Peace at what price?

The horrific toll of the first atomic bomb drop 80 years ago is as important to remember now as then, writes Maire Leadbeater.

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It's 40 years since I visited Hiroshima, just after the August 6 anniversary of the day the first nuclear bomb was dropped on that densely inhabited city.

In 1985, I was spokesperson for the Auckland Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and heavily engaged with the large network of peace groups across the country. David Lange was prime minister and, at the beginning of the year, a visit from a nuclear weapons-capable warship, USS Buchanan, had been rejected. Activists continued work to get local councils to make a nuclear-free declaration and professional groups such as doctors, scientists and engineers were supporting the antinuclear cause. I was invited to visit Japan by a coalition of youthful peace activists. The Aotearoa peace movement was flavour of the month with peace activists internationally: how had we manged to persuade our government to ban nuclear weapons-capable warships and commit to establishing a nuclear-free nation? There was an air of hope as we shared campaign ideas and planned for future exchanges.