Read His Holiness the Dalai Lama's Statement on the 75th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

His Holiness the Dalai Lama, www.ramdass.org.

On August 6, 2020, I came across the much appreciated news stories "Dalai Lama urges disarmament on the anniversary of Japan’s Atomic bomb tragedy" and "75th anniv of atomic bombings: Dalai Lama calls for elimination of nuclear weapons, demilitarised world."

The journalists were reporting on His Holiness the Dalai Lama's August 6 "Statement on the 75th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki" which had been published on www.dalailama.com but I had not seen. I wanted to try to help by sharing it here.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama's Statement on the 75th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

His Holiness's statement reads, "On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I take the opportunity to urge governments, organizations and individuals to rededicate themselves to making the achievement of peace the centerpiece of our lives.

"Despite many great developments that also took place, the 20th century was an era of violence in which some 200 million people were killed, including the horrific use of nuclear weapons. Now, in our increasingly interdependent world, we have a chance to make this a more peaceful century.

"When conflicts arise they should be settled through dialogue, not the use of force. We need to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons, with the ultimate aim of a demilitarized world. War means killing. Violence leads to counter violence. We need to put an end to combat and the production of weapons and construct a more peaceful world.

"We human beings have created many of the problems in today’s world. As long as we have strong negative emotions and we view our fellow beings in terms of ‘us’ and ‘them’, there will be a tendency to try to destroy them. We must recognise the oneness of humanity, and understand that we will not achieve peace merely through prayer; we need to take action.

"With my prayers,

Dalai Lama

6 August 2020"

ICAN supporters in Japan in front of the Genbaku Dome in Hiroshima as ICAN accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, ICAN Facebook December 2017.

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

His Holiness the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. In 2017, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

The Nobel Prize website reports, "The international campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is a coalition of non-governmental organizations in one hundred countries promoting adherence to and implementation of the United Nations nuclear weapon ban treaty. This landmark global agreement was adopted in New York on 7 July 2017.

"ICAN began in Australia and was formally launched in Austria in April 2007. Our campaign’s founders were inspired by the tremendous success of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which a decade earlier had played an instrumental role in the negotiation of the anti-personnel mine ban convention, or Ottawa treaty.

"Since our founding, we have worked to build a powerful global ground-swell of public support for the abolition of nuclear weapons. By engaging a diverse range of groups and working alongside the Red Cross and likeminded governments, we have helped reshape the debate on nuclear weapons and generate momentum towards elimination.

"We were awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for our 'work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons' and our 'ground-breaking efforts to achieve a trea- ty-based prohibition of such weapons.'"

The Beginning of the End of Nuclear Weapons

Watch the 2019 fifty-six minute documentary "The Beginning of the End of Nuclear Weapons (full-length version)" about ICAN's efforts to abolish nuclear weapons on Pressenza español's YouTube channel.

Pressenza español, part of an international news agency dedicated to news about peace and nonviolence, wrote about the Pressenza film, "This 56 minute documentary film takes the viewer through a brief history of the bomb and the anti-nuclear activism that has pushed to eliminate them ever since their invention. It moves into a consideration of the humanitarian initiative that successfully challenged the dominant security narrative and the historic steps taken since 2010 to turn the treaty from a dream into a reality. Finally, the film shows what can be done by anyone to help bring the treaty into force and to stigmatise nuclear weapons until they are finally eradicated.

"Extracts of fourteen interviews are woven into the story that will leave you feeling inspired!

"Ray Acheson (Canada), Women's International League for Peace and Freedom; Pedro Arrojo (Spain), Congressman; Beatrice Fihn (Sweden), Executive Director, ICAN; Dr. Ira Helfand (USA), International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War; Daniel Högsta (Sweden), Campaign Coordinator, ICAN; Kathleen Lawand (Canada), Head of Arms Unit, International Committee of the Red Cross; Rafael de la Rubia (Spain), World without Wars and Violence; Alice Slater (USA), Nuclear Age Peace Foundation; Susi Snyder (USA), PAX, The Netherlands; Setsuko Thurlow (Japan), Hiroshima bomb survivor; Carlos Umaña (Costa Rica), International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War; Elayne Whyte Gómez (Costa Rica), President of the UN Ban Treaty negotiating conference; Ward Wilson (USA), Historian and author; Tim Wright (Australia), Treaty Coordinator, ICAN."

Take Action

You can follow ICAN on Twitter at @nuclearban. On August 6 they retweeted an important message from @timmileswright, Treaty Coordinator at ICAN: "With ratifications this week by Ireland, Nigeria, and Niue, just seven more are needed to bring the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons into force."

@nuclearban retweeted @timmileswright on August 6, 2020, Twitter.

If you don't use Twitter then you can follow ICAN on several different social media platforms, all listed on their website www.icanw.org. 

You can also sign up to receive emails from ICAN with calls to action, campaign updates, and inspiring stories from around the world.