‘We were unwilling, unknowing and uncompensated participants in the world’s largest science experiment,’ Tina Cordova, a New Mexico “downwinder” and leader of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders’ Consortium.

16 July 2020 is the 75th anniversary of the first nuclear explosion, code-named “Trinity”. The race to build nuclear weapons culminated in the Trinity test in south central New Mexico in the US, paving the way for the nuclear incineration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki a few weeks later.

Decades of radioactive violence, contamination and land dispossession followed these events in 1945. Nuclear testing in dozens of locations around the world, including Australia, has left a deadly legacy for people and the environment. Despite this, people on the front-lines have survived and continue to resist these weapons of mass destruction.

Hear their stories, heed their calls for action:

• Tina Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, New Mexico, US
• Koko Kondo, survivor of the Hiroshima bombing and prominent Japanese activist
• Karina Lester, Yankunytjatjara-Anangu second-generation survivor of nuclear testing in Australia
• MC: Robert Tickner AO, ICAN Australia Ambassador

Take action: "check in" on 16 July

Show the New Mexico “downwinders” that you are with them in their ongoing battle for justice. Use your platform on social media to draw attention to the Trinity anniversary by “checking in” to the site on 16th July. Post a message or a photo with a candle.

On 16 July, “check in” at:

• Trinity Site on Facebook
• Trinity Nuclear Test Site on Instagram
• Alamogordo, NM on Twitter

Use the hashtag #nuclearban.

Example message: “Today is the 75th anniversary of the first nuclear explosion, Trinity. I support the New Mexico downwinders and all people impacted by nuclear weapons. I call on (country) to join the nuclear weapon ban treaty. #nuclearban”.

Image (L-R): The Hiroshima dome, Karina Lester, Tina Cordova, Koko Kondo, Trinity nuclear test site.