Paul Olson, President
Nebraskans for Peace
With the anniversary of the first atomic bombings approaching, Nebraskans for Peace believes it is important we remember what happened 65 years ago if we are to keep from repeating history. On August 2, 1945, just as the victorious Allies were concluding their conference in Potsdam, Germany on the post-war division of Europe and readying for the final assault on Japan, Harry Truman reputedly gave the order to drop the atomic bomb. The city of Hiroshima became the first victim of this never-before-used weapon on August 6, and Nagasaki the second, on August 9, three days later. As we commemorate the momentous events at Potsdam, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we take heart from the declarations of our world leaders seeking the total abolition of these Weapons of Mass Destruction and look forward to the prospect of significant reductions in nuclear armaments. Senate ratification of the “New START Treaty” with Russia is an essential next step in ultimately ridding our world of these doomsday weapons.
There are several events taking place in Lincoln and in Omaha for you to choose from. The full description and information can be found on the events page of our website.
Read morePosted in: StratCom & Nuclear Weapons
The following editorial on Nebraska's central role in coal rail transportation appeared in the Monday July 12 Omaha World-Herald. Signed by UNO Professor and Nebraska Report columnist Bruce Johansen, the op-ed was the creation of the newly formed "350.org -- Nebraska" coalition, of which Nebraskans for Peace is a charter member. The article is republished with permission by the Omaha World-Herald.
Bruce E. Johansen
The writer is a professor in the School of Communication at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He is author of “The Encyclopedia of Global Warming Science and Technology.”
Read morePosted in: Environment
If you ever doubted that our Pentagon budget is bloated, look at the following series of pictures. At the “Bone Yard” on the sands of Arizona, we have more evidence of the military’s incredible waste than we ever could have imagined. Seeing picture after picture of these mothballed weapons, is it any wonder, really, that our nation is ‘Goin’ Broke, Paying for War’?
The Bone Yard near Davis Monthan Air Force Base - Tucson, Arizona USA. Remember, each one of these babies had a multi-million dollar price tag!
Read morePosted in: Anti-War & International Law
Dan Schlitt
Dan Schlitt is a retired UNL physics professor who has followed issues related to nuclear weapons for 50 years. A founding member of Nebraskans for Peace and active Quaker, he currently sits on the “General Committee of the Friends Committee on National Legislation” and recently served on the Regional Executive Committee and the national Board of the American Friends Service Committee.
The past several months have been very encouraging for those of us who yearn for the end of the threat from nuclear weapons. For three decades we have seen little progress. The current steps are not all we could wish for, but they are steps in the right direction.
Read morePosted in: StratCom & Nuclear Weapons
The Lincoln chapter of NFP is sponsoring the reading/performance of Foie Gras and the Public Servant on August 6 at 7 PM at the Unitarian Church in Lincoln located at 6300 A Street:
The play, by Hayashi Kyoko, a victim of the bombing of Nagasaki who lived with radiation sickness for over forty years after the Nagasaki bombing, tells of Japanese and American mass killings. Born in Nagasaki, Kyoko went to Shanghai in the 1930s but returned to Nagasaki in 1945 to go to school. Instead she was required to work in a munitions factory where she was laboring when the Nagasaki bomb fell and afflicted her with her fragile health for the rest of her life. She began writing in 1962, mainly short stories and novels but also two plays. For her work she received the Akutagawa Prize, the Kawabata Prize, and the Tanizaki Prize, three of Japan's highest literary honors.
Foie Gras and the Public Servant was written in the 1980s, broadcast on Japanese radio, and subsequently produced in Japan. The action takes place on the green fields of the dead in Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, D.C. at a time when a tourist Japanese medical doctor named Okita visits the place. There he remembers how he, in 1945, then a medical student, entered the atomic wasteland of Nagasaki. As he wanders in this cemetery, he meets the Japanese widow of an American war veteran, Bob, buried as a vet but capable of appearing from the the other side. As Okita meets Bob’s ghost emerging from his grave, Bob recalls his romance with his wife, Pearl Harbor, the Bataan death march. Meanwhile Bob's two grandchildren play in Arlington to the tunes of a military funeral while Okita recalls Nagasaki. Ironically both men receive a reward for their service in war, the one man an appointment as a public servant, the other fois gras and champagne.
Read morePosted in: Announcements
