Social Studies - Protest research - Nuclear Bomb Testing

Protest against nuclear testing in the pacific

What happened in the protest against nuclear testing in the pacific?

This protest was also known as the Mururoa protest. This took place in June 1995, after World War ll in the United States. The United States and their French and British alliances. Had frequently tested their bombs in the pacific region, in the 1950’s New Zealand military and observed British and American nuclear tests in Australia.  The French government announced that they would carry 8 final underground nuclear bombs tests in Mururua. They said they wanted to do these final tests before the UN comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty. This is what provoked the people which made them protest against it around the Pacific. One person named Anne Horne wanted to go to Mururoa to protest against nuclear testing. She expected to see bombs being detonated but instead, she saw a skipper being beaten and detained by French commandos. She actually saw this with her camera if it weren’t for her it would have not been carried out to the world. Her photos were actually the only evidence of the Mururoa protest. This is what made the end of the protests and nuclear bomb testing. This made the French very mad which I guess you could say a good thing.

Who was involved?

• New Zealanders were involved in the protest.
• United States
• Britains
• Mainly the french with their commandos physically going there, which they also had beaten up some protesters. 
• The most important person is Anne Horne because it is she who released the photos to the world.

Why were they protesting?

Because this would actually affect the health of people near Morurua because of the radiation. Because the first test the explosion was so big it created a mushroom shape in the sky. The top of that “mushroom” was actually a huge radiational cloud. WHich had spread out through the atmosphere. The main reason they were protesting was to keep the earth’s air clean. 

What was the outcome?

Because of Anne Horne, the photos of this violence had leaked out to the world, which raged everyone.  They had stopped because they were supposed to anyway since there was a ban treaty. But it was detonated which caused a huge submarine landslide on the South East rim of the atoll. Causing a great chunk of the outer slope of the atoll to break loose and causing a tsunami affecting Mururoa and injuring workers. The blast caused a 2 kilometer long and 40 cm wide crack to appear on the atoll.