Around Town
Watertown Man Joins Nobel Peace Prize Delegation, Supports Local Resolution for Nuclear Disarmament
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Dr. Joseph Gerson joined the delegation at the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo in December. Each member of the delegation had the opportunity to be photographed with the Nobel Prize. The following piece was provided by Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice & the Environment:
Dr. Joseph Gerson, a resident of Watertown, joined the delegation of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize given to Nihon Hidankyo in Oslo on December 10 of last year. Nihon Hidankyo, the Japanese Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, was formed in 1956. In the words of Terumi Tanaka, one of the three representatives from the organization, “Having ourselves survived the inhumane impacts of atomic bombing, damage unprecedented in history, we launched this movement to ensure such suffering would never be repeated.” One of their guiding demands is “the immediate abolition of nuclear weapons, as extremely inhuman weapons of mass killing, which must not be allowed to coexist with Humanity.” Jorgen Watne Frydnes, Chair of the Norwegian Noble Committee, in explaining why Nihon Hidankyo received the Noble Peace Prize for 2024, reiterated the sentiment of Tanaka Terumi when he stated, “Nihon Hidankyo is receiving the Prize for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.”
Dr. Gerson, the author of numerous books on nuclear weapons and nuclear policy, including “With Hiroshima Eyes: Atomic War, Nuclear Extortion and Moral Imagination” published in 1995 on the eve of the 50 anniversary of the atomic bombings stated, “Among the last things I ever imagined was participating in the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.
