Tony Seed on the similarities between the nuclear bombing of Hirsohima and the Halifax explosion. Both were war crimes, for one, and the Halifax explosion was eagerly studied by the designers of the nuclear bomb. Lots here also on the decades-long fight against nuclear weapons in Halifax, including many photos.
May First, international working class day, also happens to be the 100th anniversary of the Halifax General Strike of 1919 against war profiteering and super-exploitation of the construction trades in the wake of the Halifax Explosion of 6 December 1917. Tony Seed looks at the circumstances that triggered this strike, and many others like it in Nova Scotia and all across Canada.
Yesterday we published Judy Haiven’s take on the Halifax Explosion, arguing that in essence a war crime occurred, today Tony Seed makes a similar case in this well-researched article. “The tragedy of the Halifax Explosion, the subsequent Naval Magazine explosion of July 1945 and other preventable incidents since then shows that the granting of military-naval concessions and other privileges to the superpowers and their naval fleets represent nothing but great danger to the democratic right of the people to live in peace and to their freedom.”
Judy Haiven on why the many context-free commemorative events of the Halifax Explosion centenary are missing an important point: There was no military justification for the presence of a ship loaded with 5.8 million pounds of TNT in our harbour. The Halifax Explosion was a war crime, and innocent women, men and children paid an awful price.