Japan’s New ‘Fukushima Fascism’ - BLACKOUT on ALL media on nuclear reactor repair

[Jude Iam]

Japan’s New ‘Fukushima Fascism’
Harvey Wasserman (https://ecowatch.com/author/hwasserman/) | December 11, 2013 7:57 am |

(https://ecowatch.com/author/hwasserman/)Fukushima (https://ecowatch.com/?s=fukushima) continues to spew out radiation. The quantities seem to be rising, as do the impacts.

https://img2u.info/ckgni/i/ga6bd413a.jpgThe site has been infiltrated by organized crime. There are horrifying signs (https://www.nukefree.org/chris-busby-fukushimas-impact-californias-children) of ecological disaster in the Pacific and human health impacts in the U.S.

But within Japan, a new State Secrets Act makes such talk punishable by up to ten years in prison.

Taro Yamamoto, a Japanese legislator, says the law “represents a coup d’etat” leading to “the recreation of a fascist state.” The powerful Asahi Shimbun newspaper (https://www.nukefree.org/japan-legislator-state-secrets-act-fascism-making) compares it to “conspiracy” laws passed by totalitarian Japan in the lead-up to Pearl Harbor, and warns it could end independent reporting on Fukushima.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been leading Japan in an increasingly militaristic direction. Tensions have increased with China. Massive demonstrations have been renounced with talk of “treason.”

But it’s Fukushima that hangs most heavily over the nation and the world.

Tokyo Electric Power has begun the bring-down of hot fuel rods suspended high in the air over the heavily damaged Unit Four. The first assemblies it removed may have contained unused rods. The second may have been extremely radioactive.

But Tepco has clamped down on media coverage and complains about news helicopters filming the fuel rod removal.
Under the new State Secrets Act, the government could ban—and arrest—all independent media under any conditions at Fukushima, throwing a shroud of darkness over a disaster that threatens us all.

By all accounts, whatever clean-up is possible will span decades. The town of Fairfax, CA, has now called for a global takeover (https://www.nukefree.org/fairfax-california-asks-global-takeover-fukushima) at Fukushima. More than 150,000 signees (https://www.nukefree.org/crisis-fukushima-4-demands-global-takeover-please-sign-our-petition) have asked the UN for such intervention.

As a private corporation, Tepco is geared to cut corners, slash wages and turn the clean-up into a private profit center.

It will have ample opportunity. The fuel pool at Unit Four poses huge dangers that could take years to sort out. But so do the ones at Units One, Two and Three. The site overall is littered with thousands of intensely radioactive rods and other materials whose potential fallout is thousands of times greater than what hit Hiroshima in 1945.

Soon after the accident, Tepco slashed the Fukushima workforce. It has since restored some of it, but has cut wages. Shady contractors shuttle in hundreds of untrained laborers to work in horrific conditions. Reuters says the site is heaving infiltrated by organized crime (https://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/25/us-fukushima-workers-specialreport-idUSBRE99O04320131025), raising the specter of stolen radioactive materials for dirty bombs and more.

Thousands of tons of radioactive water now sit in leaky tanks built by temporary workers who warn of their shoddy construction (https://www.nukefree.org/reuters-more-labor-malpractice-fukushima). They are sure to collapse with a strong earthquake.

Tepco says it may just dump the excess water (https://www.nukefree.org/mainichi-tepco-may-dump-untreated-radioactive-water-pacific) into the Pacific anyway. Nuclear expert Arjun Makhijani has advocated the water be stored in supertankers until it can be treated, but the suggestion has been ignored.

Hundreds of tons of water also flow daily from the mountains through the contaminated site and into the Pacific. Nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen long ago asked Tepco to dig a trench filled with absorbents to divert that flow. But he was told that would cost too much money.

Now Tepco wants to install a wall of ice. But that can’t be built for at least two years. It’s unclear where the energy to keep the wall frozen will come from, or if it would work at all.

Meanwhile, radiation is now reaching record levels in both the air (https://www.nukefree.org/asahi-record-radiation-levels-found-fukushima-air) and water (https://www.nukefree.org/mainichi-fukushima-well-water-36-000x-permissible-radiation-level).

The fallout has been already been detected off the coast of Alaska (https://www.nukefree.org/sarah-lazare-commondreams-fukushima-radiation-crossing-pacific). It will cycle down along the west coast of Canada and the U.S. to northern Mexico by the end of 2014. Massive disappearances of sea lion pups, sardines, salmon, killer whales and other marine life are being reported, along with a terrifying mass disintegration of star fish (https://www.nukefree.org/sea-stars-melting-along-pacific-coast). One sailor has documented a massive “dead zone” (https://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/animal-anomalies-is-fukushima-daiichi.html) out 2,000 miles from Fukushima. Impacts on humans have already been documented in California (https://www.nukefree.org/dr-helen-caldicott-radiation-health-fukushima-chernobyl) and elsewhere.

