<
https://theconversation.com/nobel-peace-prize-awarded-to-japanese-atomic-bomb-survivors-group-for-its-efforts-to-free-the-world-of-nuclear-weapons-241170>
"The 2024 Nobel peace prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese
grassroots organisation created by survivors of the two US atomic bombs that
were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
The Norwegian Nobel committee recognised the organisation “for its efforts to
achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness
testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again”.
Discussion of the bombings, which killed more than 100,000 Japanese people, was
largely a taboo in the immediate post-war period. This was, in part, thanks to
American press censorship in occupied Japan.
But, in 1954, an American nuclear weapons test at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific
Ocean produced such extensive radioactive fallout that it affected a Japanese
fishing boat, the
Lucky Dragon, causing one death from radiation poisoning.
The
Lucky Dragon incident prompted many of the atomic bomb survivors, who are
known as the
hibakusha, to speak out about their experiences. And it was
within this context that Nihon Hidankyo was created in 1956.
Since then, the
hibakusha have played an immeasurable role in activism
against nuclear weapons worldwide. Their testimony, the Nobel committee said,
has “helped to generate and consolidate widespread opposition to nuclear
weapons around the world”."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
