Okinawan Women Against US "Osprey" deployment: "We Shall Overcome"

沖縄の女性たちは、オスプレイ配備に反対す。、普天間基地、大山第一ゲート前で　オスプレイ配備に反対　歌で平和を訴える

Okinawa women against US military V-22 "Osprey" aircraft deployment appeal for democracy, human rights & peace at Oyama gate, US Marine Futenma Air Station, Ginowan City, Sunday night, September 29, 2012.

In this powerful one-minute video, you can hear  Suzuyo Takazato, co-director of Okinawa Women Against Military Violence, leading the group in "We Shall Overcome..."

US Congressman Dennis Kucinich expresses empathy with Fukushima survivors & calls for a Nuclear-Free World at C.A.N. rally in D.C.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich) addressed an overflowing audience yesterday at the Coalition Against Nukes (C.A.N.) rally, ongoing in Washington, D.C. through the weekend:

 ...The horrific meltdowns in Fukushima remind us all of just how vulnerable we are, not just in Japan, but everywhere...

Our hearts go out to the people of Japan for the catastrophe that you've have suffered, for the immediate effects and long-term effects that will concern generations of Japanese. Once again, to the Japanese people, your suffering is the suffering of the world. And your suffering needs to be understood by the world because the world has important lessons to learn from the suffering of the Japanese people.

 The facts are clearly in our favor. Nuclear power should be allowed to fail as an energy source. But the facts are not enough, particularly in this town.

We have to change a mindset. The mindset does not get the attention it deserves.

I spent several hours on the floor of the house yesterday, trying to create the debate, which eventually resulted in stopping this new national park which glorifies the bomb. The supporters of the bill are prepared to memorialize the Manhattan Project without properly memorializing the unprecedented destruction that it brought. You can't talk about the technology without talking about its effects.

 The schism in the thinking: technology here, effects there - is our mission to challenge; and to replace it with integrative thinking, with holistic thinking, with thinking that sees the world and cognizes the world as an undivided whole.

 There's a sense that when the atom was split, it really split the consciousness of our country. It was the beginning of intensification of dichotomized thinking, of us versus them, whomever they are. And the dichotomy between humans and nature.

We have to reconcile ourselves with the natural world. That's the essence of sustainability... We have to not let our humanity be swept away as we congratulate ourselves about how clever we are about our inventions.

We have to look at where we're going as a society...

Tokyo breaks promise of a nuclear-free Japan

Via The Japan Times via Kyodo/Jiji: "Cabinet fails to OK new nuclear strategy Deadline for abolishing atomic energy by 2030s not endorsed":

The document that the Cabinet signed off on stirred speculation that it gave special consideration to big business and governments that benefit from hosting nuclear facilities, the main entities opposed to the publicly favored zero option."

An Ancient Jewish Prayer for Peace...

My Yiddish-speaking grandmother handed this picture down to me several years ago. Regardless of religious and cultural beliefs, all peoples hope for the same thing—Peace.

A Prayer for Peace

Let peace reign over all,
Let none, in fear or hate
evermore shed blood in Our presence.
Grant us peace, the blessing above
all blessings we owe Ourselves.
Grant us peace that we may all
live in grace.

I know we will find peace one day.

—Jen Teeter

1980's postage stamp depicting friendship between Arabs & Jews in Israel

Thanks to Makiko Sato for this 1980's postage stamp from Israel of a child's drawing depicting friendship between Arabs and Jews:

Attached is a scanned image of the old postal stamp I have kept for 30 years, from when I had a Jewish penpal in Israel.

Around that time, there was an integrated school somewhere in Israel or Palestine—so children of Jews and Palestinians could share the same classrooms.

I don't know that kind of education still exists, but I hope so.

DiaNuke.org: Residents of Koodankulam, India protest in the sea against nuclear plant

Photo: Via DiaNuke.org via OutlookIndia.com via AP

For over two decades, Indian citizens across Tamil Nadu, the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula, have been protesting against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP). Thousands have joined in the past month because they are concerned that hot, radioactively contaminated water discharged from the nuclear plant into the sea will poison fish and other marine life. They are also concerned forced displacement after a nuclear accident, as has happened to residents of Fukushima.

