THIS week, we mark the 80th anniversary of the US bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when two atomic bombs killed over 400,000. Today, just one of the US bombs now stationed at RAF Lakenheath could kill over 600,000 people.

With a huge acceleration in nuclear expansionism and growing threats of confrontations across the world, never has it been more important to build the global movement to halt this new nuclear war drive.

I want to pay tribute to the Hibakusha, the atomic bomb survivors, for their incredible dedication and commitment to the struggle for a nuclear-free world. CND was honoured to host Kyoko Gibson, a second generation Hibakusha, who, alongside His Excellency Jeremiah Nyamane Mamabolo, the South African High Commissioner, spoke at our parliamentary meeting in July.

Her powerful testimony, describing the physical and emotional horror of growing up in Hiroshima just three years after the bombing, exposes the terrible human cost of nuclear war.

As I write, CND vice-presidents Jeremy Corbyn and Caroline Lucas are representing us in Japan, participating in the World Conference uniting delegates from across the globe for nuclear abolition.

This couldn’t be more urgent.

In the last week, the war in Ukraine has catastrophically escalated once again, with Donald Trump’s public announcement that he has deployed US nuclear submarines to “appropriate regions.” This is a shockingly reckless act that increases the risk of a confrontation between the world’s largest nuclear states.

The deployment increases the build-up of US nuclear weapons in the region, with the stationing of new US B61-12 bombs at Nato bases across Europe, including now — in the last two weeks — in Britain.

These bombs have been designed by the US specifically to be used on the battlefield. They are described as “small” bombs, but  they have a potential yield of up to 50 kilotons, more than three times the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. So, just one bomb could kill over 600,000 people.

The deployment of these bombs across Europe and in Britain only heightens the nuclear tensions over Ukraine.

In the Middle East, nuclear-armed Israel, backed to the hilt by Trump, continues its genocide, using the obscene “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” to starve and terrorise the Palestinian people. It is now threatening to expand its military offensive in Gaza.

Both Trump and Netanyahu have plunged the region into further crisis with the illegal bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities. Trump is threatening to bomb Iran again, which risks pushing Iran towards developing nuclear weapons.

Britain’s significant nuclear expansion is also directly contributing to the global nuclear dangers.

Starmer’s purchase of 12 US F35A fighter jets — designed specifically to launch the B61-12 bombs — means by the end of the decade Britain could launch nuclear bombs from the sea and from the sky.

This comes in the context of the government’s plans to move to “war-fighting readiness,” backed by a pledge to double military spending to 5 per cent of GDP by 2035.

The expansion ties Britain all the more firmly into Nato’s nuclear mission, ensuring that Britain’s nuclear policy and priorities are further subordinated to Trump’s global war drive. Given the role that Trump is playing not just in Ukraine, but also in the Middle East, this is a catastrophic direction.

So, is it absolutely critical that we do everything we can to force political leaders to step back from the nuclear brink. We have to expose the lie that nuclear weapons keep us safe. They are the most powerful and toxic weapons ever created. Their use threatens not only our entire existence, but all forms of life.

They are not some abstract threat, but a daily danger to us all. From the people of Japan whose lives have been destroyed by the bombings and continue to live in pain and anguish today. To the indigenous peoples in the Pacific Islands, Australia and the US whose lives and their homelands have been destroyed by the radiation poisoning of nuclear testing. To the millions in this country being forced by the Starmer government to live in poverty and degradation to fund these weapons of mass destruction.

Pressure is already building to halt this reckless, deadly drive to nuclear war. More and more people are joining CND, horrified and outraged at the reckless nuclear brinksmanship of Trump and this government’s relentless war drive.

Polling by More in Commons shows that young people in particular, understand the threat of nuclear weapons.

Protests are planned for RAF Lakenheath and a new campaign is being launched to challenge Britain’s nuclear expansionism. There is strong support for an open, public debate on the alternative to this deadly war drive.

Meetings are taking place across the country to explore the alternatives to war, nukes and militarism and to debunk the myth of the “defence dividend.” The Alternative Defence Review, a report produced by the RMT with CND’s trade union advisory group, is helping shape these debates, given its call for a shift toward a significantly demilitarised defence strategy rooted in human security and common security.

So, as we remember the hundreds of thousands who had their lives cruelly taken by the US atomic bombings, I urge everyone to make a commitment. Join the global anti-nuclear movement and help us to secure a future for people and planet.

Commemorative events to mark the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are taking place across the country today and on Saturday. See CND’s website for more details.

https://cnduk.org/events/no-more-hiroshimas-2025-events/
Sophie Bolt is general secretary of CND