David Lange at the Oxford Debate
The Oxford debate on 1 March 1985, was between New Zealand's Prime Minister and the arguer for the negative. For nearly all of New Zealand this was one of the biggest moments to come out of our anti nuclear protest, this was because it showed New Zealand as an independent nation that was and is capable of standing up for what it believed in, and David Lange in doing so showed the rest of the world, that New Zealand wouldn't be shoved around. David Lange was asked the question, "What I should like to know, sir, is why you don't do the honourable and the consistent thing and pull out of the ANZUS alliance. For whether you are snuggling up to the bomb or living in the peaceful shadow of the bomb, New Zealand benefits, sir. And that's the question with which we charge you. And that's the question with which we would like an answer, sir."
I want to pass over here the preparations which are constantly being made for the winnable or even survivable nuclear war. I would ignore those and wholeheartedly embrace the logic of the unthinkable war if it could be established that the damage which could result from the collapse of that logic could be confined to nuclear weapon states. Unfortunately and demonstrably, it would not. We in New Zealand, you know, used to be able to relax a bit, to be able to think that we would sit comfortably while the rest of the world seared, singed, withered. We were enraptured!
And the fact is that we used to have the vision of our being some kind of an antipodean Noah's Ark, which would, from within its quite isolated preserve, spawn a whole new world of realistic humankind. Now, the fact is that we know that that is not achievable. We know that if the nuclear winter comes, we freeze; we join the rest of you. And that means that there is now a total denouement as far as any argument in favour of moral purpose goes. It is a strange, dubious and totally unaccepted moral purpose which holds the whole of the world to ransom.
David Lange was able to captivate the audience at the Oxford Debate and was a clincher in the total support for support of New Zealand for our causes that we had been bullied around by The United States and the French. This became a very significant moment for New Zealanders as it is still recognised even to this day as an important factor that continued the stability of our nuclear free nation. But it was also a reminder and warning sign to the rest of the world that if a nuclear war does break out then we will just be as much apart of it as they who started, which is exactly the opposite of us being showed in the protection of the nuclear weapons, we feel as though it is our duty to protect the world from imminent destruction on their behalf.
When David Lange talks about us being enraptured he is talking about the fact that New Zealand has been caught up in this hype over the 'greatness' of the nuclear age and has refused on the grounds that it has shown long lasting effects on people and is unsafe for their health.
I want to pass over here the preparations which are constantly being made for the winnable or even survivable nuclear war. I would ignore those and wholeheartedly embrace the logic of the unthinkable war if it could be established that the damage which could result from the collapse of that logic could be confined to nuclear weapon states. Unfortunately and demonstrably, it would not. We in New Zealand, you know, used to be able to relax a bit, to be able to think that we would sit comfortably while the rest of the world seared, singed, withered. We were enraptured!
And the fact is that we used to have the vision of our being some kind of an antipodean Noah's Ark, which would, from within its quite isolated preserve, spawn a whole new world of realistic humankind. Now, the fact is that we know that that is not achievable. We know that if the nuclear winter comes, we freeze; we join the rest of you. And that means that there is now a total denouement as far as any argument in favour of moral purpose goes. It is a strange, dubious and totally unaccepted moral purpose which holds the whole of the world to ransom.
David Lange was able to captivate the audience at the Oxford Debate and was a clincher in the total support for support of New Zealand for our causes that we had been bullied around by The United States and the French. This became a very significant moment for New Zealanders as it is still recognised even to this day as an important factor that continued the stability of our nuclear free nation. But it was also a reminder and warning sign to the rest of the world that if a nuclear war does break out then we will just be as much apart of it as they who started, which is exactly the opposite of us being showed in the protection of the nuclear weapons, we feel as though it is our duty to protect the world from imminent destruction on their behalf.
When David Lange talks about us being enraptured he is talking about the fact that New Zealand has been caught up in this hype over the 'greatness' of the nuclear age and has refused on the grounds that it has shown long lasting effects on people and is unsafe for their health.
Key Historical idea
A key historical idea that came out of this for us as New Zealanders is that we started to gain independence from the big countries like the United States, Britain and France. During World War One and World War Two, New Zealand was obligated to become apart of it, however in the case of the anti nuclear we started to say that we didn't want to be apart of the nuclear testing as it went against our conscience as a whole, and that we wont be bullied into submission by our supposed 'ally's', and the Oxford Debate of 1985 showed to the world that we are no longer the small little country at the bottom of the world, we have significance that we could bring to the world that could help make it a better place. David Lange's Oxford Debate was also about national pride in how we truly believe in our cause behind being anti nuclear is a cause that is great not only for New Zealand as well as the world.