Remembrance day
Nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 1945.
On 6 and 9 of August, 1945, the US detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. The aerial bombings together killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict. Today as our leaders again bang the drums of war, we say:
NEVER AGAIN
* No Nuclear subs
* No AUKUS military alliance
* No war on China
Photos by Alex Bainbridge from Green Left Weekly
Rally and March
2pm Sunday 6th August
King George Square
MC – The Very Rev’d Dr Peter Catt. Speakers included:
Kristin Perissinotto– Electrical Trade Union
Laura Nolan – Environment Officer, UQ Union
Aahana Nag and Layla Farquharson – School Strike 4 Climate
| Sydney NSWRally: Hiroshima Never Again, No Nuclear SubmarinesSunday 6 August at 2pmSydney Town Hall SquareSpeakers include Pastor Ray Minniecon, Allan Behm (Australia Institute), Prof Jake Lynch (Peace and Conflict Studies), Fr Claude Mostowik (Pax Christi) Dr Vince Scappatura (Macquarie Uni). Hosted by Sydney Hiroshima Day Committee. |
| Wollongong NSWForum: No Place for a Nuclear BaseSunday 6 August at 4-6pmChurch on the Mall, AuditoriumRegister here.Speakers include Peter Garrett, Cr Trish Frail (Ngemba campaigner against nuclear waste dump at Brewarinna), Dr Sue Wareham (MAPW) and Shaye Candish (NSW Nurses and Midwives Association). Hosted by Wollongong Against War and Nukes. |
| Newcastle NSWCommemoration and unveiling of new Peace Park sign Sunday 6 August at 11am-2pmTighes Hill Reserve, Maitland RdSpeakers include Sharon Claydon MP, Senator David Shoebridge, Leigh Shears (Hunter Workers Secretary) and Brad Pidgeon (AMWU).Hosted by the Hunter Peace Group. Prayers for Peace CommemorationSunday 6 August at 6pmChrist Church Cathedral, Church St, Newcastle.Rev’d Dr Erica Mathieson and Rev’d Dr Ray Williamson. Hosted by Christians for Peace, Newcastle. |
| Perth WAPeace Vigil: Hiroshima and Nagasaki Never Again! Sunday 6 August at 2pmPerth Cultural CentreRSVP here.The event is being co-hosted by Nuclear Free WA, Stop AUKUS WA, Independent and Peaceful Australia Network and the Medical Association for the Prevention of War. |
| Adelaide SAPeace Commemoration Sunday 6 August at 8-8:30amPeace Park, Sir Edwin Smith Ave Rally and March for Peace!Sunday 6 August at 2pmParliament House, Hindmarsh Sq. Speakers include Senator Barbara Pocock, Dr Amanda Ruler (MAPW), David Noonan.Hosted by MAPW. Info here. |
| Naarm Melbourne VICRally against nuclear subs and AUKUS Sunday 6 August at 1pmState Library of Victoria.Featuring Choir for Peace, Riff Raff Marching Band. Speakers Dr Margie Beavis OAM. Hosted by the No AUKUS Coalition Vic.Info here. |
| Geelong / Djilang VICRally followed by dinner and documentary screening Friday 4 August at 4pmLittle Malop St Mall, then Geelong Trades Hall.Featuring Dr William Briggs, local international relations expert & Sarah Mansfield, Greens MLC for Western Victoria and the Geelong Climate Choir. Hosted by IPAN Geelong.Info here. |
| Nipaluna Hobart TASHiroshima Day VigilSaturday 5 August at 11am-12pm Join MAPW Tasmania and friends for the annual silent vigil to mark Hiroshima and Nagasaki days. Hosted by MAPW Tasmania. |
| Meanjin Brisbane QLD Hiroshima Day Rally and March Sunday 6 August at 2pm Speakers include Kristin Perissinotto- Electrical Trade Union, Laura Nolan – Environment Officer, UQ Union, Aahana Nag and Layla Farquharson – School Strike 4 Climate. Hosted by No AUKUS Qld. |
| NATIONAL – online Challenging Nuclear Secrecy, webinar and report launch Tuesday 8 August at 9am Register here.Featuring Marco de Jong, Pacific historian and advocate, Nic Maclellan, journalist and author, Carla Cantagallo, University of Kentucky, Pam Kingfisher and Dimity Hawkins (Nuclear Truth Project co-coordinators). Hosted by the Nuclear Truth Project and ICAN Australia. |
This is a response to a comrade who prefers US imperialism to a presence by China in the Pacific. He states: “Sorry Ian, this (the appeal above by Pacific Islanders) is just plain wrong. I wish it were otherwise.
The Chinese regime is encroaching on the Pacific Island Nations and if I have to choose it will be the US over the Chinese on any day …
My response
In 1975, while hitch hiking around the Pacific, I stayed with Melanesian people in a small village on the Isle of Saint Joseph in the Loyalty group. During my travels to New Zealand, New Caledonia and the Loyalty islands I met many indigenous people who lived off the land and the sea. They had their own languages but the languages of the imperialists were imposed on them (Mainly English and French).
One day during the month that I stayed on the island, the French Navy turned up on the horizon. No doubt they had been helping the French test nuclear weapons in the Pacific.
One evening their officers came ashore with two films which they projected onto the wall of a local church.
One was a bizarre Danny Kaye comedy about a mad scientist (dubbed in French). The other was a recruiting film for the French Navy.
I got up early the next day only to see young 18 and 19-year-old boys being taken on landing craft out to the warships on the horizon. I asked some local women who were platting mats out of coconut palm leaves what was going on. They told me that the boys had been conscripted into the Navy for two or three years service.
In the ensuing years when the independence movement comprising young men and women was growing in strength they took on their former military bosses and were corralled in some caves in the north part of the island. The rebels took some French nationals hostage. French paratroopers massacred 13 islanders by throwing grenades into the caves near where they usually cut copra.
All forms of imperialism are bad. The US, France and the UK detonated 318 nuclear devices across the Pacific during those years.
The only Chinese presence I ever saw in that part of the Pacific was in Chinatown in Noumea, the only place you could get a good cheap meal.
Ian Curr
4 August 2023
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