[Peace] Fwd: Thank you for your pledge

[C. G. Estabrook]

> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> From: Setsuko Thurlow <info at icanw.org>
> Subject: Thank you for your pledge
> Date: July 2, 2020 at 11:59:08 AM CDT
> To: "C.G. Estabrook" <cgestabrook at gmail.com>
> 
> 
> 
> Dear C.G. -- 
> 
> My name is Setsuko Thurlow and I speak as a member of the family of Hibakusha – those of us who, by some miraculous chance, survived the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I want to thank you for joining 306 people in pledging to join us in the fight to ban and eliminate nuclear weapons. 
> 
> For 75 years, we have worked for the total abolition of nuclear weapons. 
> 
> As a 13-year-old schoolgirl, I witnessed my city of Hiroshima blinded by the flash, flattened by the hurricane-like blast, burned in the heat of 4000 degrees Celsius and contaminated by the radiation of one atomic bomb. A bright summer morning turned to dark twilight with smoke and dust rising in the mushroom cloud, dead and injured people covering the ground, begging desperately for water and receiving no medical care at all. The spreading firestorm and the foul stench of burnt flesh filled the air. 
> 
> Within that single flash of light, my beloved Hiroshima became a place of desolation, with heaps of rubble, skeletons and blackened corpses everywhere. Of a population of 360,000 -- largely non-combatant women, children and elderly -- most became victims of the indiscriminate massacre of the atomic bombing. As of now, 75 years later people are still dying from the delayed effects of an atomic bomb considered crude by today’s standard for mass destruction. 
> 
> As the 75th anniversary of bombings Hiroshima and Nagasaki approaches, this is the very time to solidify our partnerships to achieve nuclear disarmament, for make no mistake: the majority of the world’s people want to live in a world without nuclear weapons. And the majority also want to live in a world where the human rights of all people are celebrated, as we can see now across the globe as citizens rise up to confront systemic racism. Hibakusha understand the sting of discrimination all too well. We join with peaceful people everywhere, demanding change. 
> 
> The adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons <https://icanw.org/the_treaty> by 122 UN member states was a moment of great joy, marking the beginning of the end of the most horrific weapons ever made. With each state that signs and ratifies this extraordinary treaty, we move closer to our goal becoming a reality. Seventy-five years after that great crime against humanity we can see the glimmer of a new dawn — an era of peace built on stability, grounded in human rights, humanitarian law and secured through cooperation, not threats of global annihilation. Raise your voice with me and all Hibakusha who declare now is the time for all nations to join the nuclear ban treaty — to end the darkness of this era and welcome the sunrise on a new day through the force of law and the will of the people. We now have the opportunity to bring the treaty into force. We now have the opportunity to stop funding nuclear violence instead of funding human needs. We now have the opportunity to stop risking the life of future generations. 
> 
> Thank you for taking action and choosing to work with us to make this dream a reality. 
> 
> Setsuko Thurlow
> 
>  
> 
> READ SETSUKO’S STORY <https://rise.icanw.org/setsuko_thurlow> <https://rise.icanw.org/setsuko_thurlow>
> 
>  
> 
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> 
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