[NukeNet] In the Shadow of the Bomb: Aug 6 at Livermore Lab

[Marylia Kelley]

August 6, 2007: In the Shadow of the Bomb

A report by Jedidjah de Vries
>From Tri-Valley CAREs' August 2007 newsletter, Citizen's Watch

In Hiroshima, Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba opened the ceremony this August 6,
noting: "The world's only A-bombed nation is duty bound to humbly learn the
philosophy of the hibakusha [survivors] along with the facts of the atomic
bombing and to spread this knowledge through the world."

Mayor Akiba also spoke of the "obligation to press for nuclear weapons
abolition" and of "saying 'No' to obsolete and mistaken U.S. policies."

Here, half a world away, bound by history and moral obligation, we gathered
in Livermore. Our town is generally hot in August. This year, however,
August 6th dawned like a winter morning, with a chill in the air and the
hint of drizzle.

It was 62 years ago, on the morning of August 6, 1945, that the United
States dropped the first atomic bomb used in war on the people of
Hiroshima, Japan. Today, we find ourselves at Livermore Lab and still in
the shadow of the bomb.

More than a 150 people gathered this day at Livermore Lab's West Gate to
commemorate the victims and horror of the Hiroshima bomb. Only the tall
gate separated us from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which is
currently designing the first in a series of new U.S. nuclear weapons.

Our commemoration opened with a poem by a survivor of the Hiroshima
bombing, Sachiko Kondoh, entitled Nuclear Winter. The haunting power of
words honestly written hung in the cold air for the rest of the ceremony,
serving as a reminder of the destruction wrought by the bomb.

A call and response reading evoked the history of that day and its
aftermath, connecting us, and the nuclear lab by which we stood, to the
victims and the horror of Hiroshima.

The music of robert temple seemed to melt the gates and bring everyone
together.

Our keynote speaker was Chizu Iiyama, former department chair of early
childhood education at Contra Costa College, and co-author of the Teacher's
Guide, Making Peace: The Legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She presently
serves on the Board of Nikkei Heritage, a publication of the National
Japanese American Historical Society.

Standing at the gates of Livermore Lab, telling what happened in Hiroshima,
Iiyama presented a powerful challenge to the scientific authority and
austerity of the Lab and its continuing development of nuclear weapons. She
was followed in the program by the amazing voice and soulful singing of
Kaylah Marin.

The bomb was dropped at 8:15 AM.

We marked the moment  with the screaming sound of an air raid siren --
followed by a time of silence to honor the memory of the dead and to
reflect on the place of nuclear weapons in our present day world.

The microphone was then opened to all who wished to share their thoughts
and feelings about Hiroshima and nuclear weapons. Many came up and spoke
key truths to power that morning

Daniel Ellsberg, the Defense Dept. planner who released the Pentagon Papers
during the Vietnam War, stepped to the microphone and offered his analysis
of nuclear weapons in the United States.

The tapestry woven by the collective voices of all who spoke made it clear
that nuclear weapons are neither merely a relic of the past nor an abstract
issue to be dealt with far away in Washington by others. Instead, people
took responsibility to act for nuclear weapons abolition in their own lives
- here and now.

Against the backdrop of voices, many lay down on the asphalt in front of
the gate and had their bodies outlined in chalk  to symbolize the ashen
"shadows" left behind by those incinerated in Hiroshima.

The 4-lane roadway at the Lab's west gate was soon covered with the
outlines of scores of dead bodies -- men, women and children.

Thirty participants chose to physically oppose the ongoing design of
nuclear weapons at Livermore Lab by stepping beyond the chalk outlines to
peaceably block the gate. They were arrested, cited and released.

-- For a list of Bay Area sponsoring organizations, go to the August 6
flier on our website at www.trivalleycares.org or to www.august6.org.

-- Our thanks to everyone who helped make the commemoration deeply meaningful.

###

Marylia Kelley,
Executive Director

Tri-Valley CAREs
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA  94551

Ph: (925) 443-7148
Fx: (925) 443-0177
Web: www.trivalleycares.org
Email: marylia at trivalleycares.org or marylia at earthlink.net