“We are not alone! We shall never forget! The resilience and strength of nuclear frontline communities who are continuing to fight for dignity and respect must be upheld by these remembered stories towards justice.”
Nuclear Remembrance day
"The nuclear legacy and how it connects us is much deeper than we know it. On March 1, 1954, the United States tested its most powerful hydrogen bomb at 15 megatons, code named Castle Bravo. The plutonium and ionizing radiation weapons were created here in Washington State and detonated upon Bikini and Enewetak Atoll - Marshall Islands. In generations to come, people may be displaced, food security lost, and other chronic health conditions as an outcome of the nuclear era. We are not alone! We shall never forget! The resilience and strength of nuclear frontline communities who are continuing to fight for dignity and respect must be upheld by these remembered stories towards justice."
-CANN-W (The COFA (Compacts of Free Association with the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau) Alliance National Network of Washington)
“We must pierce the veil of silence and set aside all smoke screens clouding the truth. The absence of truth, barriers to truth, manipulations of truth, and destruction of truth must come to an end. Only with the truth can we finally achieve justice and truth will set us free of the nuclear legacy.”
Background: Nuclear Weapons Testing in the marshall Islands
“The Marshall Islands experienced 67 known atmospheric nuclear tests between 1946 and 1958, resulting in an ongoing legacy of death, illness and contamination. The impacts are handed down, generation to generation.
These impacts continue to challenge our human rights. In our culture, our identity is our land. Testing impacts left behind deep scars, with communities remaining in exile from their home islands, billions of dollars in unmet adjudicated claims, and a social and environmental burden upon our youngest and future generations. To help ensure nuclear risk is eliminated, the Marshall Islands is working towards accession to the 1963 Partial Test Ban treaty as well as the Treaty of Rarotonga and its nuclear free-zone.” H.E. Dr. Hilda Heine, President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands
The Marshallese community lives with the impacts of having their home used as testing grounds for 67 nuclear weapons from 1946-1958. Much of the plutonium used in these weapons came from Hanford. This frontline community has much to teach the world about the burden of nuclear waste in bodies, land, and home; and the power of community to foster strength and resilience in the fight for nuclear justice.
For a quick overview of the history of nuclear weapons testing in the Marshall Islands with a focus on the Castle Bravo test, listen to Dr. Sheldon Riklon, Neisen Laukon, and Benetick Maddison tell part of this story in this 13 minute piece by Al Jazeera.
““We want to share this. Not just for our sake, not just for our sake. No. No. But for all the world.””
2024 MARSHALLESE NUCLEAR REMEMBRANCE DAY EVENT AT THE BURKE MUSEUM
In 2024 we honored Marshallese Nuclear Remembrance Day at the Burke Museum. Over the course of three days, Marshallese master weaver Emma Joran demonstrated a weaving technique with pandanus to create a piece of art over a repurposed nuclear fan blade. The Burke Museum, Blades of Change Nuclear Arts Initiative, and Hanford Challenge collaborated to support this project.
Master weaver, Emma Joran with finished piece “Jerbal in Kakememej” and Emma Wong, Burke Museum Artist Studio coordinator. March 1-3, 2024
"Jerbal in Kakememej" artist statement by Emma Joran
"In the beginning I was very excited, and at the same time I was very nervous about how to approach this project. This whole piece is for March 1, and the remembrance of that event. Instead of just looking at nuclear issues with sadness, I wanted to think about it differently with a piece of artwork. I used materials that come from the islands. For the mats hanging on each site, I was thinking about the mats that we make to kajeraman, remembering and thanking the many community leaders who have been working so hard on the nuclear legacy to make things better. The mats honor those leaders.
Hanging from the top are our shells leis we use to thank people for working and visiting with us -- the leis show respect and that is how we build new relationships. All the flowers surrounding it also honor - what people endured from the nuclear events was so hard, but what we can do today is work on pushing for better things to happen. The flowers show how patient and humble Marshallese people are - remaining calm and working for good things to happen. I am inspired every day by my daughter, Rachel, who teaches the next generation about nuclear issues. This piece is also for our own communities to make sure we work together rather than get divided by the nuclear legacy. And there is so much meaning to the pandanus weavings. We sleep on it comfortably. We give it away as gifts. We honor people. Weaving is togetherness. Other ladies prepared this pandanus that I use. Weaving makes us share and keeps us connected; it weaves us together. We share work. We reuse our materials over and over again."
