ACDN MEDIA RELEASE As has happened every year since 2001, ACDN (Action des Citoyens pour le Désarmement Nucléaire) is organising a commemoration of the 1945 atom bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – in conjunction with the city of Saintes, a member of the international “Abolition 2000” network and the international “Mayors for Peace” association, which links over 7000 cities in 160 countries. The Mayor of Hiroshima, Mr. Kazumi Matsui, has written the following: « On 6 August 1945, a single atom bomb transformed Hiroshima into a vast burnt plain and tens of thousands of victims perished in the flames. By the end of 1945, 140 000 irreplaceable beings had disappeared. For those who survived, with their lives grotesquely deformed, it was a life of physical and moral suffering, the consequences of the bomb, and of discrimination and prejudice. Nuclear weapons are absolute evil, they are the perfect model of inhumanity. “This evil still persists in the form of over 150 000 nuclear weapons spread around the globe, posing a very serious threat to the survival of humankind. As long as these weapons exist, each one of us could become a hibakusha (a survivor of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki). » Mr. Kazumi Matsui goes on on explain why it is essential to eliminate all nuclear weapons completely. His message will be read during the ceremony in Saintes, at the Monument to the Fallen, place du Palais de Justice, on 6 August 2016 at 10.45 am. We will also hear the testimony of a hibakusha, along with poems, songs, and an appeal from 75 French parliamentarians (MPs and senators) who are proposing a bill to organise a shared-initiative referendum (parliamentarians and citizens) on France’s participation in the abolition of nuclear weapons. The abolition of these instruments for crimes against humanity is not merely viewed as indispensable by millions of people and by the UN, it has become possible, provided the citizens want it. The two ceremonies in Saintes — on 6 August, in memory of the victims of Hiroshima, and on 9 August (same place, same time) in memory of those of Nagasaki — will draw the lessons of the past to look towards the future: preparing for a world freed from nuclear dangers, both civil and military.
4 August 2016