August 6 - 9, Hiroshima/Nagasaki Days: Hiroshima Day of Remembrance & Resistance Demonstration at Lockheed Martin, Valley Forge, PA and Nagasaki Day Peace Dedication at SS Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Cathedral, Phila., PA

On August 6, the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan, killing an estimated 150,000 people in the immediate blast and fire. Three day later, on August 9, 1945, more than 75,000 people died in the blast and fire resulting from the U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan. More than 100,000 people died in the days and years ahead, and continue to die, from the radioactive poisoning of the first atomic bombings.

In Valley Forge, Lockheed Martin, among other Pentagon
contracts, produces fire control systems for Tomahawk cruise
missiles as well as battlefield computers used in the U.S. war of occupation in Iraq

Hiroshima Day 2007, Remembrance and Resistance

At 8:15AM, a siren blast signalled the 62nd Anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the start of a vigil of
remembrance in front of the Valley Forge weapons complex of
Lockheed Martin. The siren blast was followed by the tolling of a bell sixty-two times, once for each of the past sixty-two years of war, war economy, and the terror posed by the existence and threatened use of nuclear weapons. The vigil continued in front of Lockheed Martin which, as the world's largest weapons corporation, the U.S.'s chief nuclear bomb contractor, and the Iraq war's chief profiteer,incorporates the continuation and legacy of sixty-two years of war and nuclear weapons.

The vigil of remembrance continued until noon, with hourly siren blasts and bell-tolling sixty-two times.

The vigil moved to the driveway entrance of Lockheed Martin, with large blue Lockheed Martin logo signs on both sides of the drive. Again, a siren blast, followed by a reading of the account of the Hiroshima bombing from the "Journey of Death" narrative published by the Brandywine Peace Community for the 50th Anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. Following the reading of the Hiroshima bombing account, Ms Yuko Nakamura, a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing, an "Hibakusha", spoke. A thirteen year old school girl at
the time of the time of bombing, her words convey what most of us can only best imagine in nightmares. Nakamura-san now travels the world, as Secretary-General of Kanagawa Atomic Bomb Sufferers Association speaking for peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Fittingly, a "Die-in", dramatizing the unimaginable, followed on black coffin cloths in front of the Lockheed Martin logo sign. Nearby stood a full-size black coffin with white masks, pictures of the aftermath of the first atomic bombing, and draped with colorful strands of paper peace cranes. People then arose to the sound of music and walked a few feet to another part of the Lockheed Martin site forming a chain of remembrance and resistance to Lockheed Martin.

Following the Hiroshima Day '07 litany and a statement "Declaring Peace at Lockheed Martin" (see below), one by one, those prepared to face arrest for civil disobedience exited the line,walking onto Lockheed Martin, strewing handfuls of sunflower seeds: "The sunflower has become a world-wide symbol for peace, carrying the hope of a world free of nuclear weapons and war... Today, we recall
the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and, with
sunflower seeds, we plant our hopes here at Lockheed Martin for peace and justice."

Eleven people were arrested - Tom Mullian, Media, PA; Mary Jo
McArthur, Beth Friedlan, Vinton Deming, and Bernadette Cronin-
Geller, all of Philadelphia; Rev. Patrick Sieber, Camden, NJ, and Jackie Baumann, Elmwood Park, NJ; Rich Conti, Rutledge, PA; Theresa Camerota, Wyncote, PA; and Robert M. Smith,
Swarhmore, PA. - cited and releases on "Disorderly Conduct"
citations.

Color photos of the Hiroshima Day Demonstration appeared in the Phila. Daily News. There was also coverage on WCAU-TV and it was the lead report for a while on KYW-All News Radio.

August 9, 2007 - Nagasaki Day Peace Dedication
Organized by: Brandywine Peace Community; Co-sponsored by:
Catholic Peace Fellowship & Northwest [Phila.] Greens

August 9, 1945, Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki, Japan;
Ground Zero: the Urakami Roman Catholic Cathedral

August 9, 2007, Nagasaki Day Dedication at SS Peter & Paul
Roman Catholic Cathedral in Philadelphia

As people stood on and before the steps of the SS Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Cathedral in Phila., a siren blasted recalling the sirens of that morning 62 years ago when the largest Catholic Cathedral in all of Asia, in the city of the largest Catholic population in all of Asia, was ground zero for the 2nd atomic bombing.

