by Bayan Canada
Seventy-eight (78) years ago, the number one bully and terrorist in the world, the United States, dropped the atom bombs on Japan. It was August 6th on Hiroshima and August 8th on Nagasaki.
The atom bombings were acts of destruction and genocide against the Japanese civilian population. Hundreds of thousands of people were incinerated instantly. Tens of thousands died later because of radiation. The hundreds of thousands who survived carry the physical and psychological effects from the bombings to this day.
The atom bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were neither necessary nor justified. The imperialist power Japan was already defeated and poised to surrender. The US as an imperialist power was bent on making a statement of its superior military strength and what better way to do this than to test the new nuclear war technology. Not once, but twice. Having done this “stupid gangster and racist act”, the US positioned itself as the post- Second World War superpower and the world’s nuclear superpower. The US demonstrated to the world, once again, that its government and its military could not care less that hundreds of thousands of innocent women, children, and men were killed when the US test- bombed Japan that August.
Where is the Canadian connection? The Canadian government, under the auspices of the secret Quebec Agreement in 1943 between the US and the United Kingdom, took part in deciding to use the nuclear weapons against the Japanese people. In this sense, Canada was complicit in this war against humanity.
While the US and Russia own most the world’s nuclear weapons, other countries have developed their own like India, the United Kingdom, France, China, Israel, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and Pakistan. The 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has been rejected by the US, Canada, China, and other countries with nuclear weapons capability.
We are in the era of modern imperialism where we live under real threats and the potentials for nuclear war. The US is the first and so far, the only imperialist power that has used the atomic bomb on human beings. The US continues to use its arsenal of nuclear weapons, also known as the weapons of mass destruction, to bully and blackmail other countries. It continues to do nuclear tests without regard for people’s health and environments in the Pacific islands and atolls. The US which is the world’s supreme terrorist power is also the world’s biggest arms dealer, the world’s biggest weapons supplier. The threats of war, including nuclear wars, and actual conduct of wars ensure big profits to be made from the war and arms industry.
BAYAN Canada condemns the US for continuing to stockpile nuclear weapons, its testing of its missiles, its expansion of its bases and facilities through military agreements in many countries, like the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) in the Philippines.
BAYAN Canada joins the call for the disarmament, demobilization, and closing of nuclear plants and weapons and for the shutting down of US military bases. Only the people’s movements around the globe can deter, block, and prevent the use of nuclear weapons, and the shutting down of US bases where these weapons are stored.
BAYAN Canada joins the voices of peoples around the world and links arms with them to advance the people’s resistance to imperialism which has increased the exploitation and oppression of the broad masses of the people but has made richer the imperialist powers and the ruling exploiting classes.
While we fight the evils of imperialism and uphold the anti-imperialist and democratic struggles of the workers and the oppressed peoples, we do not lose sight of our clear and positive goal of socialism, and in this context, our vision of peace with social justice and liberation.
Our broad and strong anti-imperialist solidarity and international united front are part of the work of the struggle for the national and social liberation of the people. These are also the building blocks of expanding the global genuine peace movement.
NO MORE HIROSHIMAS! NO MORE NAGASAKIS!
NO MORE NUCLEAR WEAPONS!
NO TO WAR AND PLUNDER!
BAN THE BASES!
LONG LIVE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY!
