From deterrence to disarmament
Marking 80 years since the dawn of the nuclear age, peace advocates, diplomats, educators, and atomic bomb survivors from around the world gathered for the ‘Choose Hope’ Symposium recently in Santa Barbara, California.
Co-organised by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF) and Japan’s Soka Gakkai International (SGI), the symposium was inspired by the 2001 dialogue book Choose Hope co-authored by NAPF founder David Krieger and SGI President Daisaku Ikeda, revisiting the ethical and strategic urgency of nuclear abolition.
“This is not just about legacy,” said Ivana Nikolić Hughes of NAPF. “We are here to continue the journey they started and to build a world free from the threat of nuclear weapons.”
Tomohiko Aishima, Director of Peace Affairs at SGI, recalled witnessing their dialogue firsthand: “What impressed me most was that their dialogue was not merely about ideals—it was a call to action, rooted in practical solutions.”
In the keynote lecture, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author Annie Jacobsen posed the question: “What happens if nuclear deterrence fails? No matter how it begins, nuclear war will end in total annihilation.”
She explained that once a nuclear exchange is triggered, retaliatory strikes could spread globally within just seven minutes, leading to uncontrollable destruction and the collapse of human civilisation.
A panel moderated by Hughes, Princeton University’s Professor Emeritus Richard Falk, Jimmy Hara of Physicians for Social Responsibility–Los Angeles (PSR-LA), Professor Peter Kuznick of American University, and ICAN Executive Director Melissa Parke addressed policy transformations urgently needed to prevent such a catastrophe.
SGI’s Director for Disarmament and Human Rights, Chie Sunada warned against the increasing role of nuclear weapons in national security doctrines and said: “Nuclear deterrence itself is a threat to human survival.”
Ambassador Elayne Whyte, who presided over the 2017 UN negotiations that adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), emphasized the need for sincere dialogue, even with those who hold opposing views.
Atomic bomb survivor Masako Wada from Nagasaki addressed the symposium via video message, urging participants: “Continue telling the truth about the horrors of the bomb.”
Mary Dickson, a thyroid cancer survivor and US ‘downwinder’ affected by radioactive fallout from nuclear testing, said: “We were deliberately exposed. Justice is needed not only for us, but for victims in the Marshall Islands, Kazakhstan, Polynesia, and everywhere else.”
SGI United Nations Office Disarmament Program Coordinator Anna Ikeda shared testimony on the health effects, stigma, and trauma experienced by victims. “Nuclear justice means establishing the collective understanding that the use, testing, or threat of nuclear weapons can never be justified,” she said.
Togzhan Kassenova from Kazakhstan presented findings on intergenerational health effects stemming from Soviet-era nuclear tests in Semipalatinsk in her country. Christian Ciobanu, representing Kiribati and Youth proposed establishing an international fund for victim assistance and environmental remediation. Veronique Christory of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) stressed the importance of humanitarian principles in disarmament efforts.
In the final panel on The Intersection of Climate and Nuclear Justice: Empowering Youth for Change moderated by SGI Disarmament Program Coordinator Miyuki Horiguchi, Anduin Devos of NuclearBan.US reflected on how concern over the climate crisis led her to become involved in the anti-nuclear movement.
“Resources spent on nuclear weapons should be redirected to address climate solutions,” she said.
Young activists Kevin Chiu and Viktoria Lokh spoke on the importance of integrating youth voices into nuclear policy discussions. Horiguchi cited a Native American proverb ‘We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children’ and a quote from the book Choose Hope: ‘Hope is another name for youth.’
The symposium’s final declaration also underscored the role of culture and creativity in promoting peace and deepening empathy and concluded with the adoption of the Choose Hope Declaration. With the Doomsday Clock set at 89 seconds to midnight, the declaration warned that a nuclear-free world is possible only through intentional and collective choices.
‘We choose hope over despair,’ it stated.
(INPS Japan in collaboration with Soka Gakkai International.)