During Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Jan. 25-27 visit to India, where he and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met to discuss a range of issues including the two countries' pending nuclear energy agreement, several thousand citizens across the country had a message to share: PM Abe was welcome in India -- but his nuclear technology was not.
Demonstrations against the proposed India-Japan nuclear agreement, which aims to allow Japan to export nuclear reactors to India, were held on Jan. 25, which was observed as a national day of protest against the agreement. The demonstration events were organized in conjunction with a campaign launched by the New Delhi-based Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP), a network of anti-nuclear and peace organizations across India that was formed in November 2000 to urge both India and Pakistan to dismantle their nuclear weapons programs.
According to CNDP Research Consultant Kumar Sundaram, protests were organized in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chennai, as well as locales where new reactor projects are proposed, including Koodankulam, Jaitapur, Mithi Virdi, Fatehabad, Chutka and Kovvada.
Sundaram told the Mainichi that most demonstrations drew between 80 and 125 participants, with the largest taking place in Jaitapur -- near the site of a proposed large nuclear power plant project -- where more than 3,000 farmers and other residents marched for eight kilometers.
Many of the protesters held signs created by the CNDP that read "Mr. Abe, You are welcome to India -- Nukes are not! NO to India-Japan," and "No More Fukushima," which were written in Japanese and English, and translated into several Indian languages.
The CNDP also asked for international solidarity with its campaign via Facebook, encouraging overseas supporters to send photos of themselves holding the signs, which were then printed out to create giant collages that were displayed at the protest sites. Support for the campaign was received from several countries including Germany, France, the United States and Japan, with a solidarity demonstration also held in Tokyo.
The Tokyo event took place on the evening of Fri. Jan. 24 outside the prime minister's official residence. It was organized by a local citizens' group known as 'Beautiful Energy,' whose members have gathered there every Friday night since September 2011 -- rain or shine -- to light candles and display messages calling for an end to nuclear power alongside other various organizations and individuals.
In attendance at the Tokyo event was Yukiko Kameya, a former resident of Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, who evacuated to Tokyo following the nuclear disaster of March 11, 2011, and has been a regular participant at the weekly Friday night anti-nuclear demonstrations. She authored an open letter to Prime Ministers Abe and Singh urging that the nuclear pact be scrapped, which was delivered the following day to both the Indian Embassy and the prime minister's office in Japan.
"Prime Minister Abe: As a representative of Japan, are you able to take responsibility for India?" Kameya's letter read in part. "Even if you say things like 'I can assure you that there have never been, and will never be health problems, and the situation is under control,' or 'the contaminated water is entirely blocked,' none of these things are happening in reality. Please reconsider the nuclear issue that is at root here -- as well as what it would mean to bring this issue into another country."
According to Sundaram, the CNDP 's opposition to the binational nuclear deal is based on three grounds: that the pact goes against global anti-nuclear trends in the wake of the Fukushima accident; entrusts nuclear energy to an unregulated sector in India with an extremely poor safety track-record; and sets a dangerous precedent for nuclear disarmament, insofar as India has not signed on to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
"New reactors are being built by depriving farmers and fisherfolk of their farmland, irrigation water and traditional livelihoods. These projects would destroy some of the world's most pristine and fragile ecosystems," Sundaram explained. "This is a struggle between the world's largest corporations and mightiest governments vs. the most poor and vulnerable people, who are left with no other option but to fight back. Several million people are going to be directly affected because of such eco-destructive projects."
Although the two prime ministers did not end up finalizing a nuclear-related agreement during the recent visit, they did pledge to continue negotiations aimed toward swiftly concluding one. (By Kimberly Hughes, Staff Writer)
Demonstrations against the proposed India-Japan nuclear agreement, which aims to allow Japan to export nuclear reactors to India, were held on Jan. 25, which was observed as a national day of protest against the agreement. The demonstration events were organized in conjunction with a campaign launched by the New Delhi-based Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP), a network of anti-nuclear and peace organizations across India that was formed in November 2000 to urge both India and Pakistan to dismantle their nuclear weapons programs.
According to CNDP Research Consultant Kumar Sundaram, protests were organized in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chennai, as well as locales where new reactor projects are proposed, including Koodankulam, Jaitapur, Mithi Virdi, Fatehabad, Chutka and Kovvada.
Sundaram told the Mainichi that most demonstrations drew between 80 and 125 participants, with the largest taking place in Jaitapur -- near the site of a proposed large nuclear power plant project -- where more than 3,000 farmers and other residents marched for eight kilometers.
Many of the protesters held signs created by the CNDP that read "Mr. Abe, You are welcome to India -- Nukes are not! NO to India-Japan," and "No More Fukushima," which were written in Japanese and English, and translated into several Indian languages.
The CNDP also asked for international solidarity with its campaign via Facebook, encouraging overseas supporters to send photos of themselves holding the signs, which were then printed out to create giant collages that were displayed at the protest sites. Support for the campaign was received from several countries including Germany, France, the United States and Japan, with a solidarity demonstration also held in Tokyo.
The Tokyo event took place on the evening of Fri. Jan. 24 outside the prime minister's official residence. It was organized by a local citizens' group known as 'Beautiful Energy,' whose members have gathered there every Friday night since September 2011 -- rain or shine -- to light candles and display messages calling for an end to nuclear power alongside other various organizations and individuals.
In attendance at the Tokyo event was Yukiko Kameya, a former resident of Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, who evacuated to Tokyo following the nuclear disaster of March 11, 2011, and has been a regular participant at the weekly Friday night anti-nuclear demonstrations. She authored an open letter to Prime Ministers Abe and Singh urging that the nuclear pact be scrapped, which was delivered the following day to both the Indian Embassy and the prime minister's office in Japan.
"Prime Minister Abe: As a representative of Japan, are you able to take responsibility for India?" Kameya's letter read in part. "Even if you say things like 'I can assure you that there have never been, and will never be health problems, and the situation is under control,' or 'the contaminated water is entirely blocked,' none of these things are happening in reality. Please reconsider the nuclear issue that is at root here -- as well as what it would mean to bring this issue into another country."
According to Sundaram, the CNDP 's opposition to the binational nuclear deal is based on three grounds: that the pact goes against global anti-nuclear trends in the wake of the Fukushima accident; entrusts nuclear energy to an unregulated sector in India with an extremely poor safety track-record; and sets a dangerous precedent for nuclear disarmament, insofar as India has not signed on to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
"New reactors are being built by depriving farmers and fisherfolk of their farmland, irrigation water and traditional livelihoods. These projects would destroy some of the world's most pristine and fragile ecosystems," Sundaram explained. "This is a struggle between the world's largest corporations and mightiest governments vs. the most poor and vulnerable people, who are left with no other option but to fight back. Several million people are going to be directly affected because of such eco-destructive projects."
Although the two prime ministers did not end up finalizing a nuclear-related agreement during the recent visit, they did pledge to continue negotiations aimed toward swiftly concluding one. (By Kimberly Hughes, Staff Writer)
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