Speech delivered by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin, Donna Cooney at the Annual commemoration of the Bombing of Hiroshima. This event organised by Irish CND was held in Merrion Square Park, Dublin on 6th August 2024. Pictures on PANA Facebook.

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This day 79 years ago, on the 6th of August 1945, the world witnessed the most deadly single act ever inflicted by human beings on other humans. The city of Hiroshima was bombed at around 8.15 in the morning, the first time an atomic bomb had been used in conflict. Around 80,000 people were killed immediately, and around 140,000 people died of injuries sustained from the bombing by the end of 1945. The numbers are so huge that it is impossible to form anything more than estimates of the casualties, and some estimates are much higher than these.

But these are not simply numbers: 80,000, 140,000, a further 75,000 killed instantly in Nagasaki – all of these were human lives, women, men, children; mothers, fathers, girls, boys, grandparents; human lives with hopes and fears, human lives which shared joy and sadness together, human lives with the right to dignity, all terminated by the blinding split-second flash, the unimaginable wave of heat, the immeasurable brutality of the atomic bomb.

Today, 79 years later, almost 14,000 nuclear weapons are held by nine countries. Russia, the United States, China, France, the UK, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea daily threaten global destruction by their refusal to engage in meaningful nuclear disarmament. An accident, human error, a software malfunction, a cyber-attack – any of these could set off a ghastly chain of nuclear devastation.

Two nuclear-armed states, Russia and Israel, are engaged in war. We have heard government representatives of both countries discuss the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons. Equally chillingly, we have heard some politicians in the United States speak all too casually about the potential use of nuclear weapons in both those conflicts. The memory of Hiroshima makes the horrific humanitarian cost of nuclear weapons tragically clear. No nuclear bomb must ever, ever, be used again.

In January this year, the Board of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists again set the Doomsday Clock, symbolising how grave the threat of destruction is, at 90 seconds to midnight. This is the closest to midnight – the point of destruction – that the Doomsday Clock has ever been. In making this dire judgement, the Board referred to the breakdown of international co-operation towards disarmament among nuclear-armed states, especially the United States and Russia, the renewal of the nuclear arms race, and the lowering of the barriers to nuclear war.

They also referred to the threat posed by climate change, and the lack of global government action to address this crisis. The lack of action is all the more pointed in the face of more and more evidence every year of the catastrophic impacts of climate change for the whole world. Both nuclear weapons and climate change are manmade threats to life as we know it. The power to limit, to reverse and to undo these threats lies in our hands also.

In a recent interview with the Future of Life podcast, this point was emphasised by former Irish president, Mary Robinson, who said in relation to both climate change and nuclear weapons: “The problems could be solved with political will. They are human problems. If we came together with understanding and collaboration based on reason – the long-view leadership that we’re advocating, we can solve all these problems.”

One example of global leadership in combatting the threat from nuclear weapons has been shown by the organisation “Mayors for Peace”, founded by the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to campaign for nuclear disarmament and against the targeting of cities and their citizens in war. In 1994, Dublin was the first Irish city to join Mayors for Peace, now a worldwide network of 8,403 member cities in 166 countries. The key aims of Mayors for Peace’s “Vision for Peaceful Transformation to a Sustainable World” are: a world without nuclear weapons; safe and resilient cities, and promoting a culture of peace. Speaking here today as Deputy Lord Mayor, I want to reiterate Dublin’s commitment to these aims of Mayors for Peace.

Ireland has long played an important role in working to end the threat of nuclear annihilation. Ireland was the architect of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the first country to sign and ratify the treaty in 1968. Regrettably, over 50 years on, the treaty has not delivered the hoped-for disarmament.

Ireland was again to the fore in 2016, as one of a group of six countries which proposed a United Nations conference to negotiate a new international treaty explicitly outlawing nuclear weapons. The “Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons” was approved by 122 states in 2017, and entered into force in 2021. Its importance was recognised by the award of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, of which Irish CND is a member.

Campaigners believe that the new treaty is already playing an important role in stigmatising and de-legitimising the possession of nuclear weapons internationally, and will hopefully bring the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons closer. As well as explicitly banning the development and possession of nuclear weapons, the treaty contains provisions on providing assistance for victims, and on environmental remediation, and explicitly recognises the disproportionate impact of nuclear weapons on women and children.

In conclusion, I want to focus again on our remembrance of the lives and suffering of all victims of the testing and use of atomic and nuclear weapons, especially those of Hiroshima. This is part of a poem by Sankichi Toge, who survived the bombing but died in Hiroshima at the age of 36 some years later. He addresses young people dying in the hours after the atomic bomb:

You are simply thinking,
thinking
of those who until this morning
were your fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters
(would any of them know you now?)
and of the homes in which you slept, woke, ate
(in that instant the blossoms in the hedge were torn off;
now even their ashes are not to be found)
thinking, thinking – as you lie there among friends who one after the
other stop moving –thinking
of when you were girls,
human beings.

