Peace organizations and Nagasaki mayor call for canceling of U.S. nuclear testing
Japanese peace organizations on August 30 staged a protest in front of the U.S. embassy in Tokyo against a U.S. subcritical nuclear test called "Unicorn" to be conducted at the Nevada Test Site.
Taka Hiroshi, secretary general of the Japan Council against A and H Bombs (Japan Gensuikyo), pointed out that the international community had agreed on an "unequivocal undertaking" to abolish nuclear weapons six years ago and that all nuclear weapons possessing states are required to fulfill this commitment.
He criticized the United States for maintaining massive amounts of nuclear weapons while denouncing nuclear proliferation to other countries.
Representatives handed out a written protest to an embassy official. Participating organizations were Japan Gensuikyo, the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren), the All Japan Teachers and Staff Union (Zenkyo), the New Japan Women's Association (Shinfujin), the Japan Peace Committee, the Japan Federation of Democratic Medical Institutions (Min-Iren), and the Democratic Youth League of Japan.
On the same day, Nagasaki Mayor Itoh Iccho sent a statement of protest to demand an immediate cancellation of the nuclear test, stating, "It may give other counties a pretext for developing their nuclear weapons, amounting to an outrageous act that threatens the world peace and stability."
The National Council of Japan Nuclear Free Local Authorities, consisting of 215 municipalities, also sent the U.S. embassy in Tokyo a written protest demanding the cancellation of the nuclear test. The Nagasaki Council of the A-Bomb Sufferers also published a statement in protest against the U.S. nuclear test.
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Hibakusha, Hiroshima and Nagasaki mayors protest against U.S. subcritical nuclear test
Hibakusha and the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 31 expressed their strong protest against the U.S. subcritical nuclear test conducted on August 30.
Hiroshima Mayor Akiba Tadatoshi sent a statement of protest to U.S. President George Bush and the U.S. ambassador in Tokyo, expressing his "strong indignation" of the test and urging the United States "to stop all nuclear testing and development of nuclear weapons and to take the lead in fulfilling the obligation to enter into serious negotiation leading to nuclear disarmament."
Akiba also sent Bush a separate statement on behalf of the World Conference of Mayors for Peace consisting of 1,416 mayors in 120 countries and regions.
In Hiroshima City, 80 people representing eight organizations, including the Hiroshima Council against A and H Bombs (Hiroshima Gensuikyo) and the Hiroshima A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organization (Hiroshima Hidankyo), took part in a sit-in in front of the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Museum. They read out the statement of protest that they sent to President Bush.
Nagasaki Mayor Itoh Iccho also sent President Bush a statement stating, "I lodge my strong protest against the test carried out in defiance of repeated requests for cancellation."
The Nagasaki Association for a Non-Nuclear Government sent a telegram to the U.S. president.
In front of the U.S. embassy in Tokyo, some 20 people from the Japan Confederation of A and H Bombs Sufferers Organizations (Hidankyo) staged a protest carrying banners.
In Yaizu City in Shizuoka Prefecture, Mayor Tomoto Takao and City Assembly chair Suzuki Masashi jointly sent a statement of protest to President Bush. In 1953, the tuna fishing boat 5th Lucky Dragon from the city was showered with radioactive fallout from the U.S. hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, and one crew member died.
From Akahata
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