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75th Anniversaries of the United Nations and the Atomic Bomb

Click here to view our interactive timeline, the beginning of which is shown in the image above

Few of us alive remember back 75 years, and those of us who do are rapidly being killed off by the coronavirus in nursing homes. It seems to us valuable, in this unprecedented time, to look back at the year 1945.

It was a year of release from appalling violence that had set men in uniform to kill each other in numbers never before seen. It was a year which rearranged power on the planet, and so it was a year that allowed hope to appear: can connections and organizations be built amongst us so that this will never happen again?

We offer this Timeline of 1945 – the year of the creation of the UN and the dropping of two atomic bombs on civilians in Japan. Please read about the developments leading to these two events, and send us your thoughts and reactions. We can add additional events if you find we have neglected something important. History is alive, if we make it so! Click here to view our 1945 timeline.

Through this year we hope to take you on a revealing journey:

• What forces were acting behind the formation of the UN?
• Who and what influenced the leaders of the USA to drop the nuclear bombs?
• Why does all this matter and what is WILPF doing about it? And what could WILPF be doing about it?

We have arranged for experts on the UN and the effects of A-bombs to talk with us in a monthly webinar series that continues throughout 2020

We have already had one webinar, on May 17. Martha Hennessy, a member of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 and three lawyers discussed the use of the "Necessity Defense" in nuclear issue criminal trials. You can watch a recording of this informative webinar here

Save these dates for the rest of our series!

• On June 28 - Phyllis Bennis of Institute for Policy Studies about issues surrounding the founding of the United Nations and the uphill battle to democratize it.
• On July 13 - Tina Cordova, a founder of the NM Tularosa Basin Downwinders of the July 16, 1945, Trinity A-bomb test in New Mexico and later nuclear bomb tests in Nevada will share their struggles to get compensation and health care.
• On August 9 - Hideko Tamura Snider, author of "One Sunny Day," will speak of her experience of the Hiroshima bombing and life before and after.
• On September 20 - Alice Slater of World Beyond War will talk about the status of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
• On October 24, United Nations Day - we're inviting a speaker from Reaching Critical Will to talk about WILPF's active role in disarmament efforts before and since the United Nations was founded.

Working for a Nuclear Free Future!

• DISARM/End Wars develops resources and fosters coordinated Branch action each year for Hiroshima-Nagasaki Days during August Nuclear-Free Future Month. It also fosters Branch and member participation in Keep Space for Peace Week (early October), and Tax Day (April).  We research causes of US wars and seek peaceful resolution of current conflicts and prevention of future ones.
• DISARM/End Wars supports members and branches in their own projects. Some have exposed local corporate and university war profiteering. Others launch projects on depleted uranium, opposition to the siting of F-35 jet bombers in communities such as Tucson AZ, Madison WI, and Burlington VT, weaponized drones, or targeting local nuclear research and industry.  Branches organize peace vigils, peace camps and study groups, and childrens peace education. They visit Congress members and speak truth to power.   
• DISARM/End Wars works to raise consciousness about the environmental and economic impacts of militarism, working with Raging Grannies, Mayors for Peace, World Beyond War, Black Alliance for Peace, Extinction Rebellion, Poor People's Campaign, Veterans for Peace, Physicians for Social Responsibility,  Code Pink, Peace Action, Abolition 2000, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament.
• DISARM/End Wars members participate in visits to Congress, the Pentagon, and the Administration in Washington D.C. in cooperation with the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability and their dozens of expert "nuke watchdogs" who are seeking an end to nuclear power and solutions to safely storing nuclear waste, and oppose nuclear weapons and power.
• DISARM/End Wars members and WILPF branches are visiting and petitioning their own legislators at home, seeking support of  HR-2419, the "Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act of  2019."
• DISARM/End Wars has organized WILPF member participation in gathering signatures on a petition to the Senate, in support of the 2017 UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.  WILPF is a founding member of Nobel Peace Prize-winning ICAN and supports the legislative work of NuclearBan.US.

Resources
On Facebook:

• WILPF US (posts by administrators only)
• WILPF SMART!  ("Social Media Action Response Team" blog for all WILPF members to post events & news)
• NucNews (news from around the world about nuclear everything)
• Eye On Congress (news about federal and state legislation)

Other Resources:

• Resources for 75th Anniversary commemorations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: video and books, and how to make a peace paper crane
• Questions for Candidates in the 2020 Election
• Online and Paper petitions to Representatives for HR-2419, "Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act"
• Online and paper petitions to Senators for UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
• "How to fund the Green New Deal and get rid of nukes too!" op-ed
• "Good People Doing Great Things", a 4-page analysis of antinuclear efforts by legislators and NGO's
• "Let's End the Whole Nuclear Era!", a WILPF-US foldover flyer
• Climate Justice and Peace infographic card
• Reports on WILPF US Nuclear-Free-Future tours in 2016, in 2017, and in 2019
• Videos for WILPF by Robin Lloyd and Ellen Thomas
• Warheads to Windmills: How to Pay for a Green New Deal report by NuclearBan.US

For more information, contact the Co-Chairs of Disarm/End Wars Committee:

• Robin Lloyd
• Ellen Thomas