Waltham Concerned Citizens To Host Hiroshima/Nagasaki Vigil

Waltham MA

23 July, 2021

3:35 PM

Description

WALTHAM, MA — Waltham Concerned Citizens (WCC), ...., will sponsor a vigil to commemorate the 76th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Friday, August 6 from 7:45 to 8:30 a.m. at the corner of Main and Moody Streets on Waltham Common, said the organization in a news release. During the vigil, members of WCC will join together with peace groups, people of faith, community groups, and human rights advocates to demand an end to nuclear weapons escalation and use the tax dollars for human services. The event will commemorate August 6, 1945, when the first nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Three days later, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Approximately 140,000 civilians died in Hiroshima and 70,000 in Nagasaki. "President Biden has requested $43 billion for nuclear weapons for FY 2022, almost five times the entire budget for the CDC and a 14 percent increase over 2020," said WCC in a statement. "Russia and China are following with upgrades to their systems – all this spending on weapons of mass destruction while money needed to address the climate emergency, a global vaccine program, pandemic preparedness and response cannot be found. The United States is on of nine local nuclear powers, which together possess nearly 13,500 nuclear weapons, said WCC. The U.S and Russia hold over 90% of these weapons, and the U.S. is the only nation to have used them during war. "The international arms control agreements that for decades provided a level of security against nuclear conflict have been steadily eroded this century," said WCC. "In the last four years the United States withdrew fro the Join Comprehensive Plan of Action (aka the Iran Deal), the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, and the Open Skies Treaty." WCC was founded in 1981 to work for global peace and justice through local activism. For more information, call 617-548-6330 or email [email protected].