Campaigns: Hiroshima 50 events

The Campaigns column this month concentrates on activities being planned for the 50^th anniversaries of the Bomb. There will be a tour of Britain by two hibakusha -- survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs -- from 27 June to 16 July. The itinerary is 27 June London; 28 June Norwich; 29 June Sheffield; 30 June Leeds; 3 July Newcastle; 4 July Glasgow and Edinburgh; 6 July Carlisle; 7 July Manchester; 8 July Coventry; 10 July Birmingham; 11 July Cardiff; 13 July Bristol; 14 July Reading; and 16 July at the CND Trinity Test demo in Trafalgar Square, London. Contact Yorkshire and Humberside CND, 22 Edmund St, Bradford BD5 (01274 730795) for venue details.

The anniversary of the Trinity test on 16 July 1945 -- the first above-ground nuclear weapons test -- is being observed in Alamagordo, New Mexico by Nevada Desert Experience, PO Box 4487, Las Vegas NV 89127 USA. Two pilgrimages also begin in Alamagordo at this time: Atomic Mirror, from New Mexico to Japan, retracing the route taken by the bomb (tel +1 805 985 5073) and Caravan to End the Nuclear Age from Alamagordo to Washington DC (Nuclear Information Resource Service, 1424 16^th St NW no.601, Washington DC 20036 USA (tel +1 202 328 0002; email nirsnet@igc.apc.org).

At the US defence department headquarters in the Pentagon, there will be daily civil disobedience from 16 July to 9 August. Information from Atlantic Life Community, PO Box 1138, New York NY 10001 USA (+1 718 220 4227) or 1995 Disarmament Coalition, 3047 Fourth St NE, Washington DC 20017 USA (+1 202 635 0441).

The 6-9 August period will be marked by protest camps outside several different nuclear facilities around the world. A few of these are: Clam Lake naval communications base, Wisconsin USA (Stop Project ELF, Anathoth Community Farm, 740 Round Lake Rd, Luck WI 54853 USA; tel +1 715 472 8721); Oak Ridge production reactor, Tennessee, USA (Nashville Peace Action, PO Box 121333, Nashville TN 37212 USA; tel +1 615 438 8202); Nevada Test Site, USA (Nevada Desert Experience, PO Box 4487, Las Vegas, NV 89127, USA; tel +1 702 646 4814); Clyde submarine base, Faslane, Scotland (Faslane Peace Camp, Shandon, Helensburgh, Dumbartonshire, Scotland; tel +44 1436 820901).

This year's World Conference Against A and H Bombs in Japan follows the usual formula of a week-long travelling meeting, with an "International Meeting" in Hiroshima from 3-5 August followed by a two-day event around the anniversary on 5-6 August. Participants then go on to Nagasaki for other events on 8-9 August. Organising Committee, World Conference Against A and H Bombs, 6-19-23 Simbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105, Japan (tel +87 3 34311014; fax 34318781). The same organisers are responsible for an international action, the ninth international Peace Wave, between 3 and 9 August. The common themes for actions this year are "the elimination of nuclear weapons" and the gathering of signatures for a common international appeal. Interested groups should contact the organising committee with details of what sort of action they intend to do.