Without global intervention, long-lived isotopes from Fukushima will continue to pour into the biosphere for decades to come.
The only power now being produced at Fukushima comes from a massive new windmill (https://ecowatch.com/2013/11/13/fukushima-floating-wind-turbine/) just recently installed offshore.
Amidst a disaster it can’t handle, the Japanese government is still pushing to re-open the 50 reactors forced shut since the melt-downs. It wants to avoid public fallout amidst a terrified population, and on the 2020 Olympics, scheduled for a Tokyo region now laced with radioactive hot spots. At least one on-site camera (https://www.nukefree.org/majias-blog-tbs-camera-down-fukushima) has stopped functioning. The government has also apparently stopped helicopter-based radiation monitoring.

A year ago a Japanese professor was detained 20 days without trial for speaking out against the open-air incineration of radioactive waste.

Now Prime Minister Abe can do far worse. The Times of India (https://www.nukefree.org/times-india-japans-state-secrets-act-unpopular-powerful) reports that the State Secrets Act is unpopular, and that Abe’s approval ratings have dropped with its passage.

But the new law may make Japan’s democracy a relic of its pre-Fukushima past.

It’s the cancerous mark of a nuclear regime bound to control all knowledge of a lethal global catastrophe now ceaselessly escalating.

Visit EcoWatch’s NUCLEAR (https://ecowatch.com/p/energy/nuclear-energy-energy/) page for more related news on this topic.
——–
Harvey Wasserman (https://ecowatch.com/author/hwasserman/) edits www.nukefree.org (https://www.nukefree.org/), where petitions calling for the repeal of Japan’s State Secrets Act and a global takeover at Fukushima are linked. He is author of SOLARTOPIA! Our Green-Powered Earth.



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[Sasha Monique]

Thank you for posting this. I am shocked that more people in this conscious and caring community aren't talking about the implications of what is happening in Japan - both the seemingly overnight turn to fascism in Japan and the governments disregard for their citizen's well-being, as well as the radiation exposure that we are all experiencing because of the initial explosions, with more to come from the 400 tons a day of radioactive waste flowing into the Pacific. All life is connected. We cannot ignore this and expect our children to have a healthy and long life. I understand that this is scary and many people freeze and go into denial. Yet, I hope more people will wake up to the massive collective action needed to solve this crisis. Blessings to all.


Japan’s New ‘Fukushima Fascism’
Harvey Wasserman (https://ecowatch.com/author/hwasserman/) | December 11, 2013 7:57 am |

(https://ecowatch.com/author/hwasserman/)Fukushima (https://ecowatch.com/?s=fukushima) continues to spew out radiation. The quantities seem to be rising, as do the impacts.

...

[CSummer]

Sasha wrote:

"I am shocked that more people in this conscious and caring community aren't talking about the implications . . ."

When I tune in to how I feel about the destruction of the ecosystems that we depend on for life and the mass extinction of species, it doesn't surprise me that others aren't showing much interest in Fukushima or climate change - both of which seriously threaten the future habitability of the planet. The feelings are similar to those that might come up if your doctor told you your illness is terminal and gave an estimate as to how long you might have: denial, disbelief, fear, outrage, despair and a sense of powerlessness. Lacking real emotional support, who wants to feel these feelings. It's a nice day; why spoil it with such thoughts?

The most important and crippling of these feelings is, I think, the sense of powerlessness. Our minds try to avoid this at all costs, probably because it seems so threatening to our ability to survive or get our needs met. When first confronted with some frightening news about something that seems so beyond our control, it's very difficult to imagine having any power over the situation. I think before we can feel in our power, we need support in dealing with all the other feelings that come up. We also need the empowering effect of solidarity with others who care deeply about the wellbeing of the planet and of present and future generations.

"what is happening in Japan - both the seemingly overnight turn to fascism in Japan and the governments disregard for their citizen's well-being . . ."

Is this much different from what's happening in this country? Is it possible Japanese officials are being pressured by multinational corporations (e.g., the nuclear industry) to keep the reality of the situation hidden? (And even more anti-life reasons for official concealment have been suggested.)

"All life is connected. We cannot ignore this and expect our children to have a healthy and long life."

A recent dream left me with the question: Is life sacred? It also indicated that the answer to that question cannot apply just to other beings; it ultimately applies to me as well. Viewing life as sacred means honoring and supporting life. It means nurturing and encouraging it wherever we can and, when it seems necessary to discourage it (e.g., in disease vectors), doing so consciously and carefully.

