Nuclear Horror Show Parade (1983)

Overview

This video from Gaylene Preston, shot on her VHS camera, captures an anti-nuclear protest four years before Aotearoa officially went nuclear-free. The footage documents a large team creating dozens of papier-mâché masks and costumes, led by artist Debra Bustin. While listening to Elvis and Johnny Cash, they prepare for a march on 10 August 1983 against the visit to Wellington of nuclear-powered missile cruiser USS Texas. Later there's extended footage of protestors holding handmade anti-nuclear signs, and parading puppets of Robert Muldoon, Ronald Reagan, and the Statue of Liberty wielding an atomic weapon.

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