As well as the Open Boat Day, also on the evening of Sunday August 7th, a lantern vigil to mark the 60th anniversary of the atom bomb being dropped on Hiroshima took place.
Lanterns being dropped in the river...
...the Peace Circle before, and the lanterns heading upstream.
Between thirty and forty people turned up for the vigil, from all ages and backgrounds to place on the river their handmade candle lanterns.
Some people also made paper Crane birds, which they either hung from the trees by the river, or floated downstream along with the lanterns.
As always, this was a very elegantly poignant reminder of all those who perished in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, numbering in the hundreds of thousands - those also affected by the fallout notwithstanding.
It is also worth bearing in mind that Depleted Uranium shells have been used in both Gulf Wars - the radioactive debris from these still litters both the deserts and outskirts of many Iraqi cities, proving that nuclear material is still in use even today in warfare, albeit on a smaller scale, but no less horrific in it's effects on the civilians and soldiers who come into contact with it.
Most countries have moreorless ignored Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaties over the last ten years, so, it's fair comment to say that the Nuclear Arms Race is not over yet, meaning that we still have a long way to go.
While we live in the age of the Nuclear Weapon, vigils like the one that happened last Sunday will continue to be both relevant and timely reminders of the kind of world we're passing onto our children.
Some people also made paper Crane birds, which they either hung from the trees by the river, or floated downstream along with the lanterns.
As always, this was a very elegantly poignant reminder of all those who perished in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, numbering in the hundreds of thousands - those also affected by the fallout notwithstanding.
It is also worth bearing in mind that Depleted Uranium shells have been used in both Gulf Wars - the radioactive debris from these still litters both the deserts and outskirts of many Iraqi cities, proving that nuclear material is still in use even today in warfare, albeit on a smaller scale, but no less horrific in it's effects on the civilians and soldiers who come into contact with it.
Most countries have moreorless ignored Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaties over the last ten years, so, it's fair comment to say that the Nuclear Arms Race is not over yet, meaning that we still have a long way to go.
While we live in the age of the Nuclear Weapon, vigils like the one that happened last Sunday will continue to be both relevant and timely reminders of the kind of world we're passing onto our children.
Comments
Hide the following 4 comments
The reason why
12.08.2005 07:47
As horrific as the bombs were they without doubt saved lives and shortended the war.
Dirk
US to blame
12.08.2005 09:11
Al
"We had to destroy it to save it."
12.08.2005 09:56
To show the Soviets that the US was more powerful? To see what would happen if you dropped an atomic bomb on a real city?
They could have arranged for a demonstration of the bomb somewhere uninhabited (some wanted to), but they didn't. They could have dropped one on a military target instead of a civilian target. (It should be noted that Nagasaki was home to several thousand Allied POWs. I'm not sure about Hiroshima.) And they didn't have to drop TWO bombs (the Japanese hadn't had chance to confirm reports of the first bomb). There were those in Japan who wanted to surrender, but others wouldn't because the US insisted on "unconditional surrender" (because they'd just got their new toys to work and knew they had the upper hand) -- they could have negotiated. And there were those in the US that were convinced that the Japanese WERE going to surrender. There are those who argue that the Soviets joining the war against Japan would have brought about a quick surrender. And those that argue that the bombs were dropped BECAUSE the Soviets joined.
"As horrific as the bombs were they without doubt saved lives and shortended the war. "
Hurrah for nuclear bombs!
I've yet to discover where this argument comes from. I would suspect that it was government propaganda, delivered via the media and state education. I found myself repeating the same argument several years ago. Maybe it's just an "obvious" argument -- but it doesn't stand up to close examination.
I'm sure that if the Nazis had got the bomb first they would be using that same argument today. (And they might even use that argument to justify the Holocaust.) Face facts, the only reason people use that argument is because "we" won, and "we" have the bomb, and "we" are good. The argument is a bogus one, possibly the result of propaganda, and one of the few things worthy of sending down the memory hole...
EvilEmpire
A Peaceful Nation of Murderers
12.08.2005 10:16
We should care why they did it -- THEY do not want us to care.
Also, Japan was far from peaceful -- they had invaded China and were killing Chinese peasants in numbers that the Americans could only dream about. Among other things, they used to drop plague infected rats from aircraft over villages. (Remember the recent protests in China about history books that had had Japanese WW2 warcrimes played down or removed?) In fact, the US didn't mind about that -- they were hoping to share China with the Japanese. Only the US and Japan had different ideas about what share meant -- hence Pearl Harbour and all that followed.
EvilEmpire