Hiroshima-Nagasaki Remembrance & Floating Peace Lantern Ceremony

On August 6 and 9, the world will commemorate the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. The Monterey County branch of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) invites the public to gather to honor those who suffered and still suffer from the 1945 bombings. This moving ceremony reaffirms the imperative for global nuclear weapons abolition and prohibition so that such a tragedy is never repeated. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, an explicit and comprehensive international law, went into force on January 22, 2021. As of July 5, 2023, 68 nation-states have ratified or acceded to the treaty. The United States has not yet signed or ratified the treaty. (Read more at https://ICANW.org). This free event is respectful, inclusive and free of cultural appropriation.

Program:

Emcee: Beverly Bean, Chair of WILPF Monterey County Branch
Guest Speaker: Dr. Sharat G. Lin, medical physicist, is affiliated with Human Agenda and is a Board Advisor for the Initiative for Equality. He teaches, writes and lectures on global political economy, migrant labor, public health, environment, war and peace, and arts in social activism. Contact Sharat Lin at 408-915-9744 or sharatlin [at] hotmail.com

Schedule:

7:00 pm: Lantern making and performance of Monterey’s Taiko Drumming group, Shinsho-Mugen Daiko.
7:45 pm: Music, poetry, and brief stories and messages of hope and peace.
8:15 pm: Launching of the peace lanterns. Tai-Chi Master Jim Scott-Behrends will play meditative music on the Japanese bamboo shakuhachi flute while the peace lanterns are pulled serenely on the cove waters by kayakers.

Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/events/168475362895672

Sponsored by Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Monterey County Branch

Co-sponsored by the City of Pacific Grove, the Peace Coalition of Monterey County (PCMC), Monterey Peninsula Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Veterans For Peace - Chapter 46, and the Monterey Peace and Justice Center (MPJC).

Kayaks loaned by Pacific Grove Adventures, Lovers Point, CA.

About Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Monterey County Branch: WILPF is a worldwide organization established in 1915. Our vision is a world of permanent peace built on feminist foundations of freedom, justice, nonviolence, human rights, and equality for all, where people, the planet, and all its other inhabitants coexist and flourish in harmony. The Monterey County Branch works collaboratively and in solidarity all across the WILPF movement, and in partnership with other individuals and organizations who align with our vision.

Email: Beverly Bean, WILPF Chair, beverlygb [at] gmail.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WILPFMonterey