The following messages from the French peace movement and the peak trade union body, the Confederation Generale du Travail (CGT), were given to Australian participants at the commemorations to mark the 50th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
Peace movement
As you are gathering and rallying to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, we wish to convey our warmest solidarity greetings to the Australian people.
We feel ashamed and angry that the French president had enough arrogance to announce his intention to resume nuclear testing in the South Pacific a few weeks away from this tragic anniversary.
How contemptuous to the Pacific people, to the Japanese people, to the French people who were never consulted, and to the world at large, one month after France had committed itself to move towards nuclear disarmament at the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) conference.
We are opposed to this decision and determined to fight against it until victory is achieved because testing, whether in Moruroa or in labs, aims at developing new nuclear weapons.
We are encouraged at the large protest movements in the Pacific countries, but also in France, where 60% of the population is opposed to this resumption and where not a day passes without some initiative or response of some kind. We are aware of our great responsibility in mobilising French public opinion to force Chirac back.
On this very day, a major rally is also taking place in Paris, but also in other cities. Despite the distance between our two countries, we feel very close to your concern and struggle, and we are ready for more cooperation.
No more tests.
No more Hiroshimas.
No more nuclear weapons.
Mouvement de la paix de France
Unions
The destruction of the towns of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 50 years ago, and the ensuing hundreds of thousands of victims, threw our planet into the atomic era.
They created a permanent danger of self-destruction, weighing ever more heavily on our planet as various powers gained access to atomic weapons and a logic based on terror has pervaded international relations for the last 50 years. Of course, the cold war has now lost its political impact.
Nonetheless, the use of atomic weapons continues to be brandished as a threat. Nuclear arsenals remain largely stocked up and countries equipped with atomic weapons have not abandoned their research to multiply and develop them further.
At a time when we pay homage to victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, the CGT finds it particularly serious, if not unacceptable, for France to follow this path, since Jacques Chirac, president of the Republic, decided to resume nuclear testing. This approach contradicts the decision taken in 1992 to stop nuclear tests and goes against the discussions and agreement concluded last May on the nuclear NPT.
One cannot be satisfied with the commitment that these tests will be limited both in time and number. This is a dangerous decision which bears heavy consequences for the future, since it reflects France's intentions to pursue its efforts in terms of research and strengthening of its nuclear arsenals, with the launch of a vast program of simulation-based studies.
This decision goes against the sensible approach voiced by the majority of world public opinion, which demands that a disarmament approach be adopted and nuclear weapons eliminated. At the same time, it encourages some countries to resume testing themselves. It can also be an argument for various countries which themselves aim to gain access to atomic weapons.
As a trade union organisation which is responsible for defending workers' interests, the CGT has always worked to combat wars, especially colonial wars which involved our country, and it has always opposed the manufacturing and use of atomic weapons.
With the support of public opinion, it is acting at this very moment with many French organisations: trade unions, peace movements, associations, political bodies and so on, to increase the protest and throw back in the balance this unacceptable decision.
This common fight is at the heart of choices already made, or to be made, to build a better world of social progress, justice and peace.
The billion of dollars earmarked yearly for the arms build-up and war are as many lacking to combat hunger and poverty throughout the world, including our very own industrialised countries, where unemployment and social exclusion are on the increase.
This approach by the French government is a challenge we take up. We act to widen our protests and to ensure that the disarmament process is relaunched.
Thus we understand and share many of the criticisms and anger from the international community; we understand it all the more so when these are expressed by the countries and people of the Pacific Ocean, where French nuclear tests are taking place.
The vast protest movement has already gained momentum, and is putting French political powers in a difficult position. It is up to us to further increase this momentum which unites us, towards a new phase.
By its very nature, it contributes to striving for a world in which the ideas of common sense, peace and fraternity will prevail.
Our planet and its populations have already been far too wounded and they certainly do not need new weapons and experiences aimed at global destruction.
Quite the contrary. More than ever, human intelligence and dynamism must serve to strive for a better world; we intend to work fully towards this aim, especially on the field of trade union action, with all trade union centres and organisations mobilised for peace.
Confederation Generale du Travail