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Memory, Horror, Resistance, and Hope...Summer '09
by
Robert M. Smith, staff, Brandywine Peace Community | 06.20.2009
The legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki continues. We must end the culture of violence and militarism, from handgun to H-Bomb, that continues to define our society, its priorities, its options, and and enables its imperial assumptions and will. We must resist Lockheed Martin, the world largest weapons corporation and the U.S.'s chief nuclear weapons contractor. We must save our children, our communities, and our war-ravaged economy, from the violence of handguns, militarism, and nuclear weapons. Join us in the coming weeks as we connect, act, remember, and resist. PHOTO from protest outside Lockheed Martin's headquarters in King of Prussia, by Melissa K. Elliott.  "Now I have become death, the destroyer of worlds," said J. Robert Oppenheimer, Scientific Director of the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bomb. On July 16, 1945, Oppenheimer quoted from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita, after witnessing the first atomic bomb, code-named "Trinity." The site of the Trinity test in Alamogordo, New Mexico, was called Jornada Del Muerto - "Journey of Death" or "Dead Man's Trail." Three weeks after Trinity, on August 6, 1945, at 8:16a.m., the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan, killing an estimated 150,000 people in the immediate blast and fire. "This is the greatest thing in history", said President Harry Truman, who had given approval for the use of atomic bombs against Japan on July 4, Independence Day, 1945, and received news of the Hiroshima bombing enroute from the Pottsdam conference. "I climbed Hikiyama Hill and looked down. I saw that Hiroshima had disappeared... What I felt then and still feel now I just can't with words. Of course I saw many dreadful scenes after that, but that experience - looking down and finding nothing left of Hiroshima - was so shocking that I simply can't express what i felt...Hiroshima didn't exist...Hiroshima just didn't exist." - Hiroshima bomb survivor Three days after Hiroshima, August 9, 1945, at 11:02a.m., more than 75,000 people died in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. The Urakami Roman Catholic Cathedral was ground zero for the world's second atomic bombing, which destroyed at the time the largest Catholic city in all of Asia. In the days, months, and decades following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, thousands upon thousands died - and continue to die - from the effects of radiation poisoning. The legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki continues. U.S. military spending annually is quickly approaching $900 billion, not including the $170 billion in 2009 appropriations for the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. At a cost of $30 billion annually, the U.S. maintains an arsenal of more than 10,000 nuclear weapons ready to strike from land, sea, or air. Despite presidential declarations calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons, billion dollar plans to "modernize" the nuclear arsenal and production complex continue. We must stop the wars and abolish nuclear weapons. We must end the culture of violence and militarism, from handgun to H-Bomb, that continues to define our society, its priorities, its options, and enables its imperial assumptions and will. We must resist Lockheed Martin, the world largest weapons corporation and the U.S.'s chief nuclear weapons contractor. We must save our children, our communities, and our war-ravaged economy, from the violence of handguns, militarism, and nuclear weapons. Beyond war and violence, a new economy and new day is possible. Join us in the coming weeks as we connect, act, remember, and resist. Summer 2009 Events Friday, July 3, Noon — Independence Day eve, join with peace and anti-war activists, anti-violence and gun control advocates, justice seekers, community and earth partners, celebrating our freedom and independence, by making a declaration for justice and peace for today. "And Now, DECLARE PEACE!" Demonstration with speakers, music, and public declaration at Independence Mall, Market Street, between 5th & 6th Streets, followed by bell-tolling vigil to stop the wars and end the violence, handgun to H-Bomb. Memory, Hope, Nonviolent Action at Lockheed Martin, and Peace...August 6 - 9, 2009, Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki (August 6 - 9, 1945). Thursday, August 6, Hiroshima Day —- Lockheed Martin, Mall & Goddard Boulevards, Valley Forge, PA (behind the King of Prussia Mall). Sunday, August 9 — Nagasaki Day, 7:30p.m. Candlelight Peace Dedication in front of SS Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Cathedral, 18th & Benjamin Franklin Parkway, in memory of the Urakami Cathedral, ground zero of the Nagasaki bombing. Co-sponsored by Phila. Catholic Peace Fellowship. In its 3rd decade...Join Us at the area's longest running on-going gathering for peace and justice, the Brandywine Peace Community Monthly Supper/Program, 4:30PM, 2nd Sunday of the month (except August), University Lutheran Church, 3637 Chestnut Street, Phila., PA (bring main dish, salad, or dessert to share). Programs begin at 5:30PM. July 12 — Special showing of "The Day After Trinity: J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb (1980), the acclaimed and Oscar-nominated film documentary about Oppenheimer, the scientific head of the Manhattan Project and the first steps into the nuclear age. First Fridays, 7 p.m., at the Peace Center of Delaware County/Springfield Friends Meetinghouse, 1001 Old Sproul Road, Springfield, Delaware County, with light refreshments and after-film discussion. Co-sponsored by the Brandywine Peace Community. For more information or directions, www.delcopeacecenter.org, or call 610.544.1818 Skip the Independence Day blockbuster and spend an evening at the Peace Center of Delaware County with "THE VISITOR". JULY 3 — "THE VISITOR", 103 minutes, rated PG - 13 for some profanity, Directed by Thomas McCarthy ("The Station Agent" ) and starring Richard Jenkins in his Best Actor Oscar nominate role, and Hiam Abbass. "THE VISITOR" is a simple drama, both poignant and compellingly subtle, that focuses on a lonely man in late middle age whose life changes when he is forced to face issues relating to identity, immigration, and cross-cultural communication in post-9/11 New York City (5p.m - Cook-out at the Peace Center of Delaware County, prior to the screening of The Visitor. RSVP by calling Brandywine Peace Community, 610-544-1818.) As the world remembers the anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 6 and 9, come to the Peace Center of Delaware County on August 7 to see where and how it all began. AUGUST 7 — "FAT MAN AND LITTLE BOY" (1989), 127 minutes, directed by Roland Joffee (The Killing Fields, The Mission). Starring Paul Newman as General Leslie R. Groves and Dwight Schultz as J.Robert Oppenheimer, with John Cusak, Laura Dern, and Natasshia Richardson. Rated PG -13 "FAT MAN AND LITTLE BOY" dramatically and with precise historical detail tells the story of the Manhattan Project, which developed and built the world's first atomic bombs. In thematic narrative, the film introduces us to the project and people which developed the horror of nuclear weapons, from the inception of the Manhattan Project to the "Trinity" test blast. We are left to imagine at film's end the horror of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and the world of threatened nuclear annihilation in which we still live. 6pm, large pictorial display from Japan of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, their after-effects, and the continuing threat posed by nuclear weaponry. Brandywine Peace Community |
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Comments
The photo of the protest
Submitted by saracarrol on Thu, 09/03/2009 - 9:13amThe photo of the protest tells a lot about the protest in fact. The quote of Sir J. Robert Oppenheimer touched me. Wars should be stopped, and all kinds of nuclear weapons. We are a civilized nation, how can we forget that? How can we harm humanity that way??
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