THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
July 21, 2020 at 18:15 JST
Mary Popeo, who will be a tour guide of an Instagram live event from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (Provided by Peace Boat)
With the 75th anniversary memorials marking the 1945 atomic bombings disrupted and scaled back over the pandemic, those seeking to spread the anti-nuclear message are trying new ways to engage young people in the events.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is turning to a favorite app of young social media users, Instagram, to help share and keep alive the collective memory of atomic bombing victims and survivors throughout the world.
The group said it plans to host free tours of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum by using Instagram live ahead of the anniversaries.
ICAN will take viewers on a guided tour that introduces them to artifacts from the bombings, including mementos of the victims who died in the 1945 atrocities, and tell the stories of survivors.
“We want to raise awareness about the inhumanity of nuclear weapons,” said ICAN’s Akira Kawasaki.
Typically, members of organizations and individuals around the world interested in anti-nuclear issues travel to Hiroshima and Nagasaki to commemorate the anniversaries of the atomic bombings on Aug. 6 and 9, respectively.
But the coronavirus pandemic hampered travel this year and left many lamenting that they will miss the 75the anniversary of the bombings.
The 30-minute online tour will be conducted in English.
A live stream from Hiroshima is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. on July 22, while the live feed from Nagasaki is slated to start at 8 a.m. on July 24. Both events are free.
ICAN, the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, is an international coalition of non-governmental organizations working to promote adherence to and implementation of the U.N. Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
ICAN members came up with the Instagram live idea in the hopes it would let them reach out to young people in the world and promote anti-nuclearization.
The NGO Peace Boat will help with the streaming operation.
Livestreaming will be available at: (@nuclearban)
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