[Relative to the Hiroshima bomb (nicknamed "Little Boy) dropped three days earlier, the bomb that exploded above the Urakami suburb of Nagasaki was the more powerful plutonium bomb, nicknamed "Fat Man" after British prime minister Winston Churchill. The plane carrying "Fat Man" took off from Tinian Island with the primary target of Kokura. Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Kokura had all been "saved" (from earlier U.S. carpet and fire bombings) for the planned atomic bombings. On the morning of August 9, ground haze and smoke fully obscured Kokura, so the plane's pilot, Major Charles W. Sweeney, decided to "make a run down to Nagasaki [the mission's secondary target] as there was no sense dragging the bomb home or dropping it in the ocean". At 11:02AM, "Fat Man" dropped from the B-29 and exploded 1,650 feet above the city.]

In front of Philadelphia's SS Peter & Paul Cathedral, a large bell tolled 62 times as people stood in silent reflective memory of 62 years of war and nuclear weapons. Readings on "the Cost of War, the Price of Peace" followed as did a Litany of Water, Healing, & Peace (see below).

Incense burned in homage to all the victims of war and ceremonially people were invited to a basin, on the base of which were river rocks and stones, a piece of wood, and a dome shaped stone. Water (a symbol of healing, cleansing, and re-juvenation) was poured over the hands of participants and the basin-filled representation of the Urakami Cathedral and the port city of Nagasaki.

The Nagasaki Day Peace Dedication ended with Tom Mullian
leading people his song "We Declare Peace".

Hiroshima Day ‘07 Litany

Reader: On July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb test, code-named “Trinity,” took place in an area of desert in New Mexico called “Jornada del Muerto” – Journey of Death. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientific director of the Manhattan Project which developed the first atomic bombs, remembered the passage from the Hindu Scripture, the Bhagavad Gita: “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 3 weeks later, foretold the world that we know and the society that we’ve become. The trail of nuclear weapons, militarism and war, invasions and occupations, empire and the corporate domination of the economy and our democracy, brings us to where war is made today: Lockheed Martin.
All: Hiroshima/Nagasaki, Never Again; Stop Lockheed Martin;
We Declare Peace

Reader: On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima. The thermal flash and blast started fires which very quickly became a firestorm until the whole city was ablaze. Birds ignited in midair. People ran to the rivers to escape and soon the river became not a stream of flowing water but a stream of drifting dead bodies. Despite every horrifying statistic of violence and war we’ve ever heard, the account, statistics, and memory of that day 62 years ago are still devastating. 60 percent of the city is destroyed–hospitals, hotels, rail stations, temples, factories, houses, and scores of other buildings reduced to flaming rubble. The next morning the sun rose and revealed the dawning of the nuclear age. Where the city once stood, was a wasteland of ashes and ruin. Three days later, Nagasaki.
All: Hiroshima/Nagasaki, Never Again; Stop Lockheed Martin;
We Declare Peace

Reader: Sixty-two years of nuclear weapons and their threatened use have emboldened and outlined every imperial move of the U.S. from Vietnam to Central America to the Persian Gulf. The U.S. continues to maintain an arsenal of 10,000 nuclear weapons deployed on land, sea, and in the air, at a cost of $27 billion annually and the Bush Administration is now pushing Complex 2030 for the streamlining and re-juvenation of future nuclear weapons design and production. Called Complex 2030 because of the nuclear weapons industry’s plan, with Lockheed Martin at the core, be in place within the next 25 years. Whole populations and lands have been contaminated with the toxic effects of nuclear weapons production–plutonium, which fuels nuclear bombs, has a toxic life of 240,000 years or 10,000 human generations. So too, the very principle of democracy and commitment to civil liberties has been contaminated by our society’s reliance on war and the militarization of culture, economy, and law.
All: Hiroshima/Nagasaki, Never Again; Stop Lockheed Martin;
We Declare Peace

