Remembering Our Past, Shaping Our Future: How Disarmament Protects Communities – 81st Session of the UN General Assembly

Hello, hello. Welcome back to the SDG Media Zone. Our next session is about to start. Please take your seats and quiet down. So welcome back to the SDG Media Zone. We are live from UN headquarters here during the General Assembly. I'm happy to introduce the next panel and they're going to talk about disarmament and how we can protect our communities. I'm going to hand it over to the moderator. Thank you.

Thank you so much for being here for the SDG Media Zone. To kick off the discussion today, we're going to start with a trailer for a new film. It's titled 80 is the most dangerous anniversary. It's directed by Frank Chi, who will who joins us today. Thank you.

There are worrying signs that the world is entering into a new nuclear arms race. Nuclear weapons used to have a certain sort of taboo about them. That taboo is just disappearing. Yeah. States are threatening to return to testing. If one state tests, others would. After 80 years, we lose generational memory. 80 years after Hiroshima, survivors wonder whether the world has learned anything from what happened here. Tina, if you go back 80 years in your family tree, what's the first thing you see?

I see the little village I was raised in. It was like an Eden.

Howard, if I ask you to go back 80 years in time, what do you see?

I see my grandmother saying, "Get off the roof." But these kinds of memories are fading. And memorials to the past are starting to lose their power. What will happen when we're all gone?

So thank you so much for that, Frank. So I hope that this film will ground today's discussion in what matters most when we're talking about nuclear weapons, and that is the human toll. I'm Spencer Cohen, and I'm a journalist at the New York Times on the opinion page. And we have a fantastic panel for you. We have Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu, the Undersecretary General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. We have Frank Chi, the director of the film, which you just saw the trailer for, 80th is the most dangerous anniversary. He's an Emmy award-winning filmmaker. And we have Liana Liu, you know, the, you know, yes, she's a Cypriot peacebuilder and recent participant in UNODA's Youth Leader Fund for a World Without Nuclear Weapons program. So to kick things off, I want to start with the Under Secretary General. So the world is entering a new nuclear age, yet the number of Avon survivors and fallout survivors is dwindling. How will this loss of memory change the way states talk and think about nuclear weapons? How did stories like theirs, like the ones we see in this film, serve as a guardrail against nuclear war since the dawn of the atomic age?

Well, thank you very much. Just call me Izumi. I'm just one of those people who want to make sure that the memory will be kept, and then we create a new momentum to make sure that we will go back towards the path of eliminating nuclear weapons. Now, I think the hibakushas, who are the survivors of atomic bombings, And then, um, a lot of, uh, survivors of nuclear testings, whether they're from Kazakhstan or from the Pacific Islands, uh, I think they have actually given us a real sort of inspirations. a real strong passion and understanding why we need to work on this. That's the power of memory, the story. We believe in the storytelling, the importance of it, because it empowers us and it gives us energy. I mean, if I could just put my own story, My late father was born in Kumamoto, which is the prefecture just next to Nagasaki. And when he was 15 years old, he saw the mushroom cloud from Nagasaki, from his own town. And I grew up listening to those stories. My late mother was born in Nagasaki. By the time of the atomic bombing, she had already moved out of the city, but she had many people, she knew many people who actually perished because of the atomic bombings. If you actually grew up with these kinds of stories, it gives you something additional to all the kind of policy discussions that I'm involved in, many of the conference rooms, discussions and negotiations that I'm involved in. That's what the utility of the story and the memories. We are now going to lose very soon the direct stories that I was benefiting when I was growing up. So we need to make sure that it will be kept and it will continue to inspire younger people who will become the next generation a new generation of peace builders and nuclear abolition movement advocates, et cetera. So that's why we are here as the United Nations, starting all these flagship activities, youth for disarmament and youth leadership for a world free of nuclear weapons.

Thank you. Yeah, I mean, there's nothing that makes you understand the toll of these weapons like sitting across from a survivor and hearing these. I mean, Frank, I mean, this phenomenal film, I mean, you brought together a survivor from Hiroshima and a sort of downwind survivor from the United States. And I thought it was very compelling to put these two stories together. I mean, for two countries that have had such different relationships in nuclear weapons over 80 years. I guess I just sort of wanted to understand, I mean, what came to the forefront when you put these stories together? I mean, sort of, I mean, and so were you worried anything distinct would be lost and sort of, I mean, it's such a compelling film. I just want to understand. Thank you.

