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27-01-22 ------------------------------------------------------- Holocaust of the past and present Dear Ernesto, Many thanks for your brilliant verse dedicated to the brutal Holocaust memory that claimed the lives of more than 6 million Jews, children, women, the elderly, innocent citizens killed and burned by Hitler's National Socialist regime. Along with a stunning photo illustrating the Holocaust of the past and modern Donbas: https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=ru_c&key=647 as an inevitable fruit of militaristic democracy. They are published on your page: https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=338. Or are you not interested in the Holocaust of other nations and children? Hitler's regime, as history shows, was nurtured by European militaristic democracy and funded by the USA. This democracy has no immunity against the fascist destruction of ANY people of ANY nationality. Western and US democracies are now feeding a similar regime in Ukraine, generously funding it and filling it with lethal weapons against their people of a different, Russian nationality, in the Donbas. This is happening in front of the eyes of the “democratic” west and USA, which, like under Hitler, notice NOTHING and say NOTHING and do NOTHING to prevent the second revival of fascism under Bandera Nazi slogans in Ukraine. Do you see it or do you not see that the roots of Nazism are in the militarism of any democracy, be it American, Ukrainian or European, which has been written about for a long time and a lot? Today, no democracy, in its militaristic form, is immune from Nazism. Only the democracy of the Gandhian spherons has immunity from Nazism, which has found a fundamental scientific justification in the GGHA books and projects with your active participation, over 17 years of its work. This is reflected in our latest, 81st project: "Global Peace Strategy 2022" (https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=ru_c&key=935), about which we have not yet heard your opinion. only this strategy of peace, only on the basis of our unique, innovative "Spherons Global Peace MegaScience" (SGPM), excludes the repetition of any Nazism in any society, as well as ANY militarism. No other social conception, in its traditional, class partiality, trampling on the harmonious integrity of spherons, is able to guarantee the eradication of the most severe violence against every person, which we see in pogroms in all democracies, both American and European. Nobody knows such a concept. Such a concept simply does not exist, which indicates the weakness of a holistic peacemaking intellect, thinking, consciousness and science. Only we, the GGHA, have created, in the first approximation, similar science, verified it with world statistics, than not a single traditional concept shines, and verified it with our peacemaking experience of hundreds of humanitarians from more than 50 countries over 17 years. Why are we silent about this one ray of global peace in the dark and dominating democratic realm of total violence, militarism, wars and new racial Holocausts? What do you think about it? We must not only remember the tragic past, but also prevent its repetition in the future. WHO, what community, except for spherons can prevent and exclude Holocausts, even in Auschwitz, even in the Donbas in the future? What do you think about it? With best wishes for peace from the spherons harmony, excluding any Holocaust, Leo, 27-01-22 ------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- Congratulations for Ernesto Kahan on his 81th birthday December 2, 2021 https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=791 Congratulations for Ernesto Kahan on his 80th birthday December 2, 2020 https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=791 Congratulations for Ernesto Kahan on his 79th birthday December 2, 2019 https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=791 University Professor - Poet – PhysicianPresident- Israeli Association Writers. Spanish Branch
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Ernesto Kahan GHA - 1st Vice-President |
December 26, 2010
Dear friends,
I am happy to report that I received about 20 positive responses for Prof. Ernesto Kahan as the GHA First Vice-President. I have not received any negative response. Therefore, the GHA approved Prof. Ernesto Kahan (Israel, personal page: http://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=338) as the GHA First Vice President since December 24, 2010.
I am happy to congratulate Ernesto, my brother in spirit, with the high election and wish him success in his new post and a friendly work together to guide the GHA.
We are all very hopeful that Ernesto, with his brilliant qualities and as an eminent world person achieves the new successes in GHA recognition in the world, primarily in the UNESCO, the UN, governments, international foundations and international civil society as a whole.
Many members of the GHA is not limited to a simple "YES", so I can not resist to quote some revelations about Ernesto, which fill us with pride for this high harmonious personality:
Marie ROBERT (France): Ernesto must be appreciated for the wonderful human being he is, so generous, so simple, so clear, so luminous! And I love Ernesto for his wonderful heart and intelligent spirit… He was the Vice-president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, an organization recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985… BUT FIRST, ERNESTO WANTS TO BE OUR FRIEND, OUR BROTHER, OUR LOVER OF LIFE as a simple human being at the service of the best thoughts…
Susana Roberts (Argentina): Great!! This a kind of e.mail you deserve Dr Ernesto..a long very nice email with such profound recognition for who you really are and give to all of people along your life as good teacher of Peace..
Claude Véziau (Canada): Dear Ernesto, every word in these testimonies are well deserved. May I, in spite of my rare participation, express my best sentiments to you for all of your untiering work to fulfill the dream of everlasting peace and harmony on our planet.
Guy Crequie (France): He is worthy of this honor and responsibility; this, because he is large by the spirit, and large by the heart.
Kae Morii (Japan):Dr. Ernesto Kahan! Yes! on his great humanity and I respect all, especially I was impressed so much in his visiting in this summer. In all round, he is really intellectual, moderate, gentle, excellent, generous, and grand man who can view for world peace.
Tholana Chakravarthy (India): the BEST OPTION for Presidentship to steer the Peace boat of GHA is none other than Prof. Ernesto Kahan.
Ammar Banni (Algeria): Leo chose Ernesto as president who takes over for harmony and peace. I think I met them both, I find such an ideal complement ! It's a great idea…
Dimitris P. Kraniotis (Greece):Leo, Your suggestion for my friend Ernesto Kahan as the GHA First Vice President is the best choice. I agree for your proposal.
Laj Utreja (USA): I fully support the nomination of Prof. Ernesto Kahan as the GHA First Vice-President. I can’t think of anyone more deserving for this position. He is a true representative of a harmonious civilization.
All these and similar brilliant references, especially: "He is a true representative of a harmonious civilization" reaffirm his highest honorary title GHA: World Harmony Creator and the correctness of our choice as the GHA First Vice-president!
Dear Ernesto: I wish you a Happy New Year, good health and success in the GHA!
Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate it today!
Best harmony wishes,
Dr. Leo Semashko
GHA President
www.peacefromharmony.org
24/12/10
Global Harmony Association (GHA) Since 2005, GHA is an international NGO uniting more 400 members in 48 countries and more than one million participants from the GHA collective members in 80 countries. GHA Founder and President is Dr. Leo Semashko Address: Telephone: +7 (812) 597-65-71, Web: www.peacefromharmony.org Email: leo.semashko@gmail.com andtacvarthy@yahoo.com GHA-USA President is Dr. Laj Utreja Address: Telephone: 256-604-6927e-mail : ish0001@aol.com GHA Or: pave a conscious way for harmonious civilization |
_____________________________________________________________________________
December 2, 2010
Certificate
GHA recognizes in the Highest Honorary Title
World Harmony Creator
ERNESTO KAHAN
Professor Emeritus, MD MPH, Poet, Writer & Physician
World
Albert Schweitzer Peace Award 1991
Former Vice President of IPPNW (Org. awarded Nobel Peace Prize 1985)
GHA Vice-President
For his great spiritual contribution into global harmonious peace-making and for active participation in many of the GHA 20 projects in four books:
- Harmonious Civilization(2009): http://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=379;
- World Harmony/Peace Academy (2008): http://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=277;
- Magna Carta of Harmony (2007): http://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=3;
- Harmonious Era Calendar (2006): http://www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=ru_c&key=190;
Ernesto Kahan is fully devoted to the GHA Mission and modern turn from a culture of industrialism to a culture of harmonism through his activity for harmonious peace as the world famous poet, physician and “Genocide” coauthor.
Ernesto Kahan’s personal page on the section “World Harmony Persons” of GHA website “Peace from Harmony” is: http://www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=338.
