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Hiroshima

6th August 1945
	On 6th August 1945, an American B-29 bomber dropped a nuclear bomb over the centre of Hiroshima. It instantly killed an estimated 70,000 people. By the end of the year, thousands more had died from their injuries and from the effects of radiation, bringing the total to about 140,000. There are now more than 15.000 nuclear warheads, each many times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. They do not make us safer. They are in breach of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Remember Hiroshima
Photo by Stewart Rayment Cllr Nigel Sinden	Traditionally, since 2005, as August 6th, the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, comes round, Hastings against War has launched lanterns at sunset on the boating lake near the War Memorial in Alexandra Park, Hastings, to remember victims of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and to unite with the Japanese tradition of floating lanterns. At the gathering on Sunday 6th August 2024, John Enefer introduced a minute's silence. Fiona MacGregor spoke about the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was adopted by the UN in 2017 and entered into force in 2021, making nuclear weapons illegal under international law. Though states which possess nuclear weapons, like Britain, choose to ignore the treaty they are still affected by the reality the treaty has created, with many financial institutions not wanting to invest in weapons outlawed across the world. ABP, Europe's largest pension fund, committed to scrapping its investments in nuclear weapons producers in 2018, while a major UK Government contractor, Serco, abandoned plans to bid for contracts at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (which designs and manufactures UK nuclear warheads) after investors threatened to sell their shares in the company. Silverhill Councillor (and former Hastings Mayor for Peace), Nigel Sinden stressed that it was learning about the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that contributed to him becoming a pacifist. He regretted the fact he had to make the same speech against nuclear weapons that he'd made so many times previously. During his time as Hastings Mayor from 2018 to 2021 Nigel also served as a 'Mayor for Peace', joining an international group of civic representatives seeking an end to nuclear weapons. Mayors for Peace currently has over 8,000 members. It was initiated in 1982 by the Mayor of Hiroshima. Lanterns and lights were placed around the edge of the boating lake in memory of the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; as night fell they shone out more brightly. Buddhists from Soka Gakkai International (SGI) chanted. SGI is a global community-based organisation that, in its own words, 'promotes peace, culture and education centred on respect for the dignity of life'.