“If you have the chance, do what you can do. Take things on and make a difference. But always think: What can I do next? Where can I go from here? How can I make this bigger?”
Marshallese Leaders Model Powerful Advocacy for the World
Despite the challenges facing the Marshallese community from nuclear contamination, displacement, and climate change, Marshallese leaders are modeling powerful advocacy that centers care for people and the environment for the global community. In 2019, the Republic of the Marshall Islands National Nuclear Commission identified five pillars as part of its strategy for nuclear justice which include:
compensation,
healthcare,
environmental remediation,
national capacity building, and
education and awareness.
Tony de Brum (1945-2017) was an incredible Marshallese leader who dedicated his life to the pursuit of the Marshall Islands’ independence, security and sustainability. He spoke eloquently in international forums about the impacts of nuclear weapons testing, the urgent need for action to stop climate change, and nuclear weapons abolition. Learn more about Tony de Brum’s life and impact on the world here & here.
Photo: Marshall Islands Journal
Listen to two young people from Enewetak, talk about their struggles and dreams for the future and hear Luisa Tuilau’s I Walk Bravo poem in her 7min award-winning video from 2022, All the Way from Down Here.
“Through this video, Luisa Tuilau aims to strengthen advocacy action on victim assistance and environmental remediation for individuals and areas affected by nuclear weapons testing. She shares the story of a family from the Marshall Islands, a country that had been used as a testing ground by nuclear-armed states, most notably the United States, from the 1940s to the 1990s. The mother, Brooke, and her two boys, recount the ongoing, tangible impacts they still endure today as a result of nuclear weapons use and testing, as well as their hope for the future.” Asia-Pacific Leadership Network
“When it comes to the knowledge of nuclear legacy and testing....this is a piece of our history, and we must do what is right and just.
”
Legacy of Radioactive Contamination in the Marshall Islands
Dive deeper into the history of nuclear weapons testing in the Marshall Islands through this 2023 presentation by Ariana Tibon-Kilma: Closing the Generational Gap for Nuclear Justice. In her presentation, Ariana discusses a brief history of the events that took place in the Marshall Islands and highlights the generational gap in knowledge about the history of nuclear testing in her home and the challenges resulting from this lack of knowledge.
Ariana is a descendant of survivors of the catastrophic Bravo Shot that was detonated in the Marshall Islands. She lives with her family in Majuro, where she works with students and youth to encourage engagement in nuclear dialogue.
“Nuclear weapons do not keep us safe. Their very production causes harm and has devastated entire communities. This is why the world must reject the false narrative that nuclear weapons are necessary. Instead we must embrace a nuclear weapons free world.”
What is COFA or the Compact of Free Association?
We wanted to share this background about the Compact of Free Association for those who are new to learning about the Republic of Marshall Islands:
“Citizens of the Republic of the Marshall Islands are classified as lawful non-immigrants, under a Compact of Free Association with the United States, free to permanently move to the U.S. with only a passport. In exchange, the U.S. maintains a strategic military weapons base on the Marshall Islands, located halfway between Hawaii and Australia in the north-central Pacific, above the equator.
