In Dijon, they warn of the danger of nuclear weapons
Activists and militants come together in Dijon to denounce the nuclear risk at Place de la République in Dijon on Sunday August 7. This year again, they point the finger at the government’s non-application of the treaty banning atomic weapons.
“Nuclear is the futureshouts from his window a motorist against the people gathered to denounce the dangers of nuclear armament, place de la République in Dijon, this Sunday August 7, 2022.
“You see, there is still a long way to go. Many do not differentiate between atomic weapons and nuclear energy”, explains an activist. The road to raising awareness is still long, but the activists do not lose hope and want to win their fight.
From August 6-9, 2022, various activists from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a coalition of several NGOs, are carrying out nonviolent actions and fasting. Dates that are not chosen by chance: they want to pay tribute to the victims of atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
The activists also want to challenge the President of the Republic on the non-application of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TIAN), adopted by 122 States at the UN and in force since 2021.
Nuclear weapons are therefore illegal under international law. The TIAN prohibits the possession, manufacture, use and threat of use of atomic weapons. “I chose that France does not respect! the Commissariat for Atomic Energy and Energies (CEA) in Valduc, a few kilometers from Dijon, is still maintaining 290 French atomic bombs. He modernizes them with the English” according to another activist.
The concerns of ICAN activists are even greater with the conflict in Ukraine and more recently, the tensions between China and Taiwan. “We have a Damocles sword above our heads! We must think about the enormous impact that can produce the bombs. It’s absurd and criminal to be for this artillery“Says Stéphane, an early activist.
These actions also take place in several cities in France, including another in the Bourgogne Franche-Comté region: Dampierre in the Jura. But also in Bordeaux, Épinal, Mont-Saint-Michel and Tours.
Beyond our borders, actions are taking place on the same date in Germany, Ivory Coast, the United States, New Zealand, Nigeria and the United Kingdom. They end on Tuesday August 9, 2022 with conferences. In Dijon, the actions end with a welcome at the town hall with a fast-breaking snack in the wedding waiting room.