Theatre, Shadow Theatre, and Counter Theatre: The Sahara Anti Nuclear Protest and the United Nations 1959-1960

In November 1959, an international team of peace activists issued a statement to the 14th session of the United Nations General Assembly demanding they oppose the French government’s plan to test nuclear weapons in the Sahara. As the foremost forum for international peace and co-operation, the group recognised the symbolic value of appealing to the UN but were sceptical about its capacity to realise its humanitarian commitments. Accordingly, they worked with Kwame Nkrumah and other African leaders to devise an assembly of their own. From here, the group launched plans for a direct action academy that would recruit and train a civilian army in non-violent resistance. Using the case study of the Sahara protest and the United Nations, this article engages with the question of how social movements stimulate change in global governance institutions. It highlights the co-dependent, performative nature of this relationship, drawing on the concept of theatre to show this in action. It is argued that the Sahara activists structured their strategy through their engagement with the UN moving from attempts to leverage its self-image as a humanitarian organisation, to parodying its shortcomings and ultimately imagining an oppositional ‘counter-theatre’ intended to force it to honour its commitments.