GREENFIELD — In remembrance of the devastation seen in Japan 80 years ago when the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Nagasaki near the end of World War II, local activists will gather on the Greenfield Common on Saturday to call for nuclear disarmament.
On Aug. 6 and Aug. 9, 1945, the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, killing hundreds of thousands of people and making history as the only time nuclear weapons were used in an armed conflict. The Traprock Center for Peace and Justice will join other local activists on the Greenfield Common from 11 a.m. to noon on Saturday.
“It’s one technology in different forms, but with many of the same problems. From mining and enriching uranium to the pollution of radioactivity,” Traprock Communications Coordinator Anna Gyorgy said of nuclear technology. “Nationally, it is a recognized time to be aware of nuclear pollution and of the arms race.”
Saturday’s event follows Wednesday’s “Peace Walk,” in which activists marked the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing by walking from the Easthampton River Valley Co-op to Nashawannuck Pond in a demonstration led by members of the New England Peace Pagoda.
Gyorgy noted she will not attend Saturday’s standout in Greenfield, as she will instead be in Wendell, where a Japanese maple tree on the common that was initially dedicated to victims of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident will be rededicated to the survivors of Fukushima, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“The tree was planted in 2011 by members of the [Water], Roots and Branches affinity group of Wendell, which formed to oppose the Vermont Yankee [nuclear power] plant,” she recounted. “As an action to recognize that disaster and to recognize its danger, they planted a Japanese maple tree.”
Gyorgy clarified that this weekend’s events are just as much about remembering what happened in Nagasaki as they are about rallying against nuclear weapons and technologies. She explained that aside from the immediate devastation caused by nuclear explosions, these events can leave long-lasting radiation damage in their environments.
“This holiday is coming at a time when there’s a lot going on,” she said. “There is a nuclear arms race going on and the U.S. helped spur that. … [Nuclear war] is something that’s kind of out of sight, out of mind, but we saw it come close with India and Pakistan, Israel is a nuclear weapons state … there’s a lot going on and it’s scary.”