Dr. Leo Semashko,
GHA President
Dr. Laj Utreja,
GHA-USA President
Everlasting Peace from A-Genocide of
The nomination of Hiroshima/Nagasaki for the Nobel Peace Prize
Prof. Ernesto Kahan*,
Ladies and gentlemen:
It is for me a great privilege to be part of this Conference prepared by the International Peace Culture Forum, and devoted to maybe the most urgent and important problem of our time: To eliminate the threat of nuclear war and to achieve a peace framework for humankind that will respond to the XXI century's characteristics and needs.
Since I am a physician I will consider the issue as a disease, and thus I will present its history, diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and, recommendations for the personnel that should provide the care; in the present case, we my friends and all mankind. Concerning this last aspect I will try to answer a frequent question: What can an individual do to change the situation if he feels his power is insignificant?
History
Slides: Photo of the A Bomb –
Diagnosis
Masao Tomonaga, former International director of Japan International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War – JIPPNW and Professor in
Slides:
Nuclear Weapons proliferation - Nuclear weapons states 2010 - Nuclear Overkill in the 2003-4 = 2.667 World War II – Photos of new nuclear heads – Intercontinental missiles – Spiral of false security – mistakes
In the current world, after all the greatest technological and scientific advancements, there is still much inequality of opportunities and terrible misery. Eighty-one percent of the inhabitants of the world live in developing countries with an annual income of 3,580 US$ (American dollars) per year, while the remaining 19% have an income of 22.060 US$; 48% live with less than 2 US$ and 20% with less than 1 US$ for a day; 47% do not have access to basic health; 25% do not live in houses or these are not acceptable by any basic standard; 17% do not have access to drinking water; 16% do not know how to read and write; 14% suffer from malnutrition; and only one % has access to secondary or higher education. Today, we write and publish in Web pages and magazines of literature, but we do not reach at the population, since less than 10% have access to Internet.
Slides: Destruction before detonation - Each day, in different parts of the world, 24,000 people die of hunger (one every 3.6 seconds. Three out of four of them are children under five).
I am going to cite a fragment of the Statement on the 5th Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates signed in
Prognosis
Slides: Nuclear Winter
Figure 1. Pyramid based on insecurity, fear, and distrust. The continued existence of nuclear weapons, the increasing trade in conventional arms, and growing societal violence produce this pyramid and perpetuate a culture of violence
All violence in society and among nations - all wars, - are based on insecurity and intolerance. All conflicts that are not resolved non-violently perpetuate a vicious cycle. only nations working together on the basis of equity, justice, empowerment of their peoples and the sharing of global resources can ensure common security and world peace. This is 4 the unifying paradigm of IPPNW's mission in the North and South, East and Westiii.
Treatment
Figure 2. Pyramid based on common security, trust and growing societal culture of peace
Our civilization never, in all its history, was under two real opposed feasibilities. on one hand, by the use of atomic weapons or slowly by the destruction of the environment, it faces the possibility to completely exterminate the life on Earth. But on the other hand, since human society reached the necessary level of development, it is now possible to totally eliminate hunger in the world - what seemed incredible just few years ago- and also to achieve a universal contract of harmony that will assure the peaceful relationship among the countries. This neither could be possible to predict during the II World War, or during the called "Cold War".
The conclusion is simple: It is necessary to enroll ourselves in the campaign towards harmony for this kind of contract, which although is not an easy job, is not at all a utopia.
What harmony means?
For me harmony is the state of equilibrium among the component of a system that by nature, tend to entropy. It can be achieve by tolerance which is a kind of negotiated acceptance by each component or by groups of the components of the system. Harmony should be the basis for the peaceful coexistence among nations and political agreements. Harmony can never be eternal and complete, but is essential in the present stage of our civilization if mankind have to survive.
To the previous question: What can an individual do to change the situation if he feels his power is insignificant? I answer: The refusal of stigmas is the first step to achieve real peace agreements, the second occurs when sincerely one side understand the needs of the considered enemy and the third, is generated when these feelings are transmitted to him. All the rest it comes naturally or with aid from facilitators. Thus, it is clear that the process begins in our mind.
Role of
I agree with Professor Hideo Nakazawa, the president of the executive of Peace on Earth Project, who in the Project Protocol for the International Peace Culture Forum. A New Approach to Peace, wrote: "In view of the current situation,
Under this framework I, in common with Poet and Philosopher Guy Crequie, proposed for the Nobel Prize 2010, the organization Mayors for Peace and their President and Vice president Mayors of the city of
Now I am in
i Kahan E and Taki Y. Genocide, p. 4-9 Nihon Tosho Center Co., LTD, Tokyo © 2006 ISBN4-10001-7.
ii Statement of the 5th Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates. November 12, 2004,
iii L. Forrow and
* Prof. Emeritus Dr. Ernesto Kahan MD MPH.
University Professor - Poet – Physician
President- Israeli Association of Writers. Spanish Branch
Former Vice President of IPPNW (Nobel Peace Prize) and the actual president of the Israeli Branch
Honorary President of SIPEA – International Society of Poets Writers and Artists
Vice President Intl Forum for Literature and Culture of Peace (IFLAC)
President -UHE- UNION HISPANOAMERICAN WRITERS.
Vice President. Global Harmony Association (GHA)
========================================================
Sixty five years after the atomic destruction of
August 2010 Ernesto Kahan*
I am returning from Japan, were I has been invited by the University of Tokyo through the Professor Hideo Nakasawa, to give a conference, I also formed part of a distinguished delegation of poets organized by the Japanese poet Kae Morii and a group of poets members of the following organizations of poets in Japan: Shijinkaigi, Pen Club and Association of Poets of Japan. The members of the delegation were poets Guy Crequie (
On August
In spite of the idiomatic differences, Japanese poets, Japanese university professors and the members of the delegation, feel united in a single fraternal hug. The expressive demonstrations of poetry, dance, songs and messages of all the participants were extraordinarily emotional, artistically and important. I will never forget that.
During the events in which also participated Hibakushas artists – survivors of the massacre, we were tears looking at the past, and firmly decided to act together while seeing the present, so that not similar such anti-human acts be repeated. In the ceremony we were surrounded by the survivors and their relatives. To them my love and to the politicians of the world, the strongly request for disarmament.
Mayor of
In each one of the ceremonies, on the exact time that recalls those of the explosions, it was sounded a bell and all attendants keep painful silence. After that hundreds of doves were liberated.
Mayor of
In
Mother:
-Water, water please!
My son is dying with pain
in
A drop of water
until the end of this end
Son:
-Oh my mom, my mom!
Water and aid for this fire
my skin is in pain
in
Could I, will smile again?
I had the opportunity to participate in numerous commemorative events of poetry, presentation of testimonies from survivors, interviews in the press, conferences and, presentations of artists that touched deeply my heart. My special recognition to the presidents of the Association of Poets Shijinkaigi, Hiroshi Akimura and of the Association of Poets Aoigawa, to the poets and friends that received us with fraternal friendship and great performances: Poet Kae Morii, Poet Hiroshi Isshiki, Poet and Philosopher Aki Wakunai, former and surviving Poet director of the Japanese Association of Poets Toshihiro Motomura, Poet Chicae Taniguchi, Poet Atsuko Minato, Poet and Harpist Luon Makana, Poet and Filmmaker Akira Takenami, Prof. Hideo Kawasawa, Dr. Nobuo Sakura and Keiko Sakura. As well as to the Museums of Peace of Hiroshima and
My message delivered to the press in the interviews that I did in
Message for the Media
Honoring the victims of the A bomb 65 years ago by universal nuclear abolition
Prof. Ernesto Kahan*
Our current society is at a transcendental crossroads. on one hand, the use of natural resources is very efficient, but on the other, that same use is endangering the continuity of life on our planet. on one hand, new technology and systems of intensive production permit us to obtain an elevation in the quality of life for all humanity, but on the other, new conflicts are threatening to use weapons of mass destruction, mainly atomic, and with it the potential destruction of our civilization and life on Earth. on one hand, science penetrates into the “secrets” of life and the universe, but on the other, the pseudo sciences, superstition, fraud and fundamentalist and irrational thought have acquired economic and political power, and promote fanaticism, terrorism and intolerance.
