Four decades after former Hiroshima Mayor Takeshi Araki’s call for solidarity, how can solidarity among over 8,000 Mayors for Peace member cities be utilized?
Jun. 25, 2022
by Junji Akechi, Staff Writer
June 24 marked 40 years since the Mayors for Peace organization (Hiroshima City Mayor Kazumi Matsui serves as president) got its start with a call for solidarity among cities made by the late Takeshi Araki, then-Hiroshima City mayor (who served in that position from 1975 to 1991), at the United Nations. More than 8,000 cities have since joined the organization in pursuit of the elimination of nuclear weapons. As people’s lives worldwide are now at risk because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and that country’s threats to use nuclear weapons, the organization is faced with the challenge of how its intercity solidarity can be utilized to lead to the abolition of nuclear weapons.
In June 1982, at a UN Special Session on Disarmament, Mr. Araki called for intercity solidarity based on his own experience in the atomic bombing. “The intercity solidarity that will be formed without regard to national boundaries or racial differences to collaborate in the effort to pave the way to nuclear abolition will give great momentum to the creation of a new order of peace in the nuclear age.” That speech led to establishment of the organization that began as the World Conference of Mayors for Peace through Intercity Solidary. Through its general conference meetings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and international conferences, the organization has called for the abolition of nuclear weapons from the standpoint of the world’s cities.
In 2003, Tadatoshi Akiba, then-mayor of Hiroshima City (who served from 1999 to 2011), created the organization’s “2020 Vision,” guidelines that aimed at the abolition of nuclear weapons by the year 2020. As a result of Mr. Akiba’s visits to numerous overseas cities, the number of member cities rapidly increased to about 4,500, nearly 10 times the membership when he took office. Admission of cities to the present-day Mayors for Peace organization has continued to grow ever since Mr. Matsui (Hiroshima City mayor from 2011 until the present) became president of the organization, increasing to 8,174 cities representing 166 nations and regions as of June 1.
In the process of growing the number of member cities, differences in member city activities became an issue. With that, Mr. Matsui developed a new system for the organization in which 24 leader cities in the world drive the activities in each region. In the context of diverse challenges facing cities at present, including poverty, refugee issues, and climate change, the organization’s new “Vision for Peaceful Transformation to a Sustainable World (PX Vision),” launched in 2021, has placed the aim of the realization of safe and resilient cities as another pillar in addition to its original objective of the realization of a world without nuclear weapons.
At a press conference held in mid-June, Mr. Matsui once again stressed the significance of Mayors for Peace activities. “If we can expand to the rest of the world our organization’s framework by which to consider things from the perspectives of cities and citizens, policymakers will change. That is our mission.” How can the power of the people in member cities be utilized to lead to the elimination of nuclear weapons? A key will be discussions at the General Conference of Mayors for Peace scheduled to take place in Hiroshima City later this year, in October.
(Originally published on June 25, 2022)
June 24 marked 40 years since the Mayors for Peace organization (Hiroshima City Mayor Kazumi Matsui serves as president) got its start with a call for solidarity among cities made by the late Takeshi Araki, then-Hiroshima City mayor (who served in that position from 1975 to 1991), at the United Nations. More than 8,000 cities have since joined the organization in pursuit of the elimination of nuclear weapons. As people’s lives worldwide are now at risk because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and that country’s threats to use nuclear weapons, the organization is faced with the challenge of how its intercity solidarity can be utilized to lead to the abolition of nuclear weapons.
In June 1982, at a UN Special Session on Disarmament, Mr. Araki called for intercity solidarity based on his own experience in the atomic bombing. “The intercity solidarity that will be formed without regard to national boundaries or racial differences to collaborate in the effort to pave the way to nuclear abolition will give great momentum to the creation of a new order of peace in the nuclear age.” That speech led to establishment of the organization that began as the World Conference of Mayors for Peace through Intercity Solidary. Through its general conference meetings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and international conferences, the organization has called for the abolition of nuclear weapons from the standpoint of the world’s cities.
In 2003, Tadatoshi Akiba, then-mayor of Hiroshima City (who served from 1999 to 2011), created the organization’s “2020 Vision,” guidelines that aimed at the abolition of nuclear weapons by the year 2020. As a result of Mr. Akiba’s visits to numerous overseas cities, the number of member cities rapidly increased to about 4,500, nearly 10 times the membership when he took office. Admission of cities to the present-day Mayors for Peace organization has continued to grow ever since Mr. Matsui (Hiroshima City mayor from 2011 until the present) became president of the organization, increasing to 8,174 cities representing 166 nations and regions as of June 1.
In the process of growing the number of member cities, differences in member city activities became an issue. With that, Mr. Matsui developed a new system for the organization in which 24 leader cities in the world drive the activities in each region. In the context of diverse challenges facing cities at present, including poverty, refugee issues, and climate change, the organization’s new “Vision for Peaceful Transformation to a Sustainable World (PX Vision),” launched in 2021, has placed the aim of the realization of safe and resilient cities as another pillar in addition to its original objective of the realization of a world without nuclear weapons.
At a press conference held in mid-June, Mr. Matsui once again stressed the significance of Mayors for Peace activities. “If we can expand to the rest of the world our organization’s framework by which to consider things from the perspectives of cities and citizens, policymakers will change. That is our mission.” How can the power of the people in member cities be utilized to lead to the elimination of nuclear weapons? A key will be discussions at the General Conference of Mayors for Peace scheduled to take place in Hiroshima City later this year, in October.
(Originally published on June 25, 2022)