To cause or allow wholesale damage to ecosystems and the global web of life is to desecrate and dishonor life. For too long, we have given our power for meeting certain of our needs to those who deliberately choose not to care or honor life. If you honor life, you would never bomb or send missiles to where they could kill indiscriminately; you would never harm soil microbes, bees or human health with herbicides or pesticides; you would never support a system that allows people's health and wellbeing to be jeopardized by economic factors beyond their control; you would not base an economy on the burning of fuels that fill the atmosphere with greenhouse gases. And you would not build energy systems fueled by some of the deadliest substances known to humans: radioactive elements such as plutonium and uranium.

Now we are seeing the inevitable result of not viewing life as sacred but as exploitable and expendable. Life on such a planet becomes less livable - and ultimately not worth living. At the same time, we may be seeing the effects of bad news overload: at some point we start to just tune it out. We think: I'm okay, I don't see many people dying, let's just focus on what's in front of us, as all that other stuff we hear about doesn't seem real in this moment. Maybe we should all just sit and meditate and repeat the mantra, "all is well!"

After all, if life on the planet were really facing mass extinction, wouldn't others be calling for immediate action? If there are global ecological catastrophes in the making, wouldn't governments be responding to it as a global emergency? Instead, they hold meetings and come up with statements like: This is really bad; someone should do something about it!

"the governments disregard for their citizen's well-being"

I don't read mainstream news or other propaganda that might originate from gov't or corporate sources. Since most of us don't like bad news - even if it's crucial to our wellbeing, we tend not to go seeking it out. There may also be the sense that: if Fukushima doesn't get us, the methane frozen under the polar oceans will as planetary warming continues. So, there's a lot of doomsaying and no one coming up with a plan to save us from what seems like inevitable catastrophe - even mass extinction. Or at least if there is a plan, I haven't heard about it.

" . . .the massive collective action needed to solve this crisis"

Yes, massive collective action would certainly be needed to deal with the Fukushima situation, and it would need to be guided by a plan that arises from an analysis of accurate information. It seems unlikely to me that this will happen through any gov't. It could happen through a vast, well- coordinated grassroots network, at least in theory. What is normally done by governments or corporations could be done by a cooperative organization, even one that is somewhat loosely organized (most people being only peripherally involved as donors of funds). What is needed is a creative response to the situation, not one that arises from fear or panic. It will need to arise from a clear and positive vision of what we want, e.g., full containment of all radioactive materials.

We would need to start by forming circles for learning and mutual support to connect with sources of good information and for dealing with our real feelings about what we're learning. The dominant culture typically ignores emotional needs; we cannot afford to do this if we want to stand in solidarity and act from a sense of personal and collective power. Good information and mutual support can put us in a position to move forward positively and effectively toward stopping the desecration of life and learning to live on the earth in ways that honor and protect the sanctity of life.

C. Summer



Thank you for posting this. I am shocked that more people in this conscious and caring community aren't talking about the implications of what is happening in Japan - both the seemingly overnight turn to fascism in Japan and the governments disregard for their citizen's well-being, as well as the radiation exposure that we are all experiencing because of the initial explosions, with more to come from the 400 tons a day of radioactive waste flowing into the Pacific. All life is connected. We cannot ignore this and expect our children to have a healthy and long life. I understand that this is scary and many people freeze and go into denial. Yet, I hope more people will wake up to the massive collective action needed to solve this crisis. Blessings to all.

[Sasha Monique]

Thank you for your thoughtful reply and sharing your thoughts.

We are starting those circles of support through the local organization Fukushima Response. I am a part of the Fukushima Response Wellness Circle, a place for support around spiritual, emotional and physical wellness in the face of increased radiation from Fukushima. I encourage everyone to get involved in some way to address this issue.

Blessings


Sasha wrote:

"I am shocked that more people in this conscious and caring community aren't talking about the implications . . ."

When I tune in to how I feel about the destruction of the ecosystems that we depend on for life and the mass extinction of species,...

[rusalka]

thank you! I don't feel alone anymore...I was being labelled "negative" trying to warn my friends
not to eat pacific seafood....

[Jude Iam]

i'd like to offer some resources for both individuals and groups:

WEBSITES -
www.ENEN (https://www.ENEN)ews.com
https://www.fukushimaresponse.org/Actions.html
(https://www.fukushimaresponse.org/Actions.html)
VIDEOS -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px08nbAja7w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrZZNzC3f8g&app=desktop
and others found from there

MEDITATION -
https://tomkenyon.com/fukushima?utm_source=Hathors+Messages+through+Tom+Kenyon&utm_campaign=ba342a6cf2-Hathor_Message_11_26_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_67e995677c-ba342a6cf2-197650202

lots of information is around, and we'd do well to gather, exchange, discuss and do all we can.
blessings on us all, jude





Thank you for your thoughtful reply and sharing your thoughts.

We are starting those circles of support through the local organization Fukushima Response. I am a part of the Fukushima Response Wellness Circle, a place for support around spiritual, emotional and physical wellness in the face of increased radiation from Fukushima. I encourage everyone to get involved in some way to address this issue.

Blessings