Atomic Nomads: A Cautionary Tale of Forced Migration, Environmental Injustice, and Cultural Disintegration in the South Pacific

• In Event: GREEN Panel 4, Climate Colonialism and Environmental Injustice: Displacement, Exploitation, and Resistance

Abstract

Currently, the world is facing unprecedented, adverse environmental harm caused by climate change produced by human endeavors. To date, few studies have attempted to systematically and radically rethink how environmental ruination can lead to ecologically induced genocide by way of cultural genocide (i.e., ethnocide). This paper will consider the ways hegemonic interventions by State powers exploit the environment, amounting to ecocide and violating international law. These violations infringe on the human rights of Indigenous Peoples, especially the right to self-determination. A theoretical analysis will be undertaken that explains how the intersection of state and environmental crimes produces conditions ripe for the ecocide-ethnocide-genocide nexus to unfold. To substantiate the theorizing, the article will examine the decades-long nuclear testing by the United States at Bikini and Enewetak Atolls in the Marshall Islands of the South Pacific. The paper will explain how the nuclear testing coupled with the forced migration of Indigenous Marshallese created environmental desolation that ultimately led to the cultural genocide of its Indigenous inhabitants. Additionally, a legal analysis of applicable international and human rights laws, as they pertain to this historical case example, will be conducted to facilitate recommendations for ecocide’s further conceptualization and inclusion within international law. The paper will conclude by proposing new theoretical directions in reconciliation policy and practice through the lens of restorative environmentalism. Restorative environmentalism supports upholding the human rights of Indigenous peoples and harmed ecosystems through forms of relational and transformative justice.

Authors

• Brian Gregory Sellers, Eastern Michigan University

• Saif Uddin Asif, Eastern Michigan University

• Bruce A. Arrigo, University of North Carolina at Charlotte