Remarks for the 27th Annual Hiroshima/Nagasaki Concert
August 6th, 2010
Francis Chiappa, Ph.D.
President, Cleveland Peace Action
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On August 6th, 1945, a nuclear weapon was detonated over Hiroshima, changing the world forever. At the first of these PAND concerts commemorating the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we filled Severance Hall. In 1982 the simple idea of a nuclear weapons freeze was sweeping the nation, getting the attention of the media and the policy-makers. The great majority of Americans had come at last to see the insanity of the Cold War, with the US and Soviet Union racing towards mutually assured destruction. We realized Dr. Strangelove was not just a movie. We were worried, we were inspired, and we mobilized. Even President Reagan, to his great credit, came to believe that nuclear weapons must be abolished.
In the Eighties, Americans knew a lot about the threat of nuclear war. We educated each other. We knew about nuclear winter and we understood that even a limited nuclear war could envelop the Earth in dust and darkness and send humans the way of the dinosaurs. In the intervening years we’ve seen modest progress towards a nuclear-free world. So, people stopped worrying about nuclear war. Most of us born in the early years of the nuclear age stopped talking about and thinking much about the nuclear threat. And those born more recently were never exposed to the knowledge and passion that was so widespread in the final years of the Cold War.
It’s safe to say that today most Americans are not all that worried about nuclear weapons. While the threat of nuclear Armageddon has decreased significantly, the chance of a nuclear weapon being used is now perhaps greater than ever. In 1947, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists created the “Doomsday Clock” to gauge the risk of nuclear war – just how close we were to a nuclear weapon being used, quite literally how many minutes we had to avert disaster. In 1953 the clock stood at “2 minutes to midnight.” At that time, there was no dialogue between the US and USSR, and both nations were frantically outdoing and outfoxing each other in a massive arms race. In 1984, the Doomsday Clock was at 3 minutes to midnight. People began to understand the danger and pushed for a nuclear weapons freeze. By 1991, the threat was much lower and the clock was rolled back to 17 minutes from disaster. Today, we are 6 minutes to midnight. The reason is simple - proliferation. More nations have nuclear weapons or are trying to get them, and some of these nations are politically unstable. Concerns have focused on Iran, but the graver dangers are North Korea and Pakistan, who already have nukes and are less stable politically. Even worse, it is likely that unsecured nuclear material may find or has already found its way into the hands of terrorist groups. This nightmare scenario again raises the question, how can we make the world safer?
One way to prevent nuclear war is for nuclear nations to commit to abolition. The US, as the world’s pre-eminent military power, must be the leader. The Obama administration is currently pushing for the Senate to ratify the “New START” treaty with Russia. It is a modest but important step. It’s also been a hard sell to Senate Republicans. Senator Voinovich needs to hear from you in support of START and you all should have information on this tonight. Ask for his vote to ratify START and ask him to lead his Republican colleagues in this important step towards a nuclear-free world.
We had hoped the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty would also be ratified in 2010 but in this politically polarized Congress, it is not to be. The test ban treaty could be introduced next year, but this will turn on the November elections. Ratification of START and of CTBT requires 67 votes. Please do whatever you can to help us elect pro-peace Senators.
Another way to prevent nuclear war is not directly related to nuclear weapons. Peace Action – formerly the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign - sees nukes as just one part of a militaristic, aggressive foreign policy. Democrats as well as Republicans, for over a Century, have been all too fond of the use of force. American foreign policy has frequently relied on intimidation, manipulation and assault, in the quest to control events and peoples around the world. Sadly, this approach has left us in two brutal, ongoing and unwinnable wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq. War breeds poverty, bitterness, resistance and ultimately, terrorism. America is targeted by terrorists because we are viewed by many as oppressors. Until American foreign policy changes it will be the fondest hope of some of those we’ve oppressed, to see an American city with a mushroom cloud boiling above it. This is why the Doomsday Clock stands at 6 minutes to midnight. This is why we are here tonight, in memory of those who died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to make sure this never happens, to an American city or any other city, anywhere in the world.
Yes, nuclear weapons threaten our security. And American foreign policy, even the Obama version, threatens our security. There is yet another threat to our security – military spending. During the Cold War, spending on the arms race was obscene. Nuclear weapons spending has since declined but fighting two wars and projecting military power to the far corners of the earth has meant an escalating military budget. Military spending is the sacred cow that budget cutters won’t touch. The US spends at least 42 percent of the world’s total military spending. We do this at a time when America is hurting from chronic recession and budget deficits are out of control. The present course is unsustainable. It’s time to bring the war dollars home – cut the military budget by 25% and put our tax dollars to work for the American people.
A few weeks ago Cleveland Peace Action brought to town an inspirational and visionary speaker, former Army Captain Paul Chappell. He had the audacity to suggest that war is not an inevitable part of the human condition. As a psychologist, I agree with Paul Chappell that humans have been designed, over time, to live together in communities, to flourish through cooperation. Humans will fight each other, and maybe even use nuclear weapons in the fight, if they feel they must and if they are desperate enough. But if there is justice, if there is fairness, if groups of people are no longer exploited for the benefit of others, if there is dialogue, understanding and mutual accommodation, if we address the root causes of conflict, then it just may be possible to put an end to war. That is our aim and our commitment tonight as we remember the victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 65 years ago.