Why this is important to me
Gaston Flosse, the current president of French Polynesia has decided to remove the monument tha was erected in Papeete in memory of victims of nuclear testing. This monument was inaugurated by Mr Oscar Temaru, his predecessor, on July 2, 2006, the 40th French bomb was exploded at Moruroa. Numerous representatives from France, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, the Netherlands and other countries all over the world were present for the inauguration. This monument, which has been decorated by Polynesian artists, is a sacred place where symbolic stones from Hiroshima, Nagasaki and sites of nuclear tests all over the world have been brought together.
Gaston Flosse wants to erase 30 years of history of French nuclear tests of which he was complicit and has decided instead to dedicate this site to Jacques Chirac, who was criticised all over the world when he ordered a second series of nuclear tests in 1995 after a moratorium that lasted years.
Since 2006, the memory of all victims of nuclear tests around the world has been honoured according to Ma’ohi tradition every 2nd of July, an occasion marked by the presence of important figures from all over the world, including many Hibakusha (survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki).
To destroy this monument, which is now know all over the world, is a sacrilegious insult to the memories of all victims of nuclear tests and their families.
Continue reading at Don’t destroy the monument of the victims of nuclear tests in French Polynesia
