Speakers

Kirsten Blair is Community and International Liaison with Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation (GAC). She has worked with the Mirarr clan for over two decades including during the successful fight to stop the Jabiluka uranium mine on Mirarr country.
The Mirarr people, Traditional Owners of lands in the north of Australia, established GAC in 1995 to assist them in managing a balance between sustainable development, traditional practice and living culture on their land.
GAC represents the rights and interests of the Mirarr as well as receiving, distributing and investing royalties from the Ranger uranium mine which was imposed on Mirarr land in 1978.
GAC is run by a Mirarr board, it provides services and support for Mirarr members and other Bininj (Aboriginal people) affected by the Ranger Mine in line with cultural obligations.

In 1978, Almoustapha Alhacen was employed by the Areva nuclear company as a worker in a uranium mill near Arlit. Because there were strange illnesses among colleagues and their wives and mysterious deaths of relatively young people, he founded a local NGO called Aghirin'man in 2002, in Tuareg language "Protection of the Soul", dedicated to research into uranium dangers.

Karina Lester is a Yankunytjatjara Anangu woman from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands (APY Lands) in the far North West of South Australia. Karina is an outspoken anti-nuclear activist and an ICAN Ambassador, sharing not only her late father’s (Yami Lester) story but her grandmother’s story of the British Nuclear Tests in the 1950s-60s. She has travelled internationally to speak out and participated in the negotiations for the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2017, hand-delivering the Indigenous Statement to the negotiating conference on behalf of 35 organisations.

Desmond Narain Doulatram obtained his Bachelors in Science in Social Science with an emphasis in Pre-Law from Southwestern Adventist University (SWAU). Subsequently, he worked at the Office of Environmental Planning & Policy Coordination now called the RMI Climate Change Directorate under the Office of the President. He then worked at Marshall Islands High School before obtaining his Masters in Arts Degree in Asia-Pacific Studies from the University of San Francisco. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Pacific Studies at the University of the South Pacific. He has also obtained a Professional Certificate in Online Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Presently, he is employed as a Social Science Instructor at the College of the Marshall Islands Liberal Arts Department where he teaches Contemporary Social Issues in Micronesia, Issues in Pacific Studies, and Sociology. Additionally, he also serves as a National Board Member for the Marshall Islands Public School System. He is also a Co-founder to two NGOs being Jo-JiKuM (Jodrikdrik in Jipan ene eo Ekutok Maroro) translated as Youths for a Greener RMI that deals with issues related to environmentalism and REACH-MI (Radiation Exposure Awareness Crusaders for Humanity-Marshall Islands) which deals with the nuclear issue.

General Secretary, Pacific Council of Churches
Reverend James Bhagwan is an ordained minister of the Methodist Church in Fiji. Appointed by the General Assembly in 2018 he has been active in reviving PCC relationships, recruiting new partners and increasing the organisation’s visibility as well as introducing a five-year strategic plan. Rev Bhagwan holds a Bachelor of Divinity from the Pacific Theological College and a Masters in Theology from Korea.

*Absent due to unforeseen circumstances

Youngsolwara is a regional movement comprised of a collective of activists from the Pacific. We share common concerns on issues impacting our Pacific people and our islands.
Youngsolwara is a movement birthed from the regional gathering, Wansolwara Madang Dance in 2014. The Madang Dance was a gathering of practitioners, academics, musicians, bloggers, artists, university students, community workers, social workers and activists, youth and church thinkers.

Joan Morningstar resides at Mississaugi First Nation, Ontario, Canada. She was a drug and alcohol counselor for 21 years, until she changed her career to be employed with Mississaugi First Nation as the Traditional Student Mentor for the Secondary School in Blind River. She had to leave her job in February 2018 due to cancer. She is now hoping to regain her walking, speech, fine and gross motor skills to enjoy her many hobbies and outdoor activities. Currently, she is working with physiotherapists in rehabilitation, and her days are spent in exercises monitored by professionals.
She is also campaigning for the Blind River Refinery and Incinerator to be shut down permanently.

Award-winning writer/playwright Mary Dickson is a downwinder and thyroid cancer survivor from Salt Lake City, Utah who is an internationally recognized advocate for survivors of nuclear weapons testing. She has written and spoken widely about the human toll of nuclear weapons at conferences, symposia, and forums in the U.S. as well as Japan. Exposed, her play combining her experiences with powerful documentation, received critical acclaim when it has subsequently toured universities and venues nationwide as a staged reading. She was honored by the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability for her lifetime work on behalf of those harmed by nuclear testing.

JOAR, the Jharkhandi Organization against Radiation, is situated in Jadugoda, Jharkhand in India. The organisation has been struggling for many decades against uranium mining, raising awareness of its impact on health and the environment and raising voices to get justice for radiation victims in this area. JOAR was selected for the prestigious Nuclear Free Future Award in 2005.

MISA4thePacific is a student-led movement created by RMI students in Suva. This group of students strives to empower regional youths and students to voice and fight colonial injustices in the Pacific. MISA has actively advocated for nuclear justice issues as well as climate change.