"The RMI and the United States formally established diplomatic ties back in July 1989," Anjel said. "However, these ties goes back even further to 1986 when the United states enacted the Compact of Free Association known as the COFA. It was renewed in 2003 and more recently in May of 2024. So under this agreement the citizens of the Marshall Islands are legally permitted to live, work, and study in the United states without the need for a visa. This agreement highlights the strong ties and mutual understanding between the two countries.”” (Article by Jacqueline Froelich, KUAF, NPR affiliate, Feb 2025)
Get Involved
Groups to Follow
National Nuclear Commission, Republic of the Marshall Islands (Facebook group)
Learn More
Here is a starting place to learn more about the Marshall Islands. Let us know (lizm@hanfordchallenge.org) if you have any favorite resources we can add to our website:
Videos/Documentaries
All the way from down here by Luisa Tuilau, 2022 (video) Poetry and interviews about Castle Bravo test and resilience of Marshallese community fighting for justice. Winner of Asian-Pacific Leadership Network's 2022 Pacific Islands Creative Competition on "Nuclear Weapons and the Climate Crisis" (2022, 7 min)
My Fish is Your Fish by Marshall Islands Student Association for the Pacific (video) A student led association based in Suva, Fiji attending the University of the South Pacific and Fiji National University. The #MyFishIsYourFish campaign aims to bring awareness on how the leaking of the "Nuclear Dome" in Runit Island could potentially harm marine resources. (2020, 16 min)
Nuclear Fallout: The forgotten veterans who cleaned it up and their fight for justice, August 2023 (documentary) Video about the United States service men who were sent to the Marshall Islands to clean up contamination in the late 1970s, got sick from their exposure but were not provided benefits or compensation for their illness. The documentary shares their fight to be recognized as Atomic Veterans. The government began planning the cleanup of Enewetak Atoll in the early 1970s, after deciding to return the atoll to the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Approximately 6,000 Veterans participated in the cleanup project, which ran from May 1977 through May 1980. (Aug 2023, 20 min)
Nuked (Documentary): The 2023 documentary "NUKED," is a compelling new feature documentary that invites viewers to see and hear the first-hand history of the people of Bikini Atoll from 1946 to today, using carefully restored archival footage juxtaposed against the fearsome, awful power of the 67 US atomic bomb tests that took place over their homeland during the height of the Cold War. View the trailer here. Information about upcoming screenings is here. Contact admin@takeactionsfilms.com & sabrina@takeactionfilms.com if you are interested in organizing a screening. (2023, ~ 90 min)
Also take time to check out the interactive timeline on their website. Filmmakers invite you to dive into the history of Bikini Atoll through two intersecting, interactive timelines that present key events, testimonies, and milestones that have shaped the islanders' lives against the official record of the US Military through the use of carefully restored archival records.
For the Good of Mankind by Brian Cowden, 2020 (documentary) Documentary with archival footage, archival audio clips, interviews with Marshallese elders and others, including Dr. Holly Barker talking about the history of nuclear weapons testing in the Marshall Islands. (2020, 25 min)
Nuclear Savage: The Islands of Secret Project 4.1 by Adam Horowitz (documentary, 2011) This award winning shocking political and cultural documentary exposé titled 'Nuclear Savage;' is a heartbreaking and intimate ethnographic portrait of Pacific Islanders struggling for dignity and survival after decades of intentional radiation poisoning at the hands of the American government. Relying on recently declassified U.S. government documents, devastating survivor testimony, and incredible unseen archival footage, this untold and true detective story reveals how U.S. scientists turned a Pacific paradise into a radioactive hell. Marshall islanders were used as human guinea pigs for three decades to study the effects of nuclear fallout on human beings with devastating results. Nuclear Savage is a shocking tale that pierces the heart of our democratic principles. (87 min, Nov 2011)
Poetry
Anointed, Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner (poem video) Award-winning Marshallese poet Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner performs her powerful poem Anointed in this stunning video. “Anointed by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner and Dan Lin is a poem recital/video that addresses the American nuclear testing legacy in the Marshall Islands that occurred between 1946 to 1958 in Bikini and Enewetak Atolls. The artist’s words of resilience and healing are uttered as she travels across the northeastern atolls of her vast island nation. The climax of the short film takes place when the artist, holding white coral stones (a Marshallese funeral ritual) stands on top of the massive concrete dome erected on Runit Island in Enewetak Atoll to contain 73,000 square meters of radioactive waste—only a small fraction of the debris generated by the nuclear tests, the rest of which was never cleaned up. Today, scientific surveys have proven that this dome is leaking radioactive materials into the ocean. To this day, the Marshallese people are suffering the consequences of nuclear testing, through cancers and genetic illnesses caused by radiation, and irreversible damage to the ecosystem.
Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner is a poet, teacher and performance artist born in the Marshall Islands. Her poetry primarily focuses on cultural issues and threats faced by Micronesian people. These include American nuclear testing conducted in the Marshall Islands, militarism, the rising sea level as a result of climate change, forced migration, and economic adaptation. In 2014, she was chosen to address the UN Climate Summit in New York City. Her first book of poems, Iep Jaltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter, was published in 2017. Jetn̄il-Kijiner works across artistic disciplines with her poetry, often focusing on weaving, which underpins the traditional spiritual and social structure of Marshallese life.” https://kadist.org/work/anointed/ (2018, 6 min)
IEP JĀLOK Poems of a Marshallese Daughter, Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner (poetry book)
“In this stunning debut collection, Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner weaves a basket of poems that carry the beauty, depth, and resiliency of her Marshallese culture. Through lyrical, narrative, and visual modes, the poet gives voice to how nuclear testing, migration, racism, and climate change have impacted her family and her people. At the same time, she offers a vision of hope that the future will be a place in which our children—and humanity itself—will thrive.” - Craig Santos Perez, author of from unincorporated territory [guma’]
I walk BRAVO by Luisa Tuilau (poem) Luisa Tuilau is from the Fiji Islands in Oceania. Her areas of interest are in human rights; women, peace and security. She is part of the Youngsolwara Pacific, a movement comprised of activists from the Pacific.
