The Coalition for Peace Action is holding a rally and candlelight vigil from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 26, the eve of President Obama’s unprecedented May 27 visit to Hiroshima.
The rally will be at Hinds Plaza, next to the Princeton Public Library. The rally will convey appreciation for Obama’s decision to make the visit, as well as call on him to announce concrete steps toward a world without nuclear weapons.
Speakers will include: Dr. Zia Mian, research physicist in the Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton University; Ward Wilson, senior fellow at the British American Security Information Council and Director of the Rethinking Nuclear Weapons Project; the Rev. Chris Antal, veteran who served as an Army chaplain in Afghanistan and resigned over U.S. policies on nuclear weapons and drone warfare (the Rev. Antal visited Hiroshima last August for the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing.); the Rev. Robert Moore, Executive Director, Coalition for Peace Action and co-pastor of Christ Congregation, both based in Princeton; peace activist Emilie Bara, a Hofstra University student, will speak on the meaning and story behind the Thousand Paper Peace Cranes
Sharleen Leahey will provide music. Those attending are urged to bring a candle, as the rally will end with a candlelight yigil.
“While we applaud President Obama for deciding to visit Hiroshima, he shouldn’t go empty handed," the Rev. Moore said. :I urge him to announce one or more of these steps:
1. Take nuclear weapons off hair trigger alert. This long-term policy has brought the world to the brink of accidental nuclear war, and could be implemented with the president’s commander in chief authority.
2. Reduce U.S. deployed long-range nuclear weapons from 1,550 under New Start to 1,000 — a level the military says is adequate for deterrence — and challenge Russia to respond by also reducing to that level or below.
3. Initiate negotiations for a treaty to globally and verifiably ban nuclear weapons. Verifiable international bans on chemical and biological weapons have been successfully negotiated and implemented. It’s time to heed the obligation nuclear weapon states have under Article 6 of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty to negotiate the ultimate abolition of their arsenals.
"I, too, have been to Hiroshima, and found it to be a powerful reminder of the unimaginable destruction that would result if nuclear weapons are ever used again," the Rev. Moore said. "I urge President Obama to announce concrete steps toward a world free of nuclear weapons, in which future generations can live their lives without the specter of global nuclear destruction constantly hanging over them.”
