On the days of August 6, 7, 8, 9, 2007, the Greater New Haven Peace Council, United Nations Association of Greater New Haven, CT Peace Coalition/New Haven and City of New Haven Peace Commission held silent vigils on the New Haven Green to commemorate the atomization of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Large white paper cranes and small colorful cranes were on display along with demonstrations on how to make cranes by the CT Peace Coalition.

An attendee read a poem. Al Marder of the New Haven Peace Commission spoke about the loss of Mayor Iccho Ito of Nagasaki and current nuclear issues.

After the vigil on August 6, at 9:00 a.m. a group of cyclists set out on a bike ride circling the city of New Haven from a radius of one mile ~ indicating the area affected by the type of bomb dropped on Hiroshima. On August 9, the United Church on the Green rang the church bells during the silent vigil.

The Peace Declarations from Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba of Hiroshima and Mayor Tomihisa Taue of Nagasaki were read, with copies forwarded to the Mayor of New Haven. New Haven is a Peace Messenger City and Mayor DeStefano is part of the organization, “Mayors for Peace” which has over 2000 mayors committed to the abolition of nuclear weapons. Chief Administrator, Robert Smuts attended both vigils and spoke at the Nagasaki vigil on the importance of this issue.

Two rainbow peace flags with statements of solidarity to the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to work for the total abolition of nuclear weapons were on display for people to sign. We hope to present these two peace flags to two “Hibakusha” survivors, Hirotami Yamada and Kiya Kohta. They will be visiting Quinnipiac University, this September at a two-day conference on the topic of nuclear disarmament in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Albert Schweitzer’s “Declaration of Conscience” calling for an end to nuclear testing and for the destruction of nuclear weapons.

A large-sized copy of the “Dear Colleague Letter”, Rep. Lynn Woolsey wrote to members of Congress asking for their support of the H. Res. 68, Woolsey Resolution that calls for the U.S. to abide by the Non-Proliferation Treaty and to prevent first-strike use by the U.S. was also on display for people to sign. This letter will be presented to Rep. DeLauro with a demand for response. We are asking people to write individual letters asking for Rep. DeLauro to co-sponsor the Woolsey Resolution and also encouraging people to find out about nuclear issues through viewing documentaries such as the one mentioned below, doing research on it, and join a peace group like the ones mentioned above.

Please read the New Haven Independent article on the vigil by Melinda Tuhus:
http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2007/08/hiroshima_vigil.php

We will have a follow up meeting to continue actions that will raise awareness about the dangers of nuclear weapons and insist that the U.S. abide by the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The Last Atomic Bomb: New Haven’s August 6 Hiroshima remembrance ended at the New Haven Free Public Library with the showing of the documentary The Last Atomic Bomb followed by a discussion.

The film is Japanese with English subtitles. It would be difficult to state more concisely the essence of the film than has been done by its website which I quote here. “The film relates the story of 10-year-old Sakue (Shimohira), hiding in a shelter near ground zero when the bomb exploded in August 1945, and the aftermath of that day. Her emotionally wrenching experiences are interwoven with rarely seen archival footage, never-before-told accounts of what happened to her in 1945 and in subsequent years, the still controversial U.S. decision to use the bomb, censorship in the U.S. and Japan of the bomb and its effects, discrimination against survivors by other Japanese, buildup of nuclear weapons during the Cold War, the anti-nuclear movement, and today’s nuclear proliferation issues.”

The discussion that followed raised many issues like concern that the United States has lost it moral authority in the world and questioning how we can get it back, concern about being paralyzed by despair and the need for people to work together locally and globally.

“It’s impossible to remain detached…an emotional sledge hammer but not a diatribe…Deeply affecting...” New York Times. Much more on its website
http://www.richtervideos.com/TheLastAtomicBomb.