2025-09-01
A chance discovery of photos of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as an innocent child turned me into an anti-war activist for the rest of my life
By Chris Johansen, Green Issue Co-editor
Although born just four months before atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I remain haunted by that event. Logic says that what could I have done to intervene as a four-month old baby but emotions keep pointing a finger of guilt at me.
I first consciously came across those events when I was around eight years old. My father had purchased an encyclopaedic set of volumes replete with photos from WW2, including the immediate aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. My father, a refugee from then occupied Norway, jumped ship in Fremantle and was inducted into the Royal Australian Navy (rather than being sent to Nauru!). From my early beginnings he was really gung ho about the Allied victory, the patriotic glory of which was imbued into my young consciousness (an otherwise blank sheet!).
But, reaching down from the top shelf those WW2 encyclopedias ‒ from which I was not supposed to reach ‒ and viewing all of those photos about the effects of war on civilians, especially those who lived in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, raised first questions for me about the gloriousness of war. This was the beginning of my transition from blind patriotism, to a first consideration of how to prevent such events happening again.
I do not have many things to thank my father for as he deserted us in the early 1950s. However, three things I can thank him for: 1) facilitating my conception; 2) buying the encyclopaedic set of volumes of WW2, and 3) sticking a cigarette in my mouth at about aged three which conditioned me from taking up smoking when most of my peers did so (my lungs are still highly functional).
Another major influence in my thinking about war came around 1956-7 when I learned about the exploits of Mohandas Karamchand Ghandi. I was blown away by the realization that he had sunk the greatest empire the world has ever known – the British Empire – through implementation of non-violence. And the power of non-violence was backed up by the exploits of Dr Martin Luther King, also happening at around that time.
Also in the1950s, I became aware of the famines sweeping newly liberated colonies of the British Empire, particularly South Asia. That launched me into my career of agricultural research and development – aimed at producing enough healthy food for all.
The mid to late 1960s presented me with an opportunity to test whether my accumulated perceptions of the power of non-violence really amounted to anything. During my Ag Science studies at UWA, I was rudely interrupted by being called up by the military to fight in Vietnam. I registered as a conscientious objector. In my trial I said that I would rather go to Fremantle Gaol (which did not have a very welcoming reputation at the time) for two years, the penalty for refuseniks, rather than go and kill Vietnamese people. My application as a conscientious objector was unceremoniously thrown out. However, some weeks later I received a notice that I was no longer required for military service as I was “medically unfit” (actually I was then at the lifelong peak of my fitness with runs through beach sand and swims through surf several times a week, and at least weekly squash games).
To me, this was a demonstration that individuals can actually stare down government policies with which they don’t agree. And that – yes – a non-violence stance really can work. The US and their allies eventually left Vietnam in the mid-1970s, with their tails between their legs.
My subsequent career in agricultural R&D, based mainly in Asia but also with projects in Africa and the Middle East, convinced me that lack of adequate technology to produce enough healthy food for all was not the reason for ongoing instances of famine; rather the reason was predominantly war. Even with the progress of climate change my assessment is that there is enough diversity in crop varieties and agronomic options to feed the world, at least for another decade or two, before climate change really nastily kicks in. But the famine we see today can largely be attributed to war.
So, on returning to Australia in 2006, while maintaining my interests in agriculture and climate change, anti-war efforts assumed ever greater focus for me. On the one hand, it was disappointing that Australia had continued to blindly follow the USA into all its wars – e.g. Afghanistan and Iraq – despite the humiliation of Vietnam. On the other hand, it was heartening to learn of all of the anti-war activities in Australia during my absence (1978-2006). Of note was Jo Vallentine getting herself elected into parliament on a nuclear disarmament ticket, as well as the various anti-nuclear and anti-uranium mining movements.
Although I failed to intervene as a four-month old in stopping Hiroshima and Nagasaki, at least I can try to make up for that (and appease that irrational guilt feeling) by going gung ho on anti-war activities for the rest of my days.
Header photo: Victim of atomic bombing of Hiroshima, taken by Onuka Masami on 7 August 1945. Wikimedia Commons
[Opinions expressed are those of the author and not official policy of Greens WA]