Hannah Kemp-Welch has taken on the role of London CND worker. Hannah was previously a Vice-Chair of London Region, elected to National Council and the Labour CND EC. Hannah has a background in community arts and education, and was recently CND's delegate to the World Conference Against A&H Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Hannah (left) with Sara Medi Jones of CND (right) at the registration desk of the recent New World Order: No to NATO Counter-Summit.
Japanese and Korean Hibakusha have been campaigning for decades to raise awareness of the devastating effects of nuclear war. They share their stories in print and digital media, through art and education projects in schools, travelling the world to tour this work.
Whilst in Hiroshima this August for the World Conference Against A&H Bombs, I heard Hibakusha share their memories of the 6th and 9th August 1945, and the struggles of the weeks, months and years following. In these accounts I heard of the stigma some faced due to misinformation about radiation sickness as contagious; I heard about living in fear of illnesses developing in later life; I heard of tragic loss and heartbreak. Yet the Hibakusha don’t bury these memories inside themselves, despite the pain remembering must cause. They continue to campaign, and vow to do so until the world has been rid of nuclear weapons.
It is crucial that whilst first generation Hibakusha are still with us, we record and share their stories so that future generations hear, through the powerful voices of survivors, of the damage and after-effects of the atomic bombing.
As many first generation Hibakusha are now of an advanced age, future generations will not have access to the same experience of hearing from survivors directly, and we must push to achieve our aim within the lifetime of those who have been most affected. Weapons like these must never be used again.
In the following recording, Emily Rubino, Director of Peace Action New York State, talks about what the peace movement could do to be more effective in our mission. Next, Jill Truman shares memories of Greenham Women’s Peace Camp, reminding us what citizen activism can achieve. And finally, we hear a song ‘Together, Together’, written during this years Peace March from Tokyo to Hiroshima - a walk that takes three months, by Philipino activist Nitya Lila.
Text and audio recordings by Hannah Kemp-Welch
CND and Stop the War joined forces to protest the NATO summit in December 2019, organizing a demo and counter-summit.
Protesters gathering in Trafalgar Square on Tuesday 4th December, and marched to Buckingham Palace, gaining significant media coverage. Al Jazeera quoted Kate Hudson in their report on the protest:
Kate Hudson, secretary-general of the London-based Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), also spoke out against Trump pressuring member states to plough more funds into defence, describing an "undermining of national sovereignty over public spending decisions".
A few days before, the New World Disorder: No to NATO counter-summit brought together international speakers including writer and broadcaster Tariq Ali, Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK, USA and Reiner Braun of the International Peace Bureau.
Tariq Ali stated ‘NATO is an offensive organisation, for which there is no real need whatsoever’, and recorded this short film for CND:
this is why we're protesting 👇👏#NoToNato pic.twitter.com/UEPZyeCQZI
— CND (@CNDuk) November 30, 2019
Workshops covered a wide variety of topics. Highlights included Conflicts, Climate Change and Militarisation, where panelists discussed how we organise for alternatives. Karl-Heinz Peil of the campaign Stop Air Base Ramstein, Germany, reported:
When we talk about the impact of the military on the environment, it’s not enough to talk about the greenhouse gasses troops emit, but to look at the entire industry - we can estimate that 15% of all industrial greenhouse gases are coming from the military.
Kurdish Activist Elif Sarakan spoke alongside Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK USA in the workshop titled Oil, War and the Middle East, analysing the latest developments. Chris Nineham of Stop the War was also on the panel:
The strategy has changed since the Iraq war - the West has moved towards creating alliances and proxy wars to keep on top of the region.
The closing panel outlined key actions to take forwards: link movements, keep lobbying, show how the money spent on war and weapons could go towards helping people and the environment.
