…this was the first time that an event of the International Uranium Film Festival (IUFF) linked the topics of nuclear and uranium weapons from the victims‘ perspective. The success of such an approach was already evident from the fact that the Planetarium cinema was completely full (approx. 160 seats) – with a very alert, inquisitive audience. In addition to the quantitative advantages, the cooperation of various civil society organizations and actors also had qualitative benefits: the great substantive connection between the various victim areas became visible – by means of film presentations and panel discussions – both in terms of how they were affected and the resistance against them.

Greetings by the Moderator

And something else became clear in the (very lively) discussion: the broader peace movement and narrower, specifically weapons- and environment-related approaches are not in opposition to each other, but complement each other. Law plays a major role in this. It supports the campaigning work as well as the victims of those categories of weapons. The spectrum here ranges from arguments based on international and human rights law, for example on the part of the Serbian lawyer Aleksic, to enforceable „rights of nature“ on the part of the environmental protection movement. Questions were also asked about the prospects of success of legal action in the DU case and reference was made to numerous Italian decisions with some very high compensation awards.

Panel with Moritz Enders, Manfred Mohr, Ute Rippel-Lau, Denis Römer, Juliane Hauschulz (left to right)

Civil society campaigning has contributed to a trend towards replacing DU with (less dangerous) alternatives. Unfortunately, the war in Ukraine raises fears that nothing has been learned from the history of DU to date and that there will be severe environmental pollution from DU contamination due to the use of uranium ammunition.

The two very well-received films illustrated the issue of victims and the environment in different ways (also artistically) – with similar images of consternation and outrage, but also of ignorance and inaction on the part of those responsible. Nuclear weapons tests were even deliberately aimed at human „test objects“. In contrast, international law stipulates that nuclear and uranium weapons must be used to protect victims and clean up the environment.

Hans Leo Bader

The film and discussion evening emphasizes that ultimately everything revolves around the „devil’s substance“ uranium. This is also the linchpin of the IUFF, which has dedicated itself to precisely this topic – the only one of its kind in the world. In cooperation with the participating organizations, it will provide the framework for further, similar events in order to set an example for peace and humanity, especially in these (once again) war-torn times…

(Manfred Mohr)

Note

The event was filmed and is available on our YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/iwJJD-Cb26c