[Peace] AWARE events on Hiroshima-Nagasaki anniv.

[Ricky Baldwin]

Please join us in commemorating the deaths of over a
quarter million civilians in a horrendous act of
international terrorism 58 years ago this week.

AWARE will be distributing the flyer below, perhaps
with some last-minute revisions, at two events:

1. C-U Days in Douglass Park, Fri probably around 5 or
6pm.

2. Farmers' Market in Urbana, Sat. morning, exact time
TBA.

If you are interested in helping out with either
event, please contact Carol 344-9155 or Linda 355-5462
for details.  Thanks!

Now here's the flyer...

---

WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION DISCOVERED!

Racism and Terrorism
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
August 6 & 9, 1945







The White House recently had to admit that the
President gave the American people false information
about Iraq’s nuclear weapons program in his State of
the Union address.  The speech was part of the
government’s attempt to convince the American people
to fear Saddam Hussein and to justify the invasion of
Iraq.  In order to overlook the horrors of war, the
thousands of civilian deaths and the risk to US
soldiers, we had to believe that Iraq was preparing to
use “weapons of mass destruction” – maybe even atomic
bombs.

Nuclear weapons are obviously terrible things.  But
the fact is, many nations have them, including US
allies.  And there is only one nation in human history
that has ever used nuclear weapons – the US.  We used
them twice, both times against civilian populations –
a war crime, even at the time, and certainly a
terrorist act.  It was also the final blow of a
shockingly racist campaign against Japan.

Why was the A-bomb terrorism?

The US dropped the A-bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
according to US rhetoric, in order to frighten or
terrorize the Japanese people into surrendering, even
though surrender talks were already underway before
the bombs dropped.  It was therefore an explicit
example of using terror as a weapon – that is,
terrorism. 

Because of this, many historians have argued that the
real reason for dropping the atomic bombs was to
terrorize other peoples – like the Soviets – who might
want to challenge US authority after the war.

Whatever the actual reasons, the over 230,000
civilians killed at Hiroshima and estimated 74,000
civilians killed at Nagasaki were caught in a massive
“demonstration killing.”

Why was the A-bomb racist?

War is always horrible.  As such, it is generally hard
to get people to agree to it.  But a very effective
way of motivating people to kill and be killed, to
submit to food and other rationing, to live with the
fear of war, is to demonize the target people (the
enemy), so that killing them seems necessary or even
righteous.  They must be made to seem very different
than ourselves: inferior, less worthy of life, less
human, even bestial… and racism is a very effective
means to achieve this.

Neither the Italians nor the Germans were subjected to
cruelty of the magnitude of the A-bomb, even though
the stated motivation for developing atomic weapons
was the fear that the Germans would get there first. 
In fact, from the beginning of the conflict, the US
war in Asia was very different than the US war in
Europe.  It was “war without mercy”, more brutal, less
humane.  And the propaganda was always full of racist
portrayals (“Japs,” “Nips,” “Slant-eyes,” etc.),
unlike the image of the “good Germans” led astray by
Hitler.  In short, it was conducted as a race war. 

But what about Pearl Harbor?  

The easy answer is that two wrongs don’t make a right.
 And the fact that the captured territory of Hawaii
was the site of the opening battle is actually
symbolic of what the clash was really about: two
empires – US and Japanese – expanding outward into the
Pacific until they inevitably butt heads.  But more
importantly, punishing large civilian populations for
the crimes of a small group of militarists who happens
to belong to the same ethnic group – “collective
guilt” - is itself racist.

Many Americans are aware of the US government policy
of rounding up people of Japanese descent, even US
citizens.  Most are unaware of the treatment of
Japanese prisoners of war – in contrast to German or
Italian POWs – as well as the no-holds-barred conduct
of the war against the Japanese but not the European
foe.  It was this very difference that set the stage
for the sudden evaporating violence of the atomic
bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  It was, in
part, the common belief in a profound racial
difference that allowed it to happen (though not the
original cause). This is also why the most outrageous
acts of brutality are always reserved for peoples
perceived to belong to a different “race” than the
leadership.

What can I do?

AWARE meets every Sun. 5-7 PM at the local IMC, 218 W
Main St. in downtown Urbana.
All are welcome and encouraged to participate.  (See
also www.anti-war.net.)

Further Reading: War Without Mercy by John W. Dower,
Pantheon Books,1986


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