Thursday 23rd JUNE10:12 GMT
Friday afternoon is usually pretty laid back in the Cook Islands as everyone winds down for the weekend (not that anyone seems to get wound up here at all!) But this Friday is different. A few locals have gotten together and at the drop of a hat -- just a mere three days ago -- organised an anti-testing march here. The coconut radio obviously works well here, as about 2,000 people turn out -- of a total population of around 8000! At 3pm the whole troupe march the kilometre from the Rainbow Warrior to the civic centre. Protest marching is not normal or even usually acceptable here in Polynesia, so the turn out -- the largest march anyone can ever remember here in Rarotonga -- is even more exceptional.
At the civic centre, with music provided by a band put together for the occasion by local musicians, we are addressed by impassioned speeches from local church leaders, community elders, Members of Parliament and the Prime Minister himself, Sir Geoffrey Henry, who asked why should anyone wish to develop new weapons to kill people when so many people are being very effectively killed around the world already...
The banners said it all: "Shame on you, Chirac", "We love our children, don't the French too?"; "Fry eggs not people"; "Chirac - go fishing, not fission"; "Test your bombs in your own backyard."
This pleasant, friendly and sociable event, passing without an ounce of agression, provided a poignant contrast to the violence and arrogance of the French Government's decision to resume nuclear weapons tests.
We learned the other day that France is threatening to withdraw aid from small South Pacific states who come forward to protest its resumption of nuclear testing. To do so would be such a direct act of blackmail to these islands and an attempt to take away their right to protect their own environment. I fear that it shows the lenghts to which France will go to pursue its own agenda in spite of growing world opposition to any resumption of nuclear testing. After spending time with people from this region, nothing, in my view, could be more cynical.
More tomorrow -- Alice.