Liberation Day minus 7755 (log#5)

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I promised to address the Liberation Celebration, and I will. But first a word about nomenclature. In my first logs I referred to nuclear “weapons”, in more recent ones, the Bomb. An explanation is due.

Many kinds of weapons have been used over the millenium. Each “upgrade” of civilizations has been accompanied by an upgrade of what qualifies as a weapon. Those who continue to use a weapon that has been disqualified are uncivilized, i.e. barbaric. In essence, the old weapon is no longer a weapon, but rather an instrument of terror. Either by treaty or by habit, the old weapon is eliminated or gathers dust. Anyone who reaches for it again makes him/herself an enemy of civilization, i.e. a barbarian.

I assert that this should apply to nuclear “weapons”, the Bomb (in all its varieties). Despite close calls, the taboo against its use has held firm. And, now, in the Treaty of the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, we have an international agreement that explicitly downgrades it to an illegal use of force. Granted, those in a position to use the Bomb, have not subscribed to the TPNW, but the marker has been set down, and I, for one, shall respect it.

So when I write “the Bomb”, read, “illegal nuclear terror weapon”, and think, “Hiroshima and Nagasaki” or if you prefer, “firestorm” and “nuclear winter”.

It is in this light that the eleven-words of Bali and Delhi should be understood. Use and threats of use are inadmissible because such barbarism must not be allowed to regain entry into our civilized world.

With the leadership of cities, the old means of bombardment by long distance artillery or from the air must also be deemed inadmissible, as well as nuclear attack. Extraordinary measures to protect civilians from collateral damage will become the new norm. The operative slogans: “Cities are not targets!” and “No warfare without welfare.” (More on this in a later log.)

Recall the point made in an earlier log, that without progress on this front, people may cling to the false promise that nuclear first-use threat will deter massive conventional destruction of cities, and thereby consider it worth running the risk of potentially succombing to nuclear destruction. (Note, as an aside, that this is also an argument for proliferation!) With, as of 2007, over half of humanity residing in large cities, addressing this concern head-on is a great way to reach a huge constituency.

Liberation Celebration

Liberation Day will mark a great triumph of the collective will of humanity; the end to a century of living precariously close to the cusp of a cataclysm; and the elimination of the Bomb and the establishment of a robust non-acquisition regime to ensure that the Bomb remains history.

If anything is worth celebrating, surely this is it.

The world should throw a party unlike any before. From August 6th to August 9th, 2045, musicians and artists of all stripes should put the spectacular diversity of human creativity on display for the whole world to see and share. Specially featured will be the performers who contribute to the Liberation Day effort from its early days. For example, throughout the time leading up to the August 2025 climax, cities (and sister cities) will be organizing commemorations of the times they were bombarded and/or torched. There will be at least one date between 2025 and 2045, when they can mark a 20th, 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, 75th, 80th, or 100th anniversary (or in WWI cases, 125th) These commemorations will have a forward-looking aspect as well, specifically, promotion of Liberation Day. That portion can feature local and regional performers, the proceeds from the event going to Score One for Humanity.

“Score” what?

The campaign: Score One for Humanity

The word “score” has three meanings:

1. An interval of twenty, as in “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation …” (Honest Abe);
2. The musical composition upon which a performance is based, as in “It’s the final countdown!” (song by Europe);
3. A point earned on the playing field: as in “Goooooaaaaalllll!!!”

Regarding 1, the campaign will officially kick off in August, 2025, “in” Hiroshima and/or Nagasaki, and run for — you got it! — twenty years: one score.

Re.2, musicians will compose and perform a score “for humanity”. Or, as with Europe, perform existing works that capture the theme. (Another example, Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”, the anthem of the EU; Europe, get it?!)

Re.3, the really big goal: a safer nuclear-Bomb-free world in 2025. Additionally, this can be a way for team sports — amateur and professional — to contribute to the campaign: score one for humanity!

All this activity should have the vital side-effect of making Gen Z youth feel at home in the campaign. We old fogeys have squandered four-score years chasing the will-o’-wisp disarmament mirage, we are going to put every effort into setting things right for generations to come by devoting the next score years to non-use and elimination. But, not only do we not want to hog the glory ;), we sorely need the energy of everyone, from GenZ on up. Gen Z will be able to proudly proclaim they did not leave this threat to the next generation, freeing that generation to focus more sharply on other existential threats to humanity (Score Two, Three, etc.)

There’s just a year and three months to pull together the coalition of experts, city leaders, and artists to officially launch Score One for Humanity on Liberation Day minus 7305 (do the math: 365 days/year X 20 years + 1 day/leap-year X 5 leap-years in 20 years = 7305).

[If you were paying close attention, you probably found yourself wondering why I put quotation marks around “in” when referring above to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While we can aim to have survivors of the Bomb from those cities taking part, and hopefully the Mayors and Japanese youth as well, it does not make sense to spend what are likely to be still-meager resources on foreign travel to Japan. During the pandemic, we became adept at meeting “remotely”. A strong case can be made for retaining that good habit.]

So, revenue from events in cities will allow the Score One campaign to recruit experts, arrange Mayors-Majors workshops on urban warfare, and educate widely on the Liberation Day theme. This will bridge the gap prior to governments starting to kick in and, ultimately, leading the way.