11 July 2005: for immediate release
City Hall is hosting a ‘No More Hiroshimas’ event on the 12th July 2005. The event, co-hosted by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, will commemorate the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. London schoolchildren will join peace campaigners to release 60 symbolic balloons to remember those who have died in the 60 years since the first nuclear test. Speakers will include Jenny Jones, AM, Kate Hudson, Chair of CND, Bruce Kent and poet Adrian Mitchell.
In August 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hundreds of thousands of people died, many instantaneously, others soon after from burns and shock. More died from radiation in the years that followed. By 1950, an estimated 340,000 people had died as a result of the two bombs. The effects are still being felt today.
Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London said,
“This anniversary is not just about remembrance, it is about looking to the future. The single biggest issue facing the world today is the need for international justice and peace. Given the current climate of war and global instability it is important that the people of London know that nuclear war is never justified and that they can explore peaceful solutions to the world’s problems.”
Kate Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament said,
“Young people in London have played an active role in the peace movement in recent years. A peaceful future free from nuclear weapons needs the support of the next generation and I am very encouraged by the commitment to peace of young Londoners
It is important that we mark the 60th anniversary by helping to bring about a real understanding of the horror of the nuclear bomb and the continued danger to the world of the nuclear weapons held by all of the nuclear weapon states, including the UK. It is also vital that we challenge both the perception that it was necessary to drop the bomb on Japan and the idea that it would ever be necessary or justified to use it anywhere, ever again.”
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Mayor of London launched a poetry writing competition this year. They invited Londoners, aged between 14 and 16, to write a poem for peace to commemorate the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The panel of judges included The Mayor of London, peace activist Bruce Kent, poet Adrian Mitchell, and CND Chair Kate Hudson. The winning writer will attend this commemorative event at City Hall.
The event also takes place four days before the anniversary of the beginning of the nuclear weapons age which began on 16 July 1945, when the U.S. exploded the first nuclear bomb, codenamed ‘Trinity’ at Alamogordo, New Mexico.
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Notes to Editor:
1. For further information and interviews with speakers please contact Ruth Tanner CND’s Press & Communications Officer on 0207 7002350 or 07968 420859
2. Programme for the day
11.30 – 11.45 Winning poem to be read out followed by a few words from Jenny Jones, Kate Hudson and Bruce Kent in the Chamber, City Hall.
11.45 – 12.00 – PHOTO OPPORTUNITY – 60 Balloons to by released in the Scoop outside City Hall.
3. Events in London remembering the 60th anniversary
From 26 July to end August, City Hall will be hosting an exhibition of Hiroshima-Nagasaki A-bomb photos depicting the impact of the A-bomb.
On 31 July, CND are holding a Film screening at the Curzon Soho London, in collaboration with Contemporary Films, to present a number of rarely seen films and a panel session to commemorate the 60th anniversary. Jenny Jones AM will be participating in this panel session.
6th August – Hiroshima day ceremony – Noon-1pm – Tavistock Square, London WC1 (Tube: Euston) Speakers, Cllr. Barbara Hughes, Mayor of Camden, Kate Hudson, CND Chair, Lindsay German, STWC Convenor, Susannah York (invited),
Bruce Kent (invited) Adrian Mitchell (invited), Jeremy Corbyn MP (Chair), Music: The Workers’ Music Association. Info. 020-7607 2302
CND has been running a Countdown to Hiroshima Campaign to remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki and say never again. As part of this campaign CND has also launched a Peace Education Pack, with the support of the Mayor of London, which has gone to all secondary schools in London.
4. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is one of Europe’s biggest single-issue peace campaigns, with over 32,000 members in the UK. CND campaigns for the abolition of all nuclear weapons everywhere.