---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Joseph Gerson <[email protected]>
Date: 2011/1/15
Subject: Urging Your Endorsement: Gensuikyo's New Petition Campaign -
"Appeal for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons"
To:
Friends,
As you will recall, last May Gensuikyo, the Japan Council against A- &
H- Bombs, brought nearly seven million petition signatures for nuclear
weapons abolition to New York where they were formally presented to the
President of the NPT Review Conference.
In mid-February Gensuikyo will launch a new petition drive which it
hopes will be even more successful. When they launch the new drive in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki next month, they want to announce endorsements by
leaders of the world’s disarmament and peace organizations.
Please read the following announcement and the petition which follows and
endorse Gensuikyo’s appeal from Hiroshima and Nagasaki for a “Total Ban on
Nuclear Weapons.”
Your endorsement should be sent to [email protected]<mailto:
[email protected]>.. Please list your name and title as you wish
them to appear, along with your organization’s name. You can also include a
brief message.
Thank you for your consideration of this request. I hope you will join me
in endorsing this important campaign.
For peace, justice and nuclear weapons abolition,
Joseph Gerson
American Friends Service Committee
Please support our new signature campaign
“Appeal for a Total Ban on Nuclear Weapons”
At the start of the New Year, we would like to extend our heartfelt
gratitude to you for your continued understanding of and cooperation with
our movement.
In order for the current worldwide momentum for the abolition of nuclear
weapons to develop further and bear fruit, we are planning to launch a new
signature campaign in February 2011, calling on all the governments of the
world to take action to totally ban nuclear weapons.
In May last year, the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT), in which 189 States took part, agreed on the Final Document
aiming to “achieve peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons”
and urged all governments to make special efforts to establish the necessary
“framework” to reach this goal. This was followed by the visit of U.N.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who called for
achieving a “world without nuclear weapons” in the lifetime of the
Hibakusha in his speech at the Peace Memorial Ceremony of Hiroshima on
August 6.
On the other hand, we continue to witness attempts by some to justify
the
use or threat of nuclear weapons in the name of “deterrence” or the
“nuclear umbrella”, and the danger of nuclear proliferation by others who,
in response to these attempts, seek to develop nuclear weapons of their own.
However, as the experiences of Hiroshima and Nagasaki demonstrate, human
survival and security cannot be ensured by nuclear weapons. The only sure
way to prevent the use of nuclear weapons is to abolish all nuclear weapons,
as confirmed by the NPT Review Conference.
Through the new signature campaign, we, anti-nuclear movement from the
only
nation to have suffered the A-bomb devastation, will urge that the tragedy
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki never be repeated, and call on the governments of
all states to build on the past agreements made in the international arena
to take the bold course of starting negotiations for a treaty totally
banning all nuclear weapons.
We plan to announce the launch of this signature campaign simultaneously
in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki on February 15, and in cooperation with all the
people who support this initiative, we aim to insure that this demand is
reflected in public opinion nationwide, and that it goes on to gain broad
support internationally. The text of the signature campaign, “Appeal for a
total ban on nuclear weapons” is attached at the end of this letter.
Please have a read through the appeal, and send your endorsement, and if
possible your message, to us by post, fax or email. The list and messages
of the initial endorsers is to be announced together with the launch of the
signature campaign on February 15. We are convinced that your endorsement
will help bring a great deal of support internationally.
This signature campaign will be promoted in solidarity with all the
campaigns sharing the same goal of eliminating nuclear weapons, including
the Mayors for Peace signature campaign led by the cities of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki and the “International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
(ICAN)”. Starting with the signature campaign in the wake of the Bikini
hydrogen bomb test of March 1954, the anti-A and H-Bomb movement of Japan
has, through massive signature drives, been at the forefront in bringing
about the coalescence of public opinion calling for a total ban on and
elimination of nuclear weapons. This new signature campaign will carry
forward this tradition and help ensure the achievement of a nuclear
weapon-free world.
&a mp;n bsp; & ;nbs p; * *
*
Appeal for a Total Ban on Nuclear Weapons
In August 1945, two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
instantly
turned the two cities into ruins and took the lives of about 210 thousand
people. Even now, more than 200,000 Hibakusha, or A-bomb survivors, are
carrying with them scars. Their tragedy should not be repeated anywhere on
earth.
The call for the elimination of nuclear weapons is becoming ever
widespread
across the world. Citizens are taking actions, and many governments are
endeavoring to reach this goal. The surest guarantee against there being
another Hiroshima, or Nagasaki, is a total ban and the elimination of
nuclear weapons.
In May 2010, the 189 parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT),
including the Nuclear weapons States, agreed “to achieve the peace and
security of a world without nuclear weapons”. Now is the time to act to
accomplish it.
We call on all governments to enter negotiations without delay on a
treaty
banning nuclear weapons.
Endorser’s name:
Position:
Organization:
Message:
--
Peace Is Doable
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