August 29 marks the International Day against Nuclear Tests. The world’s largest Semipalatinsk nuclear test site was closed on this day thirty years ago. In this regard, a special event took place in Bern at the initiative of Kazakhstan’s Embassy in Switzerland. A documentary “Where the Wind Blew” by British film producer André Singer was screened during the event. The author fit the 40-year history of the tests and the struggle of the “Nevada-Semei” movement’s members into an hour and a half movie.
“The fact that we celebrate 30 years of anniversary of the closure of the Semipalatinsk test site is a very important event. It gives the nuclear disarmament a strong narrative. Things can be done, important decisions can be made. What I think is so important is that the victims of the tests were actually becoming a driving force, putting the humanitarian consequences at the forefront of the debate. And that led to a lot of positive developments in the area of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation,” said Reto Wollemann, spokesperson for the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The main goal of this event is to show the European community of Switzerland that such things and not only happened in the history of Kazakhstan, that we do not forget this history and we urge other countries, international organizations, governmental and non-governmental organizations to be with Kazakhstan and conduct a full-fledged, purposeful work to ensure that this will never happen again in the world,” noted Alibek Bakayev, Kazakh Ambassador to Switzerland.
An exhibition of paintings by the famous Kazakh artist Karipbek Kuyukov dedicated to the closure of the test site was also held as part of the event. Swiss spectators were deeply impressed by his unique fate and paintings of the nuclear past.
“This is very, very-very impressive, it’s very moving, and it’s very deep. Before, I didn’t know the connection so closely, and the film in combination with these beautiful paintings really opened heart and the soul to what happened. But it’s also a good sign of hope, I think, for what we can see here in the light of the pictures. For example and also in the film that there is a future and the people don’t give up and they work hard to deal with the past and build the future for the same time,” added Marcus Cramer, Financial Analyst.
Translation by Saniya Sakenova
Editing by Galiya Khassenkhanova
