Help Build the Peace Wave

– September 20-26

Dear Friends,

As many of you will have seen, growing out of the World Conference against A- & H- Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Gensuikyo has initiated a call for a global “Peace Wave” beginning at noon on September 20, the day that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will be open for signatures at the United Nations. A number of our European partner organizations have already signed on.

Gensuikyo’s call, which follows below, is for decentralized activities consistent with the political cultures of each country and the needs and methods or organizations committed to nuclear weapons abolition.

After consultation, Peace and Planet encourages member organizations and all others to help build the Peace Wave. It is critical that as many of the 122 governments that voted in favor of the Treaty in July now sign and ratify it. We believe that the most important Ban Treaty campaigning will likely be in NATO and Asia-Pacific “nuclear umbrella” states. If just one or two governments break from their nuclear masters, the foundations of the potentially omnicidal nuclear disorder can be powerfully shaken.

For those of us in nuclear weapons states, the Peace Wave provides an opportunity to educate our movements and communities about the Prohibition Treaty and to build support for other nuclear disarmament initiatives, from challenging the billions being spent to upgrade nuclear arsenals and their delivery systems, to preventing catastrophic wars with North Korea and Iran.

Let’s build the Peace Wave!

For Peace and Planet,

Joseph Gerson

P.S. Please send notice of Peace Wave events you have planned to 

GENSUIKYO’S CALL

Let Us Launch the “Peace Wave” Actions from September 20 to 26, calling on all governments of the World to Join the Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons

On the occasion of the 72nd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the 2017 World Conference against A and H Bombs called on the peoples of the world to launch international join international simultaneous actions “Peace Wave” to urge all national governments to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons from September 20, the day when the Treaty will be open for signatures, until 26, the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted on July 7this year with the support of 122 States. It is a groundbreaking treaty to open a path to achieve the total elimination of nuclear weapons, which has long been aspired by the Hibakusha and the peoples of the entire world. Declaring that nuclear weapons are inhumane weapons in violation of international law, international humanitarian law and international human rights law, the treaty prohibits the development, production, tests, manufacturing, acquisition, possession, stockpiling, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons.

Among the 193 member states of the United Nations, only 9 countries are in possession of nuclear weapons. If they decide, it is possible to achieve a nuclear weapon-free world within the lifetime of the Hibakusha.

Turning its back on this historic opportunity, the government of Japan has clung to the “nuclear umbrella” of the U.S. and refused to join this treaty. It is not only absolutely contrary to the wishes of the Hibakusha and the people of the A-bombed nation, but is a violation of the Constitution of Japan that forever renounces all wars.

The “Peace Wave” will start from Japan at noon, September 20, and circle around the globe, linking actions in different countries to call on all governments of the world to join the treaty. In response to the call by the World Conference against A and H Bombs, we call on all of you to organize actions, setting the common goal as “Abolition of nuclear weapons – Urging all governments of the world to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons” and including the “Hibakusha Appeal International Signature Campaign” as a common action.

In Japan, we will carry out:

*At noon, September 20, we will declare the start of “Peace Wave” in Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Tokyo, and conduct a wide variety of actions, including the street signature campaigns nationwide.

*Together with the Hibakusha, we will stage the “Orizuru (peace crane) Action” from 1:30pm in front of the Prime Minister’s Office, Tokyo to urge Prime Minister Abe and the government of Japan to sign the Treaty. We will also visit the embassies of nuclear weapon possessing countries to call for their joining in the treaty.

*We will continue to carry out actions at various parts of Japan and on September 26, we will join a large scale of signature campaign to be initiated by the Signature Campaign Promotion Committee.

Link to the Hibakusha Appeal signature campaign:http://www.antiatom.org/english/our_activity/index.php?id=132

We will call on all of you to join the “Peace Wave” actions to circle the globe. Let us start planning/preparations for a success of the starting actions and greater variety of activities at your local communities, workplaces, school campuses and all around the world.

In many countries plans are already being made to mark the occasion, and the International Peace Bureau and other organizations are promoting these actions in support of the “Peace Wave.”

 

Please send us your action plans to us. We will translate them into Japanese language and spread them to the Japanese movements, and instead, we will send out to you the plans of Japan to link all actions in the world and strengthen solidarity each other. We will appreciate very much your disseminating this call in your networks and links.

Looking forward to working together for “Peace Wave”,

 

Peace Wave Task Force
Organizing Committee, the World Conference against A and H Bombs
2-4-4 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8464 Japan
Email: 
Tel: +81-3-5842-6034 Fax: +81-3-5842-6033
Web: http://www10.plala.or.jp/antiatom

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