BL Copy - Hiroshima Day
Alexander Ragtimeband
by Alexander Brown
On Hiroshima Day, Saturday 6 August this year two events were held in
Wollongong to remember the terrible events of 1945.
About 30 peace activists gathered around the Peace Plaque in the city
mall to remember the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This
year, 30 people shared a one minute silence at 8:15am, the time the
bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The Illawarra Union Singers marked the
occasion by singing a number of songs on the theme of peace. The
people of Wollongong began to commemorate Hiroshima Day in the 1960s
and since 1979 an annual ceremony has been held to mark the time the
bomb went off.
Later in the morning one hundred people attended a rally that was held
by The Wollongong Anti-Nuclear Group (TWANG) in opposition to nuclear
weapons, uranium mining and the nuclear industry. After being welcomed
to country by local Aboriginal elder Uncle Reuben Brown the rally
heard from a number of speakers. Risa Tokunaga, an anti-nuclear
activist from Japan spoke about the bombing of Hiroshima and the
ongoing struggle in Japan against nuclear power. She also took the
opportunity to remember the terrible crimes committed during the war
by the Japanese Imperial army against the peoples of Asia adding her
voice to that of millions of Japanese people who call on their
government to make a full and frank apology for the suffering caused
during the war.
Arthur Rorris from the South Coast Labour Council pointed out that
despite the advocates of nuclear power plants claiming that they are
safe, they are inherently dangerous because they need to be built in
coastal areas that are subject to tsunamis and climate change.
Samantha Dixon from the Illawarra Greens urged young people to get
involved in the struggle. Finally, Christian Darby from Students
Against War talked about the ongoing use of nuclear material as
weapons of war in the form of depleted uranium. He described the
campaign by Wollongong university students against weapons research on
campus. The rally featured performances by the Union Singers and by
TWANG member Dave Welsh who sang a song he composed about the Muckaty
people’s struggle against a nuclear waste dump being built on their
traditional lands.
TWANG is a new group that has been formed in response to the Fukushima
disaster and to fight against the proposed nuclear waste dump at
Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory. The group intends to
continue to organise anti-nuclear events in Wollongong. Future plans
under discussion include raising money for the Muckaty elders fight
and holding a peace art exhibition.
Anyone interested in getting involved in the group can contact ???