International Fast 2018 Hiroshima day to Nagasaki Day
Statement from Janet Fenton in Edinburgh,
Trident Ploughshares member and Scottish CND vice-chair.
I have fasted for this period for about ten years, maybe longer. In the past I fasted with others, in public. I started during a time when I was running a wee community shop/drop in, with an exhibition with cranes and white prayer flags and some aspirational Scottish poems on the walls, along with quotes from John Hersey’s book on Hiroshima. It was maybe a bit connected to my hopes for Scotland getting rid of the nukes and starting a global shift, and I’ve done it most years since, while doing whatever I’d be doing, wherever I have been. There is so much going on right now that I want to do it in a different way this time, and you may join or hopefully give me your support.
It is a reflective thing that is about taking time to really acknowledge the terrifying wickedness of the weapons and to mourn the suffering and the lives they have damaged or destroyed or snuffed out.
When Ellen Moxley decided to participate in the International Fast we were both at the Scottish Parliament, and MSP Fiona Hyslop joined us to float flower petals in the parliament ponds and shared some readings which was very moving.
This year, on Hiroshima day, I will going to be in London at the FCO advocating for the ban and that seems like an important task and opportunity. The annual Edinburgh CND Hiroshima day vigil will be at the Mound, and I’d encourage nuclear disarmament folk in Edinburgh to be there, handing out the international fast leaflets and leaflets for the SEP 22 Nae Nukes Rally.
I invite friends and supporters to join me at home to break the fast on the 9th, at 6.00pm. If you bring something to share (no need) please be aware that if the weather is nice, we can be outside in the garden. We can also share our reflections and stories and maybe write some cards to send to Westminster with Setsuko’s appeal, “I beseech you, if you love this planet, you will sign this Treaty.”
6/1 Glenallan Drive EH16 5QX