Hiroshima anniversary – Afri calls for Irish leadership in global peacebuilding
Irish peace and justice organisation Afri, along with anti-war groups and peace campaigners from around Ireland attended Irish CND’s Hiroshima commemoration in Dublin today, Tuesday, August 6th.
The annual commemoration took place at the iconic CND cherry tree in Dublin, which was planted in Merrion Square Park on August 6th, 1980, to mark the 79th anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bomb in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. On August 6th and 9th, 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombings killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict.
Speaking on the day of the commemoration Afri Director Joe Murray said “the shadows of nuclear threats loom larger than ever” and that “the Hiroshima commemoration is a timely reminder of what is at stake and why global peacebuilding is so important. The horrific legacy of Hiroshima reminds us of the urgent need for Ireland to champion disarmament and genuine international cooperation. In a world teetering on the brink of nuclear catastrophe, we must use our voice to steer the course towards peace and justice, ensuring that such devastation never occurs again.”
Afri’s statement adds that:
“At Tuesday’s event Adi Roche, CEO of Chernobyl Children International, restated her warning of the danger of a calamity at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear station in Ukraine. She previously said “We cannot overstate the current critical situation and nuclear threat in Ukraine. If we remain silent, we are playing with a loaded gun and risk a humanitarian Armageddon”. Her warning echoes the words of UN Secretary-General Gutierrez, who earlier this year said that “geopolitical tensions and mistrust have escalated the risk of nuclear warfare to its highest point in decades”.
“Secretary-General Gutierrez’s insistence on preventing a nuclear accident, while the threat of deliberate nuclear conflict looms constantly, expresses his mandate: the first sentence of its Charter commits the UN ‘to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war’.
The Charter and the UN’s mandate have been undermined by the increasing contempt of ‘Great Powers’ for its authority. In the Middle East, decades of disregard for UN resolutions saw atrocity erupt on 7th October, and Israel indicted for its genocidal response.
Members of the ‘Nuclear Club’ seem content to dice with planetary death rather than take a lead in reforming and reaffirming ‘our last, best hope’. NATO’s talk about defending International Law and a ‘rules-based order’ is a ruse to subvert genuine global security – except where it can be hijacked for aggressive purposes.
It is baffling and heartbreaking that Official Ireland acquiesced in this destructive process, through the provision of ‘non-lethal military assistance’, and now promotes NATO’s first-strike nuclear-based alliance as the pathway to security and peace. It is utterly implausible to praise the patience, courage and diplomacy of our Peace Process here while insisting that only military victory can be the answer in Ukraine.
It is utterly implausible to celebrate our work for UN disarmament and the achievement of decommissioning at home while failing to confront the US arming of Israel’s war machine and efforts to expand Ireland’s involvement in weapons production. Only minds numbed by the so-called ‘nuclear umbrella’ could explain the sleepwalk towards destruction and disaster.
Removing the UN lever from the ‘Triple Lock’, which requires UN authority whenever our troops deploy overseas, would be a major step away from the real task of peace: using our resources and reputation to help reform and reaffirm effective planetary forums for humanity’s needs and hopes.”
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