[pjw] March/Rally: "75 Years: Are We Destined To RepeatHiroshima/Nagasaki?" Fri 7/31/20 5:00 PM

[Peace and Justice Works]

Iraq Affinity Group Supporters:

Below is an announcement for our event coming up at the Friday rally on 
July 31-- just under two weeks from now-- to mark 75 years since the bombs 
dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The event will incorporate the Zones 
Project (which we've done every five years since 2005) showing what would 
happen if a nuclear bomb dropped on downtown Portland. It will also be 
used to promote the annual Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility 
event, which will be on August 6 via online platforms.

We welcome people to join us-- as noted below, please RSVP if you can and 
wear a mask.

We're also continuing to collect cosponsors for the event, so if your 
group wants to sign on just let us know.

It occurred to me that this is the first special event Friday rally we've 
held since we took over responsibility for the weekly event from PPRC back 
in late March. But it's just as well as we want to continue to be safe 
during the pandemic even while remembering history in order not to repeat 
it.

Please spread the word! The below information, including a poster and a 
link to the zones project, is available here.

  http://www.pjw.info/hiroshima75yl.html

Thanks
dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group


    For immediate release         July 19, 2020

                                 "75 Years:
               Are We Destined To Repeat Hiroshima/Nagasaki?"

                  Rally and march remembering atomic bombs,
                           calling for disarmament

                   What: Friday Rally for Peace and Justice
                    When: Friday, July 31, 2020, 5-5:45 PM
          Where: Pioneer Courthouse Square (SW Yamhill and Broadway)
        Who: Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group, 503-236-3065

    On Friday, July 31, the weekly rally for Peace and Justice, will
    remember the United States' inhumane use of atomic bombs in Hiroshima
    and Nagasaki, Japan in 1945, calling for an end to nuclear weapons. As
    it has since November 2001, the event will begin at 5 PM at the SW
    corner of Pioneer Courthouse Square (SW Yamhill and Broadway) with a
    rally followed by a march around downtown. The theme of the event,
    coordinated by Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group is "75
    Years: Are We Destined to Repeat Hiroshima/Nagasaki?" Participants are
    asked to wear masks and practice social distancing; RSVPs are
    appreciated to ensure we stay within a 25 person maximum.

    The protest will include literature from the [16]Zones Project, which
    calls attention to the destruction caused by bombs the size of "Fat
    Man" and "Little Boy." This starts with the inner circle of 1.5 miles
    where all life and buildings were pulverized. The outer zone of 8.5
    miles saw exposed people burned and blinded by the flash, all windows
    broken, second degree burns and trauma.

      http://www.pjw.info/zonesproject2020.html

    Today's nuclear weapons have much higher yields.

    The racist nature of the US military bombings, which killed hundreds of
    thousands of Japanese people, echoes the thousands of Black lives taken
    by the local purveyors of state violence-- the police. Similarly,
    testing and mining have been done on indigenous lands with no regard to
    health consequences. That Japan was preparing to surrender in August
    1945 regardless of the nuclear blasts underscores that the US
    deliberately killed civilians to show its military superiority.

    The protest will also include the Ann Huntwork Memorial Peace Sign, the
    digital reader board which first made its appearance in June of this
    year. The rally will also be an opportunity to promote the Oregon
    Physicians for Social Responsibility annual Hiroshima / Nagasaki
    commemoration, taking place on Thursday, August 6 at 6 PM on line.*

    Friday Rallies began as a project of Portland Peaceful Response
    Coalition in November, 2001, a few weeks after the US invasion of
    Afghanistan. In March, when the Governor's stay-at-home orders went
    into place, Peace and Justice Works took over as the lead organization
    for the events. This event is cosponsored by War Resisters League
    Portland.

    For more information or to get involved contact the Peace and Justice
    Works Iraq Affinity Group at 503-236-3065 (voice or text), or email
    iraq at pjw.info .

*  https://www.oregonpsr.org/save_the_date_august_6th_hiroshima_nagasaki_75th_anniversary_memorial