Assembling Peace Through Dialogue

A new report was produced to mark the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

View media report     |    View recording of the event

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Yerdaulet Rakhmatulla co-founder of the Qazaq Nuclear Frontline Coalition (QNFC), recently travelled to Nagasaki, Japan, to present findings from a landmark international research report — Assembling Peace Through Dialogue.

Yerdaulet wrote in a LinkedIn post: 

"Thrilled to visit the Land of the Rising Sun after years of partnering with Japanese organizations, it was a privilege to finally experience the city firsthand."

Over eight months, three international working groups, each combining members of BASIC's Emerging Voices Network with Japanese students spanning five continents and ten time zones. They  addressed interconnected questions under the overarching theme of generational responsibility for protecting humanity from nuclear risks.

Yerdaulet was a member of Working Group 2, which focused on the Japanese oral storytelling tradition known as Kataribe — storytellers who carry forward the lived memories of atomic bomb survivors (Hibakusha). 

As the Hibakusha population continues to decline, the group explored how this tradition can be expanded and redefined to preserve the emotional memory and purpose of Nagasaki's experience for future generations. 

Their work, found on pages 21–29 of the report, argues that Kataribe storytellers, unlike more formally trained Legacy Successors, are uniquely equipped to evoke empathy, transmit emotion, and adapt stories across changing cultural and political landscapes, including in the digital age where generative AI poses new risks of misrepresentation and distortion of survivor memory.

As Yerdaulet put it: 

"Following 8 months of remote work across regions as a Member of Working Group 2 in the joint RECNA-BASIC project titled 'Assembling Peace through Dialogue', I explored how the concept of Kataribe (disaster storytellers) could carry forward the memory legacy in a post-Hibakusha era. Onward to turning these insights into action in Peace Education, Nuclear, and more!"

The report's two other working groups addressed equally urgent questions. Working Group 1 examined how emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, are increasing nuclear weapons risk, proposing a multi-layered governance framework built on inclusive dialogue at every level, from formal intergovernmental negotiations to public engagement through gamified crisis simulations. 

Working Group 3 tackled the underexplored nexus between nuclear weapons and climate change, arguing that these "twin existential threats" are mutually reinforcing and that communicating their connection requires integrated storytelling, trusted messengers such as Hibakusha and young people, and sustained multi-stakeholder platforms for dialogue.

Across all three papers, one message is clear: dialogue that is international, intergenerational, and inclusive, is the foundational mechanism for reducing nuclear risk and building durable peace.

We are inspired by Yerdaulet's work and commitment to turning research into real-world action, and we look forward to sharing more of his insights as he continues his important work.