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50,000 at Hiroshima remembrance rally, opposing nuclear weapons and nuclear power

Nuclear fears focus attention on Hiroshima anniversary, THE HINDU, 6 Aug 12,   Interest in the anniversary of the US atomic bombing of the western Japanese city of Hiroshima was heightened on Monday amid growing public frustration with the country’s decision to restart atomic reactors after last year’s nuclear accident.

Most participants at the 67th anniversary commemorations expressed their opposition to nuclear power generation. Those attending also included people who once lived near a nuclear plant in Fukushima prefecture in north-eastern Japan that was the site of the 2011
meltdowns of three reactors.

Such attendees included Tamotsu Baba, the mayor of Namie town, all of whose residents were forced to leave after the accident.
Students lie down symbolising deaths from nuclear wars and accidents

About 50,000 people attended the observance in Peace Memorial Park near ground zero, Hiroshima’s city government said. Mayor Kazumi Matsui called for the elimination of nuclear weapons at the ceremony…. http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article3733249.ece

Remembrance of Nuclear Energy Disaster Victims
heres a video with Paul Gunter from Beyond Nuclear and others making statements and prayers at the New York memorial.. the introduction is very interesting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKiUteVBrR8

 

August 6, 2012 Posted by | Japan, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Mission Impossible? Not for 82-year-old Anti-Nuclear Weapons Activist Mia Steinle Investigator, Project On Government Oversight  07/30/2012 When a nuclear weapons facility can’t stop infiltration by an octogenarian nun, it’s time to reassess its security standards.

The 82-year-old nun, accompanied by two other anti-nuclear activists, broke into Tennessee’s Y-12 National Security Complex early Saturday morning, the Knoxville News Sentinel first reported.

“The Department of Energy has repeatedly claimed that security at the site, which houses 300 to 400 metric tons of bomb-grade uranium, is robust enough to defend against more than a dozen heavily-armed terrorists with inside knowledge of security procedures,” Peter Stockton, a nuclear security expert at the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), ironically observed.

“It looks like the Boy Scouts could have done a better job” securing the site, he added.

After cutting through three fences surrounding the facility, the activists “posted a banner on one of the buildings and poured human blood on the premises,” the News Sentinel reported. The activists were arrested under federal trespassing charges and will remain in jail until a hearing this Thursday, according to the newspaper…… http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mia-steinle/nuclear-weapons-activist_b_1720691.html

July 31, 2012 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, USA | Leave a comment

Arrests of Plowshare protestors at Oak Ridge nuclear weapons site

Protesters Arrested At Oak Ridge’s Y-12 Nuclear Site http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/29/protesters-arrested-oak-ridge-y-12_n_1715732.html   OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Officials say three protesters have been arrested for trespassing and defacing a building in a high-security area of a nuclear weapons site in Tennessee.

Steven Wyatt is a spokesman for the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. He says the activists spray painted the building and defaced it with a substance that looked like blood. The protesters were arrested early Saturday.

The group’s spokeswoman, Ellen Barfield, says the three protesters had to cut through fences to get to the building.

The Department of Energy is investigating the security breach.

Y-12 maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile and provides nuclear
fuel for the Navy and for research reactors worldwide.

July 30, 2012 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, USA | Leave a comment

Shoddy way that India’s government overrides anti nuclear villagrers

Nuclear showdown in Delhi’s neighbourhood Rediff, 26 July 12, 2012  Gopal Krishna Plans to build India’s biggest indigenous nuclear power plant have failed to impress villagers in Haryana’s Fatehabad district, who fear a Fukushima-type disaster. The shoddy way in which the government agencies have handled the issue has not helped matters either. Gopal Krishna reports.

The angry protest by Haryana villagers against the proposed nuclear plant 210 km from Delhi on July 17 — a day after biggest rally in
Tokyo demanded an end to nuclear power — signifies the unity of the
struggle against nuclear power.

In Fatehabad, a big dharna and conference is planned on August 17, 2012 against the Gorakhpur nuclear power project. Continue reading →

July 29, 2012 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear, politics | Leave a comment

Changing nature of Japan’s anti nuclear movement

Political Clout of Japan’s Anti-Nuke Movement Tested By YUKA HAYASHI And TOKO SEKIGUCHI, 28 July 12, TOKYO—Two events Sunday will test the political influence of Japan’s growing movement against nuclear power: a regional election featuring one of the country’s most prominent industry critics, and a 1960s-style surround-the-parliament protest aimed at evoking memories of past mass demonstrations. Continue reading →

July 29, 2012 Posted by | Japan, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Keep Virginia’s ban on uranium, says Norfolk Council

Norfolk council backs uranium mining moratorium By Steven G. Vegh The Virginian-Pilot  July 25, 2012 NORFOLK The City Council called unanimously on Tuesday for a continuation of the state’s moratorium on uranium mining to safeguard rivers and reservoirs that provide Norfolk’s drinking water.

“This is a vote for us to stand up for the system and against anything that may somehow taint the quality of the water,” Mayor Paul Fraim said after the vote at the council’s regular meeting.

Fraim said the action intentionally echoed a similar resolution approved by Virginia Beach last month against mining and milling uranium ore…. Fraim said the city’s water system serves 700,000 people a day, including naval bases. “We’re very protective of that system,” he said, and cautious about anything that might interfere with the water quality.

July 26, 2012 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

Australia’s anti uranium protestors were no bludgers, as BHP would call them

many of the group.. had taken leave without pay to travel to Roxby Downs to spread their message.

“There are other alternatives (to uranium for power) and I think an event like this can bring that more into discussion.”

We’re no bludgers, say mine protesters, Ben Hyde, The Advertiser July 20, 2012 THEY came from interstate and even overseas to protest against uranium mining, and some could be camped on the doorstep of BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam mine for another two weeks. The group of Lizard’s Revenge protesters, which peaked at about 400 activists last weekend, were an eclectic bunch, united in their anti-nuclear stance. Continue reading →

July 21, 2012 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Japan now has to take its anti nuclear movement seriously

Hemmed in by police in the sweltering heat, the demonstrators are mostly
good-natured. But for how long?

Japan’s anti-nuclear protests The heat rises The restart of two nuclear reactors has belatedly lit a fuse under the Japanese, The Economist Jul 21st 2012 | TOKYO |  PEOPLE power is not a phrase usually associated with Tokyo. A famously buttoned-up city, epitomised by its obedient ranks of identikit commuter salarymen, Tokyo rarely hosts serious protests…Suddenly, what had looked like the waning cause of a core of diehard liberals has become a protest movement.  . … on July 16th tens of thousands braved 30-degree heat in a central Tokyo park to attend a “Sayonara Nukes” rally.

The generous sprinkling of ordinary families, as well as the 7.5m signatures that Mr Oe and company claim to have gathered, gave the protest more than nostalgic value. Its fuel was anger. Recent reports into last year’s triple Fukushima meltdown 210km (130 miles) away have shown that the world’s most crowded metropolis narrowly avoided
catastrophe.

Though many worry about the economic cost of scrapping nuclear power, others belatedly question the logic of having 54 commercial reactors in a country with one-fifth of the world’s strong earthquakes.
Even worse, people said, was that the government had restarted at least one nuclear reactor (a second was switched on again on July 18th) while questions still remain about the safety of nuclear power, and about a regulatory structure that took the threat of natural
disaster too lightly. Continue reading →

July 20, 2012 Posted by | Japan, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Japan’s politicians starting to worry about (their jobs) and anti nuclear protests

as numbers swell there are indications the country’s usually inflexible politicians are getting worried and just might start paying attention.

they [protestors] are very ordered: protesters stick to the anti-nuclear message and go home in an orderly fashion at the appointed time.

But the demonstrations’ regularity and sheer size – – is giving the government pause for thought in a country where for decades the political elite has largely ignored popular opinion…..

Nuclear fears galvanise Japan’s sedate society Channel News Asia: 20 July 2012 TOKYO: Japan’s usually sedate societyis angry and getting organised against nuclear power, with the kind of snowballing protest movement not seen for decades. Weekly demonstrations outside the prime minister’s residence attract tens of thousands of people and a rally in west Tokyo this week drew a crowd organisers claimed at 170,000, demanding an end to atomic power in post-Fukushima Japan.

And as numbers swell there are indications the country’s usually inflexible politicians are getting worried and just might start paying attention….. “No one used to care before (the disaster),” said
Masaki Yoshida, a mother-of-three who was forced from her Fukushima
home by the radiation-spewing plant. Continue reading →

July 20, 2012 Posted by | Japan, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Youth climate movement for a carbon free, nuclear free world

Working Together for a Nuclear Free, Carbon Free Energy Future  Clean Energy Footprints July 18th, 2012 ›   Jacquie Ayala.    At the end of June, in the blistering heat of Chattanooga, Tennessee, over 120 activists converged at the kNOw Nukes Y’all Summit to learn, strategize and build relationships across the South around nuclear issues. The summit was intergenerational – young people as well as activists who have been bravely fighting nuclear power since the first wave of the environmental movement in the 1960s, had a chance to meet, build relationships, and learn together. …..  Here’s some of what I learned: …….

Here’s what I think: as the youth climate movement, we have not addressed the nuclear issue directly. In our eagerness to stop Big Coal, we are letting the nuclear industry sneak its way back to the forefront. If we don’t engage our communities and our campuses for a carbon-free AND nuclear-free future NOW, I fear that we will be fighting the same fight again, just shifting from Big Coal over to Big Nuclear, and never getting anywhere with the renewables and energy efficiency advancements that we know can really create the clean energy economy we so desperately need.

I know we are smart enough and savvy enough to stop the nuclear industry from putting our communities at risk. We just have to work together. At the summit, conversations like this have already started. I was lucky enough to get the chance to participate in a movement-building breakout with about 15 other incredible activists – young and old alike. In the breakout, we discussed how we could work to build the nuclear movement by raising up communities at risk, and building momentum against new nuclear with abig push against Vogtle in Georgia, and coordinated actions across the country around other proposed plants. In Florida, for example, we’ll join in on a coordinated effort to take action against the four new proposed reactors in that state.