At present 16% of the world population do not know how to read and write; 14% suffer from malnutrition; and only one % has access to secondary or higher education. Today, we write and publish in Web pages and magazines of literature, but we do not reach at the population, since less than 10% have access to Internet. For scientists and writers the option is clear: To be a locked group in the laboratories or in elites and separated from the culture and the social needs of the population, or to be dedicated to mankind with a humanist attitude and in dialogue with other intellectuals.
Now I am in
Considering the great activity and campaign for a total universal nuclear disarmament by the year 2020; myself in common with Poet and Philosopher Guy Crequie, proposed for the Nobel Prize 2010, the organization Mayors for Peace and their President and Vice president Mayors of the city of
* Prof. Emeritus Dr. Ernesto Kahan MD MPH.
University Professor - Poet – Physician
President- Israeli Association of Writers. Spanish Branch
Former Vice President of IPPNW (Organization awarded the Nobel Peace Prize) and the actual president of the Israeli Branch
Honorary President of SIPEA – International Society of Poets Writers and Artists
Vice President Intl Forum for Literature and Culture of Peace (IFLAC)
President -UHE- UNION HISPANOAMERICAN WRITERS.
Vice President. Global Harmony Association (GHA)
Petition to promote the Organization called Mayors for Peace, its President and Vice President, respectively Dr. Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima (Japan) andMr. Tomihisa Taue, Mayor of Nagasaki (Japan) for the Nobel Peace Prize
January 28, 2010
According to Alfred Nobel's will, "the prize should be awarded to individuals or groups that have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses" [i] By those words Egil Aarvik, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, initiated his speech on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize for 1985, to the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War – IPPNW.
The organizers of this petition, Professor Ernesto Kahan and Philosopher Guy Crequie, understand that the Organization "Mayors for Peace", its President and Vice President, respectively Dr. Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima (
INTRODUCTION
In order to describe the organization Mayors for Peace, we transcribe the section "About us" from the WEB Page of this NGO .[ii]
"The Mayors for Peace, through close cooperation among the cities, strives to raise international public awareness regarding the need to abolish nuclear weapons and contributes to the realization of genuine and lasting world peace by working to eliminate starvation and poverty, assist refugees fleeing local conflict, support human rights, protect the environment, and solve the other problems that threaten peaceful coexistence within the human family."
About Us:
"In August 1945, atomic bombs instantaneously reduced the cities of
On June 24, 1982, at the 2nd UN Special Session on Disarmament held at UN Headquarters in
The Mayors for Peace is composed of cities around the world that have formally expressed support for the program Mayor Araki announced in 1982. As of January 1, 2010, membership stood at 3,488 cities in 134 countries and regions. In March 1990, the Mayors Conference was officially registered as a UN NGO related to the Department of Public Information. In May 1991, it became a Category II NGO (currently called a NGO in "Special Consultative Status") registered with the Economic and Social Council."
REASONS FOR THE PETITION
Never human civilization was as the present, with the capability to achieve that all the population of the planet can have food, water to drink and to be washed, access to education, mass media and services for the health.This goal that was impossible during almost all historical times; today it is achievable because of the existence of the necessary resources to reach it. But also, never as in the present, has our society had the existing capability to destroy everything completely, including to erase life on the planet - for that it is enough to continue with the nuclear arms race and the indiscriminate use and criminal of the natural resources.The demonstration of that is already known.
We can call to the morale or to the call of justice, and in their name, to demand for a more responsible human conduct, but surely our call will be very little attended by the ones that have the power to make changes.Whereas, the campaign that is being carried out successfully by Mayors for Peace, in favor of the cooperation between the governments of the cities and its citizens, to commonly work for peace and to achieve a universal nuclear disarmament, has transcend the borders and injected new optimism.Such a campaign comes accompanied by sufficient information and produces an elevation of a global responsible conscience.
The achievement of the Nobel Peace Prize by this NGO will enlarge the universal recognition for such constructive work for the cause of peace and will stimulate the hope of the communities and its local governments to create new bridges for the assumption of responsibility by the future of the human civilization.
January 28, 2010
Prof. Emeritus Dr. Ernesto Kahan MD MPH University Professor - Poet – Physician President- Israeli Association Writers. Spanish Branch Former Vice President of IPPNW. The actual president of the Israeli Branch Honorary President of SIPEA – Intl Society of Poets Writers and Artists A.C. Vice President Intl Forum for Literature and Culture of Peace (IFLAC) President -UHE- UNION HISPANOAMERICAN WRITERS. Vice Director of General Directorate Global Harmony Association (GHA) | Guy Créquie Poet, philosopher and singer French for peace Messenger of Culture of Peace – "Manifest 2000" Prize winner of the Doctor Honoris Causa - World 53 rue Auguste Renoir 69200 VENISSIEUX -France tel: 33/ 04 78 70 80 85 |
[i] Presentation Speech delivered by Egil Aarvik, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize for 1985,
[ii] http://www.mayorsforpeace.org/english/outlines/index.html
ASSOCIATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS WHICH JOINED THIS PETITION
No | Name of individual or NGO | Address |
1 | International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War – IPPNW | |
2 | UHE- UNION HISPANOAMERICAN WRITERS | |
3 | Intl Forum for Literature and Culture of Peace (IFLAC) | |
4 | Global Harmony Association (GHA) | |
5 | International Society of Poets Writers and Artists A.C. | |
6 | ||
7 | ||
8 | ||
9 | ||
10 | ||
11 | ||
12 | ||
13 |
TRIP TO HARMONY
by Ernesto Kahan © in our house, Planet Earth, June 21, 2009 (Global Harmony Day) to all my beloved brothers in the responsible poetry world
Brothers with words that are passing through the "Narrow Door",
my Global Harmony partners.
Receive my terms and let us take a trip of letters in enjoined,
In love with the poor, hanged by the kites that
years ago we used to fly with the free seagulls
and the butterflies in dance.
Without pollution,
without the "Campus Martius",
Mars, the Roman Warrior God,
of misery and war.
Words that cry, brother!
Because injured women are endlessly battered
by their "masters"
and murdered with stones painted by "Sharia"
in arenas of lapidation.
Words with thorns in our teeth
because those that go to bed with hunger,
children lost, dying, dried…
Take a trip through the Earth,
through the towns all,
the genocides, the ones that are being bled
Through the photo of a boy condemned,
(They say he stole, violated the "divine law")
They are destroying him,
his arm beneath the wheel of a passing truck.
Oh my brother!
A trip through the crematoriums of the Holocaust,
That the beast should not reach, never again!
A trip through
That the beast should not reappear ever again!
A trip through the misery
That the beast should not continue, never more!
A trip through freedom
That they should not infringe!
A trip through parks
That are waiting for the sun and happiness!
A trip through work
To which, singing, we should arrive!
How many things sound badly to me, today!
Filth and justified crime!
Cheap politicians…
Intolerance...Shame…
I need you my brother for this trip.
I cannot avoid it… I am crying.
Your words and mine!
Oh love!
Your words and mine with poems of peace and life
for us to continue our walk.
For a trip with no barriers,
that will discover lies,
terrorism,
false "redeemers" that flatter to the sin,
racist fanatics without masks,
violators, tyrants…
A trip through the world,
through all the fields,
all languages, dark and pale,
to provoke laughter in the old
and to dance with disabled.
