The 2008 elections will bring about opportunities the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades. If played well, we will be able to dramatically change the American conversation around nuclear weapons.

Since taking office, the Bush administration has reiterated a nuclear posture that neither addresses our modern security necessities nor is in line with international non-proliferation sentiment. The administration has proposed, time and again, plans for a refurbished nuclear stockpile and infrastructure that would support the most offensive US nuclear posture in the last sixty years and encourage development of nuclear weapons by other nations. These last seven years have distorted the world’s dialogue on nuclear weapons. Instead of talking about when and how to make reductions, we are fighting back a new build-up. The 2008 elections could change all of that.

Every year, Peace Action’s Japanese sister organization, Gensuiken, invites a Peace Action staff person to attend Japan’s annual World Conference on Nuclear Weapons, a commemoration of the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and a recommitment to making progress towards the abolition of nuclear weapons.
This year, Peace Action sent Reva Patwardhan, Peace Action West’s Communications Director, to the week-long conference held in three cities: Osaka, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. Here are her experiences: