December 22, 2017
By Kevin Rafferty
An elderly Asian-Canadian woman gave a powerful acceptance speech at this year’s Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony. Key passages from Setsuko Thurlow’s speech should be inscribed on the walls of the United Nations Security Council.
Thurlow is a hibakusha, an atomic bomb survivor. On August 6, 1945, she was a 13-year-old girl working in a government office in Hiroshima as cheap labour. At 8.15am, she recalls, “I saw a blinding bluish-white flash from the window”. With immense effort, she emerged from the ruins of the building.
