Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day (March 1st)

[This post is from Peace Movement Aotearoa, New Zealand, and was originally published in 2009]

Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day ('Bikini' Day), 1 March, marks the anniversary of the US 'Bravo' nuclear bomb detonation at Bikini Atoll [*] in 1954. The explosion gouged out a crater more than 200 feet deep and a mile across, melting huge quantities of coral which were sucked up into the atmosphere together with vast volumes of seawater. The resulting fallout caused widespread contamination in the Pacific.

Powdery particles of radioactive fallout landed on the island of Rongelap (100 miles away) to a depth of one and a half inches in places, and radioactive mist appeared on Utirik (300 miles away). Radiation levels in the inhabited atolls of Rongerik, Ujelang and Likiep also rose dramatically. The US navy did not send ships to evacuate the people of Rongelap and Utirik until three days after the explosion. The people in the Marshall Islands, and elsewhere in the Pacific, were used as human guinea pigs in an obscene racist experiment to 'progress' the insane pursuit of nuclear weapons supremacy.

Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day is a day to remember that the arrogant colonialist mindset which allowed, indeed encouraged, the horror mentioned above continues today - the Pacific remains neither nuclear free nor independent.

It is a day to think about the many faces of colonisation - physical, cultural, spiritual, economic, political, nuclear, military - past and present; the issues of independence, self-determination and sovereignty here in Aotearoa New Zealand and the other colonised countries of the Pacific; and the ability of Pacific peoples to stop further nuclearisation, militarisation and economic globalisation of our region.

It is a day to acknowledge and remember those who have suffered and died in the struggle for independence around the Pacific; those who have opposed colonisation in its many forms and paid for their opposition with their health and life; and those who have suffered and died as a result of the nuclear weapons states' use of the Pacific for nuclear experimentation, uranium mining, nuclear weapons testing and nuclear waste dumping.

It is a day to celebrate the strength and endurance of indigenous Pacific peoples who have maintained and taken back control of their lives, languages and lands to ensure the ways of living and being which were handed down from their ancestors are passed on to future generations.

It is the day to pledge your support to continue the struggle for a nuclear free and independent Pacific, as the theme of the 8th Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Conference said: No te parau tia, no te parau mau, no te tiamaraa, e tu, e tu - For justice, for truth and for independence, wake up, stand up !

- Peace Movement Aotearoa

[*] In 1946, a military officer representing the US government asked the people of Bikini if they would be willing to leave their atoll temporarily so that the United States could begin testing atomic bombs for "the good of mankind and to end all world wars". They have been prevented from returning to their home ever since because of the level of radioactive contamination remaining there.

In April 2006, together with the people of Enewetak, they filed a lawsuit against the US government in the US Court of Federal Claims. The lawsuit sought compensation for the taking of their property, and damage claims resulting from the US government’s failure and refusal to adequately fund the orders of the Nuclear Claims Tribunal. In 2000 and 2001 the Tribunal awarded compensation totaling around $948 million for loss of the islands, clean-up and resettlement costs, and personal injury and hardship. So far the Tribunal has only paid out about $3.8 million.

On 29 January 2009, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled against the people of Bikini and Enewetak, saying an agreement between the governments of the United States and Marshall Islands in 1986 is a settlement that is beyond judicial review - affirming the US Court of Federal Claims ruling on 2 August 2007. The decision of the Court of Appeals is
available here, and the people of Bikini's response to the 2007 Court of Federal Claims ruling is here. A history of Bikini Atoll and the people's struggle for justice is on this web page.
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Editor's Note: The following is their most recent call for negotiating a Nuclear Weapons Convention.

This year, New Zealanders have the opportunity to help turn the hope of a nuclear weapons-free Pacific, and indeed a nuclear weapons-free world, into a reality by adding their signatures to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Aotearoa New Zealand (iCAN ANZ) petition to parliament.

The petition calls on the New Zealand government to actively engage with like-minded governments committed to abolishing nuclear weapons to launch, without delay, an initiative to start the process of negotiating a Nuclear Weapons Convention; and it will be considered by a parliamentary Select Committee later this month. The petition form is available on the iCAN ANZ website at http://www.icanw.org.nz

BRAVO! (No Encore Please)

Friends,

On March 1, 1954 the United States tested the first deliverable hydrogen bomb, code named "Bravo”, at Bikini Atoll, in the Marshall Islands. Bravo was the largest U.S. nuclear test ever exploded, with a yield of 15 megatons, 1000 times larger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima (and well beyond the predicted yield of 6 megatons; oops!). This is an opportune moment to consider the critical juncture we have reached 55 years after this test and the opportunities presented to us.

The Cold War ended nearly two decades ago; and yet the United States and Russia still maintain thousands of nuclear missiles ready to launch on warning. The President of the United States may have just a few minutes to make the fateful decision to launch nuclear weapons in case of warning of a nuclear attack. In 1995, Russia came within a few minutes of launching a nuclear counterattack after it initially interpreted the launch of a scientific rocket from Norway as a first strike. This is just the most recent known close call among those documented involving both the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia. A number of them have been just too close.

The Bush administration repeatedly refused to pledge to a "no first use" policy. President Obama has not yet explicitly stated a "no first use" policy, although he has started down the road to nuclear disarmament with the Russians (an extremely important first step) by establishing dialogue.

The 2002 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) issued by the Department of Defense under the direction of the Bush administration would lead to new nuclear capabilities, the possible resumption of nuclear testing, and plans to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states believed to have the capability to build weapons of mass destruction. Before the NPR was submitted to Congress (during the Bush Administration), the U.S. had already announced its withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) and refused to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Does this sound like a scenario for destabilization, a new and improved arms race and an increasingly unsafe world????

President Obama has the opportunity to reverse the 2002 Nuclear Posture Review, re-commit to the ABM Treaty, and ratify the CTB Treaty. He has stated his desire for nuclear disarmament. He has spoken of his desire to seek "a world without nuclear weapons" and at the same time spoke of the need to "retain a strong deterrent"..."as long as nuclear weapons exist." It is difficult to have it both ways; his rhetoric could indicate different paths. On the positive side, the draft 2010 Energy Department budget has "ZERO dollars for new nuclear weapons." However, the nation's most senior nuclear combat commander yesterday took issue with U.S. President Barack Obama's characterization of U.S. atomic weapons as being on "hair-trigger alert" and warned against reducing the arsenal's launch readiness. We need to keep pushing the President down that difficcult road towards that "world without nuclear weapons". It is attainable, although it will be a long road getting there.

The next week and a half is the final opportunity for you to sign on to the Appeal to President Obama calling for US Leadership for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World. The Appeal calls upon President Obama to "make a world free of nuclear weapons an urgent priority and to assure US leadership to realize this goal." Click here to read the Appeal, and sign it today! On Wednesday, March 11 the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation will submit the Appeal to President the Obama administration in Washington.

A world free of nuclear weapons is possible, and really is the only way to prevent a future nuclear war. We may not see the fruits of our labor in our lifetime, but by beginning now we can help rid the world of the nuclear Sword of Damocles that hangs over humanity.

Peace,

Leonard