Protests against fourth nuclear test

By Eva Cheng Demonstrations took place in several cities across Australia on November 22 to protest against the fourth French nuclear test at Moruroa atoll. In Sydney, more than 50 people gathered outside the French consulate. In Melbourne, 80 people gathered in the City Square. Called by the No More Hiroshimas Coalition, the emergency rally was addressed by activists from Friends of the Earth, the Anti-Nuclear Secondary Students group, the Medical Association for Prevention of War and the Democratic Socialist Party who condemned the Chirac government's refusal to cease its nuclear testing program despite the world wide condemnation. They also demanded that the Keating government ban uranium mining to help break the nuclear weapons cycle. Another protest has been planned for December 3, at 1pm at the Treasury Gardens. The latest test, with a yield of 40 kilotons, was detonated while the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague is examining the legality of nuclear weapons and only five days after a United Nations resolution — which won overwhelming support — called for an "immediate cessation of all nuclear testing". Only two weeks before, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting had also condemned the French government's tests. ICJ has heard submissions from 22 countries, most of which thoroughly refuted the French government's claim to the right of nuclear self-defence. Concluding two weeks of presentations, Zimbabwe's charge d'affaires Jonothan Wutawunashe said, "While it is true that a minority of states have relied on nuclear deterrence as part of their security doctrine, that does not prove its necessity or legality". This month the UN also adopted, by consensus, a second resolution which decreed that the "highest priority" be given to a comprehensive nuclear test ban for disarmament and non-proliferation. Ten out of 14 European countries supported the first UN resolution. Of them, Italy and Belgium had their scheduled state visits from France cancelled by Chirac. Greenpeace nuclear campaigner Jean McSorley said Australia's continued exports of uranium undermines its political stand against further nuclear testing.