So, join the movement today to make our future a carbon-free, nuclear-free one. http://blog.cleanenergy.org/2012/07/18/working-for-a-nuclear-free-carbon-free-future/

July 19, 2012 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, USA | Leave a comment

Can Japan’s government continue to ignore the growing anti nuclear protests?

“There’s something wrong in this country when even if thousands of people protest in front of the prime minister’s residence they still reactivate the plants,” 

Tokyo Anti-Nuclear Rally Attracts Thousands As Protests Grow Bloomberg, By Aya Takada, Shunichi Ozasa and Scilla Alecci – Jul 16, 2012 Tens of thousands of people packed Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park yesterday for Japan’s biggest anti-nuclear rally since the Fukushima disaster last year in growing protests against government moves to restart atomic reactors. Continue reading →

July 18, 2012 Posted by | Japan, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Massive police presence does not stop public opposition to Gorakhpur nuclear power plan

Opposition demands scrapping of nuclear project, govt seeks to alley fears quoting scientists Deepender Deswal, TNN | Jul 17, 2012, ROHTAK: Haryana state committee of CPI (M) has demanded scrapping of the proposal for setting up a nuclear power plant at village Gorakhpur village in Fatehabad district in view of stiff opposition expressed by the villagers.

The farmers have been protesting against the proposed nuclear plant for many months and also registered their protest today during public hearing organized by the district administration. The party state secretary Inderjit Singh has claimed that the stand taken by CPI(M), opposition parties and other organizations has been vindicated by the open unwillingness of the people of the area.

He also criticized the massive deployment of police force at Gorakhpur and yet it could not deter the public from expressing their opposition to the nuclear plant. He also described the political stand of the ruling Congress leaders invoking the stand of former chief ministers
like late Devi Lal and Bhajan Lal regarding nuclear power as irrelevant stating that the situation had fundamentally changed in the aftermath of Fukusima accident in Japan.

“Congress leaders should see by themselves that there was a serious rethinking at global level in the matter of nuclear power”, he said…….

July 18, 2012 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Gorakhpur farmers not impressed with pro nuclear speakers

Bishnoi, while addressing the farmers, said that as per rules, the locals should have been given the Environment Impact Assessment report one month before such a hearing, but it was not done.

Public hearing on nuke plant ends abruptly amid tension DNA, Jul 17, 2012, The public hearing on the proposed nuclear power project at Gorakhpur village here today ended abruptly amid tension triggered by the entry of political leaders at the venue.

The hearing was wound up within an hour after it started and efforts of nuclear scientists and Deputy Commissioner ML Kaushik to convince farmers went in vain as they were not ready to listen to them and raised slogans.

As Haryana Janhit Congress chief and Hisar MP Kuldip Bishnoi, and INLD leader Abhay Chautala entered the venue, the deputy commissioner stopped the proceedings and declared the hearing as “close and complete”. He abruptly wound up the discussion and left the place with the scientists and officers in a huff to avoid any ugly situation at the village where a huge police force was deployed. Continue reading →

July 18, 2012 Posted by | India, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Tokyo anti nuclear rally by 170,000

Thousands reject nuclear,http://www.theage.com.au/world/thousands-reject-nuclear-20120716-226gd.html#ixzz20xx3KSqt   The Age, July 17, 2012,   TOKYO. Tens of thousands of people have rallied in Tokyo demanding an end to nuclear power, the latest in a series of demonstrations following the disaster at Fukushima. As many as 170,000 demonstrators chanting ”Don’t resume nuclear power operation. Prime Minister (Yoshihiko) Noda should quit” marched in one of the biggest rallies since last year’s earthquake and tsunami disaster sparked one of the world’s worst atomic disasters. Participants included Nobel-winning author Kenzaburo Oe and Japanese musician and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto.

”We are so angry because no progress has been made in terms of compensation and decontamination,” said Noboru Shikatani, 71, who was evacuated from Fukushima following the disaster.

picture from http://www.facebook.com/internetocracy

July 17, 2012 Posted by | Japan, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

Police arrest cricket players at Australian peaceful anti uranium protest

Lizards Revenge – Arrests are just not cricket , 17 July, A light-hearted game of cricket near Roxby Downs was disrupted today at 1:15pm as police moved in to arrest the players, who are camping near the Olympic Dam uranium mine as part of the Lizards Revenge protest festival.

Police and off-duty miners were invited to join the game, but cricketers were instead bowled over by the severity of the police response. About 50 officers, six on horseback, formed a line to push the group from the road and the oval. Musical equipment and props were confiscated, and five players were arrested in the ensuing scuffle – bringing the total number of arrests so far to eleven.

Both sport and opposition to the nuclear industry are proud Australian traditions. BHP, the once “big Australian”, is now 76% foreign-owned. After the resource has been extracted from Olympic Dam, Australia will be left with 40 square kilometres of toxic tailings whilst most of the profits have gone overseas.

One player explained: “We say uranium mining is just not cricket. BHP Billiton, give the Arabunna people, the Kokatha people and all the Australian people a fair go.”

July 17, 2012 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, opposition to nuclear | Leave a comment

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