑の前に集いました。半世紀を超える歳月が流れたとはいえ、朝鮮人原爆 犠牲者の無念に思いを馳せずにはいられないからであります。絶対悪である核兵器を使用した米国の責任は人類史上永遠に追及されなければなりません。駐日大 使が広島の平和記念式典に参加したとはいえ、法的責任も道義的責任さえも認めず、ただ大量殺戮兵器としての脅威にのみ着目している現状は言語道断でありま す。しかしながら、原爆の投下責任を糺し、原爆の悲惨さと核兵器廃絶を訴えるだけで核時代を生きる私たちの使命は果たせるといえるでしょうか。私はそこに もエゴイスティックな思考が隠されていると思えてなりません。なぜならば、朝鮮人原爆犠牲者は核兵器の犠牲者であるばかりではなく、日本の朝鮮侵略とアジ ア侵略戦争の犠牲者でもあるからです。日本国民は自国のこの加害責任を深く心に刻み、反省と謝罪と賠償を怠ってはなりません。
日本が朝 鮮を侵略しなければ、朝鮮人が原爆の犠牲になることもありえませんでした。韓国強制併合から一〇〇年、「保護条約」から一〇五年の今年、日本国民はこれら の「条約」がいかに暴力的な威圧と欺瞞に満ちた不法なものであったかをどれほど認識しているでしょうか。「併合条約」の第一条と第二条をみるだけでもその 欺瞞は明らかであるにもかかわらず、日本政府をはじめ多くの国民も「合法的に交わされた有効な条約」と信じ込んでいる現実があります。第一条「韓国皇帝陛 下は韓国に関する一切の統治権を完全かつ永久に日本国皇帝陛下に譲与す」。第二条「日本国皇帝陛下は前条にかかげる譲与を承諾しかつ全然韓国を日本帝国に 併合することを受諾す」。韓国皇帝が統治権を譲与すると申し出たから承諾して併合するのだという。欺瞞であるのみか、これほど他国を侮辱した「条約」があ りうるでしょうか。当初から不法・無効であることは明らかです。
また、私はこの不法な「併合条約」のもとで断行された無数の暴虐に目を 向けるのみならず、侵略を賛美し推進した思想的背景にも着目しなければ、原爆犠牲者の無念も暴虐の犠牲者の無念も決して癒されることはないと思います。 「取り易き朝鮮・満州・支那を切り随え･･･」と弟子たちに説いた吉田松陰や、「朝鮮は腐儒の巣窟、上に磊落果断の士人なくして、国民は奴隷の境遇･･･ 斯かる軟弱無廉恥の国民･･･脅迫と決したる上は国務の実権を我手に握り、韓人等は単に事の執行に当たらしむるのみにして、･･･喙を容れしめず･･･」 と、偏見をほしいままにして脅迫による支配までも鼓吹した福沢諭吉の侵略思想はどれほど認識され、反省されているでしょうか。福沢諭吉が最高紙幣の肖像で あるところにも、反省はおろか、偉人として崇拝している現実があるといわざるをえません。侵略思想の大罪を告発し、二度とその轍は踏まないと誓うことこ そ、犠牲者を追悼する私たちの責務であると信じます。
日本は朝鮮の南北分断をもたらした根源的責任も問われます。日本の侵略がなければ 朝鮮の分断はありえないからです。それにもかかわらず、戦後日本は分断を煽り、統一を阻害する政策を一貫して執り続けました。昨年の政権交代によってもこ の政策を見直す気配はありません。私は南北融和から再び対立の傾向を濃くしている情況に憂慮の念を禁じえませんが、日本政府が相変わらず対立を助長する政 策に終始していることに失望と義憤を覚えます。南北分断の根源的責任の自覚が完全に欠如しているからです。対立に拍車を掛けるこの無責任な態度は内政にも 見られ、朝鮮学校の存在と民族教育を露骨に敵視しています。本来無償であるべき初等中等教育から朝鮮学校を排除して国費を一切支給せず、ましてや新たに実 施された高校無償化から朝鮮高級学校を排除して平等待遇を拒むとあっては人権侵害に他ならず、世界から指弾されて当然であります。国連機関から差別撤廃を 勧告され、韓国の言論界からも強く批判されています。日本政府は一刻も早くこの恥ずべき差別待遇を放棄しなければなりません。
日本軍 「慰安婦」問題と強制連行問題をはじめ、未解決のまま今日に至っている問題も忘れてはなりません。国家間の戦後処理で「解決済み」とすることは許されませ ん。国家といえども個人の損害賠償請求権を奪うことはできないからです。朝鮮人原爆犠牲者の無念の叫びに応えるためにも、私は次の五点を日本政府に強く要 求します。皆さんの賛同を得られれば幸いです。
一、 「韓国併合条約」は当初から不法・無効であることを宣言すること
一、 朝鮮民主主義人民共和国在住の被爆者に被爆者援護法適用の道を開くこと
一、 個人の損害賠償請求権を認め、抜本的「戦後補償法」を制定すること
一、 朝鮮高級学校の無償化に加え初級中級学校の国費による無償化を図ること
一、 朝鮮民主主義人民共和国との国交正常化を実現すること
最後になりましたが、日本軍「慰安婦」問題や遺骨の返還運動に全力を注ぎ、韓国政府の「日帝強占下強制動員被害真相糾明委員会」の任務にも日本との懸け橋 となってかけがえのない貢献をされた福留範昭氏の急逝に衝撃と哀しみを抑えることができません。同委員会の調査員と共に長崎にも度々来られた氏の面影を偲 び、偉大な思想と実践に深く思いをいたしながら、朝鮮人原爆犠牲者追悼碑の前で哀悼の誠を捧げたいと存じます。
二〇一〇年年八月九日
長崎在日朝鮮人の人権を守る会代表 高 實 康 稔
나가사키 원폭 조선인 희생자 추도 조조집회 메시지
이 곳 나가사키에 원자폭탄이 투하된지 65년을 맞이하는 오늘, 우리는 조선인 원폭 희생자 추도비 앞에 모였습니다. 반세기를 넘는 세월동안 풀리지 못한 조선인 원폭 희생자의 한을 생각하지 않을 수 없었기 때문입니다. 절대악인 핵무기를 사용한 미국의 책임은 인류사상 영원히 추궁당해야 마땅합니다. 주일 미국대사가 히로시마 평화기념식전에 참석했다고는 하나, 법적인 책임이나 도의적인 책임도 인정하지 않은 채, 단지 대량학살무기의 위협에만 주목하고 있는 현상은 언어 도단입니다. 그러나 원폭투하의 책임을 규명하고 원폭의 비참함과 핵무기 폐기를 호소하는 것만으로 핵시대를 살아가는 우리의 사명이 완수된다고 할 수 있을까요? 저는 여기에도 이기적인 사고가 숨어 있다고 생각합니다. 왜냐하면 조선인 원폭 희생자는 핵무기의 희생자일뿐 아니라 일본의 조선침략과 아시아 침략 전쟁의 희생자이기도 하기 때문입니다. 일본 국민은 자국의 가해 책임을 마음 속 깊이 되새기며, 반성과 사죄와 배상을 소홀히 해서는 안 됩니다.
일본이 조선을 침략하지 않았다면, 조선인이 원폭에 희생되는 일도 없었을 것입니다. 한국 강제병합 100년, (을사)'보호조약'으로부터 105년이 흐른 올해, 일본 국민은 이들 '조약'이 얼마나 폭력적인 위압과 기만으로 가득찬 불법인가를 얼만큼 인식하고 있을까요. '병합 조약' 제1조와 2조를 보는 것만으로도 그 기만성은 명백하지만, 일본정부를 시작으로 많은 국민이 '합법적으로 체결된 유효한 조약'이라고 믿고 있는 것이 현실입니다. 제1조 "한국 황제폐하는 한국에 관한 일체의 통치권을 완전히 그리고 영구히 일본제국 황제폐하에게 양여한다.", 제2조 "일본국 황제폐하는 전 조항에서 제기한 양여를 승낙하며, 한국을 완전히 일본제국에 병합하는 것을 수락한다." 즉, 한국 황제가 통치권을 양여하겠다고 스스로 요청했기 때문에 그것을 승낙하여 병합하는 것이라는 뜻입니다. 이는 기만일 뿐 아니라, 이 정도로 타국을 모욕한 조약이 있을 수 있을까요. 이 조약은 당초부터 불법・무효라는 것은 명백합니다.
또한 저는 이 불법적인 '병합 조약' 아래 단행되었던 수많은 포학 행위에도 관심을 갖되, 침략을 찬미하고 추진했던 사상적 배경에도 주목해야 한다고 생각합니다. 그렇지 않으면 원폭희생자의 원통함도, 잔인한 학대에 희생되었던 사람들의 한(恨)도 결코 치유될 수 없다고 생각합니다. "빼앗기 쉬운 조선・만주・지나(중국)를 정복하고･･･"라고 제자들에게 가르쳤던 요시다 쇼인(吉田松陰)이나 "조선은 부패한 유학자들의 소굴･･･위로는 도량이 크고 결단성 있는 선비가 없으며, 백성들은 노예의 처지･･･이러한 연약하고 염치가 없는 국민･･･협박한다고 결정한 이상은 국무 실권을 우리 손에 잡아, 한인 등은 단순히 일의 집행만 맡게 하고･･･참견하지 못하게 하여･･･"라는 등 제멋대로 편견을 들이대, 협박에 의한 지배마저 고취했던 후쿠자와 유키치(福沢諭吉)의 침략사상을 우리는 얼만큼 인식하고 반성하고 있을까요. 후쿠자와 유키치가 일본 엔화의 최고 화폐인 1만엔 짜리 지폐의 인물이라는 점은, 반성은커녕 그를 위인으로 숭배하고 있다는 일본의 현실을 뒷받침합니다. 침략사상의 대죄를 고발하고, 두 번 다시 전철을 밟지 않겠다고 맹세하는 것이야말로 희생자를 추도하는 우리의 책무임을 믿습니다.
일 본은 한반도의 남북 분단을 초래한 근원적인 책임도 추궁당하고 있습니다. 일본의 침략이 없었다면 조선의 분단도 있을 수 없었기 때문입니다. 그럼에도 불구하고, 전후 일본은 오히려 한반도의 분단을 부추기고, 통일을 저해하는 정책을 일관되게 펼쳐 왔습니다. 지난해 정권교체에 의해서도 이 정책을 재검토하는 기색은 보이지 않습니다. 저는 남북이 화해의 흐름에서 다시 대립 국면으로 기울어가는 정황에 우려를 금할 수 없습니다만, 일본정부가 변함없이 대립을 조장하는 정책을 시종일관하고 있다는 점에 실망과 의분을 느낍니다. 남북분단의 근원적 책임에 대한 자각을 완전히 결여하고 있기 때문입니다. 대립에 박차를 가하는 이 무책임한 태도는 내정에서도 엿볼 수 있어, 일본 정부는 조선학교의 존재와 민족교육을 노골적으로 적대시하고 있습니다. 본래 무상이어야 할 초중등교육에서 조선학교를 배제하고 국비를 일체 지급하지 않으며, 또한 새롭게 실시된 고교 무상화 정책에서도 조선 고급학교는 베제해 평등한 대우를 거부하고 있습니다. 이는 인권침해와 다름없으며, 세계로부터 지탄받아 마땅합니다. 유엔기관도 차별 철폐를 권고하였으며, 한국의 언론에서도 강한 비판을 제기하고 있습니다. 일본 정부는 조속히 이 부끄러운 차별대우를 포기해야 합니다.
일 본군 '위안부' 문제와 강제연행 문제를 시작으로 하여, 오늘 이 시점까지도 미해결 상태로 남아있는 문제 역시 잊어서는 안 됩니다. 국가간의 전후 처리로 '해결 완료'라고 하는 것은 용납될 수 없습니다. 국가라 해도 개인의 손해배상청구권을 박탈할 수는 없기 때문입니다. 조선인 원폭 희생자의 한맺힌 절규에 응답하기 위해서도, 우리는 다음과 같은 다섯 항목을 일본 정부에 강력하게 요구합니다. 여러분이 찬성을 해주시면 감사하겠습니다.
1. '한국 병합 조약'은 당초부터 불법・무효라는 것을 선언할 것.
1. 조선민주주의 인민공화국(북한)에 거주하고 있는 피폭자에게 피폭자 원호법 적용의 길을 열
것.
1. 개인의 손해배상청구권을 인정하고, 근본적인 '전후 보상법'을 제정할 것.
1. 조선 고급학교 무상화와 더불어, 초중급 학교의 국비에 의한 무상화를 꾀할 것.
1. 조선민주주의 인민공화국(북한)과의 국교정상화를 실현할 것.
마 지막이 되었습니다만, 일본군'위안부' 문제나 유골 반환 운동에 온힘을 다했으며, 한국 정부의 '일제강점하 강제동원피해 진상규명위원회'가 업무를 수행하는 과정에서, 한국측 위원회와 일본을 잇는 가교가 되어 그 누구도 대신할 수 없는 공헌을 했던 후쿠도메 노리아키(福留範昭)씨의 갑작스러운 죽음에 충격과 슬픔을 억누를 길이 없습니다. (한국의 강제동원진상규명 위원회) 조사원들과 함께 나가사키에도 몇 차례 방문하였던 후쿠도메 씨의 모습을 그리며, 그 위대한 사상과 실천에 마음 깊이 생각을 옮겨 봅니다. 조선인 원폭희생자 추도비 앞에서 진심으로 애도의 마음을 올리고 싶다고 생각합니다.
2010년 8월 9일
나가사키 재일 조선인의 인권을 지키는 모임
대표 다카자네 야스노리(高實康稔)
Thursday, July 22, 2010
[Text Fwd] [ Reply to Cordaro Hiroshima Day Vigil in Souix City.... (Links to DM and Omaha/STRATCOM observances)
* Text fwd from Frank Cordaro on July 22, 2010
Link to DM observance of Hiroshima/Nagasaki
http://groups.google.com/group/iowa-peace-list/browse_thread/thread/e51967e77acf9476
Link to Omaha/STRACTOM observance of Hiroshima/Nagasaki
http://groups.google.com/group/iowa-peace-list/browse_thread/thread/9755ce1e532f75ab
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Gerald Iversen geraldiversen@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, Jul 21, 2010
What: Hiroshima Day Vigil
Date: Friday, Aug 6
Time: 11:30 a.m.
