Month: August 2023

Each year, many around the world acknowledge August 6th as a solemn remembrance of the WWII bomb attack on civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

We are a collection of activists from the technology, business, and political spheres working for peace and civil liberties. We will host a Zoom event, “Harmony for Humanity” Sunday, August 6th, from 6pm to 8:30 pm Pacific time which is open to the public. Our
event will be focused not only on commemorating those who suffered and died due to the bombs but on current world conflicts and steps people can take, and can urge their leaders to take, to promote a peaceful world. Please sign up here.
This event is not financed, endorsed or supported in any way by any government, for-profit, or nonprofit corporation. It is 100% grassroots and supported by attendees.

This is not your Oppenheimer movie. For more information on this event visit NotYourOppenheimer.com This unique gathering brings together a diverse lineup of
talent, including four hilarious comedians, six inspiring speakers, and a captivating musician, all driven by a shared commitment to promote world peace.

Through laughter, thought-provoking discussions, and soul-stirring melodies, this event aims to create a space where the power of humor, ideas, and music converge to
facilitate important conversations surrounding nuclear disarmament and the preservation of human rights. Together we will explore the impact of the Hiroshima
bombing and its lasting consequences on both the survivors and the world at large.

Our incredible comedians will infuse the evening with laughter, using their witty and insightful humor to shed light on serious topics, break down barriers, and encourage meaningful dialogue. They will remind us that even in the face of adversity, laughter can
be a catalyst for change and an essential tool for healing.

Host:

Vahid Razavi

Founded Ethics In Technology 10 years ago and is now the founder of No Ethics In Big Tech, is the author of two books, The Age of Nepotism and Ethics in Tech and Lack There of. As a lifelong activist and humanitarian, he has produced hundreds of videos on various social issues, including ethics in technology, Silicon Valley, regional politics, poverty, war, and social injustice.

Speakers:

Mr. Takashi Thomas Tanemori:

was born in December 1937, in Hiroshima Japan. His father taught him, as the firstborn son, the Samurai Code, to guide him during many
years of searching. After surviving the bombing of Hiroshima, less than a mile from ground zero, losing his parents, and living with relatives, he emigrated to the Central Valley of California as a teenager. Along with authoring his life story in “Hiroshima: Bridge to Forgiveness” he has become a speaker for school, university, and spiritual multi-faith gatherings to share his story of Peace through Forgiveness.

Helen Jaccard :

has been a crew member, public speaker, and the Project Manager of the Veterans For Peace “Golden Rule” sailboat project since 2015. She is also a member of the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom. Helen is an author and activist, educating the public about the environmental and cultural impacts of war, militarism, and the nuclear industry.

Norman Solomon :

is an American journalist, media critic, antiwar activist, and former U.S. congressional candidate. Solomon is a longtime associate of the media watch group Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR). In 1997 he founded the Institute for Public Accuracy, which works to provide alternative sources for journalists, and serves as its executive director. Solomon’s weekly column, “Media Beat”, was in national syndication from 1992 to 2009.

Dr. Dorsey :

Blake serves as Presiding Minister of The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples and Faculty Associate at the Pacific School of Religion. He is also a member of the Coordination Committee of the National Committee of Elders. Franchesca Fiorentini Correspondent and stand-up comedian. Host of Newsbroke and The Bitchuation Room Podcast. Will Durst Acknowledged by peers and press alike as one of the premier political satirists in the country,

Will Durst :

has patched together a comedy quilt of a career, weaving together columns, books, radio and television commentaries, acting, voice-overs, and most especially, standup comedy, into a hilarious patchwork ofoutraged and outrageous common sense. His abiding motto is, “You can’t make stuff up like this.” The New York Times calls him “possibly the best political comic in the country.” Fox News agrees “he’s a great political satirist,” while the Oregonian hails him as a “hilarious stand-up journalist.

Brett Wilkins

is a San Francisco-based writer and activist whose work focuses on issues of war and peace, and human rights. He is a staff writer at Common Dreams.

José :

is the Community Manager at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. In 1990, he experienced the United States’ wars from the other side, visiting his family in Panamá while it was under US occupation. He has organized against war and militarism ever since. At EFF, he has worked on teams focused on police, carceral, and border technologies.

