Living with Hiroshima

Weeramantry

People were coming and going in and around the U.N. building as the NPT Review Conference, which meets every five years, was ongoing. It started on May 2, 2005.

On the afternoon of the 4th, we, World Peace Mission members, were waiting in a basement restaurant for Mr. Weeramantry, a former judge of the International Court of Justice, a permanent organ of the U.N.

He was vigorously moving around in belief that the period of the NPT Review Conference was a precious opportunity to appeal for nuclear abolition to the world conscience. We knew that he could spare only a little time for us. Mr. Okada, a Chugoku Newspaper reporter, wanted to make the most of his limited interview time, lighting one cigarette after another without puffing much.

A little after we had expected him, a small gentleman showed up moving through the crowd to us. As a Sri Lankan, he had a dark and deep complexion. I saw him at the anti-nuclear rally in Hiroshima on August 6, 2001, but unfortunately missed his speech for some reason at that time. I had not seen him since.

Mr. Okada started with the words of gratitude, “We thank you for the judgment you made in 1996 that the use of atomic bombs was illegal.” Then we followed with a number of questions concerning the nuclear situations in the past, present and future.

Mr. Weeramantry said, “The problem is that the nuclear powers are not willing to work for disarmament and nuclear weapons reduction. The logic of nuclear deterrence is deception and violation of the treaty. In particular, the U.S. attitude not to rule out the first use of nuclear weapons is dangerous.” He took palm-sized little books out of his leather bag under his arm and handed them out to each of us saying, “My opinion is in this book.” Urged by his secretary, he was about to leave, but hastily turned around and said, “Will you translate this little book into Japanese for a wider audience?”
“Yes. Hiroshima Speaks Out, to which I belong, will do the translation. When finished, can we put up both the Japanese translation and the English original on our website?” I boldly asked for his permission. His answer was, “Yes, of course.”

At the end of this little book, Why the Nuclear Danger Grows from Day to Day, he says, “Nobody knows how long our luck will last. Unless all human beings stand up to act together for nuclear abolition, this particular weapon alone could annihilate the whole of mankind.”

It took us half a year to finish its translation, and is now on our website. Responses are now coming in from everywhere.

with Judge C.G. Weeramantry