The City of Hiroshima
Peace Declaration
August 6, 1999
"Today as Hiroshima marked its 54th anniversary
of the atomic bombing of our city, we solemnly held the Peace
memorial Ceremony in front of the Memorial Cenotaph in Peace Memorial
Park, Japan, with thousands of people from Japan and overseas....This
Peace Declaration expresses our desire for the abolition of nuclear
weapons and the realization of lasting world peace. The situation
of the world is still changing suddenly. I would appreciate it
if you would read through the Declaration to renew your understanding
of the "Spirit of Hiroshma" and convey it to as many
people as possible."
-Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, Hiroshma City
A century of war, the twentieth century spawned
the devil's own weapons-nuclear weapons -and humankind has yet
to free itself of their threat. Nonetheless, inspired by the memory
of the hundreds of thousands who died so tragically in Hiroshima
and Nagasaki and all of war's victims, we have fought for the
fifty-four years since those bombings for the total abolition
of nuclear weapons.
It is the many courageous hibakusha and the people
who have identified with their spirit who have led this struggle.
Looking at the important contributions these hibakusha have made,
we cannot but express our deepest gratitude to them.
There are three major contributions:
The first is that they were able to transcend the
infernal pain and despair that the bombings sowed and to opt for
life. I want young people to remember that today's elderly hibakusha
were as young as they are when their families, their schools,
and their communities were destroyed in a flash. They hovered
between life and death in a corpse-strewn sea of rubble and ruin-circumstances
under which none would have blamed them had they chosen death.
Yet they chose life.
We should never forget the will and courage that
made it possible for the hibakusha to continue to be human.
Their second accomplishment is that they effectively
prevented a third use of nuclear weapons. Whenever conflict and
war break out, there are those who advocate nuclear weapon's use.
This was true even in Kosovo. Yet the hibakusha's will that the
evil not be repeated has prevented the unleashing of this lunacy.
Their determination to tell their story to the world, to argue
eloquently that to use nuclear weapons is to doom the human race,
and to show the use of nuclear weapons to be the ultimate evil
has brought about this result. We owe our future and our children's
future to them.
Their third achievement lies in their representing
the new world-view as engraved on the Cenotaph for the A-bomb
Victims and articulated in the Japanese Constitution. They have
rejected the path of revenge and animosity that leads to extinction
for all humankind. Instead, they have taken upon themselves not
only the evil that Japan as a nation perpetrated but also the
evil of war itself. They have also chosen to put their "trust
in the justice and faith" of all humankind in order to create
a future full of hope. As peace-loving people from all over the
world solemnly proclaimed at the Hague Appeal for Peace Conference
this May, this is the path that humankind should take in the new
century. We ardently applaud all of the countries and people who
have written this philosophy into their Constitutions and their
laws.
Above all else, we must possess a strong will to
abolish nuclear weapons following the examples set by the hibakusha.
If the entire world shares this commitment-indeed, even if only
the leaders of the nuclear weapons states will it so-nuclear weapons
can be eliminated tomorrow.
Such will is born of truth-the truth that nuclear
weapons are the absolute evil and cause humankind's extinction.
Where there is such will, there is a way. Where
there is such determination, any path we take leads to our goal
of eliminating nuclear weapons. However, if we lack the will to
take the first step, we can never reach our goal no matter how
easy the way. I especially hope our young people share this will.
Thus, we again call upon the government of Japan
to understand fully the crucial role the hibakusha have played
and to enhance their support policies. We also call upon the government
to place the highest priority on forging the will to abolish nuclear
weapons. It is imperative that the government of Japan follows
the philosophy outlined in the preamble of the Constitution to
persuade other countries of this course and cement a global commitment
to the abolition of nuclear weapons. I declare the abolition of
nuclear weapons to be our most important responsibility for the
future of the earth, and pay my utmost respect to the souls of
the many that perished in the atomic bombings. May they rest in
peace.
Tadatoshi Akiba
Mayor, The City of Hiroshima
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