An anti-nuclear weapons campaign group accepted the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize during the elaborate awards ceremony on Sunday in Oslo. The Norwegian Nobel Committee had picked the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) for its work on addressing the gap in international law regarding the restriction of nuclear weapons.

In her acceptance speech, Beatrice Fihn, executive director of ICAN, warned that mankind’s total destruction at the hands of nuclear weapons was just one “impulsive tantrum away.”

“Will it be the end of nuclear weapons, or will it be the end of us?” Fihn asked, referring to the ongoing exchange of threats between U.S. President Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

“The only rational course of action is to cease living under the conditions where our mutual destruction is only one impulsive tantrum away,” she added.

“A moment of panic or carelessness, a misconstrued comment or bruised ego could easily lead us unavoidably to the destruction of entire cities.”

Fihn described nuclear weapons as a “madman’s gun held permanently to our temple.”

Hiroshima survivor at ceremony

ICAN, which is comprised of a coalition of 468 non-governmental organizations from 101 different countries, has its headquarters in Geneva.

Fihn was accompanied at the ceremony in Oslo City Hall by Setsuko Thurlow of Japan — a survivor of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Thurlow was 13 at the time of the bombing and has campaigned on behalf of ICAN.

Thurlow described the “procession of ghosts” she witnessed on the morning of Aug. 6, 1945.

“The hair was standing up and they were all burned on the skin and their flesh was hanging from their bones,” she said.

“Some were carrying their eyeballs. It just was like hell on earth,” added the 85-year-old, who now lives in Canada.

Award ceremony in Stockholm

Meanwhile, the recipients of the Nobel Prizes for medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics received their awards in Stockholm.

Americans Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne received the Nobel Prize for Physics for the first direct observation of universal gravitational waves, while the award for Chemistry was given to Jacques Dubochet of Switzerland, American Joachim Frank and Briton Richard Henderson for discoveries in cryo-electron microscopy that provide detailed imagery of biomolecules invisible to the human eye.

American scientists Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their research into how the internal biological clocks of organisms align themselves with natural cycles of night and day.

Richard H. Thaler of the United States was recognized with the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in behavioral economics focused on “understanding the psychology of economics,” while Japanese-born British author Kazuo Ishiguro, best known for his Booker-prize winning novel The Remains of the Day, received the Nobel Prize for Literature for works that uncover “the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world.”

The event was attended by Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and his family.

There has been a moving ceremony in Oslo for the handing over of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) was honoured for its collective work with dozens of NGOs.

Beatrice Fihn, the group’s executive director, said in a speech: “The story of nuclear weapons will have an ending and it is up to us to decide what that will be.

“Will it be the end of nuclear weapons? Or will it be the end of us? One of these things will happen.

“The only rational course of action is to cease living under the conditions where mutual destruction is only one impulsive tantrum away.”

Message to Washington and North Korea

Another ICAN campaigner says she survived in the rubble of Hiroshima when she was aged 13 by pushing towards the light – and a nuclear ban is the new light to strive towards.

Setsuko Thurlow told the audience gathered in Oslo City Hall: “To all in this hall and all listening around the world, I repeat those words that I heard in the ruins of Hiroshima: don’t give up, keep pushing, keep moving. See the light.”

Another moving moment in Sunday’s award ceremony was a performance by the singer John legend, singing Redemption Song by Bob Marley.

Earlier, in a joint appeal to a media briefing, Fihn and Thurlow urged the United States and North Korea to “back down from dangerous rhetoric” and threats to use weapons of mass destruction.

“Engage in a diplomatic solution,” said Fihn.

“A diplomatic solution is the only solution,” said Thurlow.

ICAN’s aims

ICAN is a coaliton of NGOs pushing for a UN prohibition treaty.

An agreement was adopted by 122 countries in July but so far only three have ratified it.

To come into force the treaty needs to be ratified by 50 nations.

But the treaty is not signed by any of the countries that already possess nuclear weapons: the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France, India, Pakistan and North Korea.

Israel is also widely assumed to have nuclear arms.

‘Instruments of insanity all around us’

Fihn made it clear that she was accepting the prize on behalf of “thousands of inspirational people who make up the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons”.

“I am just one member of this huge grassroots movement, who together have brought democracy to disarmament and are reshaping international law.

She added: “At dozens of locations around the world, in missile silos buried in our ground, on submarines navigating through our oceans and aboard planes flying high in our sky like 15,000 objects of humankind’s destruction.