Place: Federal Building at 6th and Douglas Streets in Sioux City
The Siouxland Peace Coalition invites you to a vigil on Hiroshima Day
Friday, Aug. 6th, to raise awareness of the need for the U.S. to
ratify START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty). The general public is
welcome to meet at 11:30 in front of the Federal Building at 6th and
Douglas Streets in Sioux City. After a brief visit to Senator
Grassley’s office to deliver a petition urging his support of START,
the group will demonstrate on the sidewalk until 12:30. Signs will be
provided.
Visit SiouxlandPeaceCoalition.com.
Contact person:
Gerald Iversen
geraldiversen@yahoo.com
712-274-2549 (Please leave a message.)
-----------------------------
Hiroshima Day Vigil Promotes START
The Siouxland Peace Coalition invites you to a vigil on Hiroshima Day,
Friday, August 6th to raise awareness of the need for the U.S. to
ratify START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty).
The general public is welcome to meet at 11:30 in front of the Federal
Building at 6th and Douglas Streets in Sioux City. After a brief visit
to Senator Grassley’s office to deliver a petition urging his support
of START, the group will demonstrate on the sidewalk until 12:30.
Signs will be provided.
Hiroshima Day commemorates August 6, 1945, when an American B-52
dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later another
atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.
Representatives of the media are welcome. A spokesperson will be available.
For more information visit the coalition’s website at
SiouxlandPeaceCoalition.com.
Background information about the use of atomic weapons on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki from Greg P. Guelcher, Associate Professor of History,
Morningside College
On August 6, 1945, an American B-52 bomber named Enola Gay lifted off
from the Pacific island of Tinian, flew to the city of Hiroshima,
Japan, and without warning around 9:15 a.m. dropped a new and vastly
deadlier bomb on its unsuspecting inhabitants. Hiroshima itself was
obliterated within minutes; what the shockwaves didn't destroy fell
victim to the massive fires that followed. The human toll was
staggering: some 70,000 men, women, and children were killed
instantly, while many more (another 130,000 or so by 1950) would
perish as the result of their injuries or illnesses, especially
mysterious radiation sickness. Even fetuses still in the womb were
affected adversely.
Three days later, on August 9 (and only a day after a full report from
a devastated Hiroshima had finally reached Japan's leaders in Tokyo),
the U.S. dropped a second, unannounced atomic bomb on the port city of
Nagasaki. Again, the human toll was astounding, with an estimated
70,000 killed in the explosion, and an equal number dying of radiation
sickness within five years. The second atomic bomb had been moved up
from its originally scheduled date, due to fears of overcast weather
later on.
While the bombings did, in fact, help speed Japan's leaders to
surrender, among scholars today there's still great debate about both
the motives for dropping the bombs (intimidating the Soviet Union is
one commonly accepted rationale, for instance), as well as the actual
necessity of having dropped such fearsome weapons on a country that
was already arguably on the brink of total collapse.
Link to DM observance of Hiroshima/Nagasaki
http://groups.google.com/
Link to Omaha/STRACTOM observance of Hiroshima/Nagasaki
http://groups.google.com/
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Gerald Iversen geraldiversen@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, Jul 21, 2010
What: Hiroshima Day Vigil
Date: Friday, Aug 6
Time: 11:30 a.m.
Place: Federal Building at 6th and Douglas Streets in Sioux City
The Siouxland Peace Coalition invites you to a vigil on Hiroshima Day
Friday, Aug. 6th, to raise awareness of the need for the U.S. to
ratify START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty). The general public is
welcome to meet at 11:30 in front of the Federal Building at 6th and
Douglas Streets in Sioux City. After a brief visit to Senator
Grassley’s office to deliver a petition urging his support of START,
the group will demonstrate on the sidewalk until 12:30. Signs will be
provided.
Visit SiouxlandPeaceCoalition.com.
Contact person:
Gerald Iversen
geraldiversen@yahoo.com
712-274-2549 (Please leave a message.)
-----------------------------
Hiroshima Day Vigil Promotes START
The Siouxland Peace Coalition invites you to a vigil on Hiroshima Day,
Friday, August 6th to raise awareness of the need for the U.S. to
ratify START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty).
The general public is welcome to meet at 11:30 in front of the Federal
Building at 6th and Douglas Streets in Sioux City. After a brief visit
to Senator Grassley’s office to deliver a petition urging his support
of START, the group will demonstrate on the sidewalk until 12:30.
Signs will be provided.
Hiroshima Day commemorates August 6, 1945, when an American B-52
dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later another
atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.
Representatives of the media are welcome. A spokesperson will be available.
For more information visit the coalition’s website at
SiouxlandPeaceCoalition.com.
Background information about the use of atomic weapons on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki from Greg P. Guelcher, Associate Professor of History,
Morningside College
On August 6, 1945, an American B-52 bomber named Enola Gay lifted off
from the Pacific island of Tinian, flew to the city of Hiroshima,
Japan, and without warning around 9:15 a.m. dropped a new and vastly
deadlier bomb on its unsuspecting inhabitants. Hiroshima itself was
obliterated within minutes; what the shockwaves didn't destroy fell
victim to the massive fires that followed. The human toll was
staggering: some 70,000 men, women, and children were killed
instantly, while many more (another 130,000 or so by 1950) would
perish as the result of their injuries or illnesses, especially
mysterious radiation sickness. Even fetuses still in the womb were
affected adversely.
Three days later, on August 9 (and only a day after a full report from
a devastated Hiroshima had finally reached Japan's leaders in Tokyo),
the U.S. dropped a second, unannounced atomic bomb on the port city of
Nagasaki. Again, the human toll was astounding, with an estimated
70,000 killed in the explosion, and an equal number dying of radiation
sickness within five years. The second atomic bomb had been moved up
from its originally scheduled date, due to fears of overcast weather
later on.
While the bombings did, in fact, help speed Japan's leaders to
surrender, among scholars today there's still great debate about both
the motives for dropping the bombs (intimidating the Soviet Union is
one commonly accepted rationale, for instance), as well as the actual
necessity of having dropped such fearsome weapons on a country that
was already arguably on the brink of total collapse.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Text fwd: HUMAN RIGHTS AND WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
* Text Fwd from J. Narayana Rao on Jan. 3, 2009
HUMAN RIGHTS AND WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
By J.Narayana Rao
General Secretary,
All India Peace & Solidarity Organisation, Maharashtra State Committee
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed by the U.N.General Assembly on 10 December 1948
• Conferred on the humanity to live in peace, dignity, freedom and free from want. The preamble of Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “Where as disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarious acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people”.
• Article 3 of the Declaration affirms that “Every one has the right to life, liberty and security of person”. This can only be possible when peace prevails in place of wars, the sound of guns disappears. In wars more innocent people are killed than men in uniform. The preamble of the United Nations Charter states that “ to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war which twice in our life time has brought untold sorrow to mankind”.
• The UN Charter and the Declaration of Human Rights rely on Peace as the corner stone for human progress. The Weapons of Mass Declaration threaten the very existence of human beings. The U.N General Assembly in it’s resolution adopted on 12 November 1984 reiterated that “preservation of the right of people to peace and promotion of the right of people to peace and promotion of its implementation constitute a fundamental obligation of each State” and appeals to avert a world wide nuclear catastrophe.
• The Weapons of Mass Destruction stand against every thing the Human rights profess. Weapons Of Mass Destruction hae been used on human beings for the first time when United States of America dropped two Atom Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 Aug and 9 August 1945. This has resulted in the death of lakhs of people mostly civilians depriving their life and liberty. Both the cities were ragged to the ground. In Hiroshima 1,50,000 people died and in Nagasaki 74,000 people died and even now the Hibakhusas are still dying.
• In Hiroshima after the Atom Bomb was dropped at 8.15 AM on 06.08.1945, the fire raging in an area of 11.5 Km generated a wind with a velocity up to 55 Km an hour. Crops and trees were set ablaze. 84% of unprotected people with in a distance of 2 Km perished immediately. 90% of people with in a distance of 4 Km suffered from burns. Buildings were damaged in an area of 132 Sq Km. On the twelth day 34.9% of survivors were suffering from radiation sickness. 20.6 from burns and 35.5% from wounds. 60% of the injured required hospitalization. But more than 50% of the Doctors died and less than half of the surviving Doctors were in a condition to work. Many children whose parents were in Hiroshima during the Atom Bomb raid were born with genetic defects.The same was the pathetic condition with Nagasaki.
• The present Nuclear weapons are much more powerful and deadlier that those which dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The destructive power of those Bombs were measured by Kilo Tons. The present Nuclear Weapons are measured by Megatons. One Megaton Bomb is equivalent to 80 Boms of Hiroshima type. A five megaton nuclear weapon has more powerful than all the Bombs used during the Second World War. A 20 Megaton Bomb is more powerful than all the explosives used in all the wars in History. According to the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission headed by Hans Blix, there are 27,000 Nuclear Weapons in the world at present.
• The present Nuclear weapons can destroy the entire ecosystem of the Planet. They have the potential of destroying life on the planet several times. When they are exploded, produce heat, blast and radiation. According to a study by the International Physicans for Prevention of Nuclear War(IPPNW) if one megaton Hdrogen Bomb is detonated on the ground,the explosion will create a crater of 92 meters deep and 367 meters in diameter.With in one second the atmosphere ignites into a fireball of more than 1 Km in dameter. The surface of the fireball radiate three tmes of the light and heat can be compared with an area on the surface of the Sun. The fire ball rises to a height of six miles or more. All the life below will be destroyed in seconds. The flash and heat from the explosion spreads outward at the speed of light, causing instantaneous and severe burns.
• Debris carried by winds with a speed of 290 mph will inflict deadly injuries. At least 50% of people will die immediately. The direct heat radiating from the eplosives causes immediate third degree burns to exposed skins. The expanding blast wave destroys small buildings and fuel tanks will explode. Instant heat and winds combine fires at different places into a single raging great destructive fire. The fire storm consumes all nearby oxygen and even sucking it out from under ground places suffocating the occupants. Shelters will become ovens and on the following minutes and hours deaths are likely to be about 100%.
• Justice C.G.Weeramantry of the Sri Lanka who was one of the Judges of the International Court of Justice which dealt on the “legality of the threat and use of Nuclear Weapons in his dissenting opinion,s tates that “it has been orgued that the right to life is not an absolute right and that the taking of life in armed hostilities is a necessary exception to this principle. However, when a weapon has the potential to kill between one million and one billion people, as WHO told the Court, human life becomes reduced to a level of worthlessness that totally belies human dignity as understood in any culture.Such a deliberate action by any state is, in any circumstances whatsoever, incompatible with a recognition by it of that respect for basic human dignity on which world peace depends, and respect for which is assumed on the part of Member States of the United Nations.
• This is not merely a provision of the Universal Declaration of human Rights and other human right instruments but is fundamental Charter Laws enshrined in the very preamble to the United Nations Charater, for one of the ends to which the United Nations is dedicated is “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person. No weapon ever invented in the long history of man’s inhumanity to man has so negative the dignity and worth of the human person as has the nuclear bomb”.
• Article 2(3) of the UN Charter guides that “All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered”. Article 6(1) of the International Covenent on Civil and Political Rights affirms that “Every human being has the right to life, This right shall be protected by Law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life”. Therefore the Nuclear Weapons which cause death of overwhelming number of people would violate the most basic human rights the right to life.
• The existence of Nuclear Weapons is a constant threat to the fundamental human right of life and liberty.The right of the people for a peaceful living is always strained. These weapons threaten devasting and indiscriminate long term damage to large segement of the civilian population and environment. The resolution adopted in an International conference held in Teharan in May 1968 proclaims that “massive denials of human rights, arising out of aggression or any armed conflict with their tragic consequences and resulting in untold human misery, engender reactions which could engulf the world in ever growing hostilities. It is the obligation of the international community to co-operate in erading such scourges”.
• Peace is the aspiration of the people of the world either living in the developed countries or developing countries or in underdeveloped countries. Weapons of Mass Destruction always create a sense of fear psychosis
• The International Court observed that the use of Nuclear weapons could constitute a catastrophe for the environment and observed that the environment represents the living space, the quality of life and the very health of human beings, including generations of unborn. The use of nuclear weapons would necessarily entail a massive violation of the most basic human rights,the right to life.
• These Weapons absorb huge amount of money which otherwise could be used for human development and upkeep of the basic human rights. Article 25(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights States that “Every one has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical caré and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”At present huge amount is being spent on Nuclear weapons.
Country No of War Heads Nuc Bud 2008 Daily Spending
China 150-300 10 Billion.USD 12,400,000 USD
DPRK 4-12 OneBillion USD -
France 300-350 6.5 Billion USD 12,300,000 USD
India 50-90 3.35Billion USD 8,400,000 USD
Israel 200-400 1.5 Billion USD 4,200,000 USD
Pakistan 40-70 1.1 Billion USD 3,000,000 USD
Russia 5200-5600 6.7 Billion USD 18,000,000 USD
U.K 185-200 6.7 Billion USD 10,000,000 USD
U.S.A 4075-5500 52.55 Billion USD 145,000,000 USD
Money need to attend to attend some of the global problems
• To provide clean, safey energy. 50 Billion USD
• Retire developing Nations Debt 30 Billion USD
• Prevent Soil Erosion. 30 Billion USD
• Provide Health Care & Aids Control 21 Billion USD
• Provide Shelter for the Homeless 21Billion USD
• Eliminate Starvation & Malnutrition 19 Billion USD
• Stabilize Population 10.5 Billion USD
• Provide Safe Clean Water. 10 Billion USD
• Prevent Acid Rain 8 Billion USD
• Prevent Global Warming 8 Billion USD
• Stop Deforestation 7 Billion USD
• Refuge Relief 5 Billion USD
• Stop Ozone Depletion 5 Billion USD
• Elimination of Nuclear Weapons 7 Billion USD
Spending huge amounts of money on Weapons of Mass Destruction is to negate implementation of the Article 25(1) of the universal Declaration of Human Rights. Complete abolition of the existing stock piles of Nuclear Weapons and ban possessing of these by any country in future has to be achieved for the peace, security and well being of the mankind.
