International Day against Nuclear Tests

International Day against Nuclear Tests

This Thursday, 29th August, marks the International Day against Nuclear Tests. In the 1950s and 60s, nuclear weapons tests were inflicted upon communities and indigenous peoples in French Polynesia, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Australia, Algeria, Russia, Kazakhstan, China, and the United States. The lives and environments of those affected would be forever altered.

By pursuing nuclear weapons, Britain and other nuclear-armed states, including the US and France, have caused lasting humanitarian and environmental devastation — sometimes in their own backyards, but also in places they have treated as expendable and forgotten.

Despite the clear human impact, successive British governments have failed to publicly acknowledge or apologise for the harm caused by these nuclear tests. For many, these are not mere historical events but ongoing tragedies, as the fallout from radiation poisoning continues to affect generations.

The testing and use of nuclear weapons are acts of violence, and no political circumstances can justify weapons of mass destruction. As nuclear-armed states expand and modernise their arsenals, creating bombs even more powerful than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we must recognise the catastrophic human and environmental costs.

Nuclear disarmament and the total abolition of nuclear weapons are the only absolute guarantees against destroying the planet and all forms of life.

Ukraine

The Ukraine war poses serious global dangers, heightening the risk of nuclear conflict as the situation escalates. The expansion of the conflict underscores the urgent need for dialogue. Write to the Prime Minister, urging him to bring all parties to the negotiating table, secure the withdrawal of Russian troops, implement the Minsk agreements effectively, and call for a stop to NATO expansion. We must act now to eliminate the threat of nuclear war.

National march for Palestine

With no agreed ceasefire and the ongoing assault on the people of Gaza, we will be marching to the Israeli Embassy on Saturday, 7th September. Join us in delivering a powerful message of peace, urging the government to end the genocide, stop arming Israel, say no to a Middle East war, and stand against Islamophobia!

• Further details will be posted here.