Nuclear Nobels
TRANSCEND MEMBERS, 23 Dec 2024
Diane Perlman, Ph.D. - TRANSCEND Media Service
COLD WAR, 1948. ‘Peace Today.’ Rube Goldberg’s 1948 Pulitzer Prize winning cartoon comment on the precarious position of world peace.
December 10 is a sacred day for me
10 Dec 2024 – The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded every year on Human Rights Day. December 10 is the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, spearheaded by Eleanor Roosevelt, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948.
I am delighted that this year, at a time of insane nuclear saber rattling, with the Atomic Clock at 90 seconds to midnight, that the Nobel committee wisely chose to award the Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese global grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors.
Known as Hibakusha, these survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki arose in response to the US atomic bomb attacks of August 1945 to demonstrate through witness testimony to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons. Over decades they have worked tirelessly to raise consciousness about the dangers of nuclear weapons towards developing an international norm to stigmatize the morality of using nuclear weapons, known as “the nuclear taboo”.
Now that they are in their 80s and 90s, this award is a profound validation of their life’s work and magnifies their impact and inspiration for us to carry on.
Hibakusha have been ever present at many international peace conferences. I have met some of them at the UN and at my visit to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 2005 for the 60th anniversary of the US atomic bombings.
December 10, Nobel Ceremony, Oslo, Norway
I highly recommend watching a recording of the powerful and beautiful Nobel Ceremony, including musical performances.
40 year old Jørgen Watne Frydnes, the youngest Chair of Nobel committee, gave a magnificent speech, opening with a quote from The Russell-Einstein Manifesto.
“There lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge, and wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? We appeal, as human beings, to human beings: Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise; if you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal death.”
He ended with
So let us listen to the testimony of the Hibakusha.
Let their courage be our inspiration.
Let their persistence drive us forward.
Let us all strive to keep the nuclear taboo intact.
Our survival depends on it.
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Tags: Hibakusha, Nobel Peace Prize, Nobel Prizes, United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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