July 26, 2019

2019 Hiroshima-Nagasaki Vigil

Planting Seeds for a Nuclear-Free Future

Hiroshima Dreams by Betty LaDuke 2018
A Nuclear Free Future

Peace House presents the Four-Day 2019 Hiroshima-Nagasaki Vigil to remember the tragic deaths of those killed and continues to call for Nuclear Disarmament with Ceremonies of Remembrance and Reflection.

This 34-year old vigil in the Rogue Valley will open with the tradtional 8 AM ceremony at the entrance to Lithia Park in Ashland and a Mayoral Proclamation the emphasizes Ashland’s official status as a declared Nuclear Free Zone since 1982. Ashland is a companion to Mayors for Peace cities in 163 nations and regions, including 213 in the U.S. and seven in Oregon. As of July, 2019, there are 7,772 cities worldwide.

Mayors for Peace is conducting a 2020 Vision Campaign (Emergency Campaign to Ban Nuclear Weapons) seeking to eliminate all nuclear weapons by 2020.

The August 6th Ashland Ceremony is set to observe the exact time when the Atom Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Former President of SOU, Dr. Roy Saigo, will read the 2019 Mayoral Proclamation from Hiroshima. Dr. Brett Strobel will present a prayer and reflections on creating peace in our time. International performer Masako Cross will provide music from her keyboard and the Yulkin, which is a Japanese Harp. A Healing Water Ceremony will remember those who died.

August 7th in Ashland and August 8th in Medford, two films will accompany a presentation by Dr. Michael Niemann, retired Professor of the SOU International Studies Department, who will speak and facilitate discussion. There will be displays and updates on the world-wide anti-nuclear movement. Locations will be:

August 7th at 7 pm: Peace House, Ashland

August 8th at 10 am: Medford library

“Green Legacy Hiroshima” is a short film about the worldwide effort to plant ginko, camphor, persimmon and kurogane holly seedlings that have germinated from trees in the City of Hiroshima. Through a network of people linked by the “life” from these “second generation”seeds of the A-Bombed trees, the group hopes to help bring about a peacefully and environmentally friendly world without nuclear weapons.

“Beginning of the End of Nuclear Weapons” shows the steps taken world-wide in the movement toward nuclear disarmament. It shows the efforts to bring a nuclear weapon ban treaty into international law and the role of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, ICAN, is told through the voices of leading activists from several different organizations and countries and the president of the negotiating conference.*

August 9th there will be a Ceremony in the Lithia in to remember those who were killed in Nagasaki due to the Plutonium Bomb.

There will be music by Richard Williams and by the Japanese Association of Southern Oregon Choir, with readings by Rev. Caren Caldwell, Allen Hallmark of Veteran’s for Peace, and the Ashland Citizen’s Peace Commission. A Flower Ceremony of Remembrance follows.

*On the 7th of July 2017, 122 countries voted in favor of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Countries that don’t have nuclear weapons but live under their threat, voted for a ban. Without the knowledge of most of their citizens, the governments of the world’s nuclear powers didn’t vote, and yet the ban went ahead. Something new is happening. This 56-minute documentary film takes the viewer through a brief history of the bomb and the anti-nuclear activism that has pushed to eliminate them ever since their invention. It moves into a consideration of the humanitarian initiative that successfully challenged the dominant security narrative and the historic steps taken since 2010 to turn the treaty from a dream into a reality. Finally, the film shows what can be done by anyone to help bring the treaty into force and to stigmatize nuclear weapons until they are finally eradicated. Extracts of fourteen interviews are woven into the story that will leave you feeling inspired!

Hideko Tamura Snider, Hiroshima Survivor stands with Green Legacy Hiroshima tree seedlings