-------
HUMAN RIGHTS AND WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
By J.Narayana Rao
General Secretary,
All India Peace & Solidarity Organisation, Maharashtra State Committee
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed by the U.N.General Assembly on 10 December 1948
• Conferred on the humanity to live in peace, dignity, freedom and free from want. The preamble of Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “Where as disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarious acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people”.
• Article 3 of the Declaration affirms that “Every one has the right to life, liberty and security of person”. This can only be possible when peace prevails in place of wars, the sound of guns disappears. In wars more innocent people are killed than men in uniform. The preamble of the United Nations Charter states that “ to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war which twice in our life time has brought untold sorrow to mankind”.
• The UN Charter and the Declaration of Human Rights rely on Peace as the corner stone for human progress. The Weapons of Mass Declaration threaten the very existence of human beings. The U.N General Assembly in it’s resolution adopted on 12 November 1984 reiterated that “preservation of the right of people to peace and promotion of the right of people to peace and promotion of its implementation constitute a fundamental obligation of each State” and appeals to avert a world wide nuclear catastrophe.
• The Weapons of Mass Destruction stand against every thing the Human rights profess. Weapons Of Mass Destruction hae been used on human beings for the first time when United States of America dropped two Atom Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 Aug and 9 August 1945. This has resulted in the death of lakhs of people mostly civilians depriving their life and liberty. Both the cities were ragged to the ground. In Hiroshima 1,50,000 people died and in Nagasaki 74,000 people died and even now the Hibakhusas are still dying.
• In Hiroshima after the Atom Bomb was dropped at 8.15 AM on 06.08.1945, the fire raging in an area of 11.5 Km generated a wind with a velocity up to 55 Km an hour. Crops and trees were set ablaze. 84% of unprotected people with in a distance of 2 Km perished immediately. 90% of people with in a distance of 4 Km suffered from burns. Buildings were damaged in an area of 132 Sq Km. On the twelth day 34.9% of survivors were suffering from radiation sickness. 20.6 from burns and 35.5% from wounds. 60% of the injured required hospitalization. But more than 50% of the Doctors died and less than half of the surviving Doctors were in a condition to work. Many children whose parents were in Hiroshima during the Atom Bomb raid were born with genetic defects.The same was the pathetic condition with Nagasaki.
• The present Nuclear weapons are much more powerful and deadlier that those which dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The destructive power of those Bombs were measured by Kilo Tons. The present Nuclear Weapons are measured by Megatons. One Megaton Bomb is equivalent to 80 Boms of Hiroshima type. A five megaton nuclear weapon has more powerful than all the Bombs used during the Second World War. A 20 Megaton Bomb is more powerful than all the explosives used in all the wars in History. According to the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission headed by Hans Blix, there are 27,000 Nuclear Weapons in the world at present.
• The present Nuclear weapons can destroy the entire ecosystem of the Planet. They have the potential of destroying life on the planet several times. When they are exploded, produce heat, blast and radiation. According to a study by the International Physicans for Prevention of Nuclear War(IPPNW) if one megaton Hdrogen Bomb is detonated on the ground,the explosion will create a crater of 92 meters deep and 367 meters in diameter.With in one second the atmosphere ignites into a fireball of more than 1 Km in dameter. The surface of the fireball radiate three tmes of the light and heat can be compared with an area on the surface of the Sun. The fire ball rises to a height of six miles or more. All the life below will be destroyed in seconds. The flash and heat from the explosion spreads outward at the speed of light, causing instantaneous and severe burns.
• Debris carried by winds with a speed of 290 mph will inflict deadly injuries. At least 50% of people will die immediately. The direct heat radiating from the eplosives causes immediate third degree burns to exposed skins. The expanding blast wave destroys small buildings and fuel tanks will explode. Instant heat and winds combine fires at different places into a single raging great destructive fire. The fire storm consumes all nearby oxygen and even sucking it out from under ground places suffocating the occupants. Shelters will become ovens and on the following minutes and hours deaths are likely to be about 100%.
• Justice C.G.Weeramantry of the Sri Lanka who was one of the Judges of the International Court of Justice which dealt on the “legality of the threat and use of Nuclear Weapons in his dissenting opinion,s tates that “it has been orgued that the right to life is not an absolute right and that the taking of life in armed hostilities is a necessary exception to this principle. However, when a weapon has the potential to kill between one million and one billion people, as WHO told the Court, human life becomes reduced to a level of worthlessness that totally belies human dignity as understood in any culture.Such a deliberate action by any state is, in any circumstances whatsoever, incompatible with a recognition by it of that respect for basic human dignity on which world peace depends, and respect for which is assumed on the part of Member States of the United Nations.
• This is not merely a provision of the Universal Declaration of human Rights and other human right instruments but is fundamental Charter Laws enshrined in the very preamble to the United Nations Charater, for one of the ends to which the United Nations is dedicated is “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person. No weapon ever invented in the long history of man’s inhumanity to man has so negative the dignity and worth of the human person as has the nuclear bomb”.
• Article 2(3) of the UN Charter guides that “All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered”. Article 6(1) of the International Covenent on Civil and Political Rights affirms that “Every human being has the right to life, This right shall be protected by Law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life”. Therefore the Nuclear Weapons which cause death of overwhelming number of people would violate the most basic human rights the right to life.
• The existence of Nuclear Weapons is a constant threat to the fundamental human right of life and liberty.The right of the people for a peaceful living is always strained. These weapons threaten devasting and indiscriminate long term damage to large segement of the civilian population and environment. The resolution adopted in an International conference held in Teharan in May 1968 proclaims that “massive denials of human rights, arising out of aggression or any armed conflict with their tragic consequences and resulting in untold human misery, engender reactions which could engulf the world in ever growing hostilities. It is the obligation of the international community to co-operate in erading such scourges”.
• Peace is the aspiration of the people of the world either living in the developed countries or developing countries or in underdeveloped countries. Weapons of Mass Destruction always create a sense of fear psychosis
• The International Court observed that the use of Nuclear weapons could constitute a catastrophe for the environment and observed that the environment represents the living space, the quality of life and the very health of human beings, including generations of unborn. The use of nuclear weapons would necessarily entail a massive violation of the most basic human rights,the right to life.
• These Weapons absorb huge amount of money which otherwise could be used for human development and upkeep of the basic human rights. Article 25(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights States that “Every one has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical caré and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”At present huge amount is being spent on Nuclear weapons.
Country No of War Heads Nuc Bud 2008 Daily Spending
China 150-300 10 Billion.USD 12,400,000 USD
DPRK 4-12 OneBillion USD -
France 300-350 6.5 Billion USD 12,300,000 USD
India 50-90 3.35Billion USD 8,400,000 USD
Israel 200-400 1.5 Billion USD 4,200,000 USD
Pakistan 40-70 1.1 Billion USD 3,000,000 USD
Russia 5200-5600 6.7 Billion USD 18,000,000 USD
U.K 185-200 6.7 Billion USD 10,000,000 USD
U.S.A 4075-5500 52.55 Billion USD 145,000,000 USD
Money need to attend to attend some of the global problems
• To provide clean, safey energy. 50 Billion USD
• Retire developing Nations Debt 30 Billion USD
• Prevent Soil Erosion. 30 Billion USD
• Provide Health Care & Aids Control 21 Billion USD
• Provide Shelter for the Homeless 21Billion USD
• Eliminate Starvation & Malnutrition 19 Billion USD
• Stabilize Population 10.5 Billion USD
• Provide Safe Clean Water. 10 Billion USD
• Prevent Acid Rain 8 Billion USD
• Prevent Global Warming 8 Billion USD
• Stop Deforestation 7 Billion USD
• Refuge Relief 5 Billion USD
• Stop Ozone Depletion 5 Billion USD
• Elimination of Nuclear Weapons 7 Billion USD
Spending huge amounts of money on Weapons of Mass Destruction is to negate implementation of the Article 25(1) of the universal Declaration of Human Rights. Complete abolition of the existing stock piles of Nuclear Weapons and ban possessing of these by any country in future has to be achieved for the peace, security and well being of the mankind.
-------
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Text Fwd: Bell Park for World Peace, Hwacheon, Korea
* Text Fwd from Bruce Gagnon(globalnet@mindspring.com) on Nov. 10, 2009
Bell Park for World Peace, Hwacheon, Korea
Nuclear Weapons, North East Asia and Beyond:
Re-vitalizing the Ecumenical Movement
Dates: December 3~7, 2009 (Arrival / departure inclusive)
Venue; Bell Park for World Peace, Hwacheon, Korea
Nuclear weapons with their related technologies, production, deployment and use, are incompatible with the life of living beings. Yet they were developed, deployed and used by the United States in1945 to kill the people and destroy the life of living beings in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan. It was truly a fatal moment in the history of the earth.
Since then the nuclear regime has evolved into a global holocaust machine.
Christian involvement in this historical development is at least ambiguous. From the beginning, Christian ethics has been implicated in the nuclear weapons development and its use. Later the nuclear weapons system was justified in the name of political realism, that is, the balance of the power or terror.
“If we were to apply Niebuhr's real politics, with its ready acceptance of the inevitability of conflict, to the present nuclear situation, it could well mean “a perverse preference for the war of mutual annihilation, simply because the war of mutual annihilation means, at least, that the other side doesn't win either.”
In 1980's the Ecumenical Movement for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation took up the nuclear issue as a matter of faith. As the Cold War Order was dismantled, the ecumenical movement had a chance to press the question further. However, the agenda to denuclearization of the geo-political order did not make any progress.
As the beginning of the 21stcentury took off, the US has revitalized the nuclear doctrine anew as a part of the War on Terror(People's Charter on Peace for Life).This created a new situation where nuclear weapons could be used in the actual war and combat.
Former President Gorbachov of Russia and more recently President Obama issued statements on the need to have the “world without nuclear weapons.” This lends a possibility for the negotiation for a new nuclear regime.
However, the debate on the issue is centered in the inter-state or multi-state context particularly among those states, which have already nuclear weapons and its system. The role of non-nuclear states, of non-governmental organizations and citizens' movements and of the people's movements is crucial, if the debates and negotiations are to be fruitful.
It is high time for the ecumenical movement to get involved in this process. It is our proposal that the issue be taken up by the World Council of Churches at its International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, 17-25 May 2011.
In the light of this proposal, a local initiative and global response is needed as a modus operandi of the discussion and debate for global action for the Nuclear Free World. It is timely to have a statement from Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (August, 2009).
It is proposed to have a small consultation on nuclear pacifism on three dimensions: 1) grasping the issue from the “expertise” dimension; 2) assessing ecumenical policies on nuclear disarmament, and 3) exploring different roles and capacities for international ecumenical advocacy in this field in a northeast Asia context. It would a local initiative, inviting a global response. It is differentiated from the rationale of “think globally and act locally.”Korean local situation presents a logical and historical place to initiate a local process of consultation on the issue.
Themes of the Consultation:
1. Nuclear developments in the Korean peninsula and their implications.
The focus can be on North Korean programme which has a number of implications not only for the region but also outside. They include peace and security in North East Asia, Korean unification, nuclear proliferation etc.
2. Geopolitics of Asia and nuclear weapons.
An analysis of the geopolitical situation especially the dominant role of the USA, challenges from China and India, the role of Japan etc and its relation to nuclear arms. Here the nuclear weapon programmes of China, India and Pakistan have to be looked at.
3. Nuclear disarmament, problems and prospects.
There are several new initiatives the most prominent of them being from President Obama. Why this sudden spurt of activity especially at the state level? Are we now joining the bandwagon or do we address the real problems and prospects?
4. People's perspective on security and nuclear weapons.
How do people in Asia look at nuclear weapon issue? There is need to develop a people's perspective on human security and see how it is affected by nuclear weaponization.
5. Implications, role and strategy for the ecumenical movement.
A fresh approach from the ecumenical movement is needed. The analysis under 1 to 4 will provide the context for this. Some references are made in the draft proposal to theological positions. Many developments after the cold war and during the war on terror have raised new theological issues e.g. preemption. Formulations of position of the ecumenical movement on various nuclear related issues need revision.
The objectives of the consultation:
1. Reflections on Nuclear-Free Korean Peninsula and its implications for North East Asia and for the global perspective of a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World.
2. Reflections on the implications and role for the global ecumenical movement
3. Exploring ecumenical strategy that can form the basis for ecumenical actions to promote a world free of nuclear weapons.
4. Understanding the current state of affairs on the nuclear regime from the people's perspective and engaging churches and church members.
