Following the Hiroshima Commemoration in Tavistock Sq. about 20 of us visited Lockheed Martin’s London office in Regent St.Saint James. It’s a busy street with a mix of workers and tourists constantly on the move. We hung banners and displayed photos of the death, suffering and devastation the first use of a nuclear bomb inflicted 74 years ago.
Members of Raised Voices sang out powerfully for peace. We gave out leaflets about Lockheed Martin’s lead management role at AWE Aldermaston/Burghfield, nuclear weapons R&D, its massive profits from the arms industry and the UK government’s failure to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. After the planned 90 minutes and some lively conversations, only a few leaflets were left. Some people thanked us for being there and shared their fears about the current global situation. No time for a formal evaluation as some of us were going to the CND meeting “Hiroshima to Chernobyl” at Friends House, Euston, others back to the International Fast in MoD gardens. Highlighting the deadly, long lasting impact of just one atomic bomb and the actions we can each take towards the elimination of nuclear weapons, was our way of honouring the plea of the hibakusha to never forget what happened to Hiroshima on that clear summer morning in 1945.
Thanks to members of Raised Voices, TP, Mad Hatters, CND, Japanese against Nuclear & all who supported the TP Muriel Lesters affinity group today.