BALTIMORE HOLDS 37th ANNUAL NAGASAKI COMMEMORATION.

                                    

HIROSHIMA-NAGASAKI COMMEMORATION COMMITTEE, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206., Baltimore, MD 21212 Ph: 410-323-1607 Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] Comcast dot net

PRESS RELEASE-FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 8, 2021

CONTACT: Max Obuszewski 443-761-5899 or mobuszewski2001 at Comcast dot net

BALTIMORE HOLDS 37th ANNUAL NAGASAKI COMMEMORATION.

WHO:   For the 37th year, the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee will remember the atomic bombings of Japan on August 6 & 9, 1945, which killed hundreds of thousands of people.  Members of several organizations -- the Baltimore Club of the CPUSA, the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, the Baltimore Philip Berrigan Veterans For Peace Chapter, Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility, Homewood Friends Meeting, Maryland Peace Action,  and Prevent Nuclear War Maryland – planned two events to remember what took place on August 6, 1945 in Hiroshima and three days later in Nagasaki.  The atom bomb survivors, the Hibakusha, have always stated NEVER AGAIN.

WHAT/WHEN/WHERE: The first event took place on Friday, August 6 and included a vigil outside Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St. to call for an end to Johns Hopkins University’s weapons contracts.  Inside Homewood, participants wore masks and did social distancing. Charlie Cooper, with Get Money Out – Maryland, made the point that campaign contributions corrupt many legislators. For example, Lockheed Martin makes a campaign contribution.  Rather than listen to constituents demanding a severe cut to military and nuclear weapons budgets, the legislator votes in favor of sending tax dollars to a weapons contractor.

  Then Greta Zarro, the organizing director of World Beyond War, appeared by Zoom to make the connection between war and the environment.  She detailed how the Pentagon is the largest emitter of carbon which has helped to bring about climate chaos. 

 The final event will take place on Monday, August 9 starting with a vigil at 5:30 PM outside Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St. Again the theme is to call on Johns Hopkins University, the #1 School of Mass Destruction, to renounce nuclear weapons research.

 Dr. Gwen DuBois, with Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility and Prevent Nuclear War/Maryland, will do a presentation on the Back from the Brink campaign, five steps towards the abolition of nuclear weapons.  Baltimore was the first large city to pass a Back from the Brink resolution on August 6, 2018. The Zoom link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82978913164. She will also discuss the landmark Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

   Then testimonials and statements condemning nuclear weapons will be read.  These statements will challenge Johns Hopkins University to renounce its nuclear weapons contracts. For example, statements will be read from Nobel Peace Prize winner International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, the Nuclear Resister, Nukewatch and other organizations.  Finally, some participants will go to Busboys and Poets, 33rd and St. Paul Streets, to break bread and enjoy a community meal at outside tables. This is an opportunity to come together and commit to the task of eventually abolishing nuclear weapons.

WHY: These are very dangerous times. Climate chaos is real, and the pandemic is still raging around the world.  Yet the United States is planning to spend over a trillion dollars to maintain and enhance its nuclear weapons arsenal for decades to come. Seventy-six years later since the atomic bombings, the Doomsday Clock is at 100 seconds to midnight.  President Biden has increased both the military budget as well as the funding for the nuclear arsenal.

The university is the #1 School of Mass Destruction as it receives the largest amount of research dollars for nuclear weapons contracts. On July 12, 2021, for example, Johns Hopkins University was awarded a $530,000,000 contract for research and development services in support of the nuclear enterprise.  Another contract received was for research and development services for $23 million to support the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent weapon system. These contracts are for services in support of the two intercontinental ballistic missile systems. Imagine if these tax dollars were spent instead on providing vaccines to the poorer countries or to invest in mitigating climate chaos or upgrading the infrastructure to benefit communities which are usually shortchanged by the federal government.

Baltimore’s anti-nuclear community will continue to speak out, to demonstrate and to lobby federal legislators that these awful and immoral weapons must be banned.  We want to build a safer world for the children to inherit, and that includes mitigating climate chaos. Let us show respect for Mother Earth.  As long as nuclear weapons exist, they may be used.  We must reduce the risk of nuclear war which will ultimately require the abolition of nuclear weapons. The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee will continue its work to rid the planet of nuclear weapons and will support efforts such as the Green New Deal in order to save Mother Earth.

 We gather to remember all those who perished beneath the mushroom cloud.  And the best way to honor them is to say now is the time to abolish nuclear weapons.

Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apartment 206, Baltimore, MD 21212 – Phone – 410-323-1607-- Email -- mobuszewski2001 at Comcast dot net.