Supreme Court refuses to take up reparations case by Bikini and Enewetak islanders, over the destruction of their homelands.

Between 1946 and 1958, twenty-three nuclear weapons were detonated at Bikini Atoll. The March 1st, 1954 detonation codenamed Castle Bravo, was the first test of a hydrogen bomb. It was the largest nuclear explosion ever set off by the United States, leaving widespread radioactive contamination over the area and beyond. The Castle Bravo explosion was the equivalent of 1000 Hiroshimas.

Now just over 60 years since the last atomic explosion devasted their ancient homeland, the islanders of Enewetak and Bikini Atoll are asking for humble reparations from the government which caused the destruction of an incalculable source of their collective souls, and the land of their ancestors. The decision by the Supreme Court to deny them the simple right to a fair hearing, of their overwhelmingly legitimate grievances is a disgrace to anything claiming itself to be a "justice system."

The sardonic film about the nuclear psychosis, "The Atomic Cafe," perhaps best shows from archival footage, the insanity, coldness, cynicality and senselesnesss shown and acted towards the people of the islands by the US government and military. At a time now when the media is continuuously harping about the dangers posed by nations of different ethnicity, which have no nuclear weapons, perhaps its time that we face up to our own collective guilt, over the brutal legacy of nuclear terrorism our governments have left to the peoples of the world and their descendents.
-Lima

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Supreme Court refuses to take up reparations case by Bikini and Enewetak islanders, over the destruction of their homelands.