Program Outline
Morning I Morning II Afternoon I Afternoon II Evening
Dec. 3 Arrival Dinner and Reception
Dec. 4 Registration Opening Keynote Address Korea and NE Asia Regional
Perspectives Conversations
Dec. 5 Regional Perspectives
US Perspective UN & Global Perspective WCC Perspective Conversations
Dec. 6 A Biblical Perspective
Theological Reflection Plenary Workshop General Plenary Dinner and Farewell
Dec. 7 Departure
Invited Participants (is it possible to include people from more sectors to unpack this multi-dimensional problem and link debate to different aspects of the reality, e.g.
o current or former diplomats,
o current or former military,
o people with experience in other disarmament processes
o ideally, some would be people of active faith and all would be open to the role of religions
1. Korean experts and movement people (4)
2. US and North American experts and movement people (2)
3. Europe experts and movement people (2)
4. Japan experts and movement people (2)
5. Chinese experts (2)
6. Indo-Pakistan experts and movements (2)
7. Russian experts and movement people (2)
8. African perspective (2)
9. Asian perspective (1)
10. West Asian (Middle East,) perspective (2)
11. Latin American Perspective (2)
Venue: Hwacheon Bell Park for World Peace
Hwacheon Peace Dam, Kangwondo, South Korea
The Organizing Committee:
Asia Pacific Graduate School, Korea
National YMCA, Korea
DMZ Society, Hwacheon, Korea
Supporting bodies:
National Council of Churches, Seoul, Korea
Presbyterian Church of Korea
Christian Conference of Asia, Chiang Mai, Thailand
World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland
People's Forum on Peace for Life, Manila, Philippines
Bellpark for World Peace, Hwacheon County, Kangwon Province
Bell Park for World Peace, Hwacheon, Korea
Nuclear Weapons, North East Asia and Beyond:
Re-vitalizing the Ecumenical Movement
Dates: December 3~7, 2009 (Arrival / departure inclusive)
Venue; Bell Park for World Peace, Hwacheon, Korea
Nuclear weapons with their related technologies, production, deployment and use, are incompatible with the life of living beings. Yet they were developed, deployed and used by the United States in1945 to kill the people and destroy the life of living beings in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan. It was truly a fatal moment in the history of the earth.
Since then the nuclear regime has evolved into a global holocaust machine.
Christian involvement in this historical development is at least ambiguous. From the beginning, Christian ethics has been implicated in the nuclear weapons development and its use. Later the nuclear weapons system was justified in the name of political realism, that is, the balance of the power or terror.
“If we were to apply Niebuhr's real politics, with its ready acceptance of the inevitability of conflict, to the present nuclear situation, it could well mean “a perverse preference for the war of mutual annihilation, simply because the war of mutual annihilation means, at least, that the other side doesn't win either.”
In 1980's the Ecumenical Movement for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation took up the nuclear issue as a matter of faith. As the Cold War Order was dismantled, the ecumenical movement had a chance to press the question further. However, the agenda to denuclearization of the geo-political order did not make any progress.
As the beginning of the 21stcentury took off, the US has revitalized the nuclear doctrine anew as a part of the War on Terror(People's Charter on Peace for Life).This created a new situation where nuclear weapons could be used in the actual war and combat.
Former President Gorbachov of Russia and more recently President Obama issued statements on the need to have the “world without nuclear weapons.” This lends a possibility for the negotiation for a new nuclear regime.
However, the debate on the issue is centered in the inter-state or multi-state context particularly among those states, which have already nuclear weapons and its system. The role of non-nuclear states, of non-governmental organizations and citizens' movements and of the people's movements is crucial, if the debates and negotiations are to be fruitful.
It is high time for the ecumenical movement to get involved in this process. It is our proposal that the issue be taken up by the World Council of Churches at its International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, 17-25 May 2011.
In the light of this proposal, a local initiative and global response is needed as a modus operandi of the discussion and debate for global action for the Nuclear Free World. It is timely to have a statement from Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (August, 2009).
It is proposed to have a small consultation on nuclear pacifism on three dimensions: 1) grasping the issue from the “expertise” dimension; 2) assessing ecumenical policies on nuclear disarmament, and 3) exploring different roles and capacities for international ecumenical advocacy in this field in a northeast Asia context. It would a local initiative, inviting a global response. It is differentiated from the rationale of “think globally and act locally.”Korean local situation presents a logical and historical place to initiate a local process of consultation on the issue.
Themes of the Consultation:
1. Nuclear developments in the Korean peninsula and their implications.
The focus can be on North Korean programme which has a number of implications not only for the region but also outside. They include peace and security in North East Asia, Korean unification, nuclear proliferation etc.
2. Geopolitics of Asia and nuclear weapons.
An analysis of the geopolitical situation especially the dominant role of the USA, challenges from China and India, the role of Japan etc and its relation to nuclear arms. Here the nuclear weapon programmes of China, India and Pakistan have to be looked at.
3. Nuclear disarmament, problems and prospects.
There are several new initiatives the most prominent of them being from President Obama. Why this sudden spurt of activity especially at the state level? Are we now joining the bandwagon or do we address the real problems and prospects?
4. People's perspective on security and nuclear weapons.
How do people in Asia look at nuclear weapon issue? There is need to develop a people's perspective on human security and see how it is affected by nuclear weaponization.
5. Implications, role and strategy for the ecumenical movement.
A fresh approach from the ecumenical movement is needed. The analysis under 1 to 4 will provide the context for this. Some references are made in the draft proposal to theological positions. Many developments after the cold war and during the war on terror have raised new theological issues e.g. preemption. Formulations of position of the ecumenical movement on various nuclear related issues need revision.
The objectives of the consultation:
1. Reflections on Nuclear-Free Korean Peninsula and its implications for North East Asia and for the global perspective of a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World.
2. Reflections on the implications and role for the global ecumenical movement
3. Exploring ecumenical strategy that can form the basis for ecumenical actions to promote a world free of nuclear weapons.
4. Understanding the current state of affairs on the nuclear regime from the people's perspective and engaging churches and church members.
Program Outline
Morning I Morning II Afternoon I Afternoon II Evening
Dec. 3 Arrival Dinner and Reception
Dec. 4 Registration Opening Keynote Address Korea and NE Asia Regional
Perspectives Conversations
Dec. 5 Regional Perspectives
US Perspective UN & Global Perspective WCC Perspective Conversations
Dec. 6 A Biblical Perspective
Theological Reflection Plenary Workshop General Plenary Dinner and Farewell
Dec. 7 Departure
Invited Participants (is it possible to include people from more sectors to unpack this multi-dimensional problem and link debate to different aspects of the reality, e.g.
o current or former diplomats,
o current or former military,
o people with experience in other disarmament processes
o ideally, some would be people of active faith and all would be open to the role of religions
1. Korean experts and movement people (4)
2. US and North American experts and movement people (2)
3. Europe experts and movement people (2)
4. Japan experts and movement people (2)
5. Chinese experts (2)
6. Indo-Pakistan experts and movements (2)
7. Russian experts and movement people (2)
8. African perspective (2)
9. Asian perspective (1)
10. West Asian (Middle East,) perspective (2)
11. Latin American Perspective (2)
Venue: Hwacheon Bell Park for World Peace
Hwacheon Peace Dam, Kangwondo, South Korea
The Organizing Committee:
Asia Pacific Graduate School, Korea
National YMCA, Korea
DMZ Society, Hwacheon, Korea
Supporting bodies:
National Council of Churches, Seoul, Korea
Presbyterian Church of Korea
Christian Conference of Asia, Chiang Mai, Thailand
World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland
People's Forum on Peace for Life, Manila, Philippines
Bellpark for World Peace, Hwacheon County, Kangwon Province
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Text Fwd: Five People Arrested on Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor - Disarm Now Plowshares
Text Fwd from Frank Cordaro(frank.cordaro@gmail.com) and Felice & Jack Cohen-Joppa(nukeresister@igc.org)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Felice & Jack Cohen-Joppa <nukeresister@igc.org>
Date: Mon, Nov 2, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 2, 2009
Contacts :
Jackie Hudson- 360-286-9036 or jackiehudson123@Yahoo.com
Sue Ablao - 360-286-9157 or sablao1@yahoo.com
Five People Arrested on Naval Base Kitsap- Bangor
The "Disarm Now Trident Plowshares Action"
Bill "Bix" Bischel, S.J., 81, of Tacoma, Washington;
Susan Crane, 65, of Baltimore MD;
Lynne Greenwald, 60, of Bremerton, Washington;
Steve Kelly, S.J., 60, of Oakland, CA.;
Anne Montgomery RSCJ, 83, of New York, New York,
All five were arrested on Naval Base Kitsap- Bangor. They entered the
Base in the early morning hours of November 2, 2009, All Souls Day,
with the intention of calling attention to the illegality and
immorality of the existence of the Trident weapons system. They
entered thru the perimeter fence, made their way to the Strategic
Weapons Facility - Pacific ( SWFPAC) where they were able to cut
through the first chainlink fence surrounding SWFPAC, walked to and
cut the next double layered fence, which was both chain link and
barbed wire, onto the grounds of SWFPAC. As they walked onto the
grounds, they held a banner saying ŠŠ "Disarm Now Plowshares :
Trident: Illegal + Immoral", left a trail of blood and hammered on
the roadway (Trigger Ave. and Sturgeon) that are essential to the
working of the Trident weapons system, hammered on the fences around
SWFPAC and scattered sunflower seeds throughout the base. They were
then thrown to the ground face down, handcuffed and hooded and held
there for 4 hours on the wet, cold ground. They were taken, hooded,
and carried out through the very holes in the fence that they had
made, for questioning by Base security, FBI and NCIS. They refused to
give any information except their names, and were cited as of now, for
trespass and destruction of government property, given a ban and bar
letter and released.
In a joint statement, the group stated that, "The manufacture and
deployment of Trident II missiles, weapons of mass destruction, is
immoral and criminal under International Law and, therefore, under
United States law. As U.S. citizens we are responsible under the
Nuremberg Principles for this threat of first-strike terrorism hanging
over the community of nations, rich and poor. Moreover, such
planning, preparation, and deployment is a blasphemy against the
Creator of life, imaged in each human being. "
There have been approximately 100 Plowshares Nuclear Resistance
Actions worldwide since 1980. Plowshares actions are taken from Isaiah
2:4 in Old Testament (Hebrew) scripture of the Christian Bible, ³God
will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many
people. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their
spears into pruning hooks. And nations will not take up swords against
nations, nor will they train for war anymore."
The Trident submarine base at Bangor, just 20 miles from Seattle, is
home to the largest single stockpile of nuclear warheads in the U.S.
arsenal, housing more than 2000 nuclear warheads. In November 2006,
the Natural Resources Defense Council declared that the 2,364 nuclear
warheads at Bangor are approximately 24 percent of the entire U.S.
arsenal. The Bangor base houses more nuclear warheads than China,
France, Israel, India, North Korea and Pakistan combined.
The base has been rebuilt for the deployment of the larger and more
accurate Trident D-5 missile system. Each of the 24 D-5 missiles on a
Trident submarine is capable of carrying eight of the larger 455
kiloton W-88 warheads (each warhead is about 30 times the explosive
force as the Hiroshima bomb.) The D-5 missile can also be armed with
the 100 kiloton W-76 warhead. The Trident fleet at Bangor deploys
both the 455 kiloton W-88 warhead and the 100 kiloton W-76 warhead.
xxx
Statement of the DISARM NOW PLOWSHARES
"I will purify you from the taint of all your idols. I will give you
a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart
of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my
Spirit within you and make you conform to my statutes." Ez. 36:25-27
We walk into the heart of darkness, the Naval Submarine Base
Kitsap-Bangor, housing and deploying over 2,000 nuclear warheads for
Trident submarines. By their very existence they are endangering the
environment, threatening the indiscriminate destruction of life on
earth, and depriving the hungry, homeless, and jobless of billions of
dollars that could supply human needs throughout the world.
The manufacture and deployment of Trident II missiles, weapons of mass
destruction, is immoral and criminal under international law and,
therefore, under United States law. As U.S. citizens we are
responsible under the Nuremberg Principles for this threat of
first-strike terrorism hanging over the community of nations, rich and
poor. Moreover, such planning, preparation, and deployment is a
blasphemy against the Creator of life, imaged in each human being.
We are called by Isaiah to take seriously our own responsibility to
act as citizens of the nation that subjected the civilians of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the hell of nuclear bombing and its deadly
consequences. The United States continues to research and develop
even more inhumane weapons of mass destruction.
We are called by Ezekiel to transform our own hearts and to invite all
those whose hearts are hardened by blindness, fear, and mistrust of
the ³other² to allow theirs to be transformed into "hearts of flesh:"
disarmed, compassionate, and generous.
We bring carpenters' hammers to symbolically transform these weapons
of death into material useful for homes and factories. On this day of
remembrance, All Souls Day, we bring our own blood in solidarity with
the victims of war, who are invisible to those who target them. We
bring sunflower seeds to plant the hope of new life in this violated
earth. We intend to beat swords into plowshares as one step up the
holy mountain where all nations can unite in peace.
At the beginning of the International Decade of Disarmament, we join
with the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the 2020 Vision
Campaign to abolish all nuclear weapons by that year at the latest.
Nuclear weapons can never be guardians, defenders, or upholders of
peace. They are sheathed in stainless steel and metal coverings that
conceal the evil incarnate lying within. They are filled with
death-dealing agents that tear apart humans and leave survivors
scarred for life. They leave no place for human care for the
thousands who suffer and die in agony. Nuclear weapons are a lie.
Their ³protection² is an illusion. They must be abolished.
"God will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many
peoples. 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.² Isaiah 2:4
Washington State
November 2, 2009
Steve Kelly, S.J.
Lynne Greenwald
Anne Montgomery, RSCJ
Susan Crane
Bill Bichsel, S.J.
xxx
November 2, 2009
Hand Delivery
Captain Mark Olsen
Commander US Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor
120 South Dewey St
Bremerton, WA 98314
YOU have been involved in the housing, deployment and threatened use
of immoral and illegal nuclear weapons on Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor.
These weapons and their delivery systems include Trident submarines,
Trident II D-5 missiles, and W-88 and W-76 nuclear warheads. These
weapons, and their delivery systems, threaten the destruction of other
nations and people and as such constitute violation of International
Law and of Ruling of the International Tribunal of Justice of 1996.
You are hereby notified that effective upon receipt of this letter
that the disarmament of all nuclear weapons at Naval Base
Kitsap/Bangor is to begin immediately and continue until all nuclear
weapons are disarmed and removed.
You are further informed that delay or failure to begin disarmament
will lead to the prosecution before the International Tribunal of
Justice of all naval and civilian personnel responsible for the delay.
This barment letter is issued for the protection and security of
people, animals, and all creation of our world.
Any compelling reason for naval or civilian exemption from prosecution
by the International Tribunal can be entered with the secretariat of
the International Tribunal.
