What would you say if I told you that your city is targeted by a missile carrying a nuclear warhead? Chances are 1) better than you'd care to think that this may be so; and 2) you'd be a bit concerned, if not steamed, by this.
The bomb no longer has to be dropped from an airplane directly above a target; it's deliverable from afar by intercontinental missiles, many of which are already pointed at designated urban areas.
There are about 30,000 nuclear weapons in the world. The U.S. has 12,000, the former Soviet Union 16,000, China 400, France 350, Israel 200, Great Britain 185, India and Pakistan 40 each. North Korea and Iran may be on the verge of having this capacity, too. What other threat of this magnitude—one that could, literally, wipe out human and most other animal life on this planet within a few minutes—is so seldom talked about?
No time like the present, as they say, and this week presents a grand opportunity, as it's the anniversary of the only time such weapons were used on human targets. The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945, which killed 214,000 people, were firecrackers compared to the ones the world has now, which can create 800-square-mile firestorms that reach temperatures of 1,400 degrees F.
Though President Obama, in an April speech in Prague, pledged that the U.S. would reduce our nuclear stockpile, no major summit of nations on this issue was scheduled. But even if world leaders don't want to talk seriously about the threat, the mayors of the cities that are potential targets do. In fact, mayors from around the world are coming together as part of "Vision 2020." This campaign, organized by Hiroshima-based Mayors for Peace, has as its goal the elimination of the world's nuclear weapons by the year 2020. Mayors of 2,963 cities in 134 countries have signed up.
Among the cities signed up in Massachusetts are Holyoke, Easthampton, Northampton, Greenfield, North Adams and Worcester. (A movement promoting Mayors for Peace and "Vision 2020" that was started up by activists connected with the Peace Pagoda in Leverett led to passage by the Massachusetts Legislature of a resolution supporting both.) In Vermont, Burlington and Montpelier have signed on. In New Hampshire, Concord is on board.
New Haven is one of 21 cities in Connecticut that have signed up for Vision 2020—more than in any other state. Others include Hartford, Stamford, Fairfield and Mansfield. Among other things, all the cities above have divested pension funds from corporations that profit from making nukes. Ultimately, their efforts are aimed at forcing the national governments that signed the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to actually honor their commitments.
The New Haven Peace Council has long supported the Mayors for Peace movement. "This is a huge movement to abolish nuclear weapons that includes the National Conference of Mayors, but it has been censored out of the media," said the Council's Henry Lowendorf. "Once mayors realize their civilian population is being targeted with nuclear missiles, they realize this is not war, this is madness."
The abolition of nukes will be much on everyone's minds this week. In Hartford, people will gather in Riverside Park at 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 6 for a "Hiroshima/Nagasaki Remembrance." Winsted Area Peace Action will hold a candlelight vigil in East End Park in Winsted on Aug. 9, from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
And several organizations have sponsored a "Walk for a Nuclear Free Future," a weeklong marathon that will travel through Holyoke, Chicopee and Springfield (Aug. 5), West Springfield, Agawam, Westfield (Aug. 6), Greenfield, Northfield (Aug. 7), Vernon and Brattleboro, Vt. (Aug. 8), and end with Easthampton, Florence and Northampton on Aug. 9. For more specific times and places where events are scheduled en route, contact Mass Peace Action 617-354-2169, http://www.justicewithpeace.org.