A trip with poets that global harmony expand
Hallelujah!
With words… Yours and mine…
June 21, 2009
Trip to Harmony: it is a poem full of reflection to never forget and less to file but bear in mind it before our eyes every day of the existence. This trip over our planet towards the achievement of such a longed human global harmony begins with the nostalgia from when we were children and still pure air was breathed. Here our dearest Dr Ernesto not only betrays with deep words his pain and of all when he expresses the happened in genocide and those who happen at present and of these bad people in charge at the expense of the power and the corruption more violence in all forms on the earth. Because of it, we need brothers for this trip without barriers with more heroic words and the human love from all to continue on the road, where poets expand the global harmony.
It is excellent poem from the beginning at the end of every word. Today when there is more sadness for what it happens in the world, there is much more for doing from the creativity in the fight ofthis harmony.
I follow embraced to the fight during this trip to each and every of the one that creates a small action every day to give, to expand love and not to lower the arms in the creation of this harmony that joins us as souls embarked in a peregrination of races, cultures and languages with the same purpose: not more wars and violence on the earth.. To follow the trip he makes a call: "With your and my words" Yes dearest Dr. Ernesto, creating more harmony until the sound of the inner harmonious language be the alone one..
Best wishes in this day with the light of the internal Peace creating Harmony.
Susana Roberts,
June 22, 2009
Ceasefire at Eight O'clock: City Landscape
Ernesto Kahan
Nine minutes have gone by. on the horizon, silence
The tree that brushes my balcony sings with goldfinches and new hues
I hear them in my core, my deepest core
The source of the breeze presaging life
And I walk slowly not to awake the forces of sin
I keep on walking. Walking is the way I feel reality
Walking and watching TV.
No mushroom clouds in
And on the border... Oh, the border! Tension but Cease-fire.
I walk slowly. Dreaming of those two towns by the sea
Oh the sea rhythmically in love with them!
Walk to absorb the silences of The Pastoral
But man is man and does not forget
In the North each sings his belief in victory
In the South a missile, reminder of war lingering
I walk back in a roundabout way
And arrive at my cup of coffee
Oh coffee!
Aroma of mornings for those who awake with plans and projects
Smell of grief for those inconsolable in mourning
The parents who bury their soldier sons
Eight Thirty-three,
A chain of tanks wends its way home
An endless queue of strategists knocks on press doors
In offices of political parties, speeches are prepared
Workers transport spades and cement to reconstruct the city
New commissions, new evaluation committees
And preparation for the next war.
The city awakes to pursue its human evolution
Witness of gregariousness lacking in compassion
Asphalt
Soft winds of the
Soldiers embrace at Eight Forty
And me, I carry on walking
And David Grossman, writer of peace, will bury his son this afternoon
Yet not his writings
And I have another sociable coffee in town
And when I am convinced that the cease-fire is undeniable
I smile
With the bread fresh out of the oven
I will turn up the sound of The Pastoral.
Nine Thirty
The bombs remain silent. How good that is!
Yet are being stored in the city.
Landscape of gregarious man
21st century.
From yesterday we started to count.
Tel-Aviv, August 2006
Yom ha' SHOAH – The Holocaust Day
Silence..!All is empty,
what I see too…
Today, first of May,
I am silent, do not want to speak.
I remember 1940,
conflicts, maps and strategies.
its soldiers fighting
No, no for the Jews
for them extermination and agony
number, crematorium,
German doctors, "euthanasia"
Holocaust - SHOAH:
Crime and pain,
each second in a struggle
not to be gassed...
Today it is 1st of May,
neo World, neo Europe,
neo anti-Semitism,
neo irrational hate.
My thoughts fly and crash
against an imaginary wall
return without asking me.
I keep on silent...
Without tears...
dried eyes, in silence...
Six million murdered...
Survivors who can not cry...
Dried eyes looking at nothing...
I am silent,
do not want to speak.
Today is 1st of May, 2005.
Ernesto Kahan © Genocidio, p.39 Ed Nihon Tosho Center, Tokio 2006
ALZHEIMER: SHADOW AND DARKNESS
Falling,
like the leaves
of a tree
in autumn,
disappearing
from the gold
collection.
The words,
illuminated
treasure
of illustration
getting lost…
erased…
and so the past…
Oh the words!
Oh those wanted
in a desperate
never ending search!
Oh the one
found again
in the garden!
Its triumphant
throne!
Smiling..!
Again at home!
Brilliant!
For an instant,
until again
forgotten…
Until an end
reduced
to a look,
shadowed…
obscured…
silent…
nothing else...
From Kahan E in 5 Poets 3 Continents. XXV th WCP stand@art 2005
CHINGGIS KHAAN AND I
I a modest man,
look at the waves of the ocean,
one after one,
touch the water… trillions of atoms… essence of life!
ritual rhythm of the sea.
Look at the invisible …
close my eyes… breathe…
I feel the immensity inside…
today… what it was… once upon a time…
here… there… far away…
In
birth of a man,
hero of the steppes of Khuriltai
unifying the Mongols to become the Khaan,
conqueror and builder of a great empire,
Today is Monday, 2005
another day in the South of Earth
without work, no water, no rainbow,
panic and terror
everywhere
Today the exiled cry the absence of motherland;
despite the feast of technology,
no freedom no dignity for all,
today, another rape, another war…
I am alone…
Today a new man …
closes his eyes breathes what he feels:
music, poetry, history, food, machines,
liberty and hope,
here… there… now… and then…
Today desire is simple for the simple women and men:
talent to the group,
recognized,
a dialogue of respect…
the beauty of life.
Nobody above the law!
between nations walk and
walk free!
as some say it was on the
during the "Mongol Peace"
Today, I look at the ocean waves, one after one,
touch the water…
that essence of life trillions of atoms!
rhythmic ritual!
immense sea, immense time for a modest man
I look at the history of humankind,
violent conquers,
Chinggis Khaan and his empire.
I read the books of the "Occident":
"l' antéchrist", "le terreur organisée"…
I read other sources
I see people and merchants
from
freedom of religion and trade,
cultural diversity, medicine and mail.
The truth is playing "hide and seek"
- the truthfulness of the biased tale -
my query:
was that freedom the prelude?
a new era replacing the Middle Ages.
I am… here… there,
under the 1- onE blue sky…
I look at the invisible…
close my eyes
and breathe…
Ernesto Kahan
Illusion
Tolerance
is a dove,
that came
from
to
In summer
it laid
an egg
and then,
departed.
Now, I have it
in my hands,
oh illusion!
help me,
please, come!
Ernesto Kahan, January 2002
ISSATU
© Ernesto Kahan and Taki Yuriko.
“They put my hands on the ground and cut them quickly the left first… I fell over on the ground...” Issatu Kargbo, 13 years.
Pure beautiful hands
you had arms
to embrace the world
to sing on Earth.
Before the dawn,
Issatu,
soldiers of the war
appeared as a dream
like a storm
from above
sinister fury
set fire to the town
and village death and you
Issatu,
thirteen years old,
covered with fright
Chopped off her hands
bleeding limbs
weeping
lay on the ground
@……..@
ISSATU
Ernesto Kahan
“Ellos pusieron mis manos en el suelo y las cortaron rápido, primero la izquierda ... me desmayé en la tierra...” Issatu Kargbo, 13 años.
Puras tus bellas manos,
puras tus manos tiernas.
Las tenías en tus brazos
para abrazar al mundo
y cantar en
Antes del alba, Issatu,
cayeron como del sueño
los soldados de la guerra
que incendiaron en el pueblo
los silencios y las fiestas.
Cayeron cual tormenta
por arriba y por abajo.
