Frances Motiwalla

Deputy Director of Development, Peace Action
No Nukes! Women’s Forum 2017

I have always thought of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6th and 9th in 1945 as part of history, moments frozen in time. Hearing the reports from my new friends in this years’ World Conference has helped me realize that the events of those days are actually very much part of the present. The fire from those bombs is still burning.

Even though 72 years have passed, Hibakusha and their descendants suffer daily from the residual effects of radiation poisoning, many have died prematurely. Communities in countries like the Marshall Islands and Australia, where nuclear weapons were tested, are also living with devastating health impacts. Neither their pain nor their work to abolish these horrible weapons has diminished over these many decades.

Meanwhile, in the United States, scientists work to create useable, tactical nuclear weapons and politicians quietly vote to waste over a trillion dollars on these projects. Our citizens allow this to continue out of fear and insecurity. Because we were on the giving end, instead of the receiving end of the atomic bomb, we have enjoyed the luxury of ignorance of their real impact. Our perceptions of morality and security have become deranged.

Power in our democracy has become concentrated in the hands of a minority of wealthy individuals, due to unjust rules, corruption and the apathy of the majority.  American organizers face the enormous challenge of educating and mobilizing a critical mass to restore power in our democracy to the people, simultaneously, as we work to change the foolish direction of our current policies.

Unlike the threat of climate change, the dangers to society posed by nuclear weapons are not visible by measuring the rates of melting glaciers or tracking record numbers of catastrophic weather events. Governments do not publicize accounts of the numerous accidents that occur involving their nuclear arsenals. Thanks to efforts of author Eric Schlosser, in his book and movie Command and Control, (available online at PBS.org) we recently learned the full details of a Titan missile explosion in 1980, as well as of hundreds of other mishaps never previously reported.

If humankind is to survive, it will be because people of all nations will look beyond their borders and recognize the dignity and equality of all.

It will be because the oppression of women, ethnic minority groups, and LGBTQ people will be recognized and their struggle for equality will be united and supported by those with greater privilege – not just as allies, but as accomplices.

It will be thanks to the efforts of the people in this room and the champions who have invested their time and energy in to making this conference happen and prioritized making it possible for international delegates like myself to travel here to participate, to build a stronger international movement.

It will be because the stories of the Hibakusha will have reached the ears of all people and they will unite in the declaration – Never Again! No more Hibakusha! No more Hiroshima! No More Nagasaki! No More War!