August 06, 2013

Nuclear Abolition Week: A great success

"Nuclear Abolition Week 2013 witnessed the launch of ICAN’s new public outreach initiative, Share Your Shadow. When a nuclear weapon explodes, the blast vaporises every living being in its path, reducing them to shadows burned into the wall. These ashen imprints, still visible in Hiroshima and Nagasaki today, are known as nuclear shadows."

From ICAN: the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons:

"To raise awareness of the catastrophic humanitarian consequences caused by nuclear weapons, more than five hundred people shared their shadows with their friends and contacts on Facebook and Twitter, including the former President of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Óscar Arias, the deputy Foreign Minister of Norway, Gry Larsen, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Angela Kane, and Nobel Prize laureate in physics Dr. Jack Steinberger (see below). To see all the shadow pictures shared during Nuclear Abolition Week 2013, click here.

In Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North America and in the Pacific, for Nuclear Abolition Week 2013, ICAN campaigners organised bike trips, Target X actions, flag hoisting, parties, cabin trips, church services, beach days, press conferences, exhibitions, public meetings, round tables, meetings with government officials, social media outreach, film screenings, pub quizzes, and many other activities. In addition to this, more than five hundred people shared their shadows in solidarity with the victims of nuclear detonations, and several thousands signed ICAN’s online petition calling for a treaty banning nuclear weapons. This report outlines the main achievements of Nuclear Abolition Week 2013."