HISTORY : Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Jonathan Parfrey knows that the debate over the atomic bomb is far from over. Fifty years after the United States dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki--resulting in Japan’s surrender and the end of World War II--the subject is still painful for many.

“The issue still has a mythic hold on Americans, which keeps it alive,” says Parfrey, executive director of the Santa Monica-based activist organization Physicians for Social Responsibility. “It’s something very powerful in the American identity, a collective scar. [Between Hiroshima and Nagasaki], there were 200,000 casualties in three days; the vast majority of those were not combatants. If you can legitimize that kind of warfare, you can legitimize the use of nuclear weapons in the future.”

Which brings Parfrey to his point: that despite the collapse of the Soviet Union and the slowdown of the international nuclear arms race, vigilance is still essential.

“When the Berlin Wall came down, so too did public concern about nuclear weapons,” he says. “But the truth is we’re only halfway through the life of the atomic age. We now have 1,000 tons of plutonium, enough to kill the whole world. The U.S. still has 9,000 nuclear weapons--3,500 strategically deployed. I find that untenable.”

To mark the anniversary of the bombings Aug. 6 and 9, the group is sponsoring events throughout the city in galleries, movie houses, community centers and churches.

Founded locally in 1980, Physicians for Social Responsibility is the U.S. affiliate of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. The group is not strictly composed of doctors; they number only about 800 of the group’s 1,900 members.

Parfrey himself is not a doctor. The Los Angeles native received his bachelor’s degree in history from UC Berkeley. But it was in college that he began to read a lot about Gandhi, and to practice what he calls “a respectful way to engage in civil disobedience.” After college, Parfrey and his family--wife Rio and their four children--spent six years in Catholic Worker Community, a lay religious order in East Los Angeles. He later established a similar community in Santa Ana, opening his home and providing up to 150 meals a day to the homeless.

“We’re genetically defective do-gooders,” he notes amiably. After a fund-raising stint for Nevada Desert Experience, a group that protests bomb testing, Parfrey returned to Los Angeles, and in 1994 assumed directorship at Physicians for Social Responsibility, which he had nurtured in its local beginnings 15 years ago.

Aug. 6, the anniversary of Hiroshima, also happens to be Parfrey’s 37th birthday, which he will mark with a speech at a Rancho Palos Verdes church--a definite contrast to his public protests of years past. “I’ve spent a few of my birthdays in jail,” he admits. “It’s not so bad.”

For further information about Physicians for Social Responsibility, or any of the following commemorative events, call (310) 458-2694.

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Schedule of Events

A list of “Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki” events:

* Through Sept. 4: “The Atomic Age Film Series” features 19 films, including “On The Beach,” “Hiroshima Mon Amour” and “Black Rain.” A speaker follows each screening. Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m., Laemmle Monica Theatre, 1332 2nd St., Santa Monica.

* Through Aug. 26: Robbie Conal, Mark Spencer, Lita Albuquerque, Clayton Campbell and Sheila Pinkel are among the artists represented in “Fifty Years, Hiroshima,” an exhibit at the New Gallery of the 18th Street Arts Complex, 1629 18th St., #4, Santa Monica. Gallery hours: Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

* Thursday: Screening of a new documentary film by Chris Beaver and Judy Irving, “Nagasaki Journey,” 7 p.m., Midnight Special Bookstore, 1318 Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica.

* Saturday: Screening of the 1982 Academy Award-nominated documentary, “Race to Oblivion,” 7 p.m., Midnight Special Bookstore.

* Saturday: The New Gallery has a reception for its Hiroshima exhibit, 3:30 to 8 p.m. Denise Uyehara offers a performance piece at 6:30 p.m.

* Saturday: Judy Teru Imai will lecture on her 1990 Global Peace Walk to Hiroshima, 2 p.m., Japanese American National Museum, 369 E. First St., Los Angeles.

* Saturday through Sept. 16: Side Street Projects--1629 18th St., #2, Santa Monica--presents “1945,” an exhibition of works reflecting the effects of the atomic bombs. Gallery hours: Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 6 p.m.

* Aug. 6: Parfrey speaks on “Hiroshima--The Eternal Fire,” 1:30 p.m., Pacific Unitarian Church, 5621 Montemalaga Drive, Rancho Palos Verdes.

* Aug. 6: The Japanese American Church Coalition hosts a Hiroshima/Nagasaki memorial service, noon to 2 p.m., Japan American Cultural and Community Center Plaza, 244 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles.

* Aug. 6: Centenary United Methodist Church sponsors a dialogue on perspectives about Hiroshima among Japanese Americans, 2 to 3:30 p.m., 300 S. Central Ave., Los Angeles.

* Aug. 6: Showtime presents the four-hour documentary “Hiroshima.”

* Aug. 12: Jordan Peimer visits Nagasaki, the Sinai and the United States in a new performance piece, “Service,” 8:30 p.m., Highways Gallery, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica.