UTAH -- Members of the Desert Greens, the Green Party of Utah were delighted to hear that the Divine Strake explosion had been cancelled. The Desert Greens have been members of the Stop Divine Strake Coalition, an alliance of more than 4 dozen anti-nuclear, peace and social justice, and indigenous rights groups world-wide,
started by the Western Shoshone Defense Project in Nevada, and Shundahai Network, here in Utah. Through the leadership of the coalition, efforts have been made to stop this test not just at the Nevada Test Site, but at Mitchell, IN and White Sands, NM, sites briefly considered over last summer and fall. Efforts of the coalition included lobbying, direct action and public outreach. A MySpace page was created last month which had hundreds of friends in the first 48 hours.
While there has been much emphasis placed on the health concerns of downwinders by other organizations, the Desert Greens, as well as other coalition members also focused on the violations of treaty law that the site of the test represented, as well as the escalation this test represented in the development of new nuclear weapons, or enhancement of existing nuclear weapons.
By the Treaty of Ruby Valley of 1863, approximately 2/3 of what is now the State of Nevada was acknowledged to belong to the Western Shoshone. It was not ceded or "reserved" from public land for them, it was acknowledged as their homeland. Over the years, land has been taken for gold mines, claimed as public lands and the Western Shoshone coerced into paying grazing fees, and in the late 1940's the area known as the Nevada Test Site was seized. In March 2006, the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued a finding against the United States, directing them to "stop, freeze and desist" their actions on Western Shoshone land, including extractive industries, and all activities at the Nevada Test Site. One month later the National Nuclear Security Administration announced the Divine Strake Test.
"For us, this has always been a broader issue. It is not just the health of downwinders at stake, but the ongoing depredations of the US federal government against the Western Shoshone people. The United Nations CERD committee has told the US to stop, desist and freeze its activities on Western Shoshone land. This test was announced 1 month after that finding, in flagrant defiance of the UN," says Eileen McCabe, a Green Party national delegate and indigenous rights activist.
"The issue of nuclear fallout is not just one for downwinders,?" says Tom King, former candidate for the Utah House, and organic farmer. "If these weapons are ever used, innocent living beings the world over will be poisoned for generations. I, for one, will fight tooth and nail against the poisoning of this planet."
"This test was clearly, even by NNSA's own documents, intended to enhance the development of nuclear weapons, likely to destroy targets in Iran. We are bound by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to eliminate our nuclear weapons, not improve them," says Chuck Tripp former candidate for Salt Lake County Council, and political science professor. "While Iran is not in violation of the NPT, the United States clearly is."
"While this particular test has been cancelled, the program has not," says Deanna Taylor, former Salt Lake County Council candidate and local educator. "We need to remain vigilant to see how NNSA proposes to advance this program, and be ready to respond."
