Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

London Remembers Hiroshima - 6 Aug

Peter Marshall | 07.08.2009 10:09 | Anti-militarism | World

Around 200 people met in London at Thursday lunchtime, 6th August to remember the anniversary of the first use of atomic bombs. Similar ceremonies were also held in other cities around the world. Photo Copyright (C) 2009 Peter Marshall, all rights reserved.

Some of the banners
Some of the banners

Workers Music Association
Workers Music Association

Repair the World
Repair the World

Mayor of Camden lays flowers
Mayor of Camden lays flowers

More flowers under the cherry tree
More flowers under the cherry tree


Sixty-three years ago, at 8.15 am on August 6, 1946, the USAF B-29 Enola Gay dropped the first atomic weapon to be used in war, code-named "Little Boy” on the Japanese town of Hiroshima. It took almost a minute to fall from over 30,000 feet to a height of 2000 ft where it was detonated. Around 75,0000 people - almost one in three of the population of the city - were killed immediately and roughly the same number were seriously injured. Two days later, on 8 August, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, resulting in at least 40,000 being killed immediately and possibly twice as many dying by the end of the year. Many more in both cities suffered from the effects of radiation and died later.

The London Memorial Ceremony, organised by London CND, took place in Tavistock Square, next to the cherry tree planted there by the Mayor of Camden in 1967 to remember the victims of Hiroshima. The current Mayor of Camden, Cllr Faruque Ansari was the first speaker, after a brief introduction by Islington MP Jeremy Corbyn and a peace song by the Workers Music Association, and he was followed by the Frank Dobson MP and Bruce Kent, Vice President of CND.

Speakers called for Britain to abandon our Trident missiles and not to waste billions on their replacement. South Africa is the only country yet to renounce nuclear weapons and we could lessen the risks of a future nuclear conflict by giving up our expensive and obsolete systems.

A second socialist choir, Raised Voices also performed, and were followed by Pat Allen of Highbury and Islington CND talking on the early days of CND and Ann Garrett of Bromley CND reading three of her poems. It was a surprise to also hear a 14-year-old girl, Sonia Azad speak so confidently. I had met her a few months earlier when I was photographing and she was videoing CND's 'Wedding 'Die-In' Against Afghanistan War' at the British military HQ at Northwood in May.
 http://mylondondiary.co.uk/2009/05/may.htm#wedding

The two socialist choirs then joined together for a further anti-bomb song, 'Against the Atomic Bomb' which puts words by Ewan McColl to a Japanese melody.

Lindsey German, convenor of Stop the War gave a typically forthright performance and reminded us of the need to keep demonstrating against the war in Afghanistan - particularly in the demonstration planned for 24 October. Len Aldis talked about the success of the 'Mayors for Peace' campaign but urged all of us to get our Mayors to join if they have not already done so, and Silvia Swinden talked about the World March for Peace and Nonviolence, which starts on 2 Oct 2009.

Those present were then invited to lay flowers beneath the Hiroshima cherry tree during a minute's silence to remember the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, after which choirs and all those present joined in singing "Don't you hear the H Bomb's Thunder." I had to rush away at this point to another event, but people were invited to stay for a picnic in the park after the ceremony.

This story is also on Demotix.
 http://www.demotix.com/news/london-remembers-hiroshima-victims
More pictures on My London Diary next week.
 http://mylondondiary.co.uk/2009/08/aug.htm

Peter Marshall
- e-mail: petermarshall@cix.co.uk
- Homepage: http://mylondondiary.co.uk

Comments

Hide the following 4 comments

A photo of the Hiroshima genocide

08.08.2009 00:21

Hiroshima, August 1945
Hiroshima, August 1945



A photo of the Hiroshima genocide

anonymouse
- Homepage: http://yawoot.com/post/415#1


Now that's not faked, is it?

08.08.2009 14:17

And if you want to talk about genocide, it might be worth looking at the Japanese army in China (hint- google Rape of Nanking)

strangelove


War and Peace

08.08.2009 20:29

People who are interested in the events of 6th August 1945 and the development of nuclear weapons since then, might like to read these two blog posts:

 http://weayaya.wordpress.com/2009/08/04/chasing-the-dream-and-marching-for-peace/

 http://beestonblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/bombs-away.html

There are some interesting comments on the second one.

Weayaya
- Homepage: http://weayaya.wordpress.com


peace event in Totnes Devon..ended un peacefully !!!

10.08.2009 12:31

peace mandala
peace mandala



> > >> I initiated a spontaneous gathering in the civic square Totnes,Devon on thursday 6th
> > >> august... to remember those who suffered in Hiroshima and to
Imagine a world of peace.
> > >> I have done this kind of thing before in the square in Totnes.
> > >> I"ve never experienced a response like this before.
> > >> There were just three of us women and one child who brought paints,
> > >> chalks, flags, songs , flowers and held the space for three
> > >> hours,sometimes singing, and talking with people. a few people joined
> > >> in , children helped colour in the chalk peace mandala.
> > >> At around 4pm when we were starting to think about packing up. a man in
> > >> uniform came storming towards aggressively walking deliberately over
> > >> the artwork and shouted at us telling us we had to clear it away as it
> > >> was graffiti and we were commiting an offence!!! he called himself a
> > >> street scene officer ...we were shocked , couldn't
> > >> really take him seriously ,pointed at that it was just chalk and would
> > >> wear away of its own accord very fast. he demanded we give him our names
> > >> which we declined to do. he then proceeded to try to take our photos
> > >> which we also objected to , turning away, etc.
> > >> he stormed off threatening us with court action.!!
> > >> we were shocked, intimidated, upset by the incident , the little girl
> > >> was frightened by his unwarrented aggressive behaviour. a horrible
> > >> ending to a positive creative response of solidarity with other peace
> > >> actions being held all around the world on that day .
> > >> This is Alternative Totnes !!
>

lizi jamal


Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech