Thank you, Mayor Diaz, Mayor Cicillini and Tom Cochran, fellow mayors, honorable
guests for providing me with this opportunity to speak at this great gathering of theU.S. Conference of Mayors.
How things have changed since I spoke to you first at your Washington meeting in2005! At the same time, what has not changed is how honored, privileged and proud I
feel to be here among my fellow mayors who care about and work strenuously for thecitizens they serve and who are committed to creating a better future for our children
and their children.
Although I intend to explain what Mayors for Peace has been and will be doing
shortly let me start by describing a discovery I have recently made.
I was actually surprised to learn how far back you and I have been struggling together
for nuclear sanity. Tom – the USCM’s institutional memory! – reminded me that in1990, the USCM adopted a resolution supporting amendment of the 1963 Partial Test
Ban Treaty into a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Well, it so happens that thedriving force behind that international effort was not governments, but aninternational network of politicians of which I was an active member. At that time, I
was not a mayor but a member of the Japanese parliament; the network I belonged to
was Parliamentarians for Global Action.
We had convinced non-nuclear-weapon states that they had to take responsibility forkeeping the test ban issue alive in the face of opposition by President Reagan andPrime Minster Thatcher. On the 25th anniversary of the Partial Test Ban Treaty, these
non-nuclear weapon states formally proposed an amendment and garnered enoughinternational support to require the convening of an amendment Conference.
Members of the US Congress then used the 1991 Partial Test Ban Treaty Amendment
Conference as the launch pad for their efforts to cut off funding for nuclear testing
which succeeded in 1992. In 1993, negotiations on a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
began in Geneva and were successfully concluded three years later; President Clinton
was the first to sign the agreement at UN Headquarters.
I tell this story not out of nostalgia, but because I believe it is happening again incompressed time and on an epic scale. Allow me to explain.
The first thing I need to remind you is that you American mayors have led the 2020
Vision Campaign of Mayors for Peace to its prominence now. Your generous support
that has, time after time, preceded that of all other national mayoral associations—even Japan’s! has been invaluable, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart!
In this regard I would like to thank the Mayors for Peace members here in the UnitedStates – who now number 138 – who, together with our international leadership,including the Honorable Donald Plusquellic of Akron, have asked you for your help.
You have considered it, and you have given it.
As a graduate of Elmwood Park High, a small community high school outside ofChicago, Illinois, I consider such an action a model of true American democracy that I
learned in my high school civic class.

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Now let me list what you have done for the future generations of the world.
Last year, you endorsed the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Protocol. This proposal for fasttracking nuclear disarmament would mean that by 2020 – or sooner – the shadow ofnuclear annihilation would no longer be cast over the cities of America, or any othercity in the world. On the heels of your endorsement, over 700 cities worldwide also
endorsed the Protocol.
With that backing, our representatives in Vienna and New York were able tochallenge non-nuclear-weapon States Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons (the NPT) to press this issue at the treaty review process meeting in
New York last month. I addressed that meeting and urged the delegates tounanimously support the commencement of negotiations on a nuclear-weapon-freeworld.
They tried. The chairman offered a comprehensive draft document in which startingtalks on a nuclear weapons convention was a key important point. Unfortunately,consensus was unachievable, in part because one major delegation was not ready yet
to make any major decisions. Which delegation? Yours: the US.
In fairness, it had been barely a month since your new President had made a major
speech on nuclear policy in Prague. If you have not the chance to read it, please do.
The text is on the web and I have a few copies with me in case you cannot wait. It is astatement of moral leadership that has galvanized leaders around the world.
I am glad to report that it has now also galvanized the State Department! Two weeks
ago, in Geneva, the 13-year deadlock in the Conference on Disarmament was finallybroken. Item one of the new work program is nuclear disarmament! Last week aWorking Group was established within the Conference on Disarmament to deal with
nuclear disarmament and met for the first time. The talks have begun! You shouldtake a moment to savor this victory, because it is largely yours. I thank you again foryour epoch-making contribution.
But we cannot rest on our laurels! The mandate of the Working Group is weak;
hardly the fast-track to a nuclear weapon-free world we are seeking. So, let’s put thisin perspective; what distance have we covered and what distance do we still need totravel?
In 2004, the US Conference of Mayors called for comprehensive nuclear disarmament
negotiations to begin. In 2009, talks have finally begun; the United States played avaluable part in the breakthrough. But it is not clear that a comprehensive approach
will be adopted.
In 2006, the USCM underscored the urgency of eliminating the threat to cities with a“Cities Are Not Targets!” resolution. The Working Group in Geneva’s mandate does
not properly reflect that urgency. Fortunately, many countries do feel the urgency,
but the position of the United States is not yet clear.