(Address; International Tribunal, International Court of Justice, The
Hague, Netherlands)
Steve Kelly, S.J.
Lynne Greenwald
Anne Montgomery, RSCJ
Susan Crane
Bill Bichsel, S.J.
xxx
Disarm Now Plowshares Bios:
Steve Kelly, S.J. During his religious formation in our inner cities,
in Sudan, Africa, as well as refugee work in Central America following
ordination, he encountered the messiah, Jesus incarnate in the poor.
At the same time, the relevance of Jesus as a real shepherd inserting
himself between the danger of wolf or thief and the flock in his care
inspired this Jesuit to try to imitate Jesus. His current
collaboration with Catholic Workers and the Pacific Life Community
confirms the analysis that the nukes represent, just in their making,
a contemporary larceny from the poor, while the wolf, the imminent
danger of their use, demands the embodiment of Isaiah 2:4. Will that
hammering wake us, those professing faith in a loving God, from our
idolatrous slumbers?
Lynne Greenwald is the mother of three children and has worked
professionally as a Registered Nurse, Family Therapist and Social
Worker for nearly 40 years. She has also been actively involved in
the Nonviolent Peace Movement since the mid-1970s. Lynne moved to
Kitsap County in Washington State 26 years ago to join Ground Zero
Center for Nonviolent Action and to become a neighbor to families
involved with the Trident Base and other facilities in this
predominately military community. "While the existence of Trident is
obvious, the truth of Trident's nuclear threats and illegality remains
hidden. My action of conversion today is one committed out of love
for all life."
Anne Montgomery is an eighty-three year old Religious of the Sacred
Heart and former teacher in high schools and programs for dropouts and
learning disabled children. As a member of the Gulf Peace Team in
1991 and of Christian Peacemaker Teams from 1995 to 2009 she served in
Iraq and Palestine. Since 1980 she has been active in the Plowshares
movement and other forms of civil resistance to U.S. militarism,
especially nuclear weapons. Since 2005 she has also participated in
Witness Against Torture and the Free Gaza boat trip to open the port
of Gaza. She acts now to support all efforts to convert weapons of
death into resources for human life, especially for the most neglected
and oppressed of the threatened earth.
Susan Crane is the mother of two sons, and has taught at a school for
marginalized youth in California. More recently she has lived at
Jonah House, a nonviolent community in Baltimore, which speaks out
against all warmaking, and specifically nuclear weapons. Aware that we
take better care of nuclear weapons than of our nation's children, and
that we spend more than half of every federal tax dollar on warmaking
rather than human needs, she acts to transform these weapons of mass
destruction to life- giving materials.
ill Bichsel, a Tacoma native, entered the Jesuit Order in 1946 and
after studies and teaching was ordained a Jesuit in 1959. He has
served in parishes, taught in high schools, and was Dean of Students
at Gonzaga from 1963-1966. In 1969 he returned to Tacoma where he
served at St. Leo's Parish for over 7 years and then co-founded the
Tacoma Catholic Worker (Guadalupe House) which offers hospitality and
transitional housing to the homeless. The Guadalupe Community lives in
the nonviolent tradition of Dorothy Day, the Catholic Worker
foundress. Bichsel still resides and serves at the Tacoma Catholic
Worker-one mile from where he was born and raised. He has served jail
and prison terms many times for his resistance to the violence of the
Trident nuclear weapon system and the violence of the S.O.A. training
at Ft. Benning, GA. He believes that unless we, the American people,
actively work to abolish nuclear weapons we as a people will continue
to threaten destruction to the global community and continue to
deprive the poor of the world of resources necessary for life.
xxx
Fact Sheet: Trident Submarine & Missile System:
Trident submarines serve as the sea based nuclear launch system of the
Air, Land, and Sea Nuclear Triad supported by the US government. The
U.S. currently has 14 nuclear-powered Trident ballistic-missile (SSBN)
submarines. Trident submarines are 560 feet in length, or nearly two
football fields. Each submarine can carry 24 submarine-launched
ballistic missiles (SLBMs) designated Trident D5 and each missile can
carry up to eight 100 kiloton nuclear warheads (about 30 times the
explosive force as the Hiroshima bomb).
The Trident D5 missile stands 44.6 feet high and originally had a
range of 4,230 nautical miles with a full load of warheads, and up to
6000+ nautical miles with a reduced load of warheads. Upgrades and
Life Extension Programs may have changed some specifications.
Warheads are either Mark-4/W76 or Mark-5/W88.
100: Number of kilotons on ONE Trident W76 warhead
455: Number of kilotons on ONE Trident W88 warhead
345,600: Total number of kilotons deployed on Trident fleet
14: Number of kilotons on atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima
150,000: Number of people killed by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima
1,028 minimum; 4,885 maximum: Number of potential "Hiroshimas" each
Trident is capable of destroying
$66,000,000: Price of ONE Trident II D5 missile
14: Number of nuclear- armed submarines the Navy wants to deploy through 2042
$60,000,000: Cost of health insurance for 60,000 children
$10,000,000,000: Annual cost of providing sanitary water to 2.4
billion people worldwide who now lack it
$59,000,000,000: Cost of building housing for 6000,000 homeless
families in the US
$170,200,000,000 (low estimate): Total cost of the ENTIRE Trident
program through year 2042
Naval Submarine Base Kitsap-Bangor is located 20 miles west of Seattle
on the deep waters of Hood Canal in Washington State. It is the home
to the largest single stockpile of nuclear warheads in the U.S.
arsenal, housing more than 2,000 nuclear warheads. This is
approximately 24% of the entire U.S. arsenal. The Bangor Base
presently houses more nuclear warheads than the countries of England,
France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea combined.
There are eight Tridents based at the Bangor Base; six operate out of
Kings Bay, GA. The Trident submarines at Bangor are likely to be used
first in any nuclear attack, either as an isolated tactical assault on
a specific site, bunker, or weapons location, or in a larger strategic
nuclear attack. The D5 missile is capable of traveling over 1,370
miles in less than 13 minutes, allowing for a US nuclear strike
anywhere on planet earth within 15 minutes.
xxx
LETHAL FORCE
by William J. Bichsel, S.J.
On November 2, 2009, All Souls Day, by the grace of God I choose to
enter the Trident Submarine Base at Bangor Washington. I wish to walk
to the idolatrous place of nuclear weapon bunkers where lethal force
is authorized to guard the hiding places of the most lethal forces in
the world. I wish to walk in solidarity with the poor of our world
who live with lethal force constantly directed against them. My
vulnerability to this lethal force is minimal compared to the lifetime
vulnerability of the condemned of our world. My compelling reason for
entering the Trident Submarine Base is to be present at this Auschwitz
place in order to witness in faith to the transforming power of Jesus'
non-violence and Resurrection which can turn hearts of stone into
hearts of flesh and compassion. At this place of global death and
hopelessness I wish to witness in faith to the life giving and
transforming power of this presence which can expel the demon of
violence from the hearts and minds of people possessed by the need for
nuclear weapons. I believe the life giving power of the Resurrection
can flow over the nuclear death machine and stop its destructive
force.
Compassion can then grow in hearts and minds of people who have been
liberated from the prison of fear and violence.
Millions upon millions of people throughout our world live with lethal
force being directed against them. Our brothers and sisters and
children live in war ravaged places where violence reigns and
starvation, disease, absence of medical resources, absence of shelter
eventually bring death. One hour from our shores in Haiti, where one
in twelve children do not reach the age of five, parents give children
mud cakes made of earth, oil, sugar and salt to diminish the effects
of hunger pains. From the Sudan to Sub Saharan Africa, mothers watch
as their infants and children become emaciated with swollen stomachs
and lifeless eyes then die. All of these lethal forces are authorized.
In the U.S., except for the poor, we have been protected and insulated
from the death sentences under which half of the earth's population
lives. The drive for security has numbed our citizens to accept
nuclear weapons as the ultimate protector of the American way of life.
In effect this choice means the acceptance of the use of nuclear
weapons if the United States considers itself threatened. The people
of the United States accept the deaths of millions of people if a
preempted strike is ordered. Thus the use of lethal force is
authorized.
Across our nation there are vast numbers of U.S. citizens who face
lethal forces directed against them which are not as immediate or
instantaneously murderous as the lethal forces directed against the
3rd world poor. In our capitalistic system there are many who will not
receive the health care, education, employment, appropriate housing
and nutrition needed to live full human lives in this culture. These
forces attack the body, soul and spirit of our citizens which
eventually bring death of the spirit and then the body. This is
especially true of one segment of our population - the mentally-ill,
who live on the streets, under bridges, in door ways, jungle camps or
in jails and prisons. They belong nowhere. They die. These lethal
forces are also authorized.
The continued possession of nuclear weapons by the United States means
that resources that could be used to divert the lethal forces that are
now killing the poor of our world will continue to be used to fuel the
killing machine.
Father Richard McSorley, S.J. has maintained that "the tap root of
violence in our society is the acceptance of nuclear weapons." We must
bend our efforts to make known the Non Proliferation Treaty Review
which will take place on May 2, 2010 at the United Nations. By our
presence we must insist that the NPT Review Committee in the very near
future organize a nuclear weapon global conference of these treaty
nations which will set a firm date for nuclear weapon abolition.
xxx
Some thoughts about going onto Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor
by Susan Crane
All Soul's Day, Nov. 2, 2009
Today in the US more and more people are coming to food pantries,
needing food for their families. The numbers of home foreclosures
increase, leaving families homeless; unemployment increases; and many,
even those with health insurance, can't get their basic health needs
met. Class size increases as teachers are laid off and dropout rates
increase. Many returning vets must struggle for benefits. States are
near bankruptcy, and our infrastructure is falling apart. And day by
day climate change threatens us all.
As a nation, we know all this. We experience it personally, and hear
it on the nightly news. But what we don't hear is that there may be
solutions to these problems. We need to look at where, as a nation, we
are allocating our resources: where do our federal tax dollars go?
Where do our brightest and best scientists find work? Where do our
idealistic and dedicated youth end up? We know that over half of
every federal tax dollar is used for warmaking. And we know that the
American people never have a chance to vote on a bond issue for the
next fighter plane or nuclear weapon. Every dollar that is used for
warmaking, killing or planning to kill other people, is a dollar that
is not used for human needs, or healing the earth.
Here in Washington state, I was thinking about the Trident submarines
which have nuclear warheads on them, and are constantly roaming the
oceans. There are 8 subs homeported here at Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor.
And each of these subs carries 24 Trident II D-5 missiles, and each
of the missiles carries multiple nuclear warheads. Some of the
warheads are 32 times the explosive heat and blast of the bomb the US
dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
The Trident subs are stealthy, and at sea their location is secret.
They can launch nuclear weapons to anywhere in the world in 15
minutes, which is a constant threat to people in other nations. Here
in the US we don't live under a threat like that.
My faith tradition teaches me that we are to love our enemies, to love
one another. Planning to kill others is not an act of
loveŠIndiscriminate killing of whole cites of people, animals and
plants is not an act of love.
Here in the northwest where the Trident subs are homeported, the land
is beautiful; the trees are aromatic; the water is healing. And I
hope that we come to our senses and experience this land we live in,
and realize that we-and people all over the earth-are brothers and
sisters. There is no "us" and "them". As individuals and as a
nation; we all have good in us; we all have a shadow side. We can all
work together if we choose to.
With hope for peace and disarmament, the five us, Steve Kelly, S.J,
Lynne Greenwald, Anne Montgomery, RSCJ, Bill Bichsel, S.J. and
myself, go to Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor on All Soul's Day. We remember
the 150 million people killed by warmaking and related consequences of
war in the last 100 years. It is in solidarity with all who live in
lethal force zones that we enter the lethal force zone on the naval
base.
We bring our own blood to pour on the missiles, nuclear weapons,
trident subs, or perhaps on the railroad tracks that carry the
weapons. We pour our blood to remind us all of the consequences of
warmaking. We bring hammers to enflesh the words of Isaiah to hammer
swords into plowshares. We bring sunflower seeds to sow to begin to
convert the base, and we bring disarmed hearts in hope of a disarmed
world. I go onto the base with the support of all at Jonah House, in
Baltimore, carrying their prayers in my hip pocket.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Felice & Jack Cohen-Joppa <nukeresister@igc.org>
Date: Mon, Nov 2, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 2, 2009
Contacts :
Jackie Hudson- 360-286-9036 or jackiehudson123@Yahoo.com
Sue Ablao - 360-286-9157 or sablao1@yahoo.com
Five People Arrested on Naval Base Kitsap- Bangor
The "Disarm Now Trident Plowshares Action"
Bill "Bix" Bischel, S.J., 81, of Tacoma, Washington;
Susan Crane, 65, of Baltimore MD;
Lynne Greenwald, 60, of Bremerton, Washington;
Steve Kelly, S.J., 60, of Oakland, CA.;
Anne Montgomery RSCJ, 83, of New York, New York,
All five were arrested on Naval Base Kitsap- Bangor. They entered the
Base in the early morning hours of November 2, 2009, All Souls Day,
with the intention of calling attention to the illegality and
immorality of the existence of the Trident weapons system. They
entered thru the perimeter fence, made their way to the Strategic
Weapons Facility - Pacific ( SWFPAC) where they were able to cut
through the first chainlink fence surrounding SWFPAC, walked to and
cut the next double layered fence, which was both chain link and
barbed wire, onto the grounds of SWFPAC. As they walked onto the
grounds, they held a banner saying ŠŠ "Disarm Now Plowshares :
Trident: Illegal + Immoral", left a trail of blood and hammered on
the roadway (Trigger Ave. and Sturgeon) that are essential to the
working of the Trident weapons system, hammered on the fences around
SWFPAC and scattered sunflower seeds throughout the base. They were
then thrown to the ground face down, handcuffed and hooded and held
there for 4 hours on the wet, cold ground. They were taken, hooded,
and carried out through the very holes in the fence that they had
made, for questioning by Base security, FBI and NCIS. They refused to
give any information except their names, and were cited as of now, for
trespass and destruction of government property, given a ban and bar
letter and released.