Cayeron con furia siniestra
y todo se puso rojo
y fue muerte la aldea.
Y tu Issatu, a los trece años,
toda cubierta de espanto,
sin huida y sin llanto,
debiste poner tus manos
y en el suelo te las cortaron.@……..@
原著:
Dr. Ernesto Kahan
(恩涅斯托˙可罕，當代以色列詩人，1985 年諾貝爾和平獎得主)
中譯 : 龔華(Karen Kung)
記憶女神與我同行
你激起我的亢奮，記憶女神 !
繆司的母親，
極為神秘地
在冥想境界的學習中
你觸到了，不錯! 文本裡的血漿
你向我的生命索取死亡
令我聽天由命
你接觸了我才得以領悟!
才能聽到沉默之聲
才能看見所不能見
才能識破魔法的騙術
以昭示罪惡之源
你如織夢者的夢想
無意識地夢著
遭風吹散的文字激情
在無夢的早晨
沒有高潮
沒有光亮
沒有開始
生命接著誕生
然後呢?命運重複?
碼頭的保衛戰，
大屠殺事件 - 猶太人的浩劫，
種族主義
另一個明天
同樣的戰爭
同樣的暴力
同樣的死亡列車
同樣的自己，
Ernesto Kahan, 往下一站的旅途中
Mnemosyne and my trip
You touched my orgasm Mnemosyne!
Mother of muses,
in contemplative secret
in training in fields of quiet meditation
You touched, yes! The plasma in texts
you took my death towards life
doing my resigns of the beginning to begin
You touched so that I can touch!
And listen the silence
and see the invisible
and penetrate with the magic that deceives
into the apocalypse of social crime.
You are dreams of a dreamer
unconsciously dreamed
orgasm of words erased by the wind
of the morning without dreams
without orgasms
without light
without beginning
after the childbirths,
AFTER? AGAIN?
the protection of the wharves,
the holocaust - SHOAH,
racism
another tomorrow
same war
same violation
same train of death
same myself,
Ernesto Kahan, in trip to the next station
THE ROLE OF HUMANISM IN THE INTERACTION BETWEEN ART AND SCIENCE
Dr. Prof. Ernesto Kahan[1].
·A system of thought that rejects religious beliefs and centers on humans and their values, capacities, and worth.
·Concern with the interests, needs, and welfare of humans
·Medicine The concept that concern for human interests, values, and dignity is of the utmost importance to the care of the sick.
·The study of the humanities; learning in the liberal arts.
·Humanism A cultural and intellectual movement of the Renaissance that emphasized secular concerns as a result of the rediscovery and study of the literature, art, and civilization of ancient
All these variations have in common the attitude based on an integrative conception of the human values, and that will be the emphasis of this presentation.
Professor Alejandro Goic Goic, President of the Chilean Academy of Medicine comments that "Whatever the meaning given to the term humanism, what it seems to be in the heart of this concept is the anthropocentrism or human centrality, that is to say, a system of ideas whose substantive worry is the human being […].Humanists physicians are those that promote respect for the patient and stimulate their moral and spiritual improvement." [3]
The majority of philosophers and historians agree that modern humanism was born, or to put it better, reborn, in
In
Such a period of total renewal of the arts, science, commerce and society that promoted the study of the classics of the antiquity, put the focus on man and, by instituting reason as its source of knowledge (Rationalism), facilitated the more impressive technological and scientific progress of human history.
This far-reaching revolution, that occurred first in the city of Florence[6] and after that was expanded all over Europe and the world, had its origin in the existence of dramatic events relatively coincident that touched mankind and questioned the then accepted immutable "truths".In the XIII century, Marco Polo of
Another event that caused turmoil in the Europe of those times was what was known as the plague, also called "the black death", during which 1/3 of the population of Europe (20 out of 70 million) died in an epidemic that indiscriminately attacked rich and poor, kings and plebeians, compatriots and priests, religious and heretics.The world then asked questions on the value of protection of religion and the legitimacy of the refusal of the humanistic philosophies of ancient Greek-Roman culture: Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Epicurus, Cicero, Seneca and others.
The renaissance of humanism completely transformed society, producing large economic, political, and social changes that through the French Revolution and the American Continental Revolutions, introduced the concept of liberal democracy.Even more, it is valid to ask if the "discovery" of
At that time scientific people worked independently from the power of religious establishment and developed a methodology for the investigation of the reality and acceptance of knowledge.Although it is outside of the objective of this essay to analyze such a scientific methodology, I would say that in summary it is constituted by four steps[9],[10], a) Observation and description of the situation or phenomena, b) Generation of a hypothesis that rationally explain the observed, c) Prediction of the existence or mechanism of other phenomena, in light of the new hypothesis and d) Execution of experiments for the verification of the hypothesis.
Philosopher Mario Bunge, who is a member of the Society for the Advance of the Critical Thought, an institution "that promotes the use of the reason and of the critical thought against credulity and paranormal affirmations"; recently published an article related to pseudo sciences, to which recognizes as possessing at least two of the following characteristics:"- It invokes ethereal or supernatural entities inaccessible to the empirical examination, - It is credulous (does not submit its speculations to any trial), - It is dogmatic (does not change its principles when they fail neither as a consequence of new finds), - Rejects criticism, - Does not find nor utilize general laws.- Its principles are incompatible with some of the more basic principles of science and, - Does not interact with any science, - Is easy: does not require a long period of learning, - Is only interested in what can have practical use: does not seek for the disinterested truth, - Keeps out of the scientific community.Scientists, on the other hand, submit their ideas to the criticism of their peers"[11].I want to emphasize that that type of characteristics were exactly those prevailing during the so-called Middle Ages and ceased to be recognized as science when the modern scientific revolutions took place.
During the Scientific Revolution of the XVII century, in which emerged great minds like Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and
Nevertheless, in the current world, after all the greatest technological and scientific advancements, there is still much inequality of opportunities and terrible misery.Eighty-one percent of the inhabitants of the world live in developing countries with an annual income of 3,580 US$ (American dollars) per year, while the remaining 19% have an income of 22.060 US$; 48% live with less than 2 US$ and 20% with less than 1 US$ for a day; 47% do not have access to basic health; 25% do not live in houses or these are not acceptable by any basic standard; 17% do not have access to drinking water; 16% do not know how to read and write; 14% suffer from malnutrition; and only one % has access to secondary or higher education.Today, we write and publish in Web pages and magazines of literature, but we do not reach at the population, since less than 10% have access to Internet.
I am going to cite a fragment of the Statement on the 5th
of Nobel Peace Laureates signed in
This is a call that has a special meaning for scientists and artists who find in humanism the integrative vital conception of human values and a field for a positive interaction.
In the Renaissance scientists and artists were integrated and had a common field of action.Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452 and died in 1519; he was a painter, sculptor, architect, physics, cosmologist, geologist, engineer and anatomist.In that epoch the prestige of the artists was superior to that of the scientists, and the latter were under the stimulus of the humanist spirit of the artists. Many times they visited the artists when they wanted to know about the beauty of the human body.In 1549 Vesalio, the most renowned doctor of the Renaissance, commented that he did not worry that many painters and sculptors were present at his dissections, neither, "despite their air of superiority, I feel less important than they."[13]
Subsequently, due to the separation between the scientific objectivism and the artistic subjectivism that occurred during the modern epoch, each of these groups began to analyze the problems of society in an independent angle and without interacting among them.Furthermore, the different methodology utilized and the separated development of linguistic expressions of communication, were factors for the current lack of dialogue between science and art.
In the World Conference on Science, under the auspices of UNESCO in Budapest, July 1999[14] scientists declared that they concede "that scientific research and the use of scientific knowledge should respect human rights and the dignity of human beings, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the light of the Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights".
