December 2024, What's Happening In the Movement

This Year’s Nobel Peace Prize Focuses on Nuclear Weapons Abolition

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Physicians for Social Responsibility

In Japan, the survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are known as Hibakusha. The Hibakusha have worked heroically and successfully to prevent any additional wartime nuclear attacks. Today in Oslo, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.” Nihon Hidankyo translates as “The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations.”

Like PSR, Nihon Hidankyo is a Partner Organization in the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. This Nobel is not only a well-deserved recognition, but a call to action.

Here are two excerpts from the today’s acceptance speech by Nihon Hidankyo Secretary-General Terumi Tanaka:

It is the heartfelt desire of the Hibakusha that, rather than depending on the theory of nuclear deterrence, which assumes the possession and use of nuclear weapons, we must not allow the possession of a single nuclear weapon.
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I hope that the belief that nuclear weapons cannot — and must not — coexist with humanity will take firm hold among citizens of the nuclear weapon states and their allies, and that this will become a force for change in the nuclear policies of their governments. Let not humanity destroy itself with nuclear weapons!

The global attention on today’s Nobel Peace Prize provides an excellent opportunity for us all to amplify the voices of the Hibakusha, congratulate Nihon Hidankyo and celebrate the work of Hibakusha in bringing us closer to a world without nuclear weapons. I invite you to take action in an expression of solidarity:

Quotable Quotes on the occasion of grassroots Hibakusha group, Nihon Hidankyo, receiving the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 2024

“I am infinitely saddened and angered that the “nuclear taboo” threatens to be broken. 

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It is the heartfelt desire of the Hibakusha that, rather than depending on the theory of nuclear deterrence, which assumes the possession and use of nuclear weapons, we must not allow the possession of a single nuclear weapon.

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I hope that the belief that nuclear weapons cannot — and must not — coexist with humanity will take firm hold among citizens of the nuclear weapon states and their allies, and that this will become a force for change in the nuclear policies of their governments. Let not humanity destroy itself with nuclear weapons! “

~  Terumi Tanaka, Nihon Hidankyo Secretary-General, acceptance speech, Dec 10

“It is naive to believe our civilization can survive a world order in which global security depends on nuclear weapons. The world is not meant to be a prison in which we await collective annihilation. No matter how long and difficult the path, we should learn from Nihon Hidankyo: We must never give up.

So let us listen to the testimony of the Hibakusha. Let their courage be our inspiration. Let their persistence drive us forward. Let us all strive to keep the nuclear taboo intact. Our survival depends on it.” 

~ Jørgen Watne Frydnes, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Presentation Speech, Dec. 10

“We’ve led the activism because we were atomic bombing victims, but I must say all of you are the future Hibakusha candidates. So you should fully understand what it means to be Hibakusha.”

~ Terumi Tanaka at a press conference in October 2024

“The Nihon Hidankyo organization has helped the world in so many ways in telling the stories not only of the horrors of nuclear weapons but also of the shame on those countries that develop and possess these weapons.”

~ Todd Sack, MD, FACP, PSR Board President

“We are proud of the Nobel Committee for rightfully honoring Nihon Hidankyo; our treasured Hibakusha are a precious resource and legacy of the catastrophic effects of nuclear weapons. May their voices be eternal in a reminder of the horrific and abhorrent consequences of these weapons that should not exist.” 

~  Tova Fuller, MD, PhD, Board Vice-President, San Francisco Bay PSR; PSR/National Board member; Chair, PSR Nuclear Weapons Abolition Program Committee; Co-chair, PSR Committee to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

“Thank you, Nihon Hidankyo, for your steadfast work to bring awareness to the horrors of nuclear weapons and the need to abolish them!”

~ Bob Dodge, MD, PSR-LA President, PSR/National Board member and co-chair, PSR Committee to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

“It is a tragedy that we are celebrating: despite having now four Nobel Peace Prizes for efforts to prevent nuclear war, and the existence of a globally adopted Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the world still harbors over 12,000 nuclear warheads, and the U.S. government is planning to spend $1.7 trillion upgrading its nuclear weapons. We must act now to end this unconscionably dangerous and wasteful threat.”

~ Dr. Erica Frank, MD, MPH, FACPM, Board Member, IPPNW-Canada , former PSR National President and current member, PSR Advisory Council 

“For many Hibakusha, to tell their story is to re-live it. It is through great courage and determination that they have brought their stories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the world, and the Nobel Prize amplifies their most important message: Never Again.”

~ Sean Arent, Nuclear Weapons Abolition Program Manager, Washington PSR

“They have given a human face to the suffering. They have relived the horrors time and time again by retelling their story in the hopes that no one else will.”

~ Carlos Umana, MD , International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War co-President 

“The nuclear-armed states and their allies offered congratulations to Nihon Hidankyo when this prize was announced, giving us a clear moment to remind them that to truly honour the hibakusha’s legacy is to end the era of nuclear weapons forever.”

 ~ International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Executive Director Melissa Parke 

“For decades, hibakusha have brought the world’s attention to what nuclear weapons actually do to people. They are the leading voices in global abolition efforts, like the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.”

~ Daniel Hogsta, ICAN Deputy Director 

“We still have some survivors with us, with first hand experience of what these horrific, inhumane and illegal weapons do. We owe it to them to act now!” 

~ Former ICAN Executive Director Beatrice Fihn

“Let all the souls here rest in peace; for we shall not repeat the evil”

~ Inscription on the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims in Hiroshima, Japan, crafted by Professor Tadayoshi Saika

Martin Fleck sent this article to The PeaceWorker and other peace and anti-nuclear groups on December 10, 2024.

Physicians for Social Responsibility produced and distributed this article.

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