Antinuclear

Film shows Japan’s nuclear nation http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/54786   August 17, 2013 By Alexander Brown, Sydney

This new documentary by Atsushi Funahashi explores the lives of refugees from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster.

The film explores the lives of the residents of Futaba, a small town located next to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Following the explosion at the plant, the entire town was designated as an exclusion zone and 1400 residents were forced to evacuate to an abandoned high school about 250 kilometres from their hometown. The residents cannot legally return to their homes. The film shows the residents living in classrooms in the school as they struggle to rebuild their lives and wrestle with what they have lost.

In Japan, a Nagasaki Day commemoration was held in the south-western city to commemorate the victims of the second atomic bomb, dropped two days after the first atomic bomb at Hiroshima.

In his speech at the ceremony, Nagasaki’s mayor condemned Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for failing to endorse a statement during April negotiations for the next round of Nuclear Non-Proliferation talks, which rejected the use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances.

One atomic bomb survivor also criticised the government over its plan to restart Japan’s nuclear power plants which have been shut down after the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Shohei Tsuiki, 86, said “it is obvious that nuclear power and human beings cannot coexist” and asked the government “to take action sincerely and proactively toward the elimination of nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants,” the Japan Times reported. The Sydney screening was organised by Uranium Free NSW and the Beyond Nuclear Initiative as a fundraiser for the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance.

Uranium Free NSW is a new group organised in response to NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell’s decision last year to overturn a 26-year moratorium on uranium exploration in NSW.

Australian uranium was used in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

[Uranium Free NSW meets fortnightly at the University of Technology Sydney at 6pm. The next meeting will be held on August 28. For more information contact hollycreenaune@gmail.com]