Beyond Nuclear International Weekly Digest, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2024

Posted: 25th November 2024

Military spending, especially on nuclear weapons, gobbles up more than half the US discretionary budget pie. But those harmed by the sector are left with crumbs, writes Linda Pentz Gunter. Nihon Hidankyo, a group of Japanese atomic bomb survivors, won the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. Elizabeth Chappell takes a closer look at who they are.

A sliver of support

On a pie chart illustrating US spending on nuclear weapons between 1942 and 2022 and the amount allocated to compensate its US victims, the latter slice is so tiny it had to be disproportionately enlarged to be visible to the naked eye. The fight for compensation for uranium miners and atomic test downwinders continues. Meanwhile, a whopping 62% was sliced off the 2023 discretionary budget pie for military spending versus the many essential services all of us need. READ MORE

Hibakusha win Nobel

Nihon Hidankyo, an association of Japanese atomic bomb survivors and advocates, was not a household name to many when the group won the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize last month. The award will be given on December 10 in Oslo. But the association has some well-known members including Sumiteru Taniguchi, who was delivering mail on the day of the bombings and whose shocking photo of the burns he suffered remains one of the more searing reminders of the horrors of using nuclear weapons. As many members age and pass away, the award comes just in time. READ MORE

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