Paper tigers and origami cranes

PAREDES

Faced with the threat of a full-scale military invasion during the postwar years, Chairman Mao Zedong referred to the American imperialism as a “paper tiger,” a bogus superpower that the Chinese communists could easily defeat in their own style of asymmetrical warfare. Mao’s strategy was to arm the peasants and organize them into militia units that could immediately defend their villages from any invading army using guerrilla warfare.

With the help of Soviet allies, Mao also started to develop atomic bombs as a deterrent for such a full-scale attack that could include a nuclear strike.

With its own manufacturing capability and with technology transfer from the Soviet Union, the Chinese were able to eventually develop their own intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) armed with nuclear warhead that could reach American soil.

Thus, a stalemate was reached where nuclear-armed countries faced each other in a “mutually-assured destruction” (MAD) or the prospect that any strike meant to wipe out the other could meet retaliation of same effect. This prevents any country from making a first strike against its enemy. As the arms race resulted in stockpiles of nuclear weapons that were enough to destroy the whole planet, it ushered in the Cold War, an existential age of global anxiety.

This anxiety over the realization that humanity has finally developed capability to destroy itself and the rest of the planet came in the wake of the first use of atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in August 6 and 9, respectively, in 1945.

America tried to justify the bombings which cost the lives of more than 200,000 people as a way to abruptly end the war and thus hasten world peace. The end was supposed to justify the means. Such was the irony of America’s first use of atomic warfare.

Traumatized by the experience of atomic bombing, Japan pledged to shun nuclear weapons and, in fact, decided to limit its military capability. The postwar generation of Japanese, particularly those that survived the attacks in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, opposed militarization and longed for world peace.

There was the famous story of Sadako, a young girl who survived the bombing of Hiroshima, who in her deathbed created a thousand origami cranes, believing in the old superstition that this could make the wish of anyone who made them come true. Sadako wished for healing and world peace. After she died, her fans in Japan and in other countries continued the practice of making their own one thousand paper cranes as a symbol of the aspiration for world peace.

Back in the early ’90s, as the Cold War was ending in Europe, our group of student activists commemorated the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings in August by holding an exhibit of photos of the aftermath of the first atomic bomb explosions and a free demo on how to make origami paper cranes.

We asked fellow students to help us produce a thousand paper cranes that would be installed in the middle of the lobby, right next to the exhibit. And, as we were making those paper cranes, we played songs about the nuclear war, like Enya’s “Send Them a Thousand Cranes,” which is based on the story of Sadako, and Sting’s “Russians.”

All these memories came to me as the world commemorates once again the anniversary of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Japan in this month of August. This year, such recollections become even more relevant as the world faces yet another possibility of a nuclear war, with North Korea announcing plans to strike Guam with nuclear missiles and American President Donald Trump responding by threatening to retaliate with “fire and fury” against the Hermit Kingdom.

Guam, the possible flash point of this dreaded nuclear war, is only some 2,000 kilometers away from the Philippines. So there are growing fears of possible debris from Korean missiles disintegrating off Guam’s air space and falling into Philippine territory or, worse, radioactive fallout heading our way after a nuclear explosion.

Right now, both countries are in a standoff as Trump declared US nuclear arsenal are already “locked and loaded” while North Korea announced it is waiting for America’s next move before launching missiles to Guam. China too has recently joined the squabbles, announcing it will go neutral if North Korea attacks Guam but threatening to defend its ally if the US makes the first strike.

The rest of the world watch over these events with increasing anxiety. And with all these threats of mass destruction, the peace-loving citizens of the world can only wish, perhaps over a thousand paper cranes, that they’re all just words coming from paper tigers and nothing more.