In a joint statement, the group stated that, "The manufacture and
deployment of Trident II missiles, weapons of mass destruction, is
immoral and criminal under International Law and, therefore, under
United States law. As U.S. citizens we are responsible under the
Nuremberg Principles for this threat of first-strike terrorism hanging
over the community of nations, rich and poor. Moreover, such
planning, preparation, and deployment is a blasphemy against the
Creator of life, imaged in each human being. "
There have been approximately 100 Plowshares Nuclear Resistance
Actions worldwide since 1980. Plowshares actions are taken from Isaiah
2:4 in Old Testament (Hebrew) scripture of the Christian Bible, ³God
will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many
people. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their
spears into pruning hooks. And nations will not take up swords against
nations, nor will they train for war anymore."
The Trident submarine base at Bangor, just 20 miles from Seattle, is
home to the largest single stockpile of nuclear warheads in the U.S.
arsenal, housing more than 2000 nuclear warheads. In November 2006,
the Natural Resources Defense Council declared that the 2,364 nuclear
warheads at Bangor are approximately 24 percent of the entire U.S.
arsenal. The Bangor base houses more nuclear warheads than China,
France, Israel, India, North Korea and Pakistan combined.
The base has been rebuilt for the deployment of the larger and more
accurate Trident D-5 missile system. Each of the 24 D-5 missiles on a
Trident submarine is capable of carrying eight of the larger 455
kiloton W-88 warheads (each warhead is about 30 times the explosive
force as the Hiroshima bomb.) The D-5 missile can also be armed with
the 100 kiloton W-76 warhead. The Trident fleet at Bangor deploys
both the 455 kiloton W-88 warhead and the 100 kiloton W-76 warhead.
xxx
Statement of the DISARM NOW PLOWSHARES
"I will purify you from the taint of all your idols. I will give you
a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart
of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my
Spirit within you and make you conform to my statutes." Ez. 36:25-27
We walk into the heart of darkness, the Naval Submarine Base
Kitsap-Bangor, housing and deploying over 2,000 nuclear warheads for
Trident submarines. By their very existence they are endangering the
environment, threatening the indiscriminate destruction of life on
earth, and depriving the hungry, homeless, and jobless of billions of
dollars that could supply human needs throughout the world.
The manufacture and deployment of Trident II missiles, weapons of mass
destruction, is immoral and criminal under international law and,
therefore, under United States law. As U.S. citizens we are
responsible under the Nuremberg Principles for this threat of
first-strike terrorism hanging over the community of nations, rich and
poor. Moreover, such planning, preparation, and deployment is a
blasphemy against the Creator of life, imaged in each human being.
We are called by Isaiah to take seriously our own responsibility to
act as citizens of the nation that subjected the civilians of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the hell of nuclear bombing and its deadly
consequences. The United States continues to research and develop
even more inhumane weapons of mass destruction.
We are called by Ezekiel to transform our own hearts and to invite all
those whose hearts are hardened by blindness, fear, and mistrust of
the ³other² to allow theirs to be transformed into "hearts of flesh:"
disarmed, compassionate, and generous.
We bring carpenters' hammers to symbolically transform these weapons
of death into material useful for homes and factories. On this day of
remembrance, All Souls Day, we bring our own blood in solidarity with
the victims of war, who are invisible to those who target them. We
bring sunflower seeds to plant the hope of new life in this violated
earth. We intend to beat swords into plowshares as one step up the
holy mountain where all nations can unite in peace.
At the beginning of the International Decade of Disarmament, we join
with the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the 2020 Vision
Campaign to abolish all nuclear weapons by that year at the latest.
Nuclear weapons can never be guardians, defenders, or upholders of
peace. They are sheathed in stainless steel and metal coverings that
conceal the evil incarnate lying within. They are filled with
death-dealing agents that tear apart humans and leave survivors
scarred for life. They leave no place for human care for the
thousands who suffer and die in agony. Nuclear weapons are a lie.
Their ³protection² is an illusion. They must be abolished.
"God will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many
peoples. 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.² Isaiah 2:4
Washington State
November 2, 2009
Steve Kelly, S.J.
Lynne Greenwald
Anne Montgomery, RSCJ
Susan Crane
Bill Bichsel, S.J.
xxx
November 2, 2009
Hand Delivery
Captain Mark Olsen
Commander US Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor
120 South Dewey St
Bremerton, WA 98314
YOU have been involved in the housing, deployment and threatened use
of immoral and illegal nuclear weapons on Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor.
These weapons and their delivery systems include Trident submarines,
Trident II D-5 missiles, and W-88 and W-76 nuclear warheads. These
weapons, and their delivery systems, threaten the destruction of other
nations and people and as such constitute violation of International
Law and of Ruling of the International Tribunal of Justice of 1996.
You are hereby notified that effective upon receipt of this letter
that the disarmament of all nuclear weapons at Naval Base
Kitsap/Bangor is to begin immediately and continue until all nuclear
weapons are disarmed and removed.
You are further informed that delay or failure to begin disarmament
will lead to the prosecution before the International Tribunal of
Justice of all naval and civilian personnel responsible for the delay.
This barment letter is issued for the protection and security of
people, animals, and all creation of our world.
Any compelling reason for naval or civilian exemption from prosecution
by the International Tribunal can be entered with the secretariat of
the International Tribunal.
(Address; International Tribunal, International Court of Justice, The
Hague, Netherlands)
Steve Kelly, S.J.
Lynne Greenwald
Anne Montgomery, RSCJ
Susan Crane
Bill Bichsel, S.J.
xxx
Disarm Now Plowshares Bios:
Steve Kelly, S.J. During his religious formation in our inner cities,
in Sudan, Africa, as well as refugee work in Central America following
ordination, he encountered the messiah, Jesus incarnate in the poor.
At the same time, the relevance of Jesus as a real shepherd inserting
himself between the danger of wolf or thief and the flock in his care
inspired this Jesuit to try to imitate Jesus. His current
collaboration with Catholic Workers and the Pacific Life Community
confirms the analysis that the nukes represent, just in their making,
a contemporary larceny from the poor, while the wolf, the imminent
danger of their use, demands the embodiment of Isaiah 2:4. Will that
hammering wake us, those professing faith in a loving God, from our
idolatrous slumbers?
Lynne Greenwald is the mother of three children and has worked
professionally as a Registered Nurse, Family Therapist and Social
Worker for nearly 40 years. She has also been actively involved in
the Nonviolent Peace Movement since the mid-1970s. Lynne moved to
Kitsap County in Washington State 26 years ago to join Ground Zero
Center for Nonviolent Action and to become a neighbor to families
involved with the Trident Base and other facilities in this
predominately military community. "While the existence of Trident is
obvious, the truth of Trident's nuclear threats and illegality remains
hidden. My action of conversion today is one committed out of love
for all life."
Anne Montgomery is an eighty-three year old Religious of the Sacred
Heart and former teacher in high schools and programs for dropouts and
learning disabled children. As a member of the Gulf Peace Team in
1991 and of Christian Peacemaker Teams from 1995 to 2009 she served in
Iraq and Palestine. Since 1980 she has been active in the Plowshares
movement and other forms of civil resistance to U.S. militarism,
especially nuclear weapons. Since 2005 she has also participated in
Witness Against Torture and the Free Gaza boat trip to open the port
of Gaza. She acts now to support all efforts to convert weapons of
death into resources for human life, especially for the most neglected
and oppressed of the threatened earth.
Susan Crane is the mother of two sons, and has taught at a school for
marginalized youth in California. More recently she has lived at
Jonah House, a nonviolent community in Baltimore, which speaks out
against all warmaking, and specifically nuclear weapons. Aware that we
take better care of nuclear weapons than of our nation's children, and
that we spend more than half of every federal tax dollar on warmaking
rather than human needs, she acts to transform these weapons of mass
destruction to life- giving materials.
ill Bichsel, a Tacoma native, entered the Jesuit Order in 1946 and
after studies and teaching was ordained a Jesuit in 1959. He has
served in parishes, taught in high schools, and was Dean of Students
at Gonzaga from 1963-1966. In 1969 he returned to Tacoma where he
served at St. Leo's Parish for over 7 years and then co-founded the
Tacoma Catholic Worker (Guadalupe House) which offers hospitality and
transitional housing to the homeless. The Guadalupe Community lives in
the nonviolent tradition of Dorothy Day, the Catholic Worker
foundress. Bichsel still resides and serves at the Tacoma Catholic
Worker-one mile from where he was born and raised. He has served jail
and prison terms many times for his resistance to the violence of the
Trident nuclear weapon system and the violence of the S.O.A. training
at Ft. Benning, GA. He believes that unless we, the American people,
actively work to abolish nuclear weapons we as a people will continue
to threaten destruction to the global community and continue to
deprive the poor of the world of resources necessary for life.
xxx
Fact Sheet: Trident Submarine & Missile System:
Trident submarines serve as the sea based nuclear launch system of the
Air, Land, and Sea Nuclear Triad supported by the US government. The
U.S. currently has 14 nuclear-powered Trident ballistic-missile (SSBN)
submarines. Trident submarines are 560 feet in length, or nearly two
football fields. Each submarine can carry 24 submarine-launched
ballistic missiles (SLBMs) designated Trident D5 and each missile can
carry up to eight 100 kiloton nuclear warheads (about 30 times the
explosive force as the Hiroshima bomb).
The Trident D5 missile stands 44.6 feet high and originally had a
range of 4,230 nautical miles with a full load of warheads, and up to
6000+ nautical miles with a reduced load of warheads. Upgrades and
Life Extension Programs may have changed some specifications.
Warheads are either Mark-4/W76 or Mark-5/W88.
100: Number of kilotons on ONE Trident W76 warhead
455: Number of kilotons on ONE Trident W88 warhead
345,600: Total number of kilotons deployed on Trident fleet
14: Number of kilotons on atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima
150,000: Number of people killed by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima
1,028 minimum; 4,885 maximum: Number of potential "Hiroshimas" each
Trident is capable of destroying
$66,000,000: Price of ONE Trident II D5 missile
14: Number of nuclear- armed submarines the Navy wants to deploy through 2042
$60,000,000: Cost of health insurance for 60,000 children
$10,000,000,000: Annual cost of providing sanitary water to 2.4
billion people worldwide who now lack it
$59,000,000,000: Cost of building housing for 6000,000 homeless
families in the US
$170,200,000,000 (low estimate): Total cost of the ENTIRE Trident
program through year 2042
Naval Submarine Base Kitsap-Bangor is located 20 miles west of Seattle
on the deep waters of Hood Canal in Washington State. It is the home
to the largest single stockpile of nuclear warheads in the U.S.
arsenal, housing more than 2,000 nuclear warheads. This is
approximately 24% of the entire U.S. arsenal. The Bangor Base
presently houses more nuclear warheads than the countries of England,
France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea combined.
There are eight Tridents based at the Bangor Base; six operate out of
Kings Bay, GA. The Trident submarines at Bangor are likely to be used
first in any nuclear attack, either as an isolated tactical assault on
a specific site, bunker, or weapons location, or in a larger strategic
nuclear attack. The D5 missile is capable of traveling over 1,370
miles in less than 13 minutes, allowing for a US nuclear strike
anywhere on planet earth within 15 minutes.
xxx
LETHAL FORCE
by William J. Bichsel, S.J.
On November 2, 2009, All Souls Day, by the grace of God I choose to
enter the Trident Submarine Base at Bangor Washington. I wish to walk
to the idolatrous place of nuclear weapon bunkers where lethal force
is authorized to guard the hiding places of the most lethal forces in
the world. I wish to walk in solidarity with the poor of our world
who live with lethal force constantly directed against them. My
vulnerability to this lethal force is minimal compared to the lifetime
vulnerability of the condemned of our world. My compelling reason for
entering the Trident Submarine Base is to be present at this Auschwitz
place in order to witness in faith to the transforming power of Jesus'
non-violence and Resurrection which can turn hearts of stone into
hearts of flesh and compassion. At this place of global death and
hopelessness I wish to witness in faith to the life giving and
transforming power of this presence which can expel the demon of
violence from the hearts and minds of people possessed by the need for
nuclear weapons. I believe the life giving power of the Resurrection
can flow over the nuclear death machine and stop its destructive
force.
Compassion can then grow in hearts and minds of people who have been
liberated from the prison of fear and violence.
Millions upon millions of people throughout our world live with lethal
force being directed against them. Our brothers and sisters and
children live in war ravaged places where violence reigns and
starvation, disease, absence of medical resources, absence of shelter
eventually bring death. One hour from our shores in Haiti, where one
in twelve children do not reach the age of five, parents give children
mud cakes made of earth, oil, sugar and salt to diminish the effects
of hunger pains. From the Sudan to Sub Saharan Africa, mothers watch
as their infants and children become emaciated with swollen stomachs
and lifeless eyes then die. All of these lethal forces are authorized.
In the U.S., except for the poor, we have been protected and insulated
from the death sentences under which half of the earth's population
lives. The drive for security has numbed our citizens to accept
nuclear weapons as the ultimate protector of the American way of life.
In effect this choice means the acceptance of the use of nuclear
weapons if the United States considers itself threatened. The people
of the United States accept the deaths of millions of people if a
preempted strike is ordered. Thus the use of lethal force is
authorized.
Across our nation there are vast numbers of U.S. citizens who face
lethal forces directed against them which are not as immediate or
instantaneously murderous as the lethal forces directed against the
3rd world poor. In our capitalistic system there are many who will not
receive the health care, education, employment, appropriate housing
and nutrition needed to live full human lives in this culture. These
forces attack the body, soul and spirit of our citizens which
eventually bring death of the spirit and then the body. This is
especially true of one segment of our population - the mentally-ill,
who live on the streets, under bridges, in door ways, jungle camps or
in jails and prisons. They belong nowhere. They die. These lethal
forces are also authorized.
