Yossi Schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine), 14.10.2024
The Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo has won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to achieve a world free from nuclear weapons.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday named the Japanese anti-nuclear organization Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as the winner of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.
The aging survivors of the two nuclear detonations, known as “hibakusha,” continue to campaign for a nuclear arms ban as they push to keep alive their efforts among younger generations.
Responding to a question about whether rhetoric from Russia about the use of nuclear weapons had influenced the decision, he said such threats put pressure on the norm of non-use.
“Toshiyuki Mimaki, the co-head of Nihon Hidankyo, expressed his surprise at being given the award.
“Never did I dream this could happen,” Mimaki told reporters with tears in his eyes. He said the win would be “a great force to appeal to the world that the abolition of nuclear weapons and everlasting peace can be achieved.”
Toshiyuki Mimaki, who received the Nobel Peace Prize, said: “The award should have gone to those working in Gaza.”
Mimaki, co-chairman of the Japanese anti-nuclear weapons organization Nihon Hidankyo and a survivor of Hiroshima, commented on the award: “The prize should have been given to the people working in Gaza. Children covered in blood are being carried by their parents in Gaza, just like it was in Japan 80 years ago” [i]
“Israel’s ambassador to Japan criticized on Sunday a leader of Nihon Hidankyo, the atomic bomb survivors’ group awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for comparing their experiences to the children of Gaza.
Gilad Cohen congratulated Nihon Hidankyo for winning this year’s prize but said in a post on social media platform X on Sunday the comparison drawn by the group’s co-chair, Toshiyuki Mimaki, “is outrageous and baseless” [ii]
While the prize will not end the race for the nuclear weapons, as Trotsky wrote:
“Disarmament? But the entire question revolves around who will disarm whom. The only disarmament which can avert or end war is the disarmament of the bourgeoisie by the workers. But to disarm the bourgeoisie, the workers must arm themselves.”[iii]
We respect the struggle of the Nihon Hidankyo and his statement on the aid workers in Gaza, helps the struggle against the Zionist monster and its partner to the war crime the USA, the only country that so far used the atomic bombs and that is now involved directly in the genocide war by Israel as it is sending American soldiers with the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) air defense system to Israel to prepare for intercepting ballistic missiles, N12 reported on Saturday night.
According to the report, such a decision would prompt the US to station American soldiers in Israel to operate the THAAD system [iv]
Defeat the Zionist monster!
Expel U.S imperialism from the region!
Endnotes:
[i] https://www.anews.com.tr/world/2024/10/12/mimaki-nobel-peace-prize-should-have-gone-to-those-working-in-gaza#:~:text=Mimaki%3A%20Nobel%20Peace%20Prize%20should%20have%20gone%20to,should%20have%20gone%20to%20those%20working%20in%20Gaza.
[ii] https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2024/10/13/japan-atomic-survivor-gaza-comparison/
[iii] Leon Trotsky: The Transitional programme The Struggle Against Imperialism and War
[iv] https://www.jpost.com/israel-news