“And perhaps it is the enormity of this fact. Perhaps it is the unimaginable scale of the consequences that leads many to simply accept this grim reality, to go about our daily lives with no thought about the instruments of insanity all around us.

“For it is insanity to allow ourselves to be ruled by these weapons. Many critics of this movement suggest that we are the irrational ones, that we are idealists with no grounding in reality, that nuclear armed states will never give up their weapons.

“But we represent the only rational choice. We represent those who refuse to accept nuclear weapons as a fixture in our world.

“Those who refuse to have their fates bound up in a few lines of launch code. Ours is the only reality that is possible. The alternative is unthinkable.”

(N.Sethurupan, usatoday)

OSLO/LOS ANGELES, December 10, 2017—The 2017 Nobel Peace Prize Concert today announced joining forces with one of the largest and most innovative providers of visual effects and immersive experiences, Digital Domain. The multi-year partnership between Digital Domain and Nobel Peace Prize Concert producers Gyro AS and Warner Bros., will bring innovation and creative technology to share the Nobel Peace Prize Concert content from Oslo with the world.

The Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway on December 11th at Telenor Arena, honoring the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

The concert event takes place in Oslo on 11 December 2017, and in virtual reality headsets and immersive platforms everywhere.

Digital Domain is the only global studio with a legacy of award-winning visual effects expertise that leads innovations in virtual, mixed, augmented realities and technology bringing premium content experiences to the consumer.

“We’re very happy that the test we did last year with Digital Domain can lead to a new successful partnership at this year’s Nobel Peace Prize concert”, said the concert´s producers Odd Arvid Strømstad and Kristian Kirkvaag.

“The collaborative efforts of two established entities like the Nobel Peace Prize Concert and Digital Domain will bring quality content to an audience who expects nothing less,” said Alireza Saifi, VP, Global Business Development, Digital Domain. “To use our innovative technology and creativity to help share a united message of peace and celebrate the laureates is an honor.”

(N.Sethurupan)

Director of Exhibitions, Liv Astrid Sverdrup, unwrapping the personal belongings left by victims of the 1945 nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, showing for the first time in Northern Europe. (Photo: Johannes Granseth)

As part of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize Exhibition, Ban the Bomb, the Nobel Peace Center presents five personal artefacts left by victims of the 1945 nuclear bombs, showing for the first time in Northern Europe. These artefacts bear silent witness to the devastating impact of the nuclear bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the lives that were lost and forever changed.

The personal belongings are presented in the exhibition alongside a unique photo series by internationally acclaimed visual artist Sim Chi Yin about the current nuclear threat, and a tribute to Nobel Peace Prize winner ICAN and call to action to engage in the work against nuclear weapons.

“These artefacts left by victims of the 1945 atomic bombs bear silent, but strong, witness to the devastating impact on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and above all on the human beings that were living there. We are very grateful for the generous loan of the artefacts from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and the Kyoto Museum for World Peace”, says Liv Tørres, Director at the Nobel Peace Center. “This is the first time that artefacts from Hiroshima and Nagasaki are presented in Norway and we hope that these personal and telling artefacts will move people’s hearts and inspire debate on nuclear weapons.”

The artefacts include a bag, a hood, a lunch box, a rosary and a wrist watch.

• The first artefacts are a school bag that contains an air raid hood that belonged to Yukitoshi Masuda, a 13-year-old boy who was working at a building demolition worksite in Hiroshima on the morning of August 6^th, and went missing after the horrendous blast. His father searched for him in the city for a week, but never found his son. The only remains was Yukitoshi’s bag that had been found and delivered to the family by a neighbor.

• A lunch box belonging to another student, Yuso Ikuta, was found at the demolished site in Hiroshima where he was working together with 180 students from his school. Their bodies were in such condition that they were difficult to identify, or even burnt to ashes, but Yuso’s mother identified his lunch box as it contained the burnt remains of the food his mother had made for him that fateful morning.

• A rosary will also be displayed that was found in the ruins of a house 500m from the hypocenter of the Nagasaki nuclear bomb explosion. The rosary is a reminder of the thriving Catholic community that resided in the city before the nuclear bomb destruction.

• The last object is a glaring reminder of how quickly life can change in a minute. It is a wrist watchthat was found in the ruins of a house only 600 meters from the epicenter of the explosion. It stopped at 11:02 am, the exact time that the nuclear bomb exploded over Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.

