The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s 2019 Sadako Peace Day took place on August 6, 2019.
Click here for images from the event.
Click here for audio of the event.
Tag: Sadako Sasaki
-
Message on the 69th Anniversaries of the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Sadako Sasaki was a two-year-old child when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. She died of radiation exposure from the bomb ten years later, when she was twelve years old. In her hospital bed she folded paper cranes in the hope of regaining her health. Japanese legend says it is good fortune to fold 1,000 paper cranes. On one of the paper cranes she folded, Sadako wrote, “I will write peace on your wings, and you will fly all over the world.”
Sadako died with 644 cranes folded. Her classmates finished the job. Today there is a statue of Sadako in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Children from all over the world send colorful paper cranes to adorn this statue and other monuments in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Sadako’s story has inspired young (and older) people all over the world to work for peace and a world free of nuclear weapons.Sadako’s paper cranes have flown to Santa Barbara, where we have created a Sadako Peace Garden, and hold an annual ceremony to remember the innocent victims of war. Surely Sadako’s cranes have flown all over the world and are present wherever people gather to remember the innocent victims of war, including those who died as a result of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
We remember the past to learn from it so as to not repeat its mistakes. The only way we can be sure we will not destroy ourselves with nuclear weapons is to eliminate them all. It is what the nine nuclear-armed countries are obligated to do, and what they must begin now by means of negotiations in good faith for the phased, verifiable, irreversible and transparent elimination of these weapons. Sixty-nine years of the Nuclear Age is long enough. It must be ended.
Let us honor Sadako, as well as the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the victims of nuclear testing, by demanding an end to the modernization and possession of nuclear arms. Humanity is endangered. The human future is at risk. Enough is enough. We must demand of our leaders that they undertake negotiations in good faith to abolish nuclear weapons if we are to assure that these steel-hearted annihilators will not abolish us.
I urge you all to stand with the Marshall Islands in their courageous lawsuits against the nine nuclear-armed countries. You can learn more and support the Marshall Islanders at www.nuclearzero.org.
When we have achieved the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons, let us set our sights on a world without war and violence and one that is equitable for all and in which human dignity is universally respected and upheld.
-
2012 Sadako Peace Day Message
Today marks the 67th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. It is the anniversary of a bombing that targeted school children, pre-school children and infants, as well as women and the elderly.
When you think of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, think of innocent children.
Sadako was such a child, only two years old when the bomb exploded over Hiroshima. As she grew older, she became a bright student and a fast runner, but ten years after the bombing she was hospitalized with radiation-induced leukemia.
Japanese legend has it that one’s wish will be granted by folding 1,000 paper cranes. Sadako folded these paper cranes in the hope of fulfilling her wish to regain her health and achieve a peaceful world. She wrote this poem, “I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world.”
Sadako’s life was cut short by the bomb, but her dream of peace has lived on. She did not live to become a wife, mother and grandmother. She did not live to fulfill her dreams. But her memory has lived on in the hearts of children around the globe. Today there is a statue of Sadako in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, and throughout the world people express their wish for peace by folding paper cranes.
Today we gather in this beautiful peace garden named for Sadako and commemorate the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with our 18th annual Sadako Peace Day. We remember Sadako and the countless innocent victims of war and renew our commitment to abolishing nuclear weapons and ending war as a human institution.
This may seem utopian, but it is also necessary. It is our common responsibility and it is the daily work of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations sent this message to Hiroshima today:
“The elimination of nuclear weapons is not just a visionary goal, but the most reliable way to prevent their future use.
“People understand that nuclear weapons cannot be used without indiscriminate effects on civilian populations….
“Such weapons have no legitimate place in our world. Their elimination is both morally right and a practical necessity in protecting humanity.
“The more countries view nuclear weapons as unacceptable and illegitimate, the easier it will be to solve related problems such as proliferation or their acquisition and use by terrorists….
“In remembering those lost, in recognizing the hibakusha, and in considering the legacy we will leave to future generations, I urge all here today to continue your noble work for a nuclear-weapon-free world.”
We are honored to have present today a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing, Kikuko Otake, who will share with us her memories of what she experienced as a young child. We also have wonderful poets and musicians and a beautiful, quiet garden for reflection.
Thank you for being with us today and for your compassion for those who have been the victims of war, your commitment to building a more peaceful world free of nuclear weapons, and your courage to take action to change the world.
-
2011 Sadako Peace Day
This is a transcript of David Krieger’s speech at the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s 2011 Sadako Peace Day commemoration.
Welcome to the 17th annual Sadako Peace Day commemorating the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
We are very pleased to have with us today our principal speaker, Dr. Jimmy Hara, a Los Angeles medical doctor who has been a leader in the struggle for a nuclear weapons-free world. We are also honored to have with us Shigeko Sasamori, a survivor of Hiroshima, who will accept the Foundation’s World Citizen Award on October 9th on behalf of the survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. We will also have with us for that occasion Tadatoshi Akiba, the distinguished former mayor of Hiroshima.
Today is the 66th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Three days ago, on August 6th, was the 66th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. We have now lived under the threat of nuclear annihilation for two-thirds of a century.
We come together to share in remembrance, reflection and resistance.
Remembrance of the tragedies that befell the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the massive death and destruction caused by these powerful new weapons.
Reflection on the power of our technologies for good or evil and on the only force capable of controlling our powerful weaponry and turning it to constructive ends – the human spirit.
Resistance to the continued reliance upon these weapons of mass annihilation by a small number of states and to the unconscionable allocation of public resources to war and its preparation.
We remember so as not to repeat the tragedy. We reflect to place the tragedy within the context of our lives and our time. We resist to fulfill our human responsibility to ourselves, to each other and to those who will follow us on this planet.
