Finding Freedom
July 2011
Banner photo: Finding Freedom [© Dariush M./Shutterstock]
"Senzatomica" Campaign in Italy
"Senzatomica" event at Le Pagliere, Florence [SGI-Italy]
In an effort to build public awareness about the threat of nuclear weapons and to promote the movement for the adoption of an international Nuclear Weapons Convention, SGI-Italy organized a multimedia antinuclear initiative called "Senzatomica" at the Conference Hall of Rome's Palazzo Marini, the House of Deputies, on February 1.
The event was cosponsored by AIMPGN (the Italian branch of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War), the Pugwash Conferences and the Parliamentarian Network for Nuclear Disarmament (PNND). "Senzatomica" also works in partnership with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
Speakers at the event included Shigeru Nonoyama, an 80-year-old hibakusha, who gave his testimony of having survived the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, Japan; Michele Di Paolantonio, president of AIMPGN; Lisa Clark from Mayors for Peace; and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Betty Williams.
Dr. Di Paolantonio underscored the importance of the ratification of the New START nuclear disarmament agreement between the US and Russia and also stated that both IPPNW and Mayors for Peace adopted the concepts of the Mediterranean Nuclear Weapons Free Sea and Middle East Nuclear Weapons Free Zone as fundamental steps toward actualizing a nuclear weapons-free world.
On February 26, supporters of the "Senzatomica" movement gathered in a "flash mob" and simulated a nuclear "freeze" in the Piazza della Signoria, one of Florence's key landmarks. Participants then lined up in black T-shirts with letters spelling out the "Senzatomica" website address.
Other activities included a showing of the SGI's antinuclear exhibition "Transforming the Human Spirit" at Le Pagliere in Florence from March 26 to April 16.