The continued possession of nuclear weapons by the United States means
that resources that could be used to divert the lethal forces that are
now killing the poor of our world will continue to be used to fuel the
killing machine.
Father Richard McSorley, S.J. has maintained that "the tap root of
violence in our society is the acceptance of nuclear weapons." We must
bend our efforts to make known the Non Proliferation Treaty Review
which will take place on May 2, 2010 at the United Nations. By our
presence we must insist that the NPT Review Committee in the very near
future organize a nuclear weapon global conference of these treaty
nations which will set a firm date for nuclear weapon abolition.
xxx
Some thoughts about going onto Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor
by Susan Crane
All Soul's Day, Nov. 2, 2009
Today in the US more and more people are coming to food pantries,
needing food for their families. The numbers of home foreclosures
increase, leaving families homeless; unemployment increases; and many,
even those with health insurance, can't get their basic health needs
met. Class size increases as teachers are laid off and dropout rates
increase. Many returning vets must struggle for benefits. States are
near bankruptcy, and our infrastructure is falling apart. And day by
day climate change threatens us all.
As a nation, we know all this. We experience it personally, and hear
it on the nightly news. But what we don't hear is that there may be
solutions to these problems. We need to look at where, as a nation, we
are allocating our resources: where do our federal tax dollars go?
Where do our brightest and best scientists find work? Where do our
idealistic and dedicated youth end up? We know that over half of
every federal tax dollar is used for warmaking. And we know that the
American people never have a chance to vote on a bond issue for the
next fighter plane or nuclear weapon. Every dollar that is used for
warmaking, killing or planning to kill other people, is a dollar that
is not used for human needs, or healing the earth.
Here in Washington state, I was thinking about the Trident submarines
which have nuclear warheads on them, and are constantly roaming the
oceans. There are 8 subs homeported here at Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor.
And each of these subs carries 24 Trident II D-5 missiles, and each
of the missiles carries multiple nuclear warheads. Some of the
warheads are 32 times the explosive heat and blast of the bomb the US
dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
The Trident subs are stealthy, and at sea their location is secret.
They can launch nuclear weapons to anywhere in the world in 15
minutes, which is a constant threat to people in other nations. Here
in the US we don't live under a threat like that.
My faith tradition teaches me that we are to love our enemies, to love
one another. Planning to kill others is not an act of
loveŠIndiscriminate killing of whole cites of people, animals and
plants is not an act of love.
Here in the northwest where the Trident subs are homeported, the land
is beautiful; the trees are aromatic; the water is healing. And I
hope that we come to our senses and experience this land we live in,
and realize that we-and people all over the earth-are brothers and
sisters. There is no "us" and "them". As individuals and as a
nation; we all have good in us; we all have a shadow side. We can all
work together if we choose to.
With hope for peace and disarmament, the five us, Steve Kelly, S.J,
Lynne Greenwald, Anne Montgomery, RSCJ, Bill Bichsel, S.J. and
myself, go to Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor on All Soul's Day. We remember
the 150 million people killed by warmaking and related consequences of
war in the last 100 years. It is in solidarity with all who live in
lethal force zones that we enter the lethal force zone on the naval
base.
We bring our own blood to pour on the missiles, nuclear weapons,
trident subs, or perhaps on the railroad tracks that carry the
weapons. We pour our blood to remind us all of the consequences of
warmaking. We bring hammers to enflesh the words of Isaiah to hammer
swords into plowshares. We bring sunflower seeds to sow to begin to
convert the base, and we bring disarmed hearts in hope of a disarmed
world. I go onto the base with the support of all at Jonah House, in
Baltimore, carrying their prayers in my hip pocket.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
[Text Fwd: Bruce Gagnon] Nuclear Weapons Abolition: The Road to Renewed Momentum
* Image source
1. Bruce Gagnon blog
2. Bruce Gagnon blog
| Nuclear Weapons Abolition: The Road to Renewed Momentum August 6 2009 From: Bruce Gagnon in Hiroshima | ||
|
Let me first say a few words about my own personal history and the organization I work for. I grew up in a military family and lived in various places around the world. In 1971, being a young conservative like my father, I too joined the US Air Force and was stationed in California at an airlift base for the Vietnam war. Soldiers would come from all over the country to board the planes to Vietnam. When the huge transport jets returned they carried the wounded soldiers and the body bags of those troops who had been killed. As a result, there were frequently anti-war protests outside my base. Although they were often very small, they caused the GI’s on our base to endlessly debate the war. This is the time that I became a peace activist. Some of you may remember June 12, 1982, a historic day. On that day almost a million people demonstrated outside the United Nations, calling for nuclear abolition. People came from all over the world for the UN Special Session on Disarmament that was called to deal with the continued use of violence in international affairs and with the growing nuclear arms race. I did not attend the June 12 march but did watch the rally on public television from my home in Orlando, Florida. After the rally was over, the TV coverage switched to a conference where Lt. Gen. Daniel Graham was speaking. At the time Gen. Graham was President Ronald Reagan's head of the Strategic Defense Initiative, or Star Wars. During a question and answer session following Graham's speech a man asked him, "General, they say there are almost a million people in New York City today demonstrating for disarmament. Aren't you worried about that?" Without missing a beat Gen. Graham responded, "No, I think it's great. They are out there protesting against ICBM's and we're moving into space. They don't have a clue. Let them keep doing what they are doing." Imagine my surprise at hearing this. What was he talking about? I knew very little about this. It was then that I began working to help prevent the arms race from moving into the heavens. The following year, just as the nuclear freeze campaign was taking off all over the U.S., I became the state coordinator of the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice, where I helped to build a statewide movement opposing all nuclear weapons. I also began working hard to learn about, and to share with the public, as much as I could about Gen. Graham’s Star Wars plans. In 1984, I made my first trip to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I will never forget my visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum where I watched a young Japanese mother explain the pictures of mass graves to her very young child. I stood there with tears in my eyes and knew that few American children would ever have such a chance to witness this memorial to nuclear devastation. In the days to come I was to hear the stories of many Hibakusha who further turned my world upside down. When I returned to Florida I was determined to share the things I had learned with as many people as possible. I wrote an opinion piece for my local newspaper but it was rejected on the grounds that I could not prove that the stories I shared from the Hibakusha were true. This only made me more determined, and the following year, in early August, I arranged for several Hibakusha to tour our state. Their visit ended with a major protest on August 9 at a weapons factory that manufactured the Tomahawk cruise missile. Thirteen of us were arrested that day for attempting to walk onto the factory grounds carrying a letter calling for the conversion of the facility to peaceful production. I believed then, and I believe now, that it would dishonor the memory and sacrifices of the Hibakusha if we did not do everything possible to expand their campaign to abolish nuclear weapons and war. Those of us living in Florida could quickly understand the plans for space warfare, as the Kennedy Space Center and NASA, the space agency, are based in the center of the state, not far from where I was living at the time. I began organizing people to go to the space center for protests whenever military satellites were launched, when Trident nuclear missiles were test-fired from there, or when NASA launched space missions with highly-toxic plutonium-238 on-board. It was during this time that I learned that much of what the so-called “civilian” NASA space agency was doing is actually “dual use”, meaning virtually every space mission served two masters. Civilian space missions are routinely used to test space weapons technologies. By 1992, the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice had become so heavily involved in the space issue in Florida that we began looking around for more allies. We had earlier discovered an organization, called Citizens for Peace in Space, in the state of Colorado, where the US Space Command was headquartered. This relationship led to the creation of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space that I coordinate today. As we organized the Global Network we learned about US space warfare bases in England, Greenland, Norway, Australia, and in other parts of the world. Local peace groups in those countries quickly became part of our movement, and today we have 150 affiliated organizations around the planet. In the years that followed, we began collecting and sharing the US Space Command’s detailed plans for space. “Master of Space” is the logo of the 50th Space Wing at the headquarters of the Air Force Space Command in Colorado. In an important planning document called “Vision for 2020”, published in 1997 during the presidency of Bill Clinton, the Space Command calls for US “control and domination” of space, saying: “Control of space is the ability to assure access to space, freedom of operations within the space medium, and an ability to deny others the use of space.” Each branch of the military, the Army, Navy, and Air Force, now has its own space command. Another important document, this time written by the Air Force Space Command gives us a better idea of what the Pentagon has in mind for space. Called the “Strategic Master Plan: Fiscal Year 2006 and Beyond” it states: “The ability to gain space superiority (the ability to exploit space while selectively disallowing it to adversaries) is critically important….To date, we have enjoyed de facto space superiority, but adversaries have shown that they have taken notice…To fully develop and exploit potential counterspace…some US policies and international treaties may need to be reviewed and modified.” When the Space Command talks about “exploiting space” it doesn’t only mean using it as a weapons platform. Scientists have discovered precious mineral resources on the moon, Mars and asteroids. One reason so many nations, including Japan, are so interested in establishing bases on the moon is because helium-3 has been discovered there. Scientists believe the resource could be used to fuel fusion reactors back on Earth, making the profits of the oil corporations pale in comparison. This new race to the planets could be another source of conflict here on Earth unless the world begins now to insist on peaceful, and cooperative space exploration. Let us now return to the Space Command and further define some of the terms it uses. “Full spectrum dominance” means that the US military will control all war fighting at every level of conflict. The Army will control the ground; the Navy will control the oceans; the Air Force will control the air, and the Space Command will control space. There is just one problem: If the US can do this, so can some other country. Thus, the Space Command says, it must “deny” certain countries access to space. It must be the “Master of Space.” To carry out this denial mission, the Space Command has said, it must have weapons in space that would be able to take out a competitor nation’s “space assets” — meaning their satellites. We now know that military satellites are what controls war on the ground today. When the Pentagon launched the initial attack in the “shock and awe” invasion of Iraq in 2003, 70% of the weapons that were used were directed to their targets by space satellites. The Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or drones as they are often called, that are killing many civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan today, are actually flown by pilots sitting at computer terminals at military bases inside the US. In real time, split second time, the pilots can watch the ground in Afghanistan from cameras mounted on the drones and order them to fire their deadly missiles using satellite technology. The idea that no competitor nation will be allowed to have access to space during conflict is of course a very provocative one to Russia, China, and even the European Union. The EU has responded to this fact by creating their own military satellite navigation and targeting system, called Galileo. Another important point that must be mentioned is the cost of Star Wars. Not only does the militarization of space make life on Earth less secure today, because it fuels a new arms race, but it is also extremely expensive. The aerospace industry has boasted that Star Wars will be the largest industrial project in the history of the planet. No matter how hard the US government tries, it cannot afford to pay for this new arms race in space by itself. This is where the allies come into the equation. One of the Pentagon’s top jobs today is to persuade Japan, South Korea, Australia, England, Germany, India, and other nations to become a part of the program to put the expensive space warfare system into place. That of course means that many social and environmental needs will be neglected or ignored completely. So today we see the US expanding PAC-3 and THAAD missile defense programs throughout the world, particularly in the Asian-Pacific region. We see the Pentagon pushing for “missile defense” deployments in Poland and the Czech Republic against the will of the people in those nations. We see US Star Wars radar facilities being expanded and upgraded in England, Australia, Germany, Greenland, Norway, and in other places around the world for the purpose of communicating with new generations of military satellites that will help direct this program of “full spectrum dominance.” In the US, we see space technology weapons programs under development like laser weapon systems, new generations of war-fighting satellites, cyber warfare systems, the military space plane, and hives of miniature robotic Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Let me talk about just one of these programs to illustrate how space technology “advancements” are a danger to global hopes for nuclear disarmament. Gen. James Cartwright, the Vice-Chairman of the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff recently concluded that conventionally-armed bombers are “too slow and too intrusive” for many “global strike missions.” Gen. Cartwright pushes for a “prompt global strike” weapon, which would be ultra-fast and fitted with a conventional warhead. The general says that the military needs ”hypersonic” weapons that would travel through space to take out targets on the other side of the planet. For the past several years the US Space Command has been annually computer war-gaming such an attack. Set in the year 2016 the Pentagon launches the military space plane that takes off like an airplane, flies through space, and then unleashes a devastating first-strike attack on China’s nuclear forces all within one hour. China then attempts to launch a retaliatory strike with its tens of nuclear missiles capable of hitting the west coast of the continental US. But US “missile defense” systems, like those parked nearby on Naval Aegis destroyers, in Japan, South Korea, and possibly even Taiwan, help take out China’s crippled nuclear response. Missile defense, sold to the public as a defensive system, is really designed by the Pentagon to be the shield after the first-strike sword has lunged into the heart of China’s nuclear arsenal. Imagine, if you would, how the leaders inside China view this war game. The technologies are now being developed to destroy the firewall between conventional and nuclear weapons. Space technology thus becomes the enabler of first-strike military doctrine. Any hopes for serious nuclear abolition negotiations with China are irreparably harmed by the militarization and weaponization of space. Some, when they hear about the Space Command plans like Vision for 2020 or the 2016 computer war games against China, say that these developments are just theoretical, that the Global Network makes too much out of nothing. But there is much more to consider. Just after the 9-11 attacks in New York, the Strategic Command, at Omaha, Nebraska in the mid-western US, began undergoing a complete overhaul in its role and mission. For years the famous Strategic Air Command (SAC) was the bomber and nuclear missile command for the Pentagon, charged with providing “nuclear deterrence.” Now though the Strategic Command (or StratCom as it is popularly called) has been charged with new, more aggressive missions. Tim Rinne, the State Coordinator of Nebraskans for Peace has watched the quick evolution of StratCom and describes it this way: “Those so-called ‘Missile Defense’ installations proposed for Poland and the Czech Republic - that’s StratCom. StratCom coordinated the shoot-down in February 2008 of a falling US spy satellite with a ‘missile defense’ interceptor launched from an Aegis cruiser in the Pacific Ocean. Those CIA Predator drones flying over Pakistani airspace are flown with the aid of StratCom’s space assets, with intelligence supplied by StratCom spy satellites. Those Echelon National Security Agency listening stations in Misawa, Japan; Pine Gap, Australia and Waihopai, New Zealand — that are eavesdropping on your phone calls and emails — are all part of StratCom’s network. The recent clash between a US spy ship and Chinese naval defenses in the South