Publication Laka-library:
Ending Nuclear testing in the Pacific: Bishop Bryce and the Pacific Conference of Churches
| Author | Christine Weir |
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4-26-8-00-17.pdf |
| Date | December 2012 |
| Classification | 4.26.8.00/17 (PACIFIC - FRENCH TESTING AREA) |
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From the publication:
Christine Weir- The Ending of Nuclear Testing 13/08/2013 1 Ending Nuclear testing in the Pacific: Bishop Bryce and the Pacific Conference of Churches Christine Weir School of Social Studies, University of the South Pacific Conference paper delivered at the 20th Pacific History Association Conference, Wellington, New Zealand, 8 December 2012 One of the dominant issues of South Pacific regional meetings and international negotiations in the 1970s and 1980s was the use of the South Pacific as a testing ground for nuclear weapons by outside powers and, at least potentially, as a dumping ground for nuclear waste. While the establishment of the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone in 1985 reduced the immediate concerns, arguments about compensation and acknowledgment of damage rumble on. The negotiations which led to the establishment of the Nuclear Free Zone have been investigated by a number of political scientists,1 and studies of the Pacific Nuclear Free Movement, often by activists, have described and deplored the devastation of US Trusts Territories and their successor polities and French Polynesia by nuclear testing.2 But neither the political scientists nor the activists have paid much, if any, attention to the role of church, trades union and civil society activists in preparing the ground for political action, or the links between government actors and civil society campaigners. Previous studies, especially in Australia, have recognised the role of Trades Unions in pressuring Australian and New Zealand governments to adopt an anti-nuclear stance. However in the Pacific the churches and other NGOs seem to have been more influential than trades unions. This paper foregrounds the activities of the NGOs and Pacific churches in the struggle against nuclear testing and dumping, and investigates the linkages between these civil society organisations and pressure put on governments, particularly during the period 1965 to 1986. One of the main supporters and facilitators of the movement – from the 1970s up to the late 1990s - was Bishop Jabez Bryce, Anglican Bishop of Polynesia from 1975, Moderator of the Pacific Conference of Churches 1976- 1986, and member of various committees of the World Council of Churches.