August 6th and 9th are the 75th anniversaries of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. To mark those dates, over 160 organizations from across the US have joined together for a national virtual event: #StillHere: 75 Years of Shared Nuclear Legacy.
The event will run from 11 am – 9 pm ET on Thursday the 6th and 2 pm – 9 pm ET on Sunday the 9th.
Speakers include:
- Setsuko Thurlow, a hibakusha and leader of ICAN
- Mary Robinson, the Chair of The Elders
- Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign
- Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe
- Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty, to the 24th Navajo Nation Council
- Historians Dr. Vincent Intondi and Gar Alperovitz
- As well as experts, activists, and survivors from across the country.
The groups are united by a common warning. That today, we are living in a time of extraordinary nuclear dangers. Vital international agreements to reduce and control nuclear weapons worldwide are being abandoned. Budgets for the development and production of new nuclear weapons are growing. Tensions among nuclear-armed nations are rising to levels not seen since the Cold War. As the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki warn: “We are badly off course in efforts to honor the plea of the hibakusha and end the nuclear threat.”
But the groups are also united by a common hope. That people created these weapons and designed the systems governing their use. Which means people can work to eliminate them. So through these events, and the work the groups do year-round, we strive to engage the public and press our leaders to ensure nuclear weapons are never used again and to negotiate in good faith the global elimination of these most devastating weapons of mass destruction.
