70th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Japan

In light of the anniversary of the US use of nuclear weapons against Japanese civilians (in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and the less often remembered August 9th bombing of Nagasaki), here are two campaigns to discourage it from happening again. 

A campaign ( www.kickstarter.com/projects/1784498350/barefoot-gen-for-schools-and-libraries ) is seeking donations to produce a new hardcover edition of a semi autobiographical account of the bombing of Hiroshima, so 4000+ copies can be donated to schools and libraries.  Barefoot Gen (Hadashi no Gen) is a graphic novel in 10 volumes by Keiji Nakazawa depicting life before the atomic bomb and well after.  It also touches on Japanese atrocities, leading to a recent ban in schools in Matsue, Japan ( cbldf.org/2013/08/barefoot-gen-pulled-from-matsue-school-libraries/ ).  I haven't read the comic version yet, but I have seen the first movie.  The style is a little cartoonish,  but it is an engrossing movie and the depiction of immediate aftermath of the explosion is horrific.  There is a second movie covering Hiroshima after WWII, but I don't think it has been released in the US, though it has probably been released in the UK and New Zealand. 

Two weeks ago PBS broadcast two documentaries on the nuclear genie we unleashed in the 20th century, The Bomb ( www.pbs.org/program/bomb/ ) and Uranium:  Twisting the Dragon's Tail ( www.pbs.org/program/uranium-twisting-dragons-tail/ ).  They were interesting, but The Bomb made nuclear weapons less terrifying, with all the footage of nuclear tests and structures withstanding the blasts, and it reduced President Truman's responsibility while putting more blame on Japan.  For another view, see warisacrime.org/content/tomgram-christian-appy-americas-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-70-years-later , though The Bomb did admit that Truman allowed Japan to surrender on the condition of retaining the emperor, instead of unconditional surrender.  I was surprised when Uranium suddenly showed a segment of the Barefoot Gen movie showing the immediate effects of the bomb.  I wonder if very many viewers were shocked. 

The US demands that smaller countries not develop nuclear weapons, though our country is the only one so far to have used them to destroy cities, and still threatens other countries, which encourages proliferation, so they don't end up like Iraq and Libya.  The US also aids nuclear proliferation in countries like Israel and India.  Many US politicians want to start a war over Iran's development of peaceful and legal nuclear technology and there has already been covert acts of aggression against Iran by the US and Israel.  Just in time for the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima on the 6th, leading Senate Democrat Charles Schumer is working to sabotage the deal that might remove a justification for aggression against Iran in the near future.  It might make a statement about the ethics of the Iranian leadership that they haven't developed nuclear weapons, though nuclear powers are threatening them.     

It was foolish for the nuclear powers to build so many nuclear weapons during the Cold War, and there is even less reason to still have more than enough to cause human extinction around today, with many ready for immediate use.  Obama even wants to send billions renovating the US nuclear arsenal, rather than negotiate deep cuts with Russia.  The Republic of the Marshall Islands, a group of islands in the Pacific that the US used for 67 of those nuclear tests shown on The Bomb, is suing the nine nuclear powers for failing to follow the non-proliferation treaty.  There is a petition at www.nuclearzero.org

I'm surprised there hasn't been more mention of this anniversary by progressive and anti-imperialist papers and websites in the US.