From mosa@netcom.com Thu Sep 7 22:25:04 1995 From: mosa@netcom.com (Michele Lord) To: dave@sgi.sgi.com Xref: netcom.com misc.activism.progressive:40497 From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel) Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive Subject: STATEMENT ON FRENCH TEST Followup-To: alt.activism.d Date: 8 Sep 1995 02:08:32 GMT Organization: PACH Lines: 73 Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu NNTP-Posting-Host: pencil.math.missouri.edu Resent-From: rich Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu /** headlines: 142.0 **/ ** Topic: STATEMENT ON FRENCH TEST ** ** Written 8:32 AM Sep 7, 1995 by newsdesk in cdp:headlines ** From: IGC News Desk /* Written 5:45 PM Sep 6, 1995 by gn:ipb in igc:ipb.news */ /* ---------- "STATEMENT ON FRENCH TEST" ---------- */ INTERNATIONAL PEACE BUREAU - STATEMENT ON FRENCH NUCLEAR TEST Geneva, Sept 6 - The IPB utterly condemns the French nuclear test that took place yesterday at Moruroa. This is the 138th test on the atoll. It shows a total disregard for the fragile environment and inhabitants of the region, and is step back to the paranoid politics of the Cold War. The fact that these tests are intended to develop new, more sophisticated, nuclear devices is clear evidence that France intends to maintain its arsenal well into the next century. Why does France need it? What contribution will it make to solving the Bosnian crisis, or to halting terrorism on Parisian streets? It is unacceptable that Chirac, elected by only a slim majority of the French electorate, pays more attention to a small military clique than to the outraged protests of governments and citizens all over the world, or the views of 60% of his own people. It is also a slap in the face for the European Union, who are due to announce this morning a legal ruling on the French decision. Even from the point of view of Chirac's own party, this test is a grave political error. It may well encourage threshold states to join the nuclear club, since it conveys the message that only those prepared to threaten the use of weapons of mass destruction carry real political clout. It will certainly increase pressure for the independence of Polynesia, and will lower still further the President's personal standing. Furthermore, the suggestion that the French nuclear deterrent be somehow shared with the European Union will prove politically explosive. The protest campaign, including the international boycott - which the IPB called for on the day following Chirac's original announcement - will continue until the tests are stopped. France and the other nuclear states must fulfil the commitments they made at the Non-Proliferation Treaty extension conference in May to "the determined pursuit ..... of systematic and progressive efforts to reduce nuclear weapons globally". Meanwhile, we call for: 1. an announcement by the Chirac administration cancelling all further nuclear weapons experiments; 2. the immediate release of all those who are still under arrest for their protest activities in French Polynesia; 3. an urgent meeting of the 5 officially declared nuclear weapons states to agree a multilateral resumption of the testing moratorium, pending the conclusion of the CTBT; 4. the intensification, using all possible nonviolent methods, of the global campaign against nuclear testing. ------------ IPB is the world's oldest and most comprehensive international peace network, with 19 international and 140 national/local member organisations in over 40 countries. It has had UN Consultative Status as an NGO since 1977. ** End of text from cdp:headlines ** *************************************************************************** This material came from PeaceNet, a non-profit progressive networking service. For more information, send a message to peacenet-info@igc.apc.org ***************************************************************************