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On August 6, 2024, MATSUI Kazumi, Mayor of the City of Hiroshima, delivered the Peace Declaration at the Peace Memorial Ceremony, marking the 79th anniversary of the atomic bombing.

Peace Declaration

Citizens of the world, what do you think? Are more powerful nuclear forces necessary for national security? What about arms races, competing to maintain superiority over other nations? Russia’s protracted invasion of Ukraine and the worsening situation between Israel and Palestine are claiming the lives of countless innocent people, shattering normal life. It seems to me that these global tragedies are deepening distrust and fear among nations, reinforcing the public assumption that, to solve international problems, we have to rely on military force, which we should be rejecting. Given such circumstances, how can nations offer safety and security to their people? Is that not impossible?

Through the pillars under the Peace Memorial Museum, we can see the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims. Anyone praying at the Cenotaph can look straight through it to the Atomic Bomb Dome. Peace Memorial Park, with these structures on its north-south axis, was built in accordance with the Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Law, enacted seventy-five years ago today. Built by the people of Hiroshima and many other seekers of peace, it has become a place to memorialize the victims and to think, talk, and make promises to each other about peace.

If, after the war, Japan had abandoned our Peace Constitution and focused on rebuilding our military, the city of peace Hiroshima is today would not exist. Standing here, we can all feel our predecessors’ determination to eliminate the scourge of war, trusting in the justice and faith of peace-loving people around the world.

Expressing that determination, one hibakusha continually communicated the spirit of Hiroshima. “Now is the time to turn the tide of history, to get beyond the hatreds of the past, uniting beyond differences of race and nationality to turn distrust into trust, hatred into reconciliation, and conflict into harmony.” This uplifting sentiment was written by a man who, as a 14-year-old boy, saw scenes from a living hell— a baby with skin peeled down to red flesh next to its mother burned from head to toe, and a corpse with its guts strewn out on the dirt.

In 1989, a massive people’s movement for democracy brought down the Berlin Wall, the predominant symbol of the Cold War. President Gorbachev expressed humanity’s collective need for peace and his determination to stop the arms race, end nuclear terror, eradicate nuclear weapons, and relentlessly pursue political solutions to regional conflicts. He and President Reagan worked together through dialogue to bring the Cold War to an end, which led to the United States and the Soviet Union concluding the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. They demonstrated that policymakers can overcome even critical situations through resolute commitment to dialogue.

Let us not be resigned to pessimism about the chaotic world situation. Instead, let us be as determined as our forebears, and, united as one, with hope in our hearts, take collective action. Our unity will move leaders now relying on nuclear deterrence to shift their policies. We could make that happen.

To extinguish the suspicion and doubt that create conflicts, civil society must foster a circle of trust through exchange and dialogue with consideration for others. We must spread beyond national borders the sense of safety we feel in our daily lives. The crucial step here is to share and empathize with the experiences and values of others through music, art, sports, and other interactions. Through such exchange, let us create a world in which we all share the Culture of Peace. In particular, I call on our youth, who will lead future generations, to visit Hiroshima and, taking to heart what they experience here, create a circle of friendship with people of all ages. I hope they will ponder what they can do now, and act together to expand their circle of hope. The city of Hiroshima, working with Mayors for Peace, which now has more than 8,400 member cities in 166 countries and regions, will actively support community endeavors to raise peace consciousness.

Last fiscal year, approximately 1.98 million people from around the world visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. This record number is evidence of unprecedented interest in the atomic-bombed city and a rise in peace consciousness. My hope is that all world leaders will visit Hiroshima, experience the will of civil society, gain a deeper understanding of the atomic bombing, and hold in their hearts the hibakusha plea, “No one should ever suffer as we have.” Then, while they are here, I hope they will, with iron resolve, issue a compelling call for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Twice in a row the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference has failed to adopt a final document. These failures have revealed a harsh reality, namely, the enormous differences among countries with respect to nuclear weapons. I hope the Japanese government, which has declared repeatedly that the NPT is the cornerstone of the international nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime, will exercise strong leadership, calling all countries to transcend their positions and engage in constructive dialogue toward a relationship of trust. Furthermore, I request that Japan, as a practical effort toward a nuclear-weapon-free world, participate as an observer at the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons to be held in March next year. Subsequently and as soon as possible, Japan must become a party to the treaty. In addition, I demand that the Japanese government strengthen measures of support for the hibakusha, including those living outside Japan. Now that their average age has exceeded 85, the government must accept that they are still suffering the many adverse emotional and physical effects of radiation.

Today, at this Peace Memorial Ceremony marking 79 years since the bombing, we offer our deepest condolences to the souls of the atomic bomb victims. Together with Nagasaki and likeminded people around the world, remembering once again the hibakusha struggle, we pledge to make every effort to abolish nuclear weapons and light the way toward lasting world peace. Citizens of the world, let us all, with hope in our hearts, walk with Hiroshima toward tomorrow’s peace.

August 6, 2024
Matsui Kazumi
Mayor
The City of Hiroshima