Honoring Nihon Hidankyo: A Call for Nuclear Disarmament

October 22, 2024

For Immediate Release:

By Dr. Joseph Berkson, Nuclear Weapons Abolition Program Co-Chair and Dr. Ken Lans, WPSR Board President

The honoring of a grassroots organization of atomic-bomb survivors with the Nobel Peace Prize is a profound moment that can provide inspiration for citizen action against the civilization-ending threat of nuclear weapons. For decades, the group Nihon Hidankyo—comprised of survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—has dedicated itself to preserving the painful memories of that tragic history. 

Nihon Hidankyo’s recognition is a reminder of the existential risks that most of us prefer to push aside. The survivors, or hibakusha, have lived through the unimaginable and have spent their lives advocating for a simple yet monumental goal: the total abolition of nuclear weapons.

Since our founding at the height of the cold war in 1979, Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility (WPSR) has advocated for scaling back and eventually eliminating these weapons of total destruction. As health professionals in a state with the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and Naval Base Kitsap, with its fleet of nuclear submarines, we have an intimate understanding of the health consequences that the mining, production, storage and use of nuclear weapons can impose. Knowing the unimaginable scale of death and lingering suffering even a single bomb would bring, we’re driven in our educational efforts, actions and advocacy by a desire to prevent something for which there is no cure.

Who can bring about the needed change in how we think about and handle this present peril? UN Secretary-General António Guterres framed it clearly: “It is time for world leaders to be as clear-eyed as the hibakusha, and see nuclear weapons for what they are: devices of death that offer no safety, protection, or security. The only way to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons is to eliminate them altogether.”

But leaders are more likely to act when they are pushed. The easing of Cold War tensions in the 1980s and 1990s followed large-scale public activism and demonstrations, like the massive 1982 march in New York City that included a speech by a Hiroshima survivor. 

In 2021, the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons entered into force after being ratified by 50 countries. Today, 94 countries have signed the treaty, and 73 have ratified it. However, the major nuclear powers all remain missing, which leads to asking if this is an impractical desire by nations without nuclear arsenals to influence those that possess them?

Some also argue that complete disarmament is unrealistic. But is the only alternative continuing down the current path of nuclear escalation? The U.S. is now planning to spend $1.7 trillion to upgrade its nuclear arsenal — at a time when critical domestic needs, like healthcare and education, are underfunded.

Within Congress, some call for a reevaluation of our nuclear strategy. In Newsweek, U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Bellevue, has urged reconsideration of our reliance on land-based nuclear missiles. His closing words were powerful: “A world without nuclear weapons is a goal we should continue to strive for because a nuclear war cannot be won and therefore must never be fought. Until that can be achieved, we must have the moral fortitude to make decisions that get us closer to that goal, not push us to the brink of a catastrophic nuclear holocaust.”

This is not an abstract issue for experts or diplomats to debate in isolation. It’s a matter of life and death, and citizens can play an active role. We can pressure our elected representatives to rethink nuclear policies. Advocacy groups like WPSR, in collaboration with the Washington Against Nuclear Weapons (WANW) coalition, are already working to lobby members of Congress. You can join this effort—whether individually or through your own organization. Together, we can amplify the call for a safer, nuclear-free world.

In honoring Nihon Hidankyo, let’s not just reflect on the past. Let’s also take concrete steps toward a future where no one else will suffer from the horrors of nuclear warfare.