Re: Bosnia and French nukes

DIANE BENNETT (Diane.Bennett@VUW.AC.NZ)
Wed, 19 Jul 1995 14:46:48 +1200

>George de Cerqueira Leite Zarur

asked

>Incidentally, Why there was a chain letter in this net about the French
>nukes and not one about the Bosnian situation?

I didn't perceive the issue addressed by the chain letter as French nukes,
but rather the right of the French to deploy their nukes in Polynesia,
against the wishes of many of the inhabitants of that area. The French
position has included saying that testing nukes on Mururoa is actually
testing them in France because this is a French colony. Colonialism and
self-determination are very much anthropological issues. Promoting the
rights of indigenous peoples is a point recently insisted upon by many list
members. As to why a petition opposing French nukes but none opposing the
ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, I should have thought efficacy was the point.
Presumably there are in France people who will note--if not act upon--world
opposition to their treatment of Polynesian peoples. Who in Bosnia would
receive, much less be influenced by, a petition?