Monster by Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner, 2018 (poem video) Marshallese poet and educator Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner wrote this piece in support of the UN negotiations for a treaty banning nuclear weapons in 2017. Kathy explores the traumatic legacy of nuclear testing on the bodies and minds of Marshallese women, connecting this with her own experience of motherhood. This piece was filmed outside the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Japan. Statistics and quotes are based on research by Glen Alcalay.
Presentations & Podcasts
Rachel Hoffman, Marshallese Women’s Association, talking at a Ground Zero event (recorded presentation): We highly recommend taking time to listen to Rachel talk about the impacts of nuclear weapons testing on her Marshallese community. Rachel is an amazing speaker. This is where we first encountered Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner’s poem Anointed.
Interview with Ariana Tibon-Kilma (podcast), commissioner at Republic of the Marshall Islands National Nuclear Commission and nuclear justice advocate
Ariana Tibon-Kilma: Closing the Generational Gap for Nuclear Justice, presentation for Hanford Challenge Nuclear Waste Scholar Series (Presentation, Sept 2023). In her presentation, Ariana discusses a brief history of the events that took place in the Marshall Islands and highlights the generational gap in knowledge about the history of nuclear testing in her home and the challenges resulting from this lack of knowledge.
Ariana is a descendant of survivors of the catastrophic Bravo Shot that was detonated in the Marshall Islands. She lives with her family in Majuro, where she works with students and youth to encourage engagement in nuclear dialogue.
United Nations Testimony
September 25, 2024 General Assembly of United Nations H.E. Dr. Hilda Heine President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands General Debate of the 79th General Assembly United Nations New York, read transcript of testimony here, watch testimony here.
“The Marshall Islands experienced 67 known atmospheric nuclear tests between1946 and 1958, resulting in an ongoing legacy of death, illness and contamination. The impacts are handed down, generation to generation.
These impacts continue to challenge our human rights. In our culture, our identity is our land. Testing impacts left behind deep scars, with communities remaining in exile from their home islands, billions of dollars in unmet adjudicated claims, and a social and environmental burden upon our youngest and future generations. To help ensure nuclear risk is eliminated, the Marshall Islands is working towards accession to the 1963 Partial Test Ban treaty as well as the Treaty of Rarotonga and its nuclear free-zone.” H.E. Dr. Hilda Heine, President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands
“We did not choose this nuclear fate - it was chosen for us. UN Trusteeship Resolutions 1082 and 1493, were adopted in 1954 and 1956 respectively, despite petitions to the contrary by our Marshallese leaders. These tests were undertaken by the United States, acting as the United Nations Administering Authority.
