80 years since Hiroshima: Time to scrap deadly and destructive nuclear weapons
This generation of leaders must end the moral abomination of nuclear weapons and ensure the devastation that was inflicted on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is never seen again, says Scottish Green Co-leader Lorna Slater.
Lorna Slater’s comments come on the 80th anniversary of the first atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are estimated to have killed over 200,000 people.
Lorna said:
“The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were among the worst atrocities ever committed.
“Thousands of lives were ended in an instant leaving a scale of destruction that had never been seen before. There can never be any kind of justification for such brutality and indiscriminate mass killing.
“Yet 80 years later we have are more deadly and destructive nuclear warheads in the world than there were then, and many of the ones we have today, including the ones that are here in Scotland, are even more powerful and would do even more damage.
“It is a moral obscenity that successive UK governments have continued to pour tens of billions of pounds into these deadly and destructive weapons, especially at a time when so many people are struggling.
“The money that is being thrown at Trident could do so much good. It would be far better spent lifting children out of poverty, tackling inequality and protecting us from the climate crisis.
“These weapons do not make us safer. They only make our world more insecure and ensure that the threat of annihilation is always there.”
Lorna added:
“The best way that we can respect and honour the memory of those that were killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki is to protect the lives of future generations by finally abolishing nuclear weapons.
“One of the many reasons I support Scottish independence is because it is our best opportunity to scrap these weapons of mass killing and join the many other nations around the world who have already signed the nuclear weapon ban.”