Islington Tribune - by JAMIE WELHAM Published: 10 August 2007
Rose Hacker is pictured with Jeremy Corbyn and 12-year-old Sonia, who founded the peace group Children Against War.
Peace campaigner’s message of hope
LABOUR MP Jeremy Corbyn introduced speakers at a moving ceremony on Monday to remember victims of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. The Islington North MP addressed about 200 people who gathered at a commemorative cherry tree in Tavistock Square, Bloomsbury, for the annual event.
Among the guests were Labour MP Frank Dobson, peace campaigner Bruce Kent and veteran Tribune columnist Rose Hacker.
Amid the songs and speeches, Ms Hacker, now 101, recalled the end of World War I.
A lifetime campaigner for peace, she said: “What I think of so much is sitting on the gate at the end of that war and waving a Union Jack. My teacher told me that that was the war to end all wars. “There would be no more war – can you imagine it? And I heard that again at the end of World War II.”
Despite admitting she was sometimes ashamed to live in a world that still had nuclear weapons, Ms Hacker told the gathering: “We must not lose hope. If I have not lost hope in 100 years, then you young people can still have hope.”
The event was followed by a minute’s silence and the laying of a wreath by Camden Mayor Dawn Somper.