The Humanist Manifesto 2000 of the International Academy of Humanism[15], is calling in favor of a new planetary humanism.In the Preamble it is declared that "Humanism is an ethical, scientific, and philosophical outlook that has changed the world. Its heritage traces back to the philosophers and poets of ancient
Our current society is at a transcendental crossroads. on one hand, the use of natural resources is very efficient, but on the other, that same use is endangering the continuity of life on our planet. on one hand, new technology and systems of intensive production permit us to obtain an elevation in the quality of life for all humanity, but on the other, new conflicts are threatening the use of weapons of mass destruction, mainly atomic, and with it the potential destruction of our civilization and life on Earth. on one hand, the massive development of the media is carrying all the social-economic-political-cultural events to the television screens and Internet of the private computers of the inhabitants of all corners of the world, but on the other, financial or governmental interests are manipulating these same media, deforming the news, creating nonexistent realities and “brain-washing” the audience. on one hand, human rights have gained the power of international law, and democracy is the most accepted form of government, but on the other, individuals are in danger of losing their dignity completely by being transformed into “cogs in a machine” by the economic corporations and the dominant governments. on one hand, the fall of the absolutist states has provided people of different countries with the opportunity to dissent, but on the other, the new techniques of propaganda via communication are transforming them into manipulated “flocks of sheep”. on one hand, science penetrates into the “secrets” of life and the universe, but on the other, the pseudo sciences, superstition, fraud and fundamentalist and irrational thought have acquired economic and political power, and promote fanaticism and intolerance. Terrorist movements that are claiming the arrival of the “end of times” use the same extremist fanaticism as religion in order to be justified and to create panic.
We should ask, if in humanism, we can find the potentiality to orient the dialogue between science and art, through ways that will guide the present globalized society towards rails of survival and progress. We also must ask: How can we, writers in general and poets in particular, be the lyric voice of the peoples and be part of their reality, without participating in such a dialogue?How can we scientists manage to contribute to the development of science and technology for the progress of humanity, if we are separated from the main philosophical, cultural, and social dilemmas?The answers, or better said "the answer" is evident, and does not offer any other alternative than the positive to these questions.
For us artists the option is simple:To be an elitist group separated from science, or to be dedicated to the people providing them with art beauty, love, voices of justice and our dialogue with science; that is to say with the humanist attitude.
For scientists the option is also clear: To be a locked group in the laboratories dedicated to super specialization and separated from the culture and the social needs of the population, or to be dedicated to humanity with a humanist attitude and in dialogue with artists and the philosophers.
Both the scientist and the artist should be responsible and free thinking ethically and socially. Both must sustain mutual dialogues and proposals for a more secure and dignified society.The focus is anthropocentric.
I am a professor of medicine. I believe that doctors should be humanists and promoters of humanism.We should love deep and generously the individual patients and the populations of all the nations, ethnic groups, sexes, races, beliefs and social conditions.We should love and respect both the healthy human body and the sick.We should ask every day for new knowledge and to learn.We should ask every day what the patients feel, and to learn.We should ask every day what are the dangers for the patients and for all humankind.We should participate with social responsibility, ethical behavior, and generating dialogues and proposals for a more secure and dignified society.The focus is anthropocentric.
MY MEDICAL DILEMMA
How to make melody
with ill beating hearts
and bring, for a moment,
smiling hopes for despair
and love with my drugs?
How to keep the perfume
hidden in every soul
and the words yet not said,
giving consolation
when all is gone… dark…?
[1] Prof. Ernesto Kahan. Tel Aviv University, Israel
Vice President- World Academy of Arts and Culture
President-Israel Physicians for Peace and Preservation of the Environment
& Former Vice President of IPPNW (Organization awarded Nobel Peace Prize 1985)
Vice President-IFLAC (Intl Forum for Literature and Culture of Peace)
President Assistant UHE Hispano American Writers Union
President of AIELC - Israeli Association of Writers. Spanish Branch
[2] Dictionary of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
2006 Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. http://www.bartleby.com/61/
[3] Grandes médicos humanistas" (Editorial Universitaria, Santiago de Chile, 2004
[4] Arte historia, Junta de Castilla y León. http://www.artehistoria.jcyl.es/historia/contextos/1848.htm
[5]Burckhardt, Jacob. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy
[6] Renaissance – Focus on Florence http://www.learner.org/exhibits/renaissance/florence.html
[8] Genghis Khan and the Mongols, http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h11mon.htm
[9] Wilson, E. Bright. An Introduction to Scientific Research (McGraw-Hill, 1952).
[10] Kuhn, Thomas. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1962).
[11] Mario Bunge - ¿QUÉ SON LAS SEUDOCIENCIAS?.Argentine Journal La Razón. Also published in El Escéptico Digitalhttp://www.elistas.net/foro/el_esceptico/alta
[12] Statement of the 5th
[13] Apuntes sobre Historia de
[14] UNESCO. Conferencia mundial sobre la ciencia. julio 1999 -
http://www.unesco.org/science/wcs/eng/declaration_e.htm#knowledge
[15]THE HUMANIST MANIFESTO
. http://www.contenderministries.org/humanism/manifesto2000.php
"Preventing Nuclear War" by L. Follow, E. Kahan, from War and Public Health edited by Barry S. Levi & Victor W. Sidel, copyright © 1997 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
On July 16,
During the 1950s, first the
In
Over five decades since the first test in New Mexico, the governments of the United States, the former Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, and China built tens of thousands of nuclear warheads and conducted over 1,200 nuclear test explosions. By the mid-1980s, their arsenals contained more than 50,000 nuclear warheads, many of them fusion weapons with the explosive force of more than 1,000
From Hiroshima2
John Hersey
The lot of the majority of physicians of Hiroshima – with their offices and hospital destroyed, their equipment scattered, their own bodies incapacitated in varying degrees, explained why so many citizens who were hurt went untended and why so many who might have lived, died. Of the one hundred fifty doctors in the city, sixty-five were already dead and most of the rest were wounded. In the biggest hospital, that of the Red Cross, only six doctors were able to function, and only ten nurses. The sole uninjured doctor on the Red Cross Hospital staff was Dr. Sasaki ….
Dr. Sasaki worked without method, taking those who were nearest him first, and he noticed soon that the corridor seemed to be getting more and more crowded. Mixed with the abrasions and lacerations which most people in the hospital had suffered, he began to find dreadful burns. He realized then that casualties were pouring in from outdoors. There were so many that he began to pass up the lightly wounded; he decided that all he could hope to do was to stop people from bleeding to death. Before long, patients lay and crouched on the floors of the wards and the laboratories and all the other rooms, and in the corridors, and on the stairs, and in the front hall, and under the portecochere, and on the stone front steps, and in the driveway and courtyard, and for blocks each way on the streets outside. Wounded people supported maimed people, disfigured families leaned together, many people were vomiting….
In a city of two hundred and forty-five thousand, nearly a hundred thousand had been killed or doomed at one blow; a hundred thousand more were hurt. At least ten thousand of the wounded made their way to the best hospital in town, which was altogether unequal to such a trampling since it had only six thousand beds, and they had all been occupied. The people in the suffocating crowd inside the hospital wept and cried for Dr. Sasaki, and the less seriously wounded came and pulled at his sleeve and begged him to go to the aid of the worse wounded. Tugged here and there in his stockinged feet, bewildered by the numbers, staggered by so much raw flesh, Dr. Sasaki lost all sense of profession and stopped working as a skillful surgeon and a sympathetic man; he became an automaton, mechanically wiping, daubing, winding, wiping, daubing, winding.
Copyright © 1946 and renewed 1974 by John Hersey. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Originally appeared in The New Yorker.