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In 2008, the USCM endorsed the 2020 target date, as espoused in the HiroshimaNagasaki Protocol. In recent months, we have identified a core group of countries
that recognize the profound importance of working toward a target date. This groupneeds to be rapidly expanded, and it must include the United States.
I know you and the Obama Administration have a long and complex agenda to cover.
I wish you every success in grappling with the many pressing domestic issues you
face; I face them, too!
But at your very next encounter, I hope you will tell the President that you are
expecting comprehensive, urgent negotiations for achieving a nuclear-weapon-freeworld by 2020, in one short phrase: fast-track global nuclear disarmament! They
may not expect to hear this from mayors beset by so many issues ‘closer to home.’
For that very reason, they will listen more closely. We need them to acknowledge
that cities are indeed on the frontline of any nuclear war and have every reason towant to see this problem solved without delay.
I know you have a long list of things you want Congress to deal with, but there is one
other item I want you to add to your Senate list! The Senate has some important
unfinished business. I started by talking about the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
Well, its ratification was rejected by the Senate in1998 and it has been gathering dustin the Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee ever since. Republican and Democratic
mayors should tell their Senators to get busy and ratify that treaty.
The case is simple: there is no better way to destroy the 2010 NPT Review
Conference and put the entire nonproliferation regime in jeopardy than continuing tosnub the 150 NPT States Parties who have signed and ratified the Comprehensive Test
Ban Treaty.
The US has all the weapons it needs and even has the ability to do sub-critical nuclear
tests and computer simulations. Of course, we oppose such testing, but my point isthat ratifying the CTBT will cost the US nothing, and yet, the United States finds
itself in the glorious company of the four states in the world that stand outside theNPT: India, Israel, Pakistan, and North Korea.
In Prague, President Obama said he would aggressively pursue ratification of theTreaty, and he has made Vice President Biden the point man. The sad truth is, theyneed your help. Please give it to them. If you help deliver that two-thirds majority forthe test ban, they might be more receptive to the nuclear disarmament fast-track!
My friends,I am a practical man. I know that things don’t change because we want them to, orbecause they ought to. Big change comes when you organize for it. It comes whenyour organizing is successful in gathering greater and greater support. Mayors for
Peace has been growing at a terrific pace since we launched the 2020 Vision
Campaign. When we launched it in 2003, 560 cities were affiliated with Mayors for
Peace. Today, we have close to 3,000 cities, and to be more precise, 2,926 citymembers to be exact in 134 countries and regions.

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Those are impressive figures, but we will soon be far more impressive. We shouldhave 5000 members by the time of the 2010 NPT Review Conference. So, let’s see,where could I find, say 300 new mayors for peace?
[LOOK AROUND THE ROOM AS IF EXPECTING AN ANSWER, AND
TRANSITION TO LOOKING AS IF YOU SEE THE ANSWER RIGHT IN FRONTOF YOU.]
On your chair you will find the Mayors for Peace registration forms. Please do not siton it, but please sign one right now if you can; take it home if you must, but please dosign it!
Let me remind you that most likely you do not need any approval from your city
council. There are no fees, which is a big factor. All we ask is that we should aim ata nuclear weapon free world as your President has clearly stated in Prague with justone more additional condition that the time limit we try to set is 2020. On specificissues Mayors for Peace will take up, you don’t have to agree on every point. You arefree to issue your own disclaimer. That is how we operate.
So please do join us!
By joining in the hundreds, you are sending an unmistakable message that the days ofholding cities hostage to annihilation are over, and that you demand liberation fromthe threat of nuclear winter and global famine. This risk-taking at our expense hasgone on too long. With terrorists in our midst, the concept of nuclear deterrence has
become obsolete, utterly reckless, indeed, criminally negligent.
I am more confident than ever that the world will choose the right path. I sense a seachange in the near future. Your President senses it and is its most prominent
representative. He and the vast majority of nations and people on this planet arebecoming a new and exciting superpower; I call it the Obamajority.
In Prague, breaking from his prepared speech, President Obama assured hisinternational television audience that, “Yes, we can!” eliminate nuclear weapons.
With his help, we can and we will; the first step is to grasp the urgency and set
ourselves a target date. The US Conference of Mayors has done it; the United States
can do it; and if we do, the world will gladly follow.
During my term as mayor, Hiroshima has been graced by the visits of two Presidentsof USCM, Donald Plusquellic and Beverly O'Neill as well as Tom Cochran. I want tosay to each and every U.S. Mayor: you are always welcome to visit Hiroshima to see
for yourself what inspires me and so many other people to dedicate themselves toridding the world of nuclear weapons.
But I would also like to ask your help in encouraging one very special person to cometo Hiroshima. I have extended an invitation to President Obama to come toHiroshima at his earliest convenience. I can assure him and you that Hiroshima’s
citizens, especially the hibakusha, the survivors of the A-bomb, will embrace a visitby him as a statement that, while we cannot change history, our focus is firmly on
creating a common future for all humanity.

4Like Kennedy’s visit to Berlin or even Nixon’s visit to China, such a visit would beseen as a breakthrough, a world-changing moment that would make him a hero for
centuries to come. Judging by the thoughtful reference to 1945 in his Prague speechand his declared desire to bring people together as citizens of the world, he may very
well be inclined to accept this invitation. I really hope you will encourage him to doso.
Thank You!
And please sign those forms! Thank you.

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