These resolutions remain the only time in which any UN organ has ever explicitly authorized the detonation of nuclear weapons. We can't undo the past. But as a United Nations, we owe it to ourselves to make amends through the adoption of a resolution which formally apologizes for the failure to heed the petition of the Marshallese people. By doing so, all of us will begin the process of healing, and to re-establish faith and trust in this institution.” H.E. Dr. Hilda Heine, President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands
September 27, 2024 UN Human Rights Council: Hilda C. Heine, President of the Marshall Islands, addressed the Human Rights Council at its 57th session. Among other themes, she addressed the nuclear legacy and climate change threats affecting her nation. Watch testimony here,
United Nations Human Rights Council Report: A/HRC/57/77: Addressing the challenges and barriers to the full realization and enjoyment of the human rights of the people of the Marshall Islands, stemming from the State’s nuclear legacy - Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights - Advance edited version (report Sept 4, 2024, and related links from the hearing)
October 2024, 57th Session of the UN Human Rights Council: Enhanced Interactive Dialogue on Technical assistance and capacity-building to address the human rights implications of the nuclear legacy in the Marshall Islands (written summary of session, watch video of the whole session here, Oct 2024)
Nada Al-Nashif, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner Opening Statement (transcript, Oct 2024, watch statement here)
Mr. Marcos Orellana, Special Rapporteur on the implications for Human Rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes (transcript of remarks, Oct 2024, watch statement here)
Ms. Ariana Tibon-Kilma, Chairperson of the Marshall Islands National Nuclear Commission (transcript of remarks, video testimony, Oct 2024)
“This is a legacy not only of suffering, loss, and frustration- but also of strength, unity, and unwavering commitment to justice.” Ariana Tibon-Kilma
“The Runit Dome, and the plutonium both inside and outside that facility, located in Enewetak Atoll, poses a significant threat to the health and wellbeing of our community. We now face the terrifying reality of raising our families in a poisoned environment.” Ariana Tibon-Kilma
“As we discuss human rights today, let us remember that the dignity of every individual, especially those in their most vulnerable moments, must be fiercely protected and upheld.” Ariana Tibon-Kilma
Mr. Benetick Kabua Maddison, Executive Director of the Marshallese Educational Initiative (transcript of remarks, Oct 2024, video of testimony)
“Nuclear weapons do not keep us safe. Their very production causes harm and has devastated entire communities. This is why the world must reject the false narrative that nuclear weapons are necessary. Instead we must embrace a nuclear weapons free world.” Mr Benetick Kabua Maddison
Mr. David Anitok, Marshall Islands - Presidential Envoy for Nuclear Justice and Human Rights (transcript of remarks, video testimony, Oct 2024 go to 2:18:24 to watch video testimony)
“We must pierce the veil of silence and set aside all smoke screens clouding the truth. The absence of truth, barriers to truth, manipulations of truth, and destruction of truth must come to an end. Only with the truth can we finally achieve justice and truth will set us free of the nuclear legacy.” Mr. David Anitok
Ms. Galivaka Tekafa Niko, Representative for Tuvalu sharing a written statement on behalf of Pacific Island nations, namely Fiji, Marshall Islands, Federal State of Micronesia, Nauru, Samoa, Vanuatu, and Tuvalu (transcript of remarks, Oct 2024, watch video of testimony at 2:23:59 here)
“A just resolution built on truth, justice, reparation, and guarantees of non-recurrence, is critical for the future of the Marshall Islands. We listened last Friday, to President Hilda Heine and the Marshallese calls for meaningful reconciliation, which echoes a Samoan proverb, E pala ma’a, ae le pala upu, rocks and boulders will crumble but words and promises last forever. Then you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” Ms. Galivaka Tekafa Niko, Representative for Tuvalu sharing a written statement on behalf of Pacific Island Nations
Mr. Chris Serrao, speaking on behalf of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (transcript of remarks, watch video testimony from Oct 2024 at 2:55:37 here)
“I encourage all of you to think about what it was truly like in the Marshall Islands on March 1, 1954. Imagine living in the tropical islands replete with diverse flora and fauna. Suddenly, a massive flash is followed by a hot gust of wind and a deafening explosion. Hours later, a powdery white substance rains down from the sky, causing people’s skin to burn and peel off, inducing vomiting, diarrhea, hair loss, and a plethora of diseases down the line. This was the experience of the people of Rongelap and Ailinginae during Castle Bravo.” IPPNW
“Many Bikinians present at the first test still recall a promise by US Commodore Ben Wyatt. He told them, “No matter if the Bikinians found themselves on a sandbar or adrift on a raft at sea, they would be taken care of as if they were the children of America.” The US has abandoned this promise, and in doing so the Marshallese people. The whole of the Marshall Islands were contaminated by radiation from 67 nuclear tests equivalent to more than 7200 Hiroshima bombs.” IPPNW
Ms. Holly Barker, Commissioner of the Marshall Islands National Nuclear Commission (transcript of remarks, video testimony Oct 2024, go to 3:02:01 to watch testimony)
“Although the US is no longer the UN administrating authority of the RMI, colonialism endures in US responses to the nuclear legacy. Structural racism is evident in the failure to provide adequate health and environmental monitoring to the same standards as US citizens. The Marshallese People are asking for equity, to receive the same standards that US citizens receive. For example, the nuclear waste storage facility on Enewetak does not currently meet standards to contain US household garbage, let alone plutonium.” - Holly Barker
Mr. Marcos Orellana, Special Rapporteur on the implications for Human Rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes (go to this link at 3:09:19 to watch the video of remarks)
Ms. Nada Al-Nashif, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights (Final remarks can be watched at 3:12:01 at this link)
Articles & Blog Posts
Marshallese president reps COFA migrants without U.S. votes, AsAm News (article, Oct 31, 2024)
Marshall Islands wins UN Human Rights Council seat with climate, nuclear justice agenda, Benar News (article, Oct 11, 2024)
Marshall Islands: International community morally bound to support efforts to address historical and future displacement, UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (article, Oct 31, 2024)
Heine: 80 years of contamination from nuke tests and Marshall Islands has not received an apology, Pacific Island Times (article, Oct 4, 2024)
Displacement and Out-Migration: The Marshall Islands Experience by Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner and Hilda Heine (article, 2020) explains the complex relationship between the U.S. and the Marshall Islands in this article for the Wilson Center.