In the 1980s, a series of scholarly reports by organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO)5 and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences6 summarized previously existing scientific knowledge about the short-, medium-, and long-term health effects of nuclear war, and also identified several previously unsuspected, but likely, effects of nuclear warfare. These have been summarized in most authoritative detail by the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) Environmental Effects of Nuclear War (ENUWAR) Project,7 in which approximately 100 physical and atmospheric scientists and an additional 200 agricultural and ecological scientists from more than 30 countries spent two years assessing the overall global consequences of nuclear war. Their conclusion was that the distant global effects of a large-scale nuclear war would likely far exceed the morbidity and mortality in areas near the nuclear explosion themselves. The most common cause of death would be mass starvation resulting from massive disruption of both ecological and agricultural systems and transportation and industrial infrastructure. An earlier study by WHO5 concluded that several hundred million human fatalities would likely occur in the
In 1995, some years after the end of the Cold War, the concern among military experts and the general public about the risk of large-scale nuclear war diminished considerably as the two nuclear superpowers, the
Furthermore, in the mid-1990s concern about the dangers of nuclear weapons heightened in the context of rising terrorist activity, which included the fertilizer-bomb that killed 168 people in
The burn, blast, and radiation effects of even an inefficiently-constructed nuclear weapon, with less than 10 percent of the yield of the
The spectrum of possible nuclear war thus ranges from the explosion of a relatively small warhead, such as a Hiroshima-type bomb, to the global devastation predicted by the SCOPE-ENUWAR studies. Prevention of nuclear war must encompass this full range.
Public Health Responsibilities
Health workers have a central and urgent professional responsibility for helping to prevent nuclear war because:
·Health workers have a professional responsibility to treat disease and to reduce mortality.
·The use of nuclear weapons in war would cause death and illness on a massive and, in the case of large-scale war, unprecedented scale.
·Health workers would be unable to intervene effectively in the human injury and death expected following a nuclear attack.
·Prevention is the only way to reduce mortality where treatment is ineffective.
·The use of nuclear weapons is possible, or even probable, in the decades ahead.
·Efforts by health workers could help prevent nuclear war.10
Although a comprehensive analysis of the etiology of nuclear war might identify many contributing factors, a conceptual framework could include the following six steps:
1.Development of knowledge of the physics and technology involved in building a nuclear weapon.
2.Obtaining fissile materials, such as weapons-grade uranium and plutonium.
3.Construction, testing, and stockpiling of the weapons.
4.Development and maintenance of plans for use of the weapons.
5.Development of political or military situations in which actual use is seriously considered.
6.Actual use.
In the 1960s and then again in the 1980s, massive civil defense plans were proposed and, to a variable extent, implemented in the United States, the Soviet Union, and other countries. Detailed plans prepared by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) claimed that with effective evacuation over a period of four to seven days, proper sheltering, and other civil defense measures, 80 percent of the
Figure 22-1. Physicians for Social Responsibility billboard in 1980s in
Current efforts therefore focus on preventing nuclear war, mainly by two approaches: for states that already possess nuclear weapons, the doctrine of nuclear deterrence; for states that do not (yet) possess nuclear weapons, the nuclear nonproliferation regime, which has been enshrined in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The doctrine of deterrence has been analyzed in considerable detail by many scholars, with conflicting views over whether its dominant effect has been to prevent nuclear war or to drive a relentlessly escalating arms race.12 As Bernard Lown has warned, “In order for it to be effective, nuclear deterrence must operate perfectly and forever. No such expectations are permissible for any human activity.”13 Figure 22-2 illustrates the relationship between the threat of nuclear war, regional wars (in which so-called conventional weapons are used), civil wars, terrorism, ethnic or national conflicts, and societal violence.
Figure 22-2. The pyramid of conflict and the cycle of violence (Source: International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War [IPPNW]).
The process by which a conflict might generate the use of nuclear weapons may be termed “a spiral of false security.” In this process, a logical chain of events takes place following the decision to create a nuclear arsenal. The starting point of the spiral is the decision to use nuclear weapons as a means of deterring attack by others. For advanced technological nations, this is not a complicated decision, owing to the availability of plutonium and the readily accessible knowledge of how to construct nuclear weapons. But once a nation’s adversaries know that nuclear weapons are being used as a deterrent – and they must know in order for the deterrent to be effective – this information sparks a chain reaction that can increase the danger of nuclear war, either by intention or by accident.
Similarly, the NPT which, with over 180 signatories, is the most widely accepted treaty, has been hailed by some as the most important vehicle for controlling the spread – and therefore preventing the use – of nuclear weapons. Others, however, have condemned the treaty – at least as it has been implemented – for its perpetuation of a world of nuclear “haves” and “have-nots,” in which the latter will inevitably seek to become the former.
Both prevention approaches aim to lower the probability of the use of nuclear weapons, but each envisions a world in which several nuclear weapons states continue to possess thousands of nuclear warheads. (In parallel with their status in the UN Security Council, the
Role of Health Professionals
As in other areas, the role of public health professionals in the prevention of nuclear war can be analyzed in terms of three levels of activity: primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. “Primary prevention” is often used to refer to efforts aimed at preventing the disease – that is, war – itself: “secondary prevention” refers to preventing or minimizing the effects of the disease after it has already begun; and “tertiary prevention” refers to the treatment or amelioration of the effects of the disease, including rehabilitation of affected individuals.14
Unfortunately, efforts by health professionals to address health problems related to war too rarely include such a comprehensive approach, as illustrated in an exercise that was performed in Israel to train staff in dealing with affected people after a chemical warfare attack. Although this was purely an exercise, the medical staff were affected both emotionally and professionally in two profound ways:
1.They were all made aware of the enormity of such a possibility and the severity of the effects on the population with which they would have to deal.
2.Since the available medical skills and resources were always inadequate to deal with the number of potential casualties, physicians would have to establish extremely difficult triage priorities.15
During the preparation for the exercise, the emphasis regarding medical duties was placed on treatment (tertiary prevention), with a complete absence of discussion of primary or even secondary prevention. This was despite the fact that a paper discussed for technical purposes in one of the preparatory lectures for this exercise16 concluded that physicians must be active concerning the inadvisability of developing, stockpiling, and using chemical and biological weapons. This conclusion was ignored by the government of
Many health personnel would have to attempt to take care of those affected if nuclear, chemical, or bacteriological warfare occurs. And most, if not all, would have been trained to ask the questions: “Why did this happen? Could it have been prevented?”17 Posing such questions is clearly the first step in formulating an effective public health program. However, none of the dozens of physicians and nurses who participated in the exercise, or the military representatives in charge, suggested that these questions might be a part of the solution to the problem.
Fortunately many health workers have responded vigorously to the threat of nuclear war by engaging in activities that contribute in important ways to the primary prevention of nuclear war. These activities have fallen into three general categories: research, education, and advocacy. Through such research efforts as those culminating in the publication of the 1962 articles in the New England Journal of Medicine and in the WHO and SCOPE-ENUWAR reports of the broad health and environmental effects of large-scale nuclear war, public health workers and colleagues in related disciplines have helped ensure that any discussions about nuclear weapons are solidly based in scientific knowledge. These efforts appear to have made a major contribution to debates about policies such as those related to civil defense.
More recently, the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), a federation of 83 national affiliates that was found in 1980, published in partnership with the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research a series of three books on the health and environmental problems associated with nuclear weapons. Radioactive Heaven and Earth18 describes in detail the health and environmental effects of nuclear weapons testing in, on, and above the earth. Plutonium: Deadly Gold of the Nuclear Age19 reviews the hazards of plutonium production, including the dangers of handling and storing radioactive waste. Nuclear Wastelands: A Global Guidebook to Nuclear Weapons Production and Its Health and Environmental Effects was published in 1995.20 Together with early reports of the expected effects of nuclear warfare, these three books provide a comprehensive analysis of the significant health and environmental problems associated with preparations for nuclear warfare – even if it never again takes place.
