March 1: Nuclear Remembrance Day and World Futures Day events

Posted: 28th February 2023


March 1 is Nuclear Remembrance Day, the anniversary of the Bravo–Castle nuclear weapons test, the most destructive nuclear test explosion ever carried out in the Pacific. The nuclear explosion, conducted at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands on 1 March 1954, was nearly 1000 times more powerful than the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The radioactive fallout caused – and continues to cause – high level of cancers, miscarriages, birth deformities and other related illnesses throughout the surrounding islands. 

Testimony from the Marshall Islands to the International Court of Justice in 1995 about the catastrophic, widespread and trans-generational impact of the nuclear tests conducted in their territories was instrumental in moving the Court to conclude that “The destructive power of nuclear weapons cannot be contained in either space or time”, and to affirm that “The threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, and in particular the principles and rules of humanitarian law.“


Lijong Eknilang tells the World Court about the impact of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands

“Not long after the light from Bravo, it began to ‘snow’ in Rongelap. We had heard about snow from the missionaries and other westerners who had come to our islands, but this was the first time we saw white particles fall from the sky and cover our village. Of course, in 1954, Marshallese children and their parents did not know that the snow was radioactive fall-out from the Bravo shot.”

“My own health has suffered very much, as a result of radiation poisoning. I cannot have children. I have had miscarriages on seven occasions. On one of those occasions, I miscarried after four months. The child I miscarried was severely deformed; it had only one eye.”

“Women have experienced many reproductive cancers and abnormal births. They give birth, not to children as we like to think of them, but to things we could only describe as “octopuses”, “apples”, “turtles”, and other things in our experience. We do not have Marshallese words for these kinds of babies because they were never born before the radiation came...”

Excerpt from the testimony of Lijon Eknilang to the International Court of Justice in 1995.
Photo composite: Lijong Eknilang (left), New Zealand Attorney General entering the court to speak in the 1995 nuclear weapons case (right).
 

Some Remembrance Day actions/events on March 1

Pacific Region consultation for the UN Summit of the Future
February 28/March 1, 2023. 2pm-4pm New Zealand Time
Event flyer with date/time for Pacific Region timezones.


If you reside in the Pacific region (Pacific Islands or Pacific Rim countries) we invite you to join the Pacific Region Consultation for the Global Futures Forum and the UN Summit of the Future.

The event will provide a short update on the process and possible outcomes of UN Summit of the Future plus opportunities for civil society engagement, followed by a roundtable discussion on issues of particular interest and relevance for the Pacific region including the climate crisis, protecting the oceans, nuclear abolition and advancing the principles of trusteeship to protect the global commons for future generations.
 
For more information (including date/time of the event in your time-zone) see the event flyer or visit the event webpage. 
 Register for the Pacific Region consultation March 1

March 1 is also World Futures Day


Join the 10th anniversary of the 24-Hour Round-the-World Conversation to Celebrate World Futures Day, hosted by the Millennium Project!

Beginning March 1 in New Zealand at 12 noon NZ time, the open conversation on how to build a better future will move west each hour. Anyone can join in at 12 noon their time or any other time that is convenient, and join futurists and others to explore possibilities for our common future.

“Anybody can pull up a cyber-chair at this global table and join the discussion on ZOOM at:bit.ly/WorldFuturesDay2023 (or https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89593394905?pwd=ODBWRi8wUXVsTzAvNXMxazZ2M1BUdz09)” says Jerome Glenn, CEO of The Millennium Project. “Whatever time zone you are in, you are invited at 12:00 noon in your time zone. People drop in and out as they like. If people can’t come online at 12 noon, they are welcome to come online before or after that time as well.“

For more information see World Futures Day round-the-world conversation.

Find out more – call Caroline on 01722 321865 or email us.