To The memory of survivors of nuclear TesTing in The Pacific

Between 1966 and 1996, France detonated 193 atomic bombs on Moruroa and Fangataufa Atolls. The land and people of French Polynesias five archipelagos symbolised by these five stones placed on a traditional paepae faced significant upheaval, as the nuclear tests were imposed on them. Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Bikini, Enewetak, Montebello, Emu Field, Maralinga, Malden, Kiritimati, Johnston, Moruroa, Fangataufa the many locations around the Pacific chosen as nuclear test sites by the United States, the United Kingdom and France. The thousands of former test-site workers and the peoples of the Pacific live with the memory of these weapons, which today still continue to affect their health and environment. This Memorial Site was inaugurated during the Presidential term of Mr. Oscar Manutahi Temaru, on 2nd of July 2006, the fortieth anniversary of the first nuclear test on Moruroa Atoll.
2012 Dlgation pour le suivi des consquences des essais nuclaires > dscen@environnement.gov.pf Moruroa e tatou > moruroaetatou@mail.pf + www.moruroaetatou.com

Place du 2 juillet 1966

a drumming concert for the ceremony on 2 July

Papeete

a site of memory and culture

homage to the victims by the former mayor of hiroshima

PaPeeTe

hisTory of This siTe

This memorial site, commemorating the nuclear tests conducted across the countries of the Pacific, was created in Papeete as an initiative of Moruroa e Tatou the association which unites former workers from the Mororua test site. Conceived in the form of a traditional paepae, this monument was inaugurated on 2 July 2006, following an international conference on the effects of nuclear testing organised by the government of French Polynesia. The same day, the main avenue of Papeete was renamed Avenue Pouvanaa a Oopa, in memory of the Tahitian parliamentarian who was unjustly arrested in October 1958, then jailed, deprived of his rights in the French National Assembly and exiled from his homeland, all in anticipation of the establishment of the Pacific nuclear testing centre (CEP). In June 2011, the government of French Polynesia decided to declare the second of July as a day to mark the entry of our land into the nuclear era, a date now inscribed in the official government calendar. Since that date, the space where the memorial site was created has taken the name Place du 2 Juillet 1966, or in the paumotu language Te kohu kino the strange cloud. Each year, the official commemoration on 2 July, drawing on Maohi cultural heritage, pays homage to all survivors of nuclear testing and nuclear weapons in the Pacific. Over the years, this monument has become a place for contemplation and a meeting place for many Polynesian, French and foreign visitors. Trade unionists gather here to mark May Day. From the Peace Boat, Japanese peace and anti-nuclear activists accompanied by survivors of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are welcomed to this memorial site every year.

The aldebaran unu

a murderous fire shaTTers The Polynesian world
Anamuri the star Aldebaran in the Taurus constellation is one of the ten pillars that the god Taaroa created to separate the sky and the earth. But the French military also gave the name Aldebaran to the first nuclear test which exploded above Moruroa Atoll on 2 July 1966. This test struck a blow at the order of the Polynesian universe. With this unu made of mahogany, a traditional ornament of the Polynesian marae (sacred place), the artist Eriki Marchand and his pupil Fred Tehei hope to symbolise the upheaval in Polynesian society caused by thirty years of nuclear testing. The Aldebaran unu was inaugurated on 2 July 2011.

The achilles unu

a cry of anger
On 5 July 1975, the first underground nuclear test on Fangataufa Atoll, code named Achilles by the French military, awoke the Polynesian god Ruaumoko from the bowels of the earth. The sculptor Eriki Marchand and his pupil Fred Tehei have incorporated the cross of Lorraine the symbol of French liberty exploding in the heart of the Polynesian world. This work is a challenge to the Republic which imposed its atomic tests upon us, says the artist, abandoning our future generations to nuclear hazards. The Achilles unu was inaugurated on 2 July 2012.