20 years ago today, President Jacques Chirac announced a definitive end to France’s nuclear weapons testing in French Polynesia, arguably bowing to immense pressure at home and internationally. Up to that point there had been in total 175 or more explosions carried out over a twenty-year period.
The year before, France had seen major protests against its actions, with criticism coming not least from the Government of New Zealand, which sought a nuclear-free South Pacific, but also in the form of widespread boycotts of French wine and other produce.
At a time today when Sweden is taking increasingly bold opposition to human rights abuses of Saudi Arabia all on its own, perhaps with greater ambition and resolve than major countries such as the UK, US and indeed France, changes can be brought about there too, even if not straight away.
The tests also naturally raised major issues for the environment, and questions about the treatment of colonies. To use a colony for nuclear weapons testing precisely because any damage and risks are far removed from the colonising country itself appears to be the exact sort of abuse and disregard for colonised populations that the Rhodes Must Fall campaign speaks of now. While the islands used were uninhabited, the atoll is now at risk of collapse and unusual weather patterns did affect New Zealand, eastern Australia and the Polynesian islands in the years following tests.
How best to protect ourselves in a turbulent world is certainly not an easy question, especially when we arrange for the costs to fall on others rather than ourselves.
