Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer

Hiroshima +75: Where the NYC Council’s No-Nukes Legislation Stands

2 Comments

  • Anthony Donovan
    Posted August 5, 2020 at 6:36 pm

    Thank you so much City Limits for coverage, especially in this deeply profound, mighty week of the 75th Anniversary of Hiroshima/Nagasaki, honoring and commemorating those who’ve suffered and died not only in Hiroshima (Aug. 6th) and Nagasaki (Aug 9th), but the millions who continue to die and suffer from cancers from this industry,
    as Gandhi called it, “The Most Diabolical use of science”,
    and as Albert Einstien who fought the military use of this device, calling it among many things “A false sense of security.”
    US citizens would highly benefit to read the fuller history which necessarily include the archives of Japan and Russia. As was made clear in the 2005 book, Racing the Enemy, Japan ended the war more because Russia was swiftly heading to it’s shores, not because of the bomb.
    Trillions of our tax monies, and much more that we’ll never know about, because the nuclear weapon industry remains largely secret and outside the realm of “democracy”, oversight, transparency, never mind discussion.
    We need this money desparately today for our health care, our urgent climate crisis, housing, education, mental health, reforms of all kinds.

    Comptroller Scott Stringer needs to walk and chew gum at the same time. His relative, our great NYC leader Bella Absug, a vital anti-nuke advocate in the 70’s and 80’s who invited Soviet delegations to NYC during the heights of tensions, and spoke at our many meetings and rallies, would put him over her knee! This is a much easier and less complicated ask than fossil fuels.

    A huge congrats to CM Danny Dromm for spurring this on, and for all the CM’s who moved it forward. The hearings on January 28th, 2020 at City Hall were magnivicent and are up online for all to watch, as well as the over 70 experts who submitted written testimonies.

    Our country shunned and boycotted the 122 nations who tried to explain to the nuclear weapon states that they are gravely endangering all life, at great cost.
    A magnificent, beautiful Treaty on the Prohibiton of Nuclear Weapons was hard won, and adopted July 2017, and signed at the UN in Sept. 2017. Pope Francis opened the conference and has been a tireless advocate telling the world, that not only the use, but the possession of these weapons is immoral.

    We need a few more states to sign the TPNW on to make it international law. We need a good ally to tell us, enough is enough.

    The NY City Council, as it too faces and deals with racism, heard at the bills hearings how this industry has been racist at it’s core from the start…. the testing, the dumping done on indigenous and lands of our poor and marginalized.

    The city as it deals with financial crisis, heard the known trillions of our tax monies spent on this single industry. Today we are spending more on nuclear weapons than at the hieght of the Cold War. There is no reason for this except profits for stock holders, yes, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Gruman, and thousands of others.

    Let’s make our money on companies that will save the planet instead.

    As a 5 generation New Yorker, I’ve no fear of being bombed by Russia or China…. they are both entrenched in this city. The fear is incompetence, human error, malfunction, cyber attack, or sheer madness. Many knew this in 1945. A number of key Manhattan Project scientists lobbied our leaders to immediatly share our findings with the Soviets.

    New Yorkers have a great person to look to among many…. Dorothy Day, who was the first one to denounce the bomb in published writing, who went on years later in the 1950s getting arrested each time the city called from mandatory Civil DeFense drills, like there was a way to protect yourself in a shelter, as mentioned in this article. (disclosure, not one of those shelters would have saved anyone in nuclear attack.)

    Bayard Rustin, the man behind the March on Washington in 1963, who went to Russia in the 1950’s to form bridges to stop the madness, held one of the first demonstrations with the War Resisters League here in NYC against the Vietnam War, purposely on Hiroshima day.

    Please join and support the many organizations in NYC that have been and are standing up, Veterans for Peace, War Resisters League, Catholic Worker, Peace Action, Code Pink, Grannies, Pax Christi International, ICANN, Women’s League for Peace and Freedom, NuclearBan.us, etc etc.

    NYC has the first US bank that has no investments or transactions with nuclear weapon companies, nor any other weapon manufacturers. Amalgamated Bank. No matter how modest, divest your monies now. Put ever penny toward positive community and climate.

    Let’s pass these two bills. Let’s pass Eleanor Holmes Norton’s bill in the US Congress. Let’s divest. Thank you City Limits.

    gratitude.

  • Richard Barr
    Posted August 7, 2020 at 4:27 pm

    The article ought not omit Israel when mentioning members of the “nuclear club”, even if they choose not to be honest about owning up to it.

Leave a comment

0/5

To better help City Limits know and serve our community, please select all that apply: