Hiroshima Day

Hiroshima Day commemorates 6 August 1945, the day when an atomic bomb was dropped by the United States on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, followed a few days later by another dropped on the city of Nagasaki. 200,000 men, women and children were killed and thousands have suffered and died since as the result of the 2 bombs.

The bombings effectively ended World War II by bringing about the surrender of Japan, but at a terrible price. Hiroshima Day is now a focus for anti-war and anti-nuclear discussions and demonstrations.

The present contains both danger and hope:

We live with nuclear weapons that continue to threaten the survival of humanity.   Trillions are spent upgrading and maintaining the world’s nuclear arsenals while the basic needs of billions of people in the world are not met.

The US military budget is now over $US437 billion every year. This is larger than the whole Australian economy. Yet global poverty and inequality are getting worse and millions of people die of hunger and disease. Australia is directly involved through the US bases here, especially Pine Gap near Alice Springs. Pine Gap is essential to the US nuclear war fighting strategy. This makes Australia a nuclear target and makes our country complicit in US nuclear attacks.