nuclear-news

Greens Party in Japan getting organised for elections

Japan Greens hope to ride anti-nuclear wave to parliament, Business Recorder, August 15, 2012 TAKEHIKO KAMBAYASAHI    With anti-nuclear sentiment riding high in Japan, a former citizens’ group is trying to make the shift to a full-fledged political party. Greens Japan in late July said it would field candidates in the next elections on an environmental platform that includes weaning the country off nuclear energy. It hopes to become the first officially recognised national-level green political party.

There are many obstacles before it can gain any real political power
or become officially recognized, but recent protests give some
indication of the backing it could enjoy. Tens of thousands of people
have taken to the streets of Tokyo and other cities to urge the
country to give up nuclear power, which used to provide one-third of
its electricity.

The protests followed the meltdowns and radiation leaks at the
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, about 250 kilometres
north-east of Tokyo, since the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011.
Greens Japan was already planning to enter party politics, but the
nation’s worst atomic accident accelerated its schedule, party members
say, amid public dissatisfaction with existing parties.

Many people have expressed anger at Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda for
approving the reactivation of two reactors at a plant in western
central Japan, despite warnings of faults lines under the complex. The
rest of the country’s 50 reactors remained idle, as public resistance
has prevented their restarting after maintenance shutdowns. “There is
no way we support Noda’s Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ),” a
demonstrator named Sumiko said at a recent rally of
environmentally-minded citizens at the parliament building. “I will
support the Green Party.” ….. spirits are high among the new party’s
current 70 members, who are “energetically working on [its]
establishment,” Hoehn told a news conference. Scott Ludlam, a lawmaker
of the Australian Greens, also expressed support for the first
Japanese party to be based on an environmental platform. “The meeting
that we witness here today will change things,” he said at the group’s
first meeting as a party. The party’s policies would include abolition
of nuclear energy, emphasising electricity conservation and promoting
renewable energy, said Nao Suguro, one of its leaders. Since more
people show an understanding of the creation of a new kind of
political party, ”I believe the party can widen its support,” she
said. http://www.brecorder.com/articles-a-letters/187/1227824/

August 15, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, politics