Chloe McGovern :

has performed at major clubs throughout New York City and the country, including The Comedy Cellar Underground, The Stand, Gotham Comedy Club, Caroline’s, The Hollywood Improv, and The Laugh Factory, among others.

Annette Mullaney:

is a San Francisco-based comic who’s performed all over the country, from SF Sketchfest and Austin’s Out of Bounds Festival to the Detroit Women of Comedy Festival, and recently opened for Third Eye Blind. Originally from Michigan, she lived in Syria for several years and has been a software engineer, translator, and writer for a magazine that she now realizes was a money-laundering front for the cousin
of a dictator.

Musician

Mike Rufo’s :

songs and poems arc across the waves of life. His music is gripping and eclectic, reflecting his impassioned engagement with the world. Mike’s musical language builds upon powerful lyrics, soaring vocals, driving rhythms, and melodic riffs that explore emotional depths and transformation. He also mixes things up with a knack for well-conceived parody, with a dash of political punch, like his popular singles Hit the Road, Trump! and Spyin’ Eyes

This year’s theme for No Ethics in Big Tech’s—formerly Ethics In Tech—Hiroshima Day annual commemoration and panel is “Harmony for Humanity: Uniting for Peace on Hiroshima Day.”

Our lineup this year includes a diverse mix of speakers and comedians, promising a unique blend of comedy and discussion that makes No Ethics In Big Tech events a one-of-a-kind experience.

Legendary political comedian Will Durst is on the mend and back in our all-star lineup, along with stand-up superstar, journalist, and activist Francesca Fiorentini, the ever-uproarious Chloe McGovern, and cosmopolitan humorist Annette Mullaney, whose work in Big Tech seasons her always witty sets.Singer/songwriter/guitarist Michael Rufo—whose crafty lyrics skewer government
surveillance and current affairs—is our special musical guest.

On the speaker side, host and No Ethics in Big Tech founder Vahid Razavi has assembled one of our best panels yet. Author and Veterans for Peace activist Helen Jaccard will lead off a lineup that includes Rev. Dr. Dorsey Blake of the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples, Common Dreams writer Brett Wilkins, RootsAction founder Norman Solomon—whose latest book, War Made Invisible, is a must-read for all peace-lovers, José of the venerable Electronic Frontier Foundation, and our very special guest, atomic bomb survivor and Hiroshima: Bridge to Forgiveness author Takashi Thomas Tanemori.

“I am looking forward to meeting many of you,” says Tanemori. “It is wonderful that you are promoting peace. For me, I’m promoting peace through forgiveness.” Always one of our more popular events, this year’s Hiroshima Day commemoration is all the more timely given the release of Christopher Nolan’s summer blockbuster Oppenheimer, a biopic chronicling the life of theoretical physicist and “father of the atomic bomb” J. Robert Oppenheimer. Being this is a No Ethics in Big Tech event, we won’t pull any punches like Hollywood inevitably does—although we stand in solidarity with striking writers and actors. As always, we’ll have a frank discussion about the history, current state, and future of nuclear weapons, which, arguably, now as much as ever represent an existential threat to humanity.

The world’s nine nuclear-armed countries—the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea—spent a combined $83 billion on their nuclear arsenals last year, with more than half of that amount attributable to the U.S. Instead of disarmament, the United States is spending tens of billions of dollars modernizing and upgrading its nuclear arsenal. Another world is possible. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 for its work culminating in the landmark Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which now has 92 signatories and 68 state parties. However, none of the world’s nine nuclear powers have signed the treaty. But as United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres recently asserted, eliminating nuclear weapons is “not only possible, it is necessary.”

Guterres warning came amid heightened nuclear fears during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and nuclear threats from Russian leaders. The world hasn’t been this close to nuclear war since the 1980s, when tensions between the United States and Soviet Union reignited to levels unseen since the Cuban Missile Crisis. According to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ Doomsday Clock, we are closer to “midnight”—nuclear armageddon—than even during the dark days of the Cold War’s final decade. It doesn’t have to be this way. Join us on Hiroshima Day, August 6, and let’s realize a better world together