Dignity for All: Building a Culture of Human Rights
October 2008
Banner photo: © Carr Clifton
Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Activities
On August 5, Soka Gakkai youth division members in Hiroshima, Japan, commemorated the August 6, 1945, atomic bombing of their city with a lecture by Costa Rican Ambassador Mario Fernandez Silva at the Hiroshima Ikeda Peace Memorial Hall. Mr. Fernandez's address was the 128th lecture in the Hiroshima Lecture Series, which is part of the youth division's ongoing activities to promote nuclear abolition.
In his address, Mr. Fernandez described Costa Rica's decision during the drafting of the country's constitution in 1949 to abolish its military. Currently, one-third of the country's annual budget goes toward education and medical care. "It is always ordinary citizens who suffer in war," he said. "The tragedy of the atomic bombing is a lesson for all human beings. I am hoping that Soka Gakkai youth division members will carry out SGI President Ikeda's ideas on peace and continue to take action." He told the meeting that the people of Costa Rica share the spirit of Nichiren Buddhism that life is the greatest treasure of all.
On the same day the youth division presented Mr. Fernandez with the Soka Gakkai Hiroshima Peace Award.
On August 8, Soka Gakkai youth division members in Nagasaki held a "Peace Forum 2008" seminar at the Nagasaki Peace Center. Ayao Imada, a member of the Nagasaki Association for the Promotion of Peace, delivered a lecture about the effects of militarism on education. Members of the Soka Gakkai Youth Peace Committee highlighted the Japanese government's recent moves to support the convention banning cluster bombs, and introduced Mr. Ikeda's calls from his 2008 Peace Proposal for the abolition of these munitions.
LATEST ISSUE
Religion & Ecology