The more I wished to forget, the more vivid the memories became. They helped me realize that I should not forget, that I cannot pretend that it never happened.”
Chieko Kiriaki was 15 years old when she survived the atomic bomb in Hiroshima.
2024 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots organization of atomic bomb survivors, for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons. The group raises awareness through witness testimonies about the catastrophic destruction and human suffering caused by these weapons. Proliferation of nuclear weapons and the continuous threat of their use are an unconscionable neglect of these survivors’ suffering and efforts, as well as a profound disrespect to our humanity.
My maternal grandfather was a hibakusha, a survivor of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. Still, even to me, the threat of the nuclear weapon felt like it existed only in the realm of history and sci-fi. This changed in February 2023, when I learned of the RAND Corporation’s view that the threat of nuclear weapons may be more imminent than even that of the climate crisis.
I wonder how the Doomsday Clock is considered by my fellow global citizens today. It is a metaphorical representation of our proximity to human-made global catastrophe at zero o’clock. It was first conceived in 1947 by the Chicago Atomic Scientists who participated in the Manhattan Project and is still published as the cover of their periodical, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. In 1953, after the hydrogen bombs with far more destructive power than the atomic bomb were realized and tested, the clock moved to 2 minutes to zero hour. In 1991, when the Cold War came to an official close, it recovered to 17 minutes to zero hour. Do you know where the clock is today? …90 seconds to zero hour.
What can we do as global citizens? I think it is to find hope and courage in our human resilience and our ability to learn from our mistakes as exemplified in these survivors. In the aftermath of the atomic bomb, people said that no tree or grass would grow in Hiroshima for 75 years. Yet, as early as 1949, Hiroshima launched the initiative to build their now-famous Peace Memorial Park. The city survived and then thrived with the miraculously rapid post-WWII Japanese economic growth. Last year, it hosted the G7 World Summit.
“I cannot pretend that it never happened,” Chieko said, and became one of the most vocal activists for nuclear disarmament, tirelessly sharing her witness account of the human suffering that nuclear weapons cause. Like Chieko, we should also have the courage to remember that the threat of nuclear warfare is here with us, and raise our voice to prevent it from ever destroying our humanity.