The Ramon Magsaysay Awards: Hiroshima City mayor envisions nuke-free world

MANILA, Philippines - Hiroshima City Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba yesterday highlighted the need to intensify the campaign to abolish and ban nuclear weapons, saying the danger that it might land in the hands of terrorists is imminent.

“There are more than 26,000 nuclear warheads out there. Non-state parties may acquire it. Terrorists could use them. The danger has not diminished. The only way is to abolish all nuclear weapons,” Akiba, 2010 Ramon Magsaysay awardee , said in an interview with The STAR.

“That is why we have launched an emergency campaign against nuclear terrorism,” he said.

He said the politics of the Cold War and today’s war on terror have set back efforts for full disarmament.

“Nuclear weapons continue to proliferate, things have not changed. We need new methods and approaches. We will be the victims in the end. Nuclear weapons can lead to extinction of the human race but the damage is not limited to radiation, there will be environmental damage. We need to protect ourselves and speak out,” he said.

Akiba, a survivor of the WWII nuclear bomb, has led a global campaign for nuclear disarmament.

The Ramon Magsaysay Awards Foundation (RMAF) commended Akiba’s efforts to warn others about the dangers of nuclear weapons and “mobilize citizens, pressure governments and build a political will to create a world free from the perils of nuclear war.”

He first became active in the anti-nuclear movement as a student in the 1960s and his efforts intensified while teaching in a US university after earning his doctorate in mathematics.

Akiba, who was just three years old when an atomic bomb hit his home in Hiroshima, realized that the world seemed to have forgotten Hiroshima’s tragedy and thus resolved to do all he could so its lessons would be remembered and heeded.

Hiroshima, along with Nagasaki, is one of the world’s most recognized symbols of the horrors of the nuclear war.

Akiba, now on his third term, began his campaign in 1979 by launching the Hibakusha Travel Grants Program, through which American and other journalists visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and listened to atomic bomb survivors tell and re-tell their story to the world.

Akiba also developed Hiroshima into a center for promoting world peace.

He also spearheaded Mayors for Peace, a movement launched in 1982 that underscores the important role world mayors play in mobilizing citizen action in vigorous advocacy for global peace.

His most important program was launched in 2003 when Mayors for Peace launched their “2020 vision” campaign to escalate pressure on governments to abolish nuclear weapons by 2020, the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombings.

In accepting the Ramon Magsaysay award, Akiba feels very grateful and honored because it shows a positive assessment of their efforts to realize a world free of nuclear weapons.

“I feel honored and grateful, for 65 years, Hibakusha survivors have been telling the world the urgency of creating a nuclear-free world,” he said.

Akiba happily noted that from a membership of 500, they have increased to 4,069 members from 144 countries.

“We are the fastest growing NGO related to issues of peace and nuclear weapons. Together we represent 80 million people who reside in the cities. It is very important if the mayors of the cities of each country can work together because they can influence their governments,” he said.

“We shall do everything in our power to break the chain of hatred and violence, to bravely set out on the road to reconciliation and ensure that the world abolishes all nuclear weapons without delay,” Akiba said.