Parts of the Marshall Islands are more radioactive than Chernobyl and Fukushima, study finds, CNN July 17, 2019 (news article, 2019)
Unsettling SpongeBob and the Legacies of Violence on Bikini Bottom by Holly M. Barker (academic article, 2019) “Billions of people around the globe are well-acquainted with SpongeBob Squarepants and the antics of the title character and his friends on Bikini Bottom. By the same token, there is an absence of public discourse about the whitewashing of violent American military activities through SpongeBob's occupation and reclaiming of the bottom of Bikini Atoll's lagoon. SpongeBob Squarepants and his friends play a role in normalizing the settler colonial takings of Indigenous lands while erasing the ancestral Bikinian people from their nonfictional homeland. This article exposes the complicity of popular culture in maintaining American military hegemonies in Oceania while amplifying the enduring indigeneity (Kauanui 2016) of the Marshallese people, who maintain deeply spiritual and historical connections to land--even land they cannot occupy due to residual radiation contamination from US nuclear weapons testing--through a range of cultural practices, including language, song, and weaving. This article also considers the gendered violence of nuclear colonialism and the resilience of Marshallese women.” Holly M. Barker, article abstract
bikinis and other s/pacific n/oceans by Teresia Teaiwa, 1994 (academic article) “This paper addresses tourist and militarist notions of the Pacific by discussing the bikini bathing suit and its connection to nuclear testing. The paper begins with an account of nuclear testing on Pacific Islands, focusing longest on Bikini Atoll, and ends with a description of the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific movement. The body of the paper is a discussion of the politics of the bikini bathing suit in terms of what it simultaneously reveals and conceals. The bikini reveals the female body in order to depoliticize it and symbolically conceals the bodies of Pacific Islanders in order to depoliticize them. Feminist, psychoanalytic, and Marxist theories are used to argue that the bikini both commodifies a nasty colonial reality and appropriates the female body to divert attention from the indigenous decolonizing efforts. However, while the bikini was created to celebrate nuclear power, s/pacific bodies have survived in spite of nuclear destruction and continue to resist tourist and militarist notions of who they should be.” Teresia Teaiwa, article abstract
Why Nuclear Justice for the Marshall Islands is the Biggest US-China Issue You’ve Never Heard Of by Lilly Adams, Union of Concerned Scientists, March 24, 2023 (news article, 2023)
Let Their Voices Be Heard: The Legacy of the Marshall Islands and Islanders in the Nuclear Age, Joanne DuFour, April 2, 2020, Unitarian Universalist Disarmament Blog. This short blog post gives an overview of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands (blog post, 2020)
In memory of Tony de Brum, IUCN, Aug 28, 2017 (news article, 2017) “International Union for Conservation of Nature deeply mourns the loss of Tony de Brum, former Marshall Islands foreign minister and supporter of IUCN’s climate initiatives, who passed away on 22 August. James Hardcastle, Programme Development Manager in IUCN's Global Protected Areas Programme reflects on his legacy advocating climate action.”
Right Livelihood 2015 Award Winner Tony de Brum, (article, 2015) In depth article about Marshallese leader, Tony de Brum’s life.
