2,000 pledge to step up international signature drive for a nuclear weapon-free world

Japan Press Weekly

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2,000 pledge to step up international signature drive for a nuclear weapon-free world

About 2,000 people from around the country took part in the World Conference against A & H Bombs ? Hiroshima and renewed their determination to win a "world without nuclear weapons" using the international signature campaign as the main vehicle.

Tamamoto Haruhide in his speech as an atomic-bomb survivor stated, "I am determined to continue to struggle for no more Hibakusha."

Government representatives of Nicaragua, Norway, and Cuba spoke at the rally.

Hiroshima Mayor Akiba Tadatoshi delivered a special report emphasizing, "We will not be able to fulfill the minimal responsibility to the coming generations if we fail to abolish nuclear weapons."

64th anniversary of Hiroshima bombing

On August 6, Hiroshima Mayor Akiba Tadatoshi read the Peace Declaration" calling on the world to join forces to get nuclear weapons abolished in response to U.S. President Barack Obama's call for a "world without nuclear weapons." .

About 50,000 people, including U.N. General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto and diplomats, assembled in the Peace Memorial Park for the ceremony to mark the 64th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

The Hiroshima mayor stated: "Nuclear weapons abolition is the will not only of the hibakusha but also of the vast majority of people and nations on this planet. The fact that President Obama is listening to those voices has solidified our conviction that 'nuclear weapons must be abolished.'

"We refer to ourselves, the great global majority, as the 'Obamajority,' and we call on the rest of the world to join forces with us to eliminate all nuclear weapons by 2020. The essence of this idea is embodied in the Japanese Constitution, which is ever more highly esteemed around the world," Akiba added.

In conclusion, the declaration states, "We have the power. We have the responsibility. And we are the Obamajority. Together, we can abolish nuclear weapons. Yes, we can."

- Akahata, August 7, 2009