Patibandla Srikant details this history in "Twenty years of resistance at Koodankulam" published at InfochangeIndia.org in November, 2011:

According to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board’s (AERB) stipulations, a 1.6-km radius around a nuclear power plant should have no habitation, while the next 5-km radius should have a small density of population; in a 16-km radius population must not exceed 10,000. Two reactors, Unit-I and Unit-2, are ready for testing in December this year, but no rehabilitation has been carried out to date. Government after government has changed in Tamil Nadu and in New Delhi, but the plight of the people struggling against the Koodankulam nuclear power plant continues. The central government finally seems to have taken cognisance of the protests thanks to a letter from the Tamil Nadu chief minister. But people in and around Koodankulam village continue to live with the fear of nuclear risk and threat to livelihoods.

The KNPP has its roots in the 1974 Pokhran [nuclear explosion] test conducted by India. Following the test, India came under the influence of the Soviet nuclear establishment because of its isolation from the West (the US had stopped fuel shipments to the Tarapur nuclear power plant after the 1974 test). Against this backdrop the nuclear deal with the Soviet Union was discussed as early as 1979 during Morarji Desai’s prime ministership. Finally, in 1988 the Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi signed the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project deal.

This triggered opposition in and around Koodankulam. The proposal to draw water for the nuclear reactors from the nearby Pechiparai reservoir and to discharge waste water into the sea threatened the livelihoods of the people. In May 1989, around 10,000 people assembled to protest against the plant under the banner of the National Fish Workers’ Union (NFWU). During this protest, police opened fire and disconnected the mike, preventing anyone from speaking. However, the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev losing power and the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi stalled the Koodankulam nuclear power plant.

Unfortunately, the nuclear project picked up steam again. Over the past decade,Tamil Nadu residents attempted legal and environmental challenges, but were blocked by manipulative tactics.

Indians have engaged in popular resistance against nuclear plants throughout the country, but, as in Japan, they are up against "economic growth-oriented development" that require national sacrifice zones that will destroy natural environment and victimize locals. Srikant explains:

In the context of globalisation, government after government in India has pledged 8-9% growth rates. Such growth rates would naturally require more energy for consumption. Given increasing awareness of environmental issues, nuclear energy is often perceived as a viable alternative to high-polluting thermal power plants and big dams.

It is in this context that increased investments in nuclear power plants need to be seen. In spite of the high costs and risks involved, successive governments showed keen interest in pursuing nuclear energy.

Such a pursuit of growth rates is putting an enormous burden on many people, particularly the marginalised sections of society – rural populations, tribals, dalits, women, the poor and others. Big projects like nuclear power plants are posing a threat to the livelihoods of these people, while putting them in a hazardous situation in the long run.

Therefore the people of Koodankulam are fighting for their survival. During a brutal repression over the last two days by police, Anthony Samy, a fisherman, was killed.

Japan's ongoing nuclear melt-throughs have not only shocked almost everyone in Japan into nuclear-free action, but have spurred others everywhere, including those were previously silent about the nuclear radiation in their backyards, and those who have long been actively resisting nuclear power, as the people of Koodankulam, to see the interconnections of nuclear issues across borders and to work for a nuclear-free world.

On Aug. 7, 2012, people of Koodankulam, India praying for the

victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima

"We have chance to save Koodankulam...."

Photo: Amirtharaj Stephen, Dianuke.org

Kumar Sundaram, editor of DiaNuke.org, a India-based nuclear-free world advocacy organization that is a long-time supporter of the Hydrangea Revolution, understands the planetary history and structures of the nuclear industry. DiaNuke engages at multiple levels: critical, scientific, public-dialogical, prophetic (truth-telling) & organic (making connections, showing the common ground between diverse people).

DiaNuke articles, including those by Tokyo-residents Ruthie Iida and Jacinta Hin on the weekly Friday night protests, support a public dialogical working through of the collective shock and trauma that those of us exposed to nuclear radiation and those threatened with nuclear radiation must deal with as we also work to make our world nuclear-free.

