This Pacific Peace Pilgrimage will shine a light on the history and intergenerational impacts of nuclear ‘testing’ in the Pacific region, including here in Australia. ICAN Australia is working with The Quakers and the Pacific Conference of Churches to welcome nuclear-impacted communities from the Pacific and Australia for a series of events which will highlight pathways towards nuclear justice in the region and call for a future that is decolonised, demilitarised, denuclearised and decarbonised.
From the beginning of the nuclear age, Pacific islands have been used for the development and proliferation of nuclear weapons. The plane Enola Gay left the Micronesian island of Tinian to carry the atomic bomb to Hiroshima, Japan, in August 1945. The following year, the United States began testing nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands
On July 1st, it will be 80 years since the first American nuclear detonation in the Marshall Islands. July 2nd will be 60 years since the first French detonation at Moruroa Atoll in Mā’ohi Nui.
Over the next five decades, more than 315 nuclear test explosions were conducted across the region by France, Britain and the United States. Seeking ’empty’ spaces, the Western powers chose to conduct cold war programmes of nuclear ‘testing’ in the deserts of central Australia or the isolated atolls of the central and south Pacific.
The impacts of these detonations and all that followed were catastrophic. But the nuclear threat isn’t only historical. The continued existence of nuclear weapons, that are carried through continents and oceans continue a threat throughout the Pacific.
Invitation to join events in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne
Canberra:
1 July 8am, vigil on Parliament lawns, including federal parliamentarians RSVP
2 July 6.30pm, Talanoa about nuclear justice RSVP
Sydney:
3 July 6pm, vigil and Talanoa about nuclear justice RSVP
5 July, Sunday at 2:00 pm, Talanoa on Decolonising the Region from it’s Nuclear History, Pitt Street Uniting Church (with finger food served from 1:30 pm, and the panel discussion commencing at 2:00 pm), free registration.
Melbourne:
3 July 6pm, vigil and Talanoa about nuclear justice RSVP
4 July 2-8pm, Talanoa about decolonising spirituality & shared Pacific meal RSVP
