Washington Peace Letter
Washington Peace Center
The Washington Peace Letter is published monthly for the social justice community of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Its purpose is to support local, national and international struggles against oppression. It seeks to present a radical analysis of current events, covering information not readily available in the corporate media.
The Peace Letter welcomes submissions of calendar announcements, articles, letters to the Editor, and artwork from the progressive community. Articles may be from 300-1200 words, but may be edited for space considerations. Preference is given to materials that cover actions or organizing campaigns in the D.C. metropolitan area.
We reserve the right to select or reject any submission.
Except as noted, Peace Letter items are copyright free and may be reproduced. Please give credit and send us a copy if you do use something.
The Washington Peace Letter is a project of the Peace Talks Working Group of the Washington Peace Center. If you are interested in joining us, call!
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Hiroshima and Nagasaki Were a Warning
By John Steinbach
August/September 2004
Volume 40, Number 2
"As the Bush administration relentlessly injects itself into conflicts
around the world in the name of eradicating terror, rather than bringing
peace, it only fans the flames of hatred. If this is allowed to continue,
it may carry us to nuclear war, and to the annihilation of humankind."
-Haruko Moritaki, Hiroshima, Japan
The atomic bombings serve as a warning to humanity of the genocidal character of nuclear weapons, and illustrate the compelling need for international agreements for their abolishment. Each August we pause to remember the anniversary of the annihilation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and renew our commitment to realizing a world free from the threat of nuclear war. We seek to link our work for nuclear disarmament with our opposition to militarism, social justice, and environmental degradation.
We prepare to commemorate the 59th anniversary of the atomic bombings with a renewed sense of urgency about the world situation. Richard Falk, eminent Professor of International Law, wrote recently; "Not since the dawn of the nuclear age at the end of World War II has the danger of nuclear war been greater."
In just 3 ½ years, the Bush administration has brought the world to the brink of nuclear precipice. The immoral, illegal war on Iraq and current military occupation have created a climate of suspicion and fear which can only fuel the nuclear madness. Among Bush's controversial nuclear policies are trashing the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty; calling for preemptive use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states; proposing a new Pentagon nuclear command structure combining the U.S. Space Command, National Missile Defense, and the U.S. Strategic Command; planning new battlefield nukes; and preparing resumption of nuclear testing. In September, President Bush will announce operational deployment of a National Missile 'Defense' System, seen by Russia and China as a direct 'First Strike' threat.
Bill Arkin warns, "The danger is that nuclear weapons - locked away in a Pandora's box for more than half a century - are being taken out of that lockbox and put on the shelf with everything else. To make such a doctrine encompass nuclear weapons is to embrace a view that, sooner or later, will spread beyond the moral capitals of Washington and London to New Delhi and Islamabad, to Pyongyang and Baghdad, Beijing, Tel Aviv and to every nuclear nation of the future."
The real key to preventing the use of nuclear weapons, an act that will inevitably have calamitous consequences for the entire world, lies in the ability of the anti-nuclear, anti-intervention, social justice and antiglobalism movements to understand that their issues are inextricably linked. Our daunting task is complicated even further by the present jingoistic atmosphere and Constitutional lawlessness that have undoubtedly intimidated millions from speaking out. For the sake of our children, our planet and our future, we demand that all the nations of the world immediately begin good faith negotiations leading to early elimination of nuclear weapons.
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