Organizations such as IPPNW and its national affiliates have also mounted vigorous educational campaigns to ensure that political and military leaders, as well as the general public, are informed of the conclusions of these research activities. IPPNW’s work was recognized in 1984 by UNESCO, which honored the federation with its Peace Education Prize, citing “especially remarkable activity to inform public opinion and mobilize the conscience of mankind for peace.” The following year, IPPNW was awarded the 1985 Nobel Peace prize in
[IPPNW] has performed a considerable service to mankind by spreading authoritative information and by creating an awareness of the catastrophic consequences of nuclear warfare…. This in turn contributes to an increase in the pressure of public opposition to the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to a redefining of priorities, with greater attention being paid to health and other humanitarian issues. Such an awakening of public opinion….can give the present arms limitation negotiations new perspectives and a new seriousness.21
Figure 22-3. IPPNW members march in
In the 1980s, IPPN W and other organizations of health professionals moved beyond research and educational activities to advocacy for specific steps that, in their judgment, would reduce the likelihood of nuclear war. The areas of concern, described below, can be related to the first five of the six steps in the etiologic pathway toward nuclear war, which was described earlier in the chapter.
1. Development of knowledge of the physics and technology involved in building a nuclear weapon. This knowledge cannot be “disinvented,” and all preventive efforts must therefore focus on other steps.
2. Obtaining fissile materials, such as weapons-grade uranium and plutonium. IPPNW and its affiliates have advocated a ban on production and stockpiling of all weapons-usable fissile materials; IPPNW also advocates placing existing fissile materials under secure international control. Transport of such materials should be for the sole purpose of final storage under international control or preparation for such storage. As long as weapons-usable material exists and is not fully secure, the possibility of theft and illicit construction of a nuclear warhead will remain, even if all nation-states agree to dismantle their arsenals.
3. Construction, testing, and stockpiling of weapons. A cornerstone of global advocacy for the prevention of nuclear war has been a campaign by health professionals to permanently end all nuclear test explosions (Figures 22-3 and 22-4). In part, as a result of lobbying efforts by health professionals, all nuclear weapons states except for
Figure 22-4. Members of the American Public Health Association demonstrate at nuclear weapons underground test site in Nevada in 1986 (Source: American Public Health Association [APHA]).
4. Development and maintenance of plans for use of the weapons. IPPNW and organizations such as the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA) and the International Peace Bureau (IPB) concluded that the effects of the use of nuclear weapons on medical personnel and medical facilities would constitute a violation of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and therefore a clear violation of international law. IPPNW and its partner organizations thus worked closely with representatives to the World Health Assembly, the governing body of the World Health Organization, to support a resolution instructing the Director-General of WHO, under WHO’s authority as an agency of the United Nations, to request the following advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (Figure 22-5), located in The Hague: “In the view of the health and environmental effects, would the use of nuclear weapons by a state in war or other armed conflict be a breach of its obligations under international law, including the WHO constitution?”
In May 1993, the World Health Assembly adopted this wording for its historic resolution (WHA46.40, Health and Environmental Effects of Nuclear Weapons). WHO officially submitted the question to the Court in August 1993, and in September, the Court requested written statements on the issue from WHO member nations. By the time of the extended deadline of September 1994, the Court had received statements from 37 nations. With the exception of those from nuclear powers and their allies, the statements urged the Court to respond positively to the request. In addition, over 100 million people around the world, 43 million in
In December 1994, the United Nations General Assembly resolved to request the International Court of Justice urgently to render its advisory opinion on the following question: Is the threat or use of nuclear weapons permitted in any circumstance under international law? Thus, it formally asked the Court if even threatening to use nuclear weapons should be considered illegal.
On July 8, 1996, the Court rendered its advisory opinions. The Court declined to rule on the question raised by WHO but used health arguments in its rulings on the question raised by the UN General Assembly. The court unanimously declared that “there is an obligation to pursue in good faith and to bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects.” By a split vote, the Court declared that “the threat of use or use of nuclear weapons would be contrary to the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, and in particular the principles and rules of humanitarian law.” The only exception to this sweeping declaration of illegality, some members of the Court held, was threat or use “in an extreme circumstance of self-defence, in which the very survival of the State would be at stake.”
5. Development of political or military situations in which use of nuclear weapons is seriously considered. Health professionals have worked together across political chasms to address common health problems and, in so doing, to help diffuse the political and social tensions among nations that increase the risk of war, including nuclear war. This work has included activities, ranging from medical exchange programs between the
In early 1995, IPPNW integrated all of its research, educational, and advocacy activities under a single program, Abolition 2000, with a single concrete goal: that there be by the year
Long-term Primary Prevention of Nuclear War: Addressing Violence and Its Roots
Even if the ambitious goal of a signed treaty for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons were accomplished, and even if that treaty were implemented early in the twenty-first century, efforts to prevent nuclear war would not end. Given the fact that knowledge of how to construct a nuclear weapon will never be lost, these efforts must address underlying reasons why any individuals or nations might seek nuclear weapons to further their security or other interests.
As expressed in IPPNW’s “Pyramid of Conflict” (Figure 22-2), these efforts must address the underlying patterns and causes of violence at all levels of society, including their roots in poverty and in equality, lack of freedom and development, and the capacity of the human species for ethnocentrism, prejudice, hatred, and violent conflict. As David Hamburg has written:
The evolution that is distinctively human centers around our increasing capacity for learning, for communication chiefly by language, for cooperative problem solving, for complex social organization, and for advanced toolmaking and tool using. These attributes have gotten us here by enormously enhancing our capabilities, not only to adapt to the widest variety of habitats, but also to modify our habitats profoundly in ways that suit our purposes.
Now we are challenged as never before to find ways in which these unique capacities can be used to prevent us from destroying ourselves and especially to prevent the final epidemic; to prevent that will make possible the search for a decent quality of life for everyone on the planet. If we have lost our sense of purpose in the modern world, perhaps the perspective can help us regain it.19
REFERENCES
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4.Ellsberg, D. Introduction, Protest and survive, Thompson, E.P. and Smith D. (eds.),
5.World Health Organization. Effects of nuclear war on health and health services.
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7.Pittock, A.B. et al. Environmental consequences of nuclear war: Volume I, Physical and atmospheric effects. Harwell, M.A. and Hutchinson, T.C. Environmental consequences of nuclear war: Volume II, Ecological and agricultural effects. Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) 28, Chichester and
8.Allison, G. et al. Avoiding nuclear anarchy.
9.Rotblat, J. Nuclear radiation in warfare.
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11.Leaning, J. and Keyes, L. (eds.). The counterfeit ark: Crisis relocation for nuclear war.
12.Abrecht, P. and Koshy, N. (eds.). Before it’s too late.
13.Lown, B. Never whisper in the presence of wrong.
14.Last, J.M. A dictionary of epidemiology.
15.Kahan, E. Primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of genocidal weapons. Medicine and War 7: 9–15, 1991.
16.Sidel, V.W. and Goldwyn, R.M. Chemical and biologic weapons – a primer. New Engl. J. Med. 274(1): 21–27, 1966.
17.Rose, G. Sick individuals and sick populations. Int. J. Epidemiol. 14: 32–38, 1985.
18.Special Commission of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. Radioactive heaven and earth: The health and environmental effects of nuclear weapons testing in, on, and above the earth.
19.Special Commission of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. Plutonium: Deadly gold of the nuclear age.
20.Makhjani, A., Hu, H., and Yih, K. (eds.). Nuclear wastelands: A global guidebook to nuclear weapons production and its health and environmental effects.
21.Norwegian Nobel Committee. Citation for 1985 Nobel Peace Prize.
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