DiaNuke's meta-message of the primacy of humanity always brings home the common ground that unite us all. This post is a shout out of gratitude to DiaNuke for their support of the Hydrangea Movement; facilitation of deep dialogue; and a heartfelt prayer for the people of Koodakulam and throughout India, that they may live free of fear of radioactive fallout; and for the political leaders in India for the wisdom to see and hear the profound message of these nonviolent resisters spoken with the power of truth (satyagraha).

(Arundhati Roy, via Countercurrents.org)

ドキュメンタリー・ドリーム・ショー—山形in東京2012 Documentary Dream Show - Yamagata in Tokyo 2012

6 more days...

The Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival is the largest and most prestigious international film festival for documentary in Asia, and runs every other year in the northern Japanese city of Yamagata.

In the off-years, the festival brings a part of the previous year's screening program to Tokyo.

Close to 100 films will be screened during a festival period of Aug. 18 - Sept. 21 this summer at two Tokyo art house cinemas: Auditorium Shibuya and Pole Pole Higashi-nakano.

Most films will be screened with English subtitles, including many from Asia and Japan.

Venue: Aug. 18-31 Auditorium Shibuya http://a-shibuya.jp/

Sept. 1-21 Pole Pole Higashi-nakano

For details: www.cinematrix.jp/dds2012
For inquiry: 03-5362-0671 (Cinematrix)

August 18 at 1until September 21 at 11:45pm in UTC+09
オーディトリウム渋谷, ポレポレ東中野

自分の目で見る。感じる。 いざ、ドキュメンタリーの祝祭へ

山形国際ドキュメンタリー映画祭2011の上映作品を中心に、100本近くを一挙にお披露目します。
大賞を受賞した『密告者とその家族』の監督をイスラエルより迎えてトークイベントなども盛込み、インターナショナル・コンペティション、アジア千波万波の新作に、キューバ特集など目玉企画も交えたドキュメンタリー特集上映！

会期：8月18日〜31日　オーディトリウム渋谷　http://a-shibuya.jp/
　　　
9月1日〜21日　　ポレポレ東中野 www.mmjp.or.jp/pole2

料金：当日1回券 一般=1400円　3回券 当日・前売=3600円
　　　フリーパス券=15000円（50枚限定）※YIDFFヴィンテージTシャツ付き
フリーパスは劇場窓口のみ販売（会期前にも販売します）。フリーパス購入希望の方は、ご利用の方の写真（3cm×2.5cm）をご持参下さい。フリーパスは記名ご本人のみのご使用となります。

詳細は→www.cinematrix.jp/dds2012
お問い合わせ：03−5362-0671（シネマトリックス）

Heiwa Kataoka: Friday Night Nuclear-Free Protest in Tokyo

Friday night Nuclear-Free Protest. Photo: Heiwa Kataoka

KJ Fresh Currents: Ongoing Friday Nuclear-Free Protests in Kyoto & Osaka

Via KJ Fresh Currents:

The Japanese government's commitment to a zero nuclear future is a significant step forward, but their ill-defined and somewhat distant deadline (sometime in the 2030s), and contradictory commitment to maintain the reprocessing program at Rokkasho cannot satisfy those who have been protesting each Friday since the controversial restarts in Fukui. The anti-nuclear movement has gained ground this week, but protests will continue until all the nuclear facilities are shut down for good. Here are the details for the Friday protests in Kansai (same time every week).

＊＊＊ PLEASE SHARE ＊＊＊

Kyoto 17:00-19:00
Outside Kanden Kyoto
https://plus.google.com/101615694937780488930/about?hl=en

Osaka 18:00-19:30
Outside Kanden
https://plus.google.com/101315689952581452988/about?hl=en

日本語での詳細はここで見つけることができます...
京都
http://ameblo.jp/harinaosu/
大阪
http://twitnonukes.blogspot.jp/
よろしくお願いします

Solidarity With Tohoku: Summer School Campfire & Drumming

Solidarity with Tohoku:

The neighborhood in Tsukidate consists of both the old rice farming community, and the new evacuee community from the coast. The children were thus part of an event that brought both communities together.

Evacuee residents from the neighboring temporary container housing were invited to join camp events...