Reader: The U.S. military budget this year will exceed a half trillion dollars. Many suffer, so very, very few may profit. Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest weapons corporation, the U.S.’s #1 worldwide arms supplier, the U.S.’s chief nuclear bomb contractor, the Iraq war’s chief profiteer - is quite simply making a killing in war. The fire control systems for Tomahawk cruise missiles repeatedly launched from Lockheed Martin Aegis warships throughout the Gulf Wars are produced by Lockheed Martin right here as are the battlefield computer used daily in the Iraq war of occupation, now in its 4th year In every war lies the threat of another Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Lockheed Martin is built atop the ashes of the nuclear age and the continuing wars and global nuclear reach of the U.S. military empire. Lockheed Martin profits, at the expense of human needs and the promise of justice. In memory of all victims of the past 62 years of war and nuclear terror, we cry out for peace and a future worthy of our hopes and our children–education, homes, health care for all, justice, an honoring of the earth, peace.
All: Hiroshima/Nagasaki, Never Again; Stop Lockheed Martin; We Declare Peace

Declaring Peace at Lockheed Martin

Ten years had passed since the day the Bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima. In 1955, a thirteen year old Japanese girl named Sadako Sasaki died of radiation-induced leukemia. She was one of thousands of children in Hiroshima to suffer the radioactive after-effects that have kept killing weeks, months, years, decades, after August 6, 1945. During her
illness Sadako folded paper cranes wishing for recovery from the fatal disease. She knew the story which says that cranes live a thousand years and that the person who folds a thousand paper cranes will have their wish granted. Sadako folded 644 paper cranes before she died. Her classmates folded 356 more cranes so Sadako could be buried with a thousand cranes. A monument was built in the Hiroshima Peace Park to honor the child’s memory and each year on Hiroshima Day children throughout Japan adorn it with thousands of brightly colored paper cranes. The monument to Sadako Sasaki reads: “This is our cry, this is our prayer, Peace in the world.”

The sunflower has become a worldwide symbol for peace, carrying the hope of a world free of nuclear weapons and war. We claim for peace the land on which Lockheed Martin sits. We seek to reclaim our country for peace and the promise of justice and democracy. We seek to reclaim a determined hope for a world free of nuclear weapons and war. Today, we join hands and declare peace in front of Lockheed Martin. Today, we recall the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and, with sunflower seeds, we plant our hopes here at Lockheed Martin for peace and for justice.
All: Hiroshima/Nagasaki, Never Again; Stop Lockheed Martin;
We Declare Peace

Litany of Water, Healing & Peace
Response: [all] May the healing waters of peace roll over us as we toll the bell of peace

In Remembrance of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, 62 years of war and nuclear weapons, and amidst the
seas of war, violence, disaster, and neglect that swirl around us today; we yearn for the healing waters of peace...[all]
For vibrant lives suddenly and shamelessly taken from the
community of family and loved ones...[all]
For the lives that continue, haunted forever by the pain of absence, and the nightmare images forever seared into our memories...[all]
For empire and all the deaths due to the arrogance of patriotism, religious or ideological fanaticism, and indifference to the world and human need...[all]
For reconciliation amongst all peoples... [all]
For the care of children and the earth... [all]
For the violence of poverty and the wounding of body and spirit resulting from racial, religious, and sexual hatred...[all]
For our society’s addiction to oil, weapons, and war-making... [all]
That we may end war and the occupation of Iraq, abolish nuclear weapons, resist the war economy and beat swords into plowshares, care for the victims of violence, disaster, and hatred; That we may see the possibilities of justice and peace, always clinging to the Promise of Peace... [all]

'07 Brandywine Peace Community Turns 30..GIVE NOW!
Brandywine Peace Community
P.O. Box 81, Swarthmore, PA 19081 610-544-1818 brandywine@juno.com [1] www.brandywinepeace.com [2]