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Indigenous People and the
Nuclear Age
Of the eight nations in the world that have detonated nuclear weapons
during the last 55 years, five have used the sacred land of indigenous
peoples. The United States, Russia, Britain, France and China have
‘tested’ their nuclear might on lands held sacred by the
people of First Nations. The Western Shoshone nation of North America,
the Marshall and other South Pacific Islanders, Australian Aboriginals,
the Kazakhs, and Tibetans are but a few of those whose land has
been consistently contaminated with nuclear poison.
Indigenous groups affected in or by:
United
States of America
USSR/Russia
Australia
Facts and Figures
To date, 8 countries have conducted approximately 2,051 nuclear
tests under water, underground, in the atmosphere and in space.
This represents an average of one nuclear test every nine days
for the last 50 years.
Nuclear tests on native lands include:
- A total of 106 nuclear tests have been conducted by the US in
the South Pacific, plus an additional 24 tests in the Christmas
Islands just off Australia.
- 12 atmospheric tests were detonated in Australia between 1952
and 1957 by the UK, three at Monte Bello, two at Emu Field and
seven at Maralinga.
- 14 nuclear tests were conducted in Algeria by the French, 4
atmospheric and 10 underground. From 1966 - 1990, a further 167
tests were conducted by the French on the atolls of Mururoa and
Fangataufa in Polynesia.
Worldwide, uranium mining has been the most hazardous step in nuclear
materials production, in terms of radiation doses and numbers of
people affected. It also is the step that generates the largest
volumes of waste material. Uranium for nuclear weapons has been
mined all over the world, from Australia to Zaire. Indigenous peoples
have been disproportionately affected by the health and environmental
impacts of uranium mining.
What you can do
Subscribe to the following newsletters/journals to be kept up
to date on nuclear issues concerning the production of nuclear power,
the manufacture of nuclear weapons and nuclear waste ‘clean-up’
and the effect on indigenous communities.
Indigenous Environmental Network <www.ienearth.org>
Shundahai Network <www.shundahai.org>
Mirrar Nation Opposed to the Jabiluka Uranium Mine (Australia)
<www.mirrar.net>
Bellona Foundation <www.bellona.no>
IEER/Science and Democratic Action <www.ieer.org>
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists <www.thebulletin.org>
Become a member of, or provide financial support for, national
and international anti-nuclear organizations. Contact:
Women’s International League for Peace and Freeedom <www.reachingcriticalwill.org>
Nuclear Information and Resource Service <www.nirs.org>
Greenpeace <www.greenpeace.org/~nuclear/>
Plutonium Free Future <http://www.coopcomm.org/nonukes/>
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War <www.ippnw.org>
North European Nuclear Information Group <www.users.zetnet.co.uk/n-base/>
World Information Service on Energy <http://antenna.nl/wise>
Support your local anti-nuclear activists, either by becoming involved
in actions, letter writing campaigns, lobbying state and federal
representatives, or by providing monetary support.
Trident Ploughshares <www.gn.apc.org/tp2000/html/>
Abolition 2000 <www.abolition2000.org>
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament <http://www.cnduk.org/welcome.htm>
Socio Ecological Union (Russian language site) <http://cci.glasnet.ru/antinuclear.html>
Become a government watchdog. Contact:
U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Environmental Management <www.em.doe.gov/>
U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs <www.doi.gov/bureau-indian-affairs.html>
Or find equivalent organizations in your country of residence.
Further Reading
Reaching Critical Will's Model Nuclear Inventory 2007
Makhijani, Arjun, Howard Hu, Katherine Yih, editors. Nuclear
Wastelands: a Global Guide to Nuclear Weapons Production and Its
Health and Environmental Effects (written in association with
the Special Commission of International Physicians for the Prevention
of Nuclear War and the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research).
Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1995.
Norris, Robert S. and William M. Arkin. ‘Nuclear Notebook:
Known nuclear tests worldwide 1945-98’ in The Bulletin of
Atomic Scientists. Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science,
Nov/Dec Issue, 1998.
Stephens, Sharon. ‘Physical Reproduction in a Post-Chernobyl
Norwegian Sami Community’ in Fayed D. Ginsburg and Rayna Rapp,
editors. Conceiving the New World Order: the Global Politics
of Reproduction. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995.
The Special Commission of International Physicians for the Prevention
of Nuclear War and the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research.
Radioactive Heaven and Earth: the health effects of nuclear weapons
testing in, on and above the earth. New York: Apex Press, 1991.
The World Uranium Hearing. Poison Fire Sacred Earth: testimonies,
lectures and conclusions. Munich: published in-house by The
World Uranium Hearing, 1993.
777 UN Plaza - 6th Floor - New York, NY - 10017 - Ph: 212.682.1265 - Fax: 212.286.8211 - info@reachingcriticalwill.org
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