Southampton CND are inviting people to float lanterns for peace on the Itchen on Sunday (7.45pm, Aug 5) as they mark the 73rd anniversary of the dropping of the first atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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Present will be mayor of Southampton Cllr Steven Barnes-Andrews, and Daniel Blaney, vice-chair of national CND, will speak, and lanterns can be purchased for 50p.
Pic: Saul & Sam
The following is from Southampton CND in their own words:
6th August will mark the 73rd anniversary of the dropping of the first atom bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945. Then on 9 August another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. By floating our Lanterns for Peace, we shall be remembering the tens of thousands who died immediately, those who died agonising deaths within hours of the attack, and the many who have suffered from cancer and other illnesses right up to the present day. They have a message for us: These weapons must never be used again. We must not cease our efforts to promote a world free from nuclear weapons.
The floating of lanterns follows a Japanese tradition of showing respect for all those who died or are still suffering from the long term genetic effects of the bombs. It is also our way of alerting the public to the dangers we still face. As long as nuclear weapons remain an integral part of a nation’s ‘defence capability’, the threat of a nuclear war is ever present.
Britain still maintains its Trident nuclear submarine fleet with missile nuclear warheads with a potential to inflict over a thousand Hiroshimas. The US-leased missiles use UK-built nuclear warheads based on UK nuclear-powered submarines and depend on US satellites for missile guidance. The British Government appears set on replacing Trident with a new submarine system costing over £205 billion over its life time.
Britain faces no credible military threat. Biological and chemical weapons have been banned by international agreement, and nuclear weapons should be too. The International Court of Justice declared in 1996 that the use and threat of use of nuclear weapons is illegal under international humanitarian law. Scrap Trident, not jobs, health and education.
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For more information or to join, call David Hoadley on 023 8022 9363.
Pics taken from the 2016 event - you can read the write-up by following this link.