Nuclear Normalizing and Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner’s “Dome Poem” by Rebecca H. Hogue (academic article, Amerasia Journal 2021, Vol.47, No. 2, 208-229) “This essay explores U.S. Cold War medical discourses after nuclear detonations in the Marshall Islands (1946–1958) in conversation with contemporary Marshallese poetry. In a process I term “nuclear normalizing,” I show how the U.S. government repeatedly obscures the causal relationships of their nuclear detonations regarding Indigenous experiences of illness, specifically in Project 4.1 and two Department of Energy pamphlets. Poet Kathy Jetn¯ il-Kijiner rehistoricizes these imperial narratives of radiation by evoking Indigenous ecological knowledges to promote intergenerational healing.” Rebecca H. Hogue
Web Pages/Resources
Nuked interactive web-based timeline. Nuked filmmakers invite you to dive into the history of Bikini Atoll through two intersecting, interactive timelines that present key events, testimonies, and milestones that have shaped the islanders' lives against the official record of the US Military through the use of carefully restored archival records. (2023)
COFA Alliance National Network Washington (CANN-WA) CANN-WA harnesses the collective strength of Palauan, Marshallese, and Micronesian people to break down the barriers that prevent us from living with health, safety, and opportunity. (website)
The Pacific: Atomic Bomb Testing at Bikini Atoll 1946; Operations Crossroads; Impact on the Pacific, Nuclear Princeton Website, Princeton University (web page)
Marshall Islands, The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, Atomic Heritage Foundation (web page)
Reports
The National Nuclear Commission's Coordinated Action for Nuclear Justice. Published in 2019, it the strategy covers 5 pillars; compensation, health care, environment, national capacity, and education and awareness. (report, 2019)
Books
Consequential Damages of Nuclear War: The Rongelap Report by Barbara Rose Johnston and Holly M. Barker (book, 2008) “Anthropologists Barbara Rose Johnston and Holly Barker provide incontrovertible evidence of physical and financial damages to individuals and cultural and psycho-social damages to the community through use of declassified government documents, oral histories and ethnographic research, conducted with the Marshallese community within a unique collaborative framework. Their work helped produce a $1 billion award by the Nuclear Claims Tribunal and raises issues of bioethics, government secrecy, human rights, military testing, and academic activism. The report, reproduced here with accompanying materials, should be read by everyone concerned with the effects of nuclear war and is an essential text for courses in history, environmental studies, bioethics, human rights, and related subjects.”
Radiation Sounds: Marshallese Music and Nuclear Silences by Jessica Schwartz (book, 2021) On March 1, 1954, the US military detonated “Castle Bravo,” its most powerful nuclear bomb, at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Two days later, the US military evacuated the Marshallese to a nearby atoll where they became part of a classified study, without their consent, on the effects of radiation on humans. In Radiation Sounds Jessica A. Schwartz examines the seventy-five years of Marshallese music developed in response to US nuclear militarism on their homeland. Schwartz shows how Marshallese singing draws on religious, cultural, and political practices to make heard the deleterious effects of US nuclear violence. Schwartz also points to the literal silencing of Marshallese voices and throats compromised by radiation as well as the United States’ silencing of information about the human radiation study. By foregrounding the centrality of the aural and sensorial in understanding nuclear testing’s long-term effects, Schwartz offers new modes of understanding the relationships between the voice, sound, militarism, indigeneity, and geopolitics.” Duke University Press
Bravo for the Marshallese: Regaining Control in a Post-Nuclear, Post-Colonial World by Holly M. Barker (book, 2003 and 2012, second edition) “This case study describes the role an applied anthropologist takes to help Marshallese communities understand the impact of radiation exposure on the environment and themselves, and addresses problems stemming from the U.S. nuclear weapons testing program conducted in the Marshall Islands from 1946-1958. The author demonstrates how the U.S. Government limits its responsibilities for dealing with the problems it created in the Marshall Islands. Through archival, life history, and ethnographic research, the author constructs a compelling history of the testing program from a Marshallese perspective. For more than five decades, the Marshallese have experienced the effects of the weapons testing program on their health and their environment. This book amplifies the voice of the Marshallese who share their knowledge about illnesses, premature deaths, and exile from their homelands. The author uses linguistic analysis to show how the Marshallese developed a unique radiation language to discuss problems related to their radiation exposure problems that never existed before the testing program. Drawing on her own experiences working with the government of the Marshall Islands, the author emphasizes the role of an applied anthropologist in influencing policy, and empowering community leaders to seek meaningful remedies.”