Thank you. I appreciate that. And, you know, I think the way I look at my role as a storyteller is to bring stories that you might not put together in your head immediately and see if we can find common ground, right? That is the essence of storytelling. It's the essence of cultural diplomacy, which is if a film is done well, that's what it can be used for. I have always been like really overwhelmed by the testimony of the hibakusha. But I think for me, when I encountered Howard's story, the Hiroshima survivor that you see in the film, it It allowed me to connect with it because he was telling it in such a compelling way that I think made every single audience member, no matter your background, really have a deep connection to it. And he's 88 years old, right? And this is the reason why it's called 80 is the most dangerous anniversary, something that he says. during the process of making this film, I originally wanted to call this film the hibakusha and the downwinder. And during the process of making this film, we realized that not many people know what those words mean. And that's the urgency of this story. 80 years is generational memory. It's the end of generational memory. We, in this age, cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the past. So if we lose touch with the connection of people who lived through that era, then we are not doing a service to the urgency of this moment. So I'm really grateful for both Howard and for Tina, who is the downwinder represented in this film, who talk about generations. She's had five generations of family members who's dealt with cancer since the Trinity test. To bring these two stories together And I know you see them side by side, but in the film, we actually bring them in conversation and we hear them talk about their commonalities. That's the kind of storytelling that as people who care about memory and cultural diplomacy, we should all be working towards.

Thank you. No, I mean, that's really, like, end of generational memory. I mean, and I think the question, what comes next? And I mean, then that's the next generation. And so, I mean, I guess, I mean, young people like us, I mean, we're inheriting a world where sort of nuclear risk is growing, stockpiles in some countries are starting to grow, yet nuclear war and testing, I mean, it feels so far in the past. I mean, it's something we sort of often see in black and white, or sort of see in the history books. I mean, how can we make it feel urgent again? I mean, how can we sort of make nuclear war and the danger from it feel urgent to a generation that sort of didn't grow up with nuclear fear sort of plastered into their mind, at least until recently.

Thank you. I would like to answer from the perspective of participating in the YLF program. And with 50 other youth, I had the opportunity to visit Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and we're all moved by what we saw on the ground. And by the end of the program, we were all left with the same question. How on earth are we going to transmit to the other young people in our countries what we saw on the ground? And talking with the other YLFers from countries in conflict, we realized that already nuclear weapons, just by existing, are impacting the conflicts in our countries. In my country, Cyprus, we still have thousands of active landmines. And in other conflicts around the world, we see weapons such as grenades, explosives, and even machine guns, destroying lives. And officially, we have a word for these weapons. We call these weapons conventional weapons. And what makes them conventional is the fact that they're non-nuclear weapons. So just by existing, nuclear weapons are legitimizing and normalizing the use of so-called conventional weapons that kill people every single day. And this is a vicious circle. Because at the same time, the fact that so-called conventional weapons are being used everywhere with impunity means that there is at the very least a plausible excuse that nuclear advocates can use to say that we need nuclear deterrence in order to have some level of security as a country. So as a generation, how do we feel the nuclear urgency? We do it by understanding that nuclear weapons are already deeply entrenching us deeper into the conflicts in our countries.

Thank you so much. And I guess I'm Izumi. I mean, I think I'm curious about the role of the UN and of UNODA. I mean, the UN is now undertaking the first major scientific study on the effects of nuclear war in some 40 years. The results are expected next year. I guess sort of there's a gap in public understanding. I mean, in terms of nuclear war, in terms of the catastrophic effects, I mean, it feels so abstract. I mean, what do people still fail to sort of understand about the consequences? And I guess, how can this panel, how can the results of this panel of these sort of these experts help fill this gap?

