atomic bomb – Page 2 – Engaging Peace

Reaching for reconciliation, Part 1

Posted on December 17, 2012December 15, 2012 by kathiemm

December 7, 1941, August 6, 1945. August 9, 1945.

Burning ships at Pearl Harbor. Image in public domain

How should these days be remembered? Only for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the American atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? As days that must live in infamy? As just another set of dates and names in a violent world history?

Or can we view them as signposts at the end of an old wrecked highway that has given way to a newer path, one that was carefully constructed to avoid siren calls for punitive justice, one that leads instead towards reconciliation?

Today we begin a two-part series on reconciliation by Tomoko Maekawa of Nagasaki University, who provides a personal story from the 67^th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki.

By guest author Tomoko Maekawa

During the excitement of the Olympics in London in August 2012, other moving scenes were observed quietly in Nagasaki, Japan. Clifton Truman Daniel and Ali Mayer Beazer, grandsons of men who were directly involved in the bombing, participated in the memorial ceremony.

Clifton Truman Daniel, 55, is a grandson of the late U.S. President Harry Truman, who ordered the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

Ali Mayer Beazer, 24, is a grandson of the radar man, Jacob Beazer, who boarded both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombers and probably decided when to drop the bombs. I personally talked with him when an NBC TV reporter asked me to act as interpreter.

On August 8^th, Ali watched an old documentary made by the broadcasting company 27 years ago to commemorate the 40^th anniversary of the bombing. The documentary contains interviews with three men — Thomas Ferby, a bomber on the Hiroshima flight; Calmat Behan, a bomber on the Nagasaki flight; and Ali’s grandfather Jacob Beazer, the radar man for both flights.

In interviews at the ceremony, both of these grandsons expressed a commitment to fighting against nuclear weapons.

Tomoko Maekawa, with edits by Kathie Malley-Morrison

Hiroshima never more

Posted on August 6, 2012August 10, 2012 by kathiemm

August 6 is the second anniversary of EngagingPeace.com and the 67th anniversary of the destruction of Hiroshima and much of its population by an atomic bomb.

Peace Abbey's Gandhi statue at Occupy Boston — Peace Abbey’s Gandhi statue at Occupy Boston. Photo by GorillaWarfare, used under CC CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

Today’s post focuses on celebrating efforts to end the threat of nuclear weapons, as well as cluster bombs, landmines, and drones. It celebrates initiatives to achieve lasting peace through the only effective method: non-violence.

We begin another case study on moral engagement, focusing specifically on the Peace Abbey of Sherborn, MA (soon to be housed in the Healey Library at UMass/Boston). We have mentioned the Peace Abbey in several previous posts and begin today with their mission statement:

“The Peace Abbey is dedicated to creating innovative models for society that empower individuals on the paths of nonviolence, peacemaking, and cruelty-free living. We offer a variety of programs and resources that teach, inspire and encourage one to speak out and act on issues of peace and social justice. Faith in action is the cornerstone of our fellowship and activist pacifism is our creed. The Peace Abbey serves as a model for religious organizations, communities, and individuals seeking non-violent, pacifist pathways to peace and social justice.”

Many renowned peace advocates, including Mother Teresa, Howard Zinn, Maya Angelou, David Dellinger, Muhammad Ali, Daniel Berrigan, Barry Crimmins, and Thich Nhat Hanh, visited the Peace Abbey facilities in Sherborn.

Looking back on Hiroshima Day in 1945, writes Noam Chomsky, the world learned that “humans, in their dedicated quest to extend their capacities for destruction, had finally found a way to approach the ultimate limit.” Chomsky also reminds us of the many occasions since 1945 that the world has been on the brink of nuclear war and the annihilation of much of the human race and other life forms.

Today let us be grateful for organizations such as the Peace Abbey that are working to replace the threat of war with the possibility of peace.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Remembering Nagasaki, 1945

Posted on August 9, 2010July 6, 2011 by kathiemm

World War I was not the war to end all wars; neither did the dropping of a second U.S. atom bomb at Nagasaki, Japan bring lasting peace to the world.

origami peace cranes — Origami peace cranes

Since August 9, 1945, and the end of World War II, the U. S. has committed troops to more than 100 armed conflicts around the world—in widely dispersed areas such as China, Korea, Palestine, Lebanon, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, the Congo (Zaire), El Salvador, Libya, Grenada, Honduras, Chad, the Persian Gulf, Panama, Colombia, the Philippines, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Many of these armed interventions provoked controversy and protest among American citizens; others barely reached public awareness. The goals were always lofty; the results frequently horrendous; the true motives often highly suspect.

Although the U.S. has used armed force with increasing frequency to achieve a wide range of goals across the globe since World War II, the actual number of armed conflicts occurring each year has declined rather steadily in recent decades—from around 164 in 1982 to 40 in 2000 and only 28 in 2008.

The consistent decline in armed conflicts is one basis for optimism concerning the possibility of world peace. Despite the involvement of the United States in ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is good evidence that increasing numbers of people around the world can see alternatives to violence as a means of resolving conflicts.

Public support for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is declining even as funding continues. What will it take to get the country’s leadership to listen to the voice of the people who oppose these wars?

Future blogs will discuss the kinds of thinking people bring to their judgments concerning the legitimacy—and illegitimacy–of a government’s use of armed aggression and alternatives to that aggression.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Remembering Hiroshima, 1945

Posted on August 6, 2010July 6, 2011 by kathiemm

atomic cloud over Hiroshima — Photo from the National Archives via Wikimedia Commons

Today, August 6, 2010, is the 65^th anniversary of the dropping of the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. This U.S. military action instantly killed over 70,000 Hiroshima residents, almost entirely civilians.

“I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” Thus spoke J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the principal architects of the bomb.

Despite that condemnation, many Americans still believe that bombing Hiroshima and then Nagasaki was morally justifiable and that maintaining a nuclear arsenal is a sensible policy.

During the Second World War, the Japanese people were demonized and dehumanized by the media. Many Americans, already racist, believed the Japanese all deserved to die. Yet today–and indeed for several decades–Japan is and has been a major ally of the U.S., viewed as an essential partner in maintaining stability in Asia.

In a world with rampant armed conflict and many apparent threats to individual and family security, it is important to search for pathways away from death and destruction. We have chosen today to launch our new blog, dedicated to the promotion of world peace.

The blog has several specific purposes:

1. Promote optimism concerning the possibility of peace.

2. Explore how people in power and the mainstream media persuade citizens that various forms of government-sponsored aggression, such as war and torture, are justifiable.

3. Present examples of serious conflicts that have been resolved without warfare.

4. Demonstrate that a major pathway to peace is through responsible activism.

5. Translate into user-friendly language the best of relevant scientific and academic work contributing to the understanding of war and peace. In particular, we will periodically mention some of the major findings from the work of our own international research team.

6. Help readers find useful tools and important resources to support their own efforts to seek and promote peace.

7. Encourage readers to share their opinions and contribute their own stories and examples of “engaging peace.”

Please join the dialogue about Engaging Peace. We welcome your comments.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology