Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama gestures during an event at his residence in McLeod Ganj, India, on 25 October 2019. File photo/Tibet Sun/Lobsang Wangyal
Tibet Sun Online News
ON THE WEB, 6 August 2020
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama renewed calls to abolish nuclear weapons, a cause he has championed throughout his life, on the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I take the opportunity to urge governments, organizations and individuals to rededicate themselves to making the achievement of peace the centerpiece of our lives,” the Dalai Lama said in a statement.
He stated that despite many great developments, the 20th century was an era of violence in which some 200 million people were killed, including the horrific use of nuclear weapons. “Now, in our increasingly interdependent world, we have a chance to make this a more peaceful century.”
Dialogue, not force, should be the means of resolving conflicts, with the ultimate aim of achieving a demilitarized world, he says.
“War means killing. Violence leads to counter violence. We need to put an end to combat and the production of weapons and construct a more peaceful world. We must recognise the oneness of humanity, and understand that we will not achieve peace merely through prayer; we need to take action.”
The United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, destroying the city and killing 140,000 people. A second bomb was dropped three days later on Nagasaki, killing another 70,000. On 15 August, Japan surrendered, ending World War II and Japan’s anticipated expansion in Asia.
The bombing ushered in a nuclear arms race, with the Soviet Union testing its own atomic bomb in 1949.
Survivors of the world’s first atomic bombing observed a minute’s silence in front of an iconic blasted dome, kept as a memorial of the world’s first nuclear attack, in Hiroshima at 8:15 am, the time when the bomb was dropped on the city in 1945.
Many of them, who are now in their 80s, urged the world, and their own government, to do more to ban nuclear weapons, as they marked the bombing’s 75th anniversary.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also called for the abolition of atomic weapons. Abe urged dialogue between countries to decrease security threats, and pledged that Japan would uphold its position of not possessing, making or introducing nuclear weapons.
“As the only country to suffer nuclear attacks, it is our duty to advance efforts to realize a world without nuclear weapons,” he said.
Disarmament will never happen, unfortunately, due to corporate greed. The lobbyists will have politicians on their side, and arms productions will continue. The politicians will use terms like ‘national defence’ to justify the productions. The common people will not have much options to stop that. Protests are brutally cracked down even in democratic countries.
HH the Dalai Lama has campaigned for a peaceful world that is free from violence of any form, including the production of arms and nuclear weapons.
His support for India’s Pokhran test was to say that when others are doing that, India too will do that. First others should stop and then ask India to stop. Else it is hypocrisy, and he cannot give a hypocritical comment.
Politics in the current trend will not see any change in any field. More and more politicians from grassroots level, such as AOC, who never could be bought by lobbyists, could become the game changer.
Why Harm the Planet?
When we take a picture of earth from Saturn, earth was just a small blue dot. All life on this planet is on this blue dot in this vast galaxy for a blink of a time. It is absolutely ridiculous, illogical and shameful for human to trash it or hurt each other and not use intelligence and resources to sustain ourselves but today, the largest industry in the world is the bloody business. If 10% of world expenditure on wars is used in higher education, every child on the planet can afford to attend Harvard U or equivalent cash. Had we done that, sustainable economy and development would have been implemented a long time ago.
Glorification, justification, capitalization of stealing through the bloody business must end now.
FYI: while Hiroshima was the target Nagasaki was not America’s primary target. One report stated Kobe was the next target while another said Kakura was earmarked for the next bomb drop along with Kyoto and Niigata.
However, on August 9, 1945 much of southern Japan was extremely cloudy, thus making it impossible for the bomber pilot to see the earmarked cities. And there was Nagasaki basking in full sun in the southernmost. And, that’s when the order was given to drop the bomb. OM MANI PADME HUM. Guess it’s fate.
Also, Mr. Hri that Kundun did touch a gun at one time, when the status quo was turbulent on the night of March 17, 1959 when Kundun was forced to disguise as a Tibetan regular soldier, with a rifle slung over his shoulder to make the escape–perhaps, in melancholy mood, to bade his summer palace Norbulingka good bye.
What fate will usher in next, we shall see.
On May 28, 1998 –17 days after India’s nuclear tests — Pakistan exploded its nuclear devices.
As such, Pakistan’s Prime Minister summoned the country’s nuclear physicist and asked him why it took so long for him to produce the bomb.
The physicist answered the reason it took so long was because all the instructions were written in CHINESE.
His Holiness The Dalai Lama has never been for nuclear weapons. He stands for ahimsa – non-violence. He would not even touch a gun nor would he witness killing.
The story goes that in his meetings with many world religious leaders and attending their religious sermons in all religious denominations that invited him, he refused to be present at a Jewish ceremony of slaughtering a lamb on the alter which I understand is one of their religious practises. He could not bear to see a poor lamb slaughtered in his presence.
HH is an incredibly kind human being and has always supported ahimsa. It is his idea that the Tibetan Movement is also based on ahimsa otherwise we are a war like people in our ancient history and the fighting spirit is within us.
When India tested nuclear weapons during the time of Bill Clinton in America and Atal Bihari Vajpayee in India, the Clinton administration was very harsh on India and imposed sanctions.
The Chinese joined the western bandwagon and condemned India. George Fernandez, who was then Defence Minister pointedly said that India had to resort to nuclear tests because China was posing the greatest threat to its National security.
During this time India was condemned by all and sundry. They mocked India by saying, why don’t you spend the money to feed your hungry millions instead of stockpiling nuclear weapons?
The Dalai Lama had to defend India who has been benevolent to him and his people after Tibet was forcibly occupied by communist China. He was defending India’s right as a sovereign nation to own and test nuclear weapons just as any other western nation or communist China.
He didn’t support nuclear weapons. Supporting the right to have nuclear weapons is different from supporting nuclear weapons.
The bombing of Hiroshima/ Nagasaki and the Holocaust are two of the greatest blot on humanity. It has inflicted untold misery and caused one of mankind’s greatest calamity on record. It also demonstrated the deadly evil that lurks in the human heart.
We saw the close nuclear Armageddon in the 1980’s when a nuclear war between the erstwhile Warsaw Pact nations and NATO led western alliance seemed inevitable.Thank goodness, Gorbachev came on the scene and with his pitch on glasnost, the Soviets opened up and rest is history.
However the danger of nuclear threat is still here. There is nobody more worthy to call for nuclear disarmament than His Holiness The Dalai Lama. He is a global peace icon who has consistently campaigned to ban all weapons of mass destruction.
Mankind is the most destructive species on earth. It has destroyed many cultures, millions of species of animals, birds and marine life. It is time politicians, intellectuals and spiritual leaders to see the looming danger and take steps to rid the world of this menace.
It is possible because slavery was abolished and so was racial segregation.
These aberrations were also the result of the sense of superiority over others and thus an entitlement in order to deny equality and dignity to others out of fear.
The notion of “us” and “they” are the root cause of animosity and threat perceptions between nations and societies. If we are able to change our attitude to see others as vital for our own existence and survival, it will endear us more towards others. This will in turn help us to dispel the threat from others.
If we don’t change our present attitude, mankind is on a trajectory of self-destruction. We have a choice between disarmament and thrive or face extinction.
I find Dalai lama’s position on nuclear weapons but ambiguous. Sometimes he is for it, sometimes he is against it. What position should Tibetans take?
When India developed Pokhran nuclear test about 20 years ago, Dalai Lama said India had right to develop nuclear weapons. However, Dalai Lama has also condemned use of nuclear weapons from all countries including India for world peace.
I am really confused. Are nuclear weapons good or bad? Should India give up nuclear weapons program to set example to the bad countries like USA, UK and China? Or should India develop weapons? Dalai lama’s position on this issue is unclear and Tibetans don’t know which side to take.
In my mind, making weapons is evil. But when India made weapons, Dalai Lama didn’t lodge a complaint but praised India. I am confused. But I don’t think weapons are never a force for good.