PeaceWorks Kansas City congratulates the Hibakusha—survivors of the US nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945—for receiving the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize Oct. 11. The recipient, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, often shortened to Nihon Hidankyō, since 1956 has supported Hibakusha in telling their personal stories of the attacks and in lobbying governments to abolish nuclear weapons. PeaceWorks KC was formed in 1982 to resist nuclear weapons and has continued that mission, often protesting the Kansas City National Security Campus, where 80 percent of the mechanical and electrical parts for US nuclear weapons are made or procured.

In March, PeaceWorks Vice President Ann Suellentrop joined a Pax Christi USA (Peace of Christ USA) pilgrimage to Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. The pilgrims had prepared apologies for the US bombings and read them. Ann’s statement at a gathering in Kyoto included these points:

“I am a pediatric nurse, retired after having cared for children for 45 years. I come from Kansas City, in the exact middle of the United States. Kansas City is known as the “Heart of America.” But I think that we have a heart problem or heart disease (!) because Kansas City is home to a nuclear bomb plant, now called the National Security Campus! It is one of the 8 major sites that together make US nuclear weapons.

“I have been arrested three times for protesting by trespassing at the plant in civil disobedience. Last October, for the first time, a judge found me not guilty of the charge. Altogether over the last 15 years there have been about 200 arrests at the plant for nonviolent civil disobedience during our protests.  

“I now have some very bad news to tell you. Kansas City’s National Security Campus is planning to double in size this year and eventually hire as many workers as worked there during the Cold War: 9,000 workers. This huge expansion is happening because the US plans to spend $2 trillion dollars over the next 30 years to make all new nuclear weapons. This is an abomination, and we must resist!”

PeaceWorks KC is delighted the Hibakusha have won the coveted Nobel Peace Prize!