Peace Activism from Bucks County to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with Barbara Simmons
"The narrative that's been created is that we had no choice but to drop these bombs, that it's what ended the war, that it's what saved American lives. And I question that narrative..."
Barbara Simmons served as executive director for 30 years of The Peace Center, an educational peace and justice non-profit organization in Bucks County. She was founding director of PeaceTalks radio producing radio documentaries from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Rwanda, South Africa, Vietnam, Northern Ireland, Canada and the United States, which aired on NPR, PRI and many other stations. Currently, Barbara is involved as an Ambassador to L.O.V.E. Is The Answer, the executive board of the NAACP, Chair of Communications for Newtown Dems, board member of Divorce Recovery Center, serves on DEI Committee of Bucks County Women's Advocacy Coalition and the Mercer Museum Advisory Committee, and is on the Board of the Nakashima Foundation for Peace.Â
Today I talk to Barbara about why she memorializes the barbaric bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and her life as a long-time peace activist.
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5 Book Recommendations to Further Shine a Light on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Peace
Hiroshima, by John Hersey
Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World, by Lesley M.M. Blume
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
Living Peace: A Spirituality of Contemplation and Action, by John Dear
The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People, by Jonathan Schell
ARTICLES
A Life Committed to Peace, with Barbara Simmons, by Cyril Mychalejko
Why I Commemorate The Bombing Of Hiroshima And Nagasaki, by Barbara Simmons
Bucks County must band together to ‘Ban the Bomb, by Cyril Mychalejko
Poem: Stained Glass, by Steve Nolan
Creating A Nuclear Weapon Free World, with Ira Helfand, by Cyril Mychalejko
Hiroshima’s Lessons of Unnecessary Mass Destruction Could Help Guide Future Nuclear Arms Talks, by Tara Sonenshine
Peace and Nonviolence, with Rev. John Dear, by Cyril Mychalejko
Stealing God’s Stuff: Is E. B. White the Forgotten Prophet of Our Nuclear Doom?, by Lesley M.M. Blume
Counting the Dead at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, by Alex Wellerstein
A time of Unprecedented Danger: It Is 90 Seconds to Midnight, by Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
The Signal is produced by Kevin Mahoney, Raging Chicken Media.
Of course the narrative she mentioned was a lie. The Joint Chiefs, nearly all of them I believe told Truman not to drop this on a populated area. Tokyo and forty surrounding cities had been incinerated by heavy bombing. Japan was on its knees and at best might have gone a couple more months before surrendering. These bombings, much like the firebombing of Dresden were punitive, sadistic, and horrific. At the same time, as can be easily researched, Russia was about to join the war against Japan having defeated Nazi Germany. There was no way the US was going to let Russia come in and end the war with Japan. Finally, I am pretty sure this was a demonstration to Russia, a display of US willingness to use the most horrific and indiscriminate force against any opponent. These were the two single greatest acts of terrorism perpetrated by any nation against any other nation in history. (The great atrocities, the genocides in history, I am not counting as single acts but as ongoing dynamics that spanned many years).
Peace making is not something that begins once an invasion occurs. Of course, if it hasn't begun earlier, it must begin whenever possible but the issue in Ukraine is, as many now know, that the US has been chipping away at what used to be the Soviet Union, breaking the promises it made not to expand NATO, and thereby threatening, existentially, Russia. This was not making peace. It was growing empire and Russia would not simply sit by anymore than the US did when missiles were being set up in Cuba.
Supporting Ukraine is not running a proxy war on their soil, using their soldiers to "weaken Russia" as has been the stated objective in US UK reluctance to negotiate a peace.
Peace, as this guest makes clear, must be taught in our schools as a positive patriotic value... and it must be modeled by our leaders. Great guest, Cyril.
PS. I must also recommend the incredible artwork made by Iri and Toshi maruki, "the Hiroshima Panels." In my view as a lifelong professional artist and arts professor, these panels leave Picasso's Guernica behind in terms of raw emotive power. I hope this guest is aware of them and has seen them in Japan. They are not publicized broadly in the USA IMO.