China Sea is linked to StratCom’s mission as well. And StratCom’s presence is also felt in the Asian-Pacific where it is responsible for preparing to launch preemptive nuclear or conventional strikes against North Korea, and the military encirclement of China.” The entire US military is now tied together using space technology. StratCom maintains that all warfare on the Earth today is “net-centric.” With military satellites in space the US can see virtually everything on the planet and can target virtually any place on the Earth. One finds oneself asking the question, why? Why, when we already have a maddening nuclear arms race, is the US pushing the militarization and weaponization of space? President Obama’s new National Security Adviser, Gen. James Jones was the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO. In 2006, Gen. Jones told the media, “NATO is developing a special plan to safeguard oil and gas fields in the [Caspian sea] region…. Our strategic goal is to expand to Eastern Europe and Africa.” Who is the competitor of the US in Africa? The Pentagon maintains that it is China, largely due to the fierce international competition for dwindling supplies of oil, natural gas, coal, uranium, and other resources around the world. In April of 2009 Army Gen. Walter Sharp, the commander of US forces Korea, told members of the US Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington that the US-South Korean alliance was “a linchpin for stability in Northeast Asia.” The US now has 30 ground-based interceptor missiles deployed in South Korea. Many peace activists there, and in Japan, strongly believe that the ultimate target of these systems is not North Korea, but China and Russia. The current US military transformation underway in South Korea and Japan is indeed a key element in this regional offensive strategy to contain China while justifying the military expansion as containment of a “hostile and aggressive” North Korea. I believe North Korea’s recent nuclear test and missile tests have been a desperate reaction from an insecure nation worried about the US military strategy of “full spectrum dominance.” While North Korea’s tests were wrong, and only helped to justify “missile defense” deployments in response, it must also be remembered that the US launched a nuclear ICBM from Vandenberg AFB in California toward the Pacific on June 29 and another is planned on August 23. This might be a good time for the peace movement to begin talking about the reductions of all strategic delivery vehicles and a missile test ban. The Russians have expressed interest in these kinds of negotiations. Japanese self-defense forces are now integrated into the military strategy of the US, which puts Japan into the middle of a growing conflict zone in the region. Japan is now in a delicate position because if it follows the US space dominance strategy it will become a full partner in the dangerous and provocative plan to contain China and Russia. The consequences could be harsh, as Japan would economically pay a costly price. It would be wiser for Japan to remain a neutral, peace-loving nation in the region. China maintains that deployment of “missile defense” systems in the Asia-Pacific region by the US and its allies is a threat to hopes for nuclear disarmament. US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ comments were quite revealing last April when he said, “We’re converting more ships to have ballistic missile defense that would help against China.” Living in Bath, Maine I have a special perspective on this US-China naval competition. In my town, the Navy builds the Aegis destroyer that is outfitted with missile defense systems and is being deployed in the Asian-Pacific region. The two Republican senators from my state maintain that more Pentagon funds for Aegis shipbuilding are needed to “contain” China. Last June, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute released its annual figures on global military spending for 2008. Not surprisingly, the US was in first place. It spent $607 billion, accounting for about 42% of the world total. China, in second place, was far behind at $85 billion a year; Russia was in fifth place at $59 billion, while Japan came in seventh at $46 billion. In fact, seven of the top ten global spenders on military in 2008 were US allies. It’s one thing that the US is massively building up its military, but why are so many other countries around the world following the same path? Why is Japan now talking about ending its commitment to honor Article 9 of its Constitution and change from “forever renouncing war” to the possibility of “preemptive offensive attack”? Why is virtually every country in the world expanding its military at the very time that everyone agrees that we must put the nuclear genie back into the bottle? We all know that fossil fuels are a declining natural resource on our fragile Mother Earth. Many experts now say we’ve reached the peak of oil availability and are now quickly heading down the hill toward scarcity at the very time that global demand for oil is growing. Renowned author Noam Chomsky says US foreign policy is now all about controlling most of the world’s oil supply as a “lever of world domination.” One way to keep Europe, China, India and other emerging markets dependent on the US and in sync with its policies is to maintain control of the oil supply they’re reliant on. Even as the US economy is collapsing, the Pentagon appears to be saying; whoever controls the keys to the world’s economic engine still remains in charge. China, for example, imports up to 80% of its oil through the Malacca Straits. If any competitor nation was able to militarily control that transit route and choke off China’s oil supply, its economy could be held hostage. Many thus wonder if the current doubling of the US military presence in the Asian-Pacific is really due to North Korea’s nuclear program or is actually a part of a larger military strategy to ensure US control? In his book, The Grand Chess Board, former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote, "For America, the chief geopolitical prize is Eurasia... and America's global primacy is directly dependent on how long and how effectively its preponderance on the Eurasian continent is sustained…. The primary interest is to gain geostrategic depth through political influence in Afghanistan…and to benefit eventually from any pipeline construction linking Central Asia with the Arabian Sea." It should be remembered that Brzezinski was a chief foreign policy adviser to President Obama during his recent presidential campaign. Russia has the world’s largest deposits of natural gas and significant supplies of oil. The US has recently built military bases in Romania and Bulgaria and will soon be adding more in Albania. NATO has been expanding eastward into Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, right on Russia’s border. Georgia and the Ukraine are next on the list to become members of what is quickly becoming a global NATO military alliance. The NATO Treaty’s Article 5 is quite clear that if one NATO member country is attacked, it is the responsibility, the obligation, of all NATO members to join in defense of that country. That means that if Georgia, which the US is now promoting for full membership in the alliance, got into another hot conflict with neighboring Russia, NATO would be called upon to go to war with Russia. Much to his credit, President Obama has called for a “reset” of relations between the US and Russia in hopes that there will be an opportunity to negotiate significant reductions in the arsenals of these two leading nuclear powers. Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev delivered the opening address at the “Overcoming Nuclear Dangers” conference in Rome on April 16, 2009. He noted, “The world is now going through a global crisis, which is an unprecedented challenge to international politics…. We have to admit that nothing fundamentally new has been achieved in the past decade and a half. The quantities of nuclear weapons held by Russia and the US still far exceed the arsenals of all other nuclear powers taken together, thus making it more difficult to bring them into the process of nuclear disarmament.” Gorbachev continued, “In the final analysis, the nuclear danger can only be removed by abolishing nuclear weapons. But could one regard as realistic the prospect of one country retaining the quantities of conventional weapons that exceed the combined arsenals of practically all other nations — the prospect of one country achieving absolute global superiority? Unless we address the need to demilitarize international relations, reduce military budgets, put an end to the creation of new kinds of weapons and prevent weaponization of outer space, all talk about a nuclear-weapon-free world will be just inconsequential rhetoric.” I must turn to Mr. Gorbachev for one more important point here. In a very recent interview with a German newspaper, he commented that Western Germany, the US and other powers had pledged after Germany’s reunification in 1990 that, “NATO would not move a centimeter to the east.” This broken promise had led to Russia’s disillusionment with relations with the West, Gorbachev said. China is not sitting still as these US military moves are made on the grand chessboard. In 2007, they destroyed one of their own defunct satellites with a ballistic missile as a way to show the world that they had “anti-satellite” weapons capability. This contributed to the growing problem of space debris that is now dangerously orbiting the Earth and, if worsened, could one day make it virtually impossible for any nation to launch a rocket into space, due to the minefield of space junk surrounding the planet. Russia and China have created the Shanghai Cooperation Organization that is gathering neighbors in the region into an economic and military alliance to counter NATO’s expanding presence in their “back yard.” They are increasing their military spending and each putting more emphasis on their own space technology developments. But much to their credit they have also been calling for negotiations. In the middle of June, following another meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization that was held in Russia, the two nuclear powers issued a statement saying they will once again attempt to draft a treaty on the prevention of the deployment of weapons in outer space. For many years Russia and China have introduced resolutions at the UN calling for negotiations on a new treaty that would ban weapons in space. All countries of the world have supported the resolution with the exception of the US, Israel, and Micronesia. This was true during the Clinton presidency as well as during the reign of George W. Bush. It will be crucial for President Obama, if he truly hopes to reset relations with Moscow, to seriously enter into negotiations for a global ban on weapons in space. Just prior to the recent Moscow nuclear weapons negotiations between the US and Russia, President Obama’s senior director for Russian affairs on the National Security Council told the media, “We don’t need the Russians…We’re not going to reassure or give or trade anything with the Russians regarding NATO expansion or missile defense.” Based on the tentative agreement that has come out of the US-Russia summit on July 6 it appears that “very modest” changes at best can be expected in the near term when it comes to the nuclear arsenals of the two powers. Global Network’s New York City board member Alice Slater, long a tireless worker for nuclear abolition, has written, “It would be tragic if cooperation once again failed because of the hegemonic US drive to dominate and control the earth from space. In a sense, we have now come full circle to the time of the Reagan-Gorbachev 1986 summit in Reykjavik, when negotiations for the total abolition of nuclear weapons collapsed because Reagan wouldn’t give up US plans for a Strategic Defense Initiative to dominate space.” Slater continues, “Clinton similarly rejected opportunities to take up Putin’s proposal to cut our nuclear arsenals to 1,000 warheads. After Russia’s ratification of START II and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 2000, Putin called for new talks to reduce long-range missiles from 3,500 to 1,500 or even 1,000. This forward-looking proposal was accompanied by Putin’s stern caveat that all Russian offers would be off the table if the US proceeded to build a National Missile Defense (NMD) in violation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. Astoundingly, US diplomatic ‘talking points’ leaked by Russia to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists revealed that Clinton was telling Russia that it had nothing to fear from NMD as long as Russia kept 2,500 weapons at launch-on-warning, hair-trigger alert. Rejecting Putin’s offer to cut to 1,000 warheads, the US assured Russia that with 2,500 warheads it could overcome a NMD shield and deliver an ‘annihilating counterattack!’ If the Clinton administration had instead embraced Putin’s plan, the US and Russia would have been able to call all nuclear weapons states to the table — even those with arsenals in the hundreds or fewer — to negotiate a treaty to ban the bomb.” This is what the world wants today. It wants an end to the nuclear nightmare, it wants a halt to endless war for control of the world’s finite resources, it wants the cities of the planet removed from nuclear targeting lists, it wants its hard-earned tax monies to be used for health care, education, green jobs, and dealing with the coming harsh realities of global climate change. Most of all, the world’s people want an end to the enormous hypocrisy that exists today. The world clearly hears the US and its allies lecturing Iran and North Korea about the evils of nuclear weapons, and cringes when it listens to the threats of preemptive attack against those two nations if they do not halt their nuclear weapons development programs. But in fairness, one must reflect on the American Congressional decision to go forward with the US-India nuclear program that will assist that nation in ultimately building more nuclear weapons — even as India refuses to sign the NPT. In a recent college graduation ceremony speech, environmentalist and author Paul Hawken told the students, “You join a multitude of caring people. No one knows how many groups and organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more. This is the largest movement the world has ever seen.” This Hawken-described reality should give us all hope and courage. Nuclear disarmament must be attained in our lifetimes or human life might not continue on our planet. The people of Japan have valiantly taken the leadership to keep the issue of nuclear abolition before the world’s eyes and hearts for the past 64 years. Mayor Akiba and the Mayors for Peace have come forward with the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol that offers a positive direction to the international community at the very time that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is on the verge of collapse. Mayor Akiba asks this central question: “Do we abolish nuclear weapons or allow them to spread uncontrolled?” How then do we proceed at this historic juncture? How can we ensure success at the UN’s 2010 NPT Review Conference in New York? Nuclear weapons, the world’s deadliest scourge, must be the leading edge of a global demilitarization. In order to capture the hearts and minds of the people of the planet we must show the deadly connections between nuclear abolition and their important concerns. We must put human security and environmental sustainability at the center of global conflict resolution. Our call for general and complete disarmament must include a universal call to end not only nuclear weapons but also nuclear power. We must call for the conversion of the global military machine to peaceful production. This would give us the ability to energize the sinking global economy with green jobs. We must call for an end to corporate domination of our political systems all across the planet. We must support real democracy by returning power and economic control to our local communities. In my country, we once had another economic and political institution that had a lock on the government and our people. We eventually had a civil war, where brother fought against brother, to end the overwhelming power of slavery. Many people felt then, like many people feel today about nuclear weapons, that change was not possible. One of the great leaders of the movement to abolish slavery was a black man and escaped slave by the name of Frederick Douglass. Douglass was known for his great speaking skills. He once declared that, “I would unite with anybody to do right.” As we attempt to build a successful movement to demilitarize our planet we must extend ourselves and be willing to work with people and groups we’ve never worked with before. And we can only do that by making the important connections and links between issues that we all care about. Sadly, we are back in a period of great power maneuvering where disarmament negotiations are one more tactic used by countries to stay in control. Let’s face the facts: No one has so far been able to sucessfully manage the problem of nuclear weapons and the current global military buildup. The public is losing confidence in leaders and government. It is as if the people of the world are captives on a sinking ship and they are stuck in the lower decks with no way out. They feel powerless about the things that they most care about. We must make a unified global demand. We should urge the people all over the world to take to the streets in protest against nuclear weapons and for conversion of the global war system prior to the 2010 NPT review conference in New York. We must talk about the connections between nuclear weapons and the offensive nature of so-called “missile defense”. Until we overcome the legacy of past wars, like the Korean War that still continues after 58 years, misunderstanding and miscalculations will continue. We must recognize that growing military alliances and expansion of conventional forces will negate our wishes for nuclear abolition. We must respect and keep the UN Charter that outlaws preemptive war and calls for peaceful resolution of conflicts. The membership of the Global Network is ready to work with each of you on this important agenda. Maybe if we do these things, change will come at last to the world. We have no other choice. So let us say together – No More Hiroshima, No More Nagasaki, No More Hibakusha. Never again. Thank you very much. | |||
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