Antinuclear

Australian Nuclear Free Alliance represented at Yokohama international conference

The lands of the Kookotha people, the group that are from the land next to mine, are currently occupied by the world’s biggest mining company, BHP Billiton.

The mine is called Olympic Dam and it use 33 million litres of ground water per day, for free. The water is drawn by pipe from my land. Since the beginning of time, Aboriginal people have taken care of our land Australia.

But the uranium mine poisons the water, land and life through releasing radiation….

  http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/49872   VIDEO Peter Watts: Uranium should stay in the ground, Green Left, , January 31, 2012 Arabunna man Peter Watts is the co-chair of ANFA, the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance. Formed in 1997, ANFA (formerly the Alliance Against Uranium) brings together Aboriginal people and relevant NGO’s concerned about existing or proposed nuclear developments inAustralia, particularly on Aboriginal homelands.

In early 2012, Watts represented ANFA at the Global Conference for a Nuclear Power Free World, held in Yokohama, Japan, in the wake of the Fukushima disasters.

At a time when the Japanese people were grappling with their
government’s plans to reactivate the 50 reactors switched off
following the catastrophic failures of multiple reactors in Fukushima,
Peter brought a message from Australia; expressing shame that
Australian uranium was implicated in the disaster; describing the
local impacts of uranium mining; and calling all nations to work
together to end the nuclear industry. The transcript and video of his
speech is below….

….My traditional lands were affected by the bombing that took place
in the 1950s. The British government blew up nuclear weapons on the
land that belongs to the neighbouring group but radiation came down on
all of us, including my people and land.
I feel strong solidarity with the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
because I know what a nuclear weapon can do — to the health of all
living things…….

I am very happy to participate in this meeting about shutting down the
nuclear fuel chain.
For me this means stopping uranium mining — all of the world’s nuclear
problems begin with uranium mining……

The lands of the Kookotha people, the group that are from the land next to mine, are currently occupied by the world’s biggest mining company, BHP Billiton.

The mine is called Olympic Dam and it use 33 million litres of ground water per day, for free. The water is drawn by pipe from my land. Since the beginning of time, Aboriginal people have taken care of our land Australia.

But the uranium mine poisons the water, land and life through releasing radiation….

……A delegation is here from Australia to express our deep regret
that uranium sourced from our country will continue to cause terminal
toxic radiation exposure for generations, a fact that took seven
months to be finally revealed.

We are here also to pledge to redouble our efforts to finally shut
down this toxic industry. By working together, by showing the full
impact of the entire nuclear chain – from the uranium to the waste —
we will finally shut down this toxic, expensive, dangerous and
unnecessary industry…… http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/49872

February 1, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | General News