A World March for Peace and Nonviolence committee, headed by spokesman Rafael de la Rubia, participated August 6 in the annual ceremony in Hiroshima, in memory of the victims of the atomic bombing in 1945. The committee was invited by Hiroshima’s Mayor, Tadatoshi Akiba, who also coordinates NGO Mayors for Peace. During the day’s main speech, the Japanese mayor emphasized the efforts of American president, Barack Obama, towards the abolition of nuclear weapons over the next decade. “We refer to ourselves, the great global majority, as the ‘Obamajority,’ and we call on the rest of the world to join forces with us to eliminate all nuclear weapons by 2020.”
Akiba’s organization, Mayors for Peace, is composed of mayors in over 3000 cities around the world that propel the Vision 2020 campaign to eliminate all nuclear weapons by the end of the next decade. In order to do so, they are calling for the support of mayors around the world for the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Protocol, which presses for nuclear abolition by the end of 2020.
In addition to the Mayor of Hiroshima, the Prime Minister of Japan, Taro Aso, the U.N. General Assembly President, Miguel D’Escoto, and other local authorities also spoke at the event. The Hiroshima Peace Songs closed the event, in memory of the victims of the bombing.
Check out the World March delegation pictures in Hiroshima:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jyotaro/sets/72157621958966384/
*(Translation from Portuguese to English: Amanda Fellows)*
