Abacca Anjain-Maddison

{{short description|Marshallese politician and anti-nuclear campaigner}}

Abacca Anjain-Maddison is a former Senator in the Marshall Islands and is now the Deputy Chief Secretary of the country. She is known as a campaigner against nuclear weapons and nuclear testing and in support of greater efforts by the United States to clean up islands it used for nuclear testing.

Rongelap

Abacca Anjain-Maddison was elected to the Marshall Islands senate as a representative of the people of Rongelap Atoll, a coral atoll of 61 islands. Most Rongelapese are now in exile. A total of 67 bombs were exploded in or over what is now the Republic of the Marshall Islands under the U.S. nuclear testing program from 1946 to 1958. Rongelap was particularly devastated by the Castle Bravo test in 1954. According to Anjain-Maddison, the people were used as "guinea pigs".{{cite web |title=Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons - A Pacific Islands Priority |url=https://icanw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Pacific-Report-2017.pdf |website=ICAN |access-date=23 October 2021}}{{cite web |title=Testimonies of the Rongelap Hibakusha (A-bomb sufferers) |url=https://www2.pazifik-infostelle.org/uploads/Rongelap%20Peace%20Museum.doc |publisher=Rongelap Peace Museum Proposal |access-date=23 October 2021}}

Activism

Anjain-Maddison was defeated in the 2007 Senate election.{{cite web |title=Early Results indicate Upsets in Marshalls Elections |url=http://www.pireport.org/articles/2007/11/26/early-results-indicate-upset-marshalls-election |website=Pacific Islands Report |access-date=23 October 2021 |archive-date=23 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023165944/http://www.pireport.org/articles/2007/11/26/early-results-indicate-upset-marshalls-election |url-status=dead }} Since then she has been appointed Deputy Chief Secretary of the country and has been an active campaigner on behalf of the people of Rongelap and other Marshall Islanders. She supported the filing of claims to the Marshall Islands Nuclear Claims Tribunal, which effectively ran out of funds in 2011 when the USA declined to provide further funding. She has also campaigned for a Rongelap Peace Museum to be established.{{cite web |title=Marshall Islands Launches Inform Project For Improved Environmental Reporting |url=https://www.sprep.org/news/marshall-islands-launches-inform-project-improved-environmental-reporting |website=SPREP |access-date=23 October 2021}}

In December 2014, Anjain-Maddison spoke at the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons.{{cite web |title=Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons 8 and 9 December 2014 in the Hofburg Palace Vienna, Austria |url=https://www.bmeia.gv.at/fileadmin/user_upload/Zentrale/Aussenpolitik/Abruestung/HINW14vienna-Program.pdf |website=Vienna Conference |access-date=23 October 2021}} In April 2016, she joined three indigenous Australians on a speaking tour of four Australian cities in four days, called the Black Mist White Rain Speaking Tour, to protest against the ongoing impact of past nuclear testing in Australia and the Pacific.{{cite web |title=Abacca Anjain-Maddison - Black Mist White Rain |url=https://vimeo.com/164262328 |website=Vimeo |date=26 April 2016 |access-date=23 October 2021}} She plays an active role in the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. On 7 July 2017 she delivered ICAN's closing address after the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted at the United Nations.{{cite web |title=Abacca Anjain-Maddison |url=https://vimeo.com/229070343 |website=Vimeo |date=9 August 2017 |access-date=23 October 2021}} She is also involved with the international organization "Mayors for Peace".{{cite web |title=Mayors and parliamentarians cooperate for a nuclear weapons free world |url=http://www.mayorsforpeace.org/english/whatsnew/news/050527_news.html |website=Mayors for Peace |access-date=23 October 2021}}

Films

Anjain-Maddison appeared in the film, Yokwe Bartowe, as an actress. The film explores the Yokwe spirit of the Marshallese culture and is the story of a young girl who is kidnapped by an evil demon bird. Bartowe is Lijiamao's 20-year-old brother and he was supposed to be watching his sister on the day she mysteriously vanished while swimming in the lagoon. He is blamed for her disappearance.{{cite web |title=Yokwe Bartowe |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1590838/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_1 |website=IMDb |access-date=23 October 2021}}
She also appeared in two documentaries as herself: The Coming War on China, directed by the Australian filmmaker, John Pilger, and Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making us Sick?, a documentary miniseries that explored the impact of the environment on people's health.{{cite web |title=Unnatural Causes |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1199382/?ref_=nm_flmg_slf_2 |website=IMDb |access-date=23 October 2021}}{{cite web |title=Collateral Damage |url=https://films.com/ecTitleDetail.aspx?TitleID=168516 |website=Films Media Group |access-date=23 October 2021}}{{cite web |title=Unnatural Causes: is inequality making us sick |url=https://unnaturalcauses.org/ |website=Unnatural Causes |access-date=23 October 2021}}

References

External links

[https://vimeo.com/164262328 Maddison speaking in Australia on the ongoing impact of nuclear testing in Australia and the Pacific.]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYC4YAULeXE&ab_channel=JeremyClowe Maddison speaking about the lack of support from the USA to clean up the environment in the Marshall Islands, as a result of nuclear tests.]

Category:Date of birth missing (living people)

Category:21st-century Marshallese women politicians

Category:21st-century Marshallese politicians

Category:Living people

Category:Members of the Legislature of the Marshall Islands

Category:Anti–nuclear weapons activists

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)