Right, so this scientific study, it's a member states decision. We are mandated by the General Assembly to put together the world's top scientists, come from different fields. As you said, the last independent UN scientific study on this issue was issued in 1989. So it's been a while, many things have happened since then, the world has changed, the technology has changed. So the member states felt that we need to now listen to scientists' analysis to make sure that the public and the policymakers understand the impact of nuclear war in today's world. Now, it's going to be a very... I'm so excited that the report will be issued sometime next year, summer, around the summer. And it will address the issues of nuclear war at the local level, regional level, and if I could put it as a, you know, planetary level, both direct and indirect impact. Now, the last study during the, you know, during the Cold War, many people came to realize what we call the nuclear winter effect. nuclear war would not be limited to, you know, one particular place, but because of the the the the the cloud, the dust, it will have a global impact. And that really moved the public understanding that led to a lot of momentum. And, you know, in terms of a nuclear disarmament movement this time, because the world has changed so much, you know, they will be the scientists already are looking at both direct health and environment, all these impacts, but also indirect impact, and also the impact of a potential scenario of what they call a limited nuclear use. What if 10 nuclear weapons or 20 nuclear weapons were used in a given region, would that be limited to the, would the impact be limited to that particular region? The scientists are already discovering that no, that would not be the case. The impact will be actually cascading and then become a global impact, not just in terms of a health and environmental sort of nuclear radiation impact, but also the world's economy, trade and governance. The whole system will be disrupted. And I think that is, you know, in the world that we are living in, we are already seeing a lot of impact, negative impact. The Straits of Hormuz is a case in point. What would happen if nuclear weapons are involved in that sort of a context? So You know, this is going to be a very important contribution, evidence-based, science-based, coming from the world's really top scientists, academic people, and the fact that the member states felt that it is a really important contribution that we need for nuclear weapons policy discussions is also quite an important one. And that's one of the things that the UN member states also can do to move policy debates on the basis of scientific evidence and data.

Thank you, Soma. So a nuclear strike anywhere will impact us all. Only even if only a handful of weapons are used or a single weapon. I mean, we will all be impacted. And I guess just to end, I wanted to sort of go back to where we started. Again, the survivors. I think we always have to put them at the center of the conversation. I mean, Frank and Leana, I mean, you both have spent time with survivors. You've had conversations with them. I mean, I guess as that generation sort of is reaching the end of their lives, I mean, what is going to be the hardest to preserve and to pass along, I mean, to the generation beyond ours that did not have that same experience? Frank, if we could start with you.

You know, I think the only thing I could say is like, we just have to tell more stories, right? If you're a storyteller and you're compelled to retain the memory of a generation that's passing, there's no like silver bullet. You just gotta tell more stories. And for me, the urgency of generational memory ending means that, you know, if we didn't do a good enough job as a species in the 20th century to make people understand what the words hibakusha and downwater means, it's our job in the 21st century to tell as many stories as possible until that education is real. And, you know, I think Look, if the 20th century made millions of hibakusha and downwinders, it is sort of our obligation in the 21st century to make sure that number stays at zero. And the only way we can do that is through cultural diplomacy, through storytelling, and the kind of world that that kind of story can tell.

Thank you. And, Liana, I mean, you spent time in Hiroshima and Nagasaki with survivors. Can you sort of talk a little bit about that and sort of about preserving and passing on those stories?

I think what will be the hardest to preserve is the silence and the silence left behind. Not all hibakusha spoke, but many of them spoke, and because of that, we can hear all the silence left by both those who suffered but chose not to speak and those who died before they were able to choose for themselves. And the biggest privilege of going to Nagasaki and Hiroshima with the World Life Program was the fact that we got the opportunity to realize just how much strength and resilience it takes to rebuild a single life and a single city. And I cannot help but wonder if perhaps this is the reason that as humanity, we seem to have lost our moral conscience when it comes to nuclear weapons, because many people survive, because they did manage to rebuild and because they did have the resilience. Are we overestimating human resilience and at the same time underestimating how much these weapons are able to function exactly as we designed them to? So what we should be afraid of is not that we forget the survivors of both atomic bombs and atomic tests, but that we forget and we make their stories into vague narratives about resilience and rebuilding without the wider context. Thank you.

Well, thank you so much. I mean, I really thank you so much all for coming to this panel. I mean, thank you three for this great panel. I think we'll end it there. Well, thank you.