Nuclear Collateral Damage: Mere Tuilau

This is the fifth episode of the new podcast series Nuclear Collateral Damage: Conversations with Survivors and Experts. In this series, we aim to raise awareness about the consequences of the nuclear weapons testing/or use by uplifting voices of previous and current generations who have been negatively impacted up until this day. In addition to that, we also draw attention to a kinship of nuclear weapons testing/or use with colonial histories in different parts of the world. By addressing individual and collective traumas, we pursue to revive, restore and reclaim human dignity.

In this episode of the podcast series, Youth Fusion spoke with Mere Tuilau, a youth advocate from Fiji. Together with Ms. Tuilau,  Aigerim Seitenova, the host of this series, looked into the destinies of Fijian veterans who were sent to Kiribati Island (Christmas Island), which at the time was a nuclear test site and a colony of the British Empire. Ms. Tuilau spoke on how Fijian soldiers were treated unequally in comparison with other military servicemen and that compensation has not been distributed after they finished their service at the nuclear test site. Ms. Tuilau also shared the story of her activism, as a part of Youngsolwara Pacific, in preserving the ocean and the land of the Pacific as sacred symbols of their culture.

Aigerim Seitenova (Kazakhstan) interviewing Mere Tuilau (Fiji) for podcast series Nuclear Collateral Damage: Conversations with Survivors and Experts.

This episode is available on Spotify, Google Podcast,  and a number of other platforms

For a reading summary of the interview go to the blog article here, and visit Youth Fusion website to learn more about our initiatives.