West Papua   |   Indigenous Peoples' Rights

Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day 2007

1 March is Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day ('Bikini' Day), which marks the anniversary of the US 'Bravo' nuclear bomb detonation at Bikini Atoll.

Below are:

  • details of a Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific (NFIP) Day event in Wellington;

  • information about the overseas online petition Peace and justice for Guam;

  • a reminder of the local petition No! to marina in Whangamata / Kao! to marina in Whangamata;

  • the 2007 NFIP Day statement from Peace Movement Aotearoa; and

  • this year's NFIP Day media release from the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre, the secretariat for the NFIP Movement.

    Links to information about the 'Bravo' detonation are available on the Marshall Islands index page,with information about NFIP related topics on the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre site and on this web page.


  • Thursday, 1 March

    Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day, peace vigil with a focus on West Papua 'the forgotten Pacific country', from 5pm to 6pm at the Cenotaph, corner Lambton Quay and Bowen Street, Wellington; contact Peace Movement Aotearoa, tel (04) 382 8129 or email. Information about West Papua is available here.

  • Peace and Justice for Guam

    To: Secretary General of the United Nations, President of the United States of America. " We, the undersigned, oppose the fact that the people of Guam have not been included in the deliberations of the U.S. government and its elite partners regarding the scheduled transfer of 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam as part of a major explosion of the U.S. military personnel population on Guam, now set at 35,000. This buildup will have enormous environmental, social, cultural, long-term economic and political consequences in our community. Currently, a host of issues i.e. radioactive contaminations that cause record-high rates of cancers and dementia-related illness have yet to be addressed by the same military now expanding its presence in Guam. The way in which the current military buildup is happening calls attention to a harmful power imbalance between the U.S. federal government and Guam, which must be addressed." You can add your name to the petition here.

  • No! to marina in Whangamata / Kao! to marina in Whangamata -

    "We the undersigned support the iwi and hapu that have mana whenua in Whangamata. We strongly oppose the application of the Whangamata Marina Society to build the marina on the sovereign lands of the hapu, and the iwi of that area. We urge all the Maori Members of Parliament to oppose this application, we voted for you as our voices in Parliament, so keep the promises made and apply your influence for Maori. / Kua iri nei wa tatou nei tohu hai tautoko i nga iwi, i nga hapu e whai mana whenua ana i roto i te rohe e kii nei, ko Whangamata. Ko matou hoki nei e whakahe ana i te tono a te Whangamata Marina Society ki te hanga he taunga waka (marina) i runga i te whenua motuhake a nga hapu, me nga iwi o taua takiwa. Kei te whakahau hoki tatou i nga Minita Maori katoa i roto i te Whare Paremata ki te whakahe i te tono hoki, na tatou hoki koutou i poti hai mangai ma tatou ki roto i te Whare Paremata, no reira whakatinanahia, whakamanahia to ki taurangi ki te iwi Maori." You can add your name to the petition here.

  • NFIP Day statement from Peace Movement Aotearoa

    Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day, 1 March 2007

    This year is the 53rd anniversary of the US 'Bravo' nuclear bomb detonation close to the surface of Bikini Atoll. The explosion gouged out a crater more than 200 feet deep and a mile across, it melted huge quantities of coral, sucked them up and distributed them far and wide across 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). The US navy sent ships to evacuate the people of Rongelap and Utirik three days after the explosion. These people, and others 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, 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 !

  • Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day media release from the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre

    Indigenous Peoples' Rights   |   Peace Movement Aotearoa

     
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