“These objects touch every part of your being. They show us that the destruction of the nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki first and foremost hit individuals, like Yukitoshi and Yuso. Each object tells a unique story and is a strong reminder of the horror of nuclear weapons.”, says Liv Astrid Sverdrup, Director of exhibitions at the Nobel Peace Center.

(N.Sethu)

Yagawa Mitsunori of Yagawa Piano Studio with ICAN International Steering Group Member Kawasaki Akira (seated) Photo Courtesy Peace Boat

Oslo, Norway – December 7, 2017 – Nobel Peace Prize Concert organizers today announced that one of the six existing “Hibaku Pianos,” a remarkable collection of pianos which survived the atomic bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, will make a special appearance at the 24th annual event in Oslo, Norway on December 11th at Telenor Arena, honoring the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

The Yamaha upright piano, built in 1938, was exposed to the atomic bombing at a private home in Ujina, Minami-ku, Hiroshima City, 3km from the hypocenter. The owner donated the piano to Yagawa Mitsunori, a 66-year-old noted piano tuner/technician of Yagawa Piano Studio, who specializes in restoring pianos that were exposed to the Hiroshima bombing, and is also a second-generation atomic bombing survivor. Mr. Yagawa has restored the piano to be able to be used in performances, while keeping its condition as close as possible to its condition at the time of the bombing. The piano has featured in many concerts throughout Japan, as well as at a series of events in New York in 2010.

“Music has no borders,” said Yagawa Mitsunori, who tours across Japan, playing the piano at peace concerts. “I hope that people hearing the timbre of the Hibaku Piano at this concert will be an opportunity for them to reflect upon the preciousness of peace, and the horror of nuclear weapons.

This piano has experienced the tragedy of the atomic bombings. Therefore, there is a message which only it can convey. As a second generation Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor) in Hiroshima, and as a piano tuner, continuing this is my life’s mission.”

“We are privileged to be able to present one of the Hibaku Pianos at this year’s Nobel Peace Prize Concert,” said the concert´s producers Odd Arvid Strømstad and Kristian Kirkvaag. “Yagawa Mitsunori’s lifelong dedication to preserving the pianos that survived the atomic bomb at Hiroshima and spreading a message of peace is singular, and we’re honored to share his life’s work at the Concert.”

Internationally acclaimed actor, producer and activist David Oyelowo will host the 24th Annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert with headliner John Legend, Danish band Lukas Graham, Swedish singer/songwriter Zara Larsson, Norwegian DJ/producer Matoma, Norwegian singer/songwriter Sigrid, and youth performance company Le PeTiT CiRqUe®

(Nobel Peace Prize Concert organizers , N.Sethurupan)

Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize-winning economist, has made the claim that bitcoin ‘ought to be outlawed,’ at a time when the digital currency is experiencing record highs.
In a Bloomberg Television interview, the 74-year-old American economist and professor at Colombia University, said:

It seems to me it ought to be outlawed. It doesn’t serve any socially useful function.

His comments come at a time when bitcoin is continuing to surpass expectations from all sides. Just yesterday, it was reported that the digital currency has passed the historic $10,000 milestone and today it went even higher to reach over $11,000 for the first time, pushing its market total to $185 billion.

Yet, despite these record achievements, Stiglitz is of the opinion that the only reason the digital currency is doing so well is down to the fact that it has the ‘potential for circumvention, lack of oversight.’

It’s a bubble that’s going to give a lot of people a lot of exciting times as it rides up and then goes down.

Stiglitz has, in the past, expressed his views about the digital currency, stating in 2016 that the U.S. government had ‘shut down‘ bitcoin. At the time, he said:

The main use of bitcoin has been to circumvent tax authorities and regulation. I think the U.S. government did the right of thing of shutting or trying to shut it down and I think effectively…it has done that.

Interestingly, since then his outlook toward the crypto market has somewhat shifted, if only slightly. In January, while speaking at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, he said that the U.S. should phase out fiat currency and move toward the use of digital currencies.

The topic of discussion at the time focused on the issue of corruption, tax evasion and tax avoidance. According to Stiglitz, the phasing out of money and introducing digital currency has ‘benefits that outweigh the cost,’ in the long term.

Harvard professor and economist Kenneth Rogoff has also said that cash provided the ideal avenue for tax evasion, and that the time was now to reduce fiat money.
No doubt Stiglitz’s most recent comments will raise a few eyebrows, and is unlikely to go down well bitcoin enthusiasts; however, given the upward trajectory that the digital currency is currently on, it’s not likely that it will have much impact on where the market is heading.

(N.Sethu)