We are a community committed to ending the threat of nuclear annihilation, and we are linked to other communities sharing this commitment across the globe.
We are linked to Sadako of the thousand cranes and to other innocent victims of war and nuclear annihilation. Sadako wrote on the wings of a paper crane she folded, “I will write peace on your wings, and you will fly all over the world.” Her cranes have indeed reached across oceans – to us here in Santa Barbara and to many other parts of the world.
I’d like to read you an excerpt of the Nagasaki Peace Declaration, which was shared earlier today in that city:
“Do we still believe that the world is safer thanks to nuclear deterrence? Do we still take it for granted that no nuclear weapons will ever be used again? Now seeing how the radiation released by an accident at just a single nuclear power station is causing such considerable confusion in society, we can clearly understand how inhumane it is to attack people with nuclear weapons.
“We call upon all people in the world to simply imagine how terrifying it would be if a nuclear weapon hundreds of times more powerful than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs were to be exploded in the sky above our cities.
“While intense heat rays would melt human beings and anything else nearby, horrific blast winds would fling buildings through the air and crush them instantly. A countless number of charred bodies would be scattered among the ruins. Some people would hover between life and death, while others would suffer from their injuries. Even if there were survivors, the intense radioactivity would prevent any rescue efforts. Radioactive substances would be carried far away by the wind to all corners of the world, resulting in widespread contamination of the earth’s environment, and in affecting people with a plague of health effects for generations to come.
“We must never allow anyone in the future to experience such agony. Nuclear weapons are never needed. No reason can ever justify human beings possessing even one nuclear weapon.”
We appreciate your being here and hope you will enjoy the program of music, poetry and contemplation. We invite you to join us in working for a more peaceful world, free of nuclear weapons and nuclear threat.
I’d like to conclude with a poem from my book, God’s Tears. It begins with a quote by General Eisenhower.
EISENHOWER’S VIEW
“It wasn’t necessary to hit them
with that awful thing”
— General Dwight D. Eisenhower
We hit them with it, first
at Hiroshima and then at Nagasaki –
the old one-two punch.
The bombings were tests really, to see
what those “awful things” would do.
First, of a gun-type uranium bomb, and then
of a plutonium implosion bomb.
Both proved highly effective
in the art of obliterating cities.
It wasn’t necessary.
-
2010 Sadako Peace Day
Welcome to this 16th annual commemoration held in Sadako Peace Garden. This garden – a project of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and La Casa de Maria – is made sacred by your presence; by your willingness to look back at the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; and, most of all, by your commitment to building a more peaceful and decent world, free of nuclear threat.
On this day 65 years ago, a single atomic bomb destroyed the city of Hiroshima, killing some 90,000 people by blast, fire and radiation. By the end of 1945, some 140,000 victims of the bombing were dead and another 70,000 had died from the Nagasaki bombing.
Hiroshima ushered in the Nuclear Age. It was a tragic beginning that pointed toward the possibility of an even more tragic ending. In the excitement that marked the end of World War II, the atomic bombings cast a dark shadow over the future of civilization and the human species.
In the past 65 years, we have witnessed a truly mad nuclear arms race between the US and Soviet Union, based on the principle of Mutually Assured Destruction. We have ascribed god-like characteristics of power and protection to bombs that have no purpose other than the threat of massive annihilation and the carrying out of that threat.
At its peak in 1986, there were some 70,000 nuclear weapons in the world. Today there are still more than 20,000 of these weapons in the arsenals of nine countries: the US, Russia, UK, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea. Without a plan of action to eliminate these weapons, they will continue to proliferate and will be used by accident, miscalculation or intention.
Over the past 65 years, the United States alone has spent more than $7.5 trillion on nuclear weapons and their delivery systems. We still spend more than $50 billion annually on these weapons. What a terrible waste of resources and opportunity!
The possession of these weapons challenges our humanity and our future. We are here to remember what these bombs have done in the past, to imagine what they are capable of doing in the future, and to reinvigorate our commitment to ending the nuclear weapons era.
Imagination is the creative beginning of change. If we can imagine that a world with zero nuclear weapons it is possible to achieve such a world. President Obama says, “America seeks the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.” But he also says that he is not naïve and doesn’t see it happening in his lifetime.
Perhaps I am naïve, but I can imagine achieving this goal in a far more urgent timeframe. Over 4,000 Mayors for Peace throughout the world – mayors of cities large and small – believe the goal can be achieved by the year 2020. Why not? It is within our human capacity, if we will join together.
To achieve a world free of nuclear weapons will require serious leadership from the US. To achieve US leadership the people will need to lead their leaders. That is our challenge and it is the daily work of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. We thank you for caring and for joining us in this most critical work.
I’d like to end with a poem from my new book, God’s Tears: Reflections on the Atomic Bombs Dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The poem tells the story of Shoji Sawada, a young boy at the time of the bombing of Hiroshima.
FORGIVE ME, MOTHER
for
Shoji Sawada
After the bomb,
the young boy
awakened beneath
the rubble of his room.He could hear
his mother’s cries,
still trapped
within the fallen house.He struggled to free
her, but he lacked
the
strength.A fire raged
toward them. Many people
hurried past.Frightened and
dazed, they would not stop
to help him free
his mother.He could hear
her voice from the rubble.
The voice was
soft but firm.“You must run
and save yourself,”
she told
him. “You must go.”“Forgive me,” he
said, bowing,
“Forgive me,
Mother.”He did as his
mother wished.
That was long
ago, in 1945.The boy has long
been a man, a good man.
Yet he still runs from those flames.