Workshop promoted by Peaceboad. He is explaining the different value of Geiger counter between Japan and Brazil. = June 21 at local time : Photo by Miyako Suwa
"The United Nations are over…" There were disappointed local NGO organizations's voices. Conference "Rio+20" was organized in Brazil for the first time for 20 years, severe critics against the conference were heard one after another. The title of the outcome document is "The future we hope" but there were no concrete measure and the conference has finished after the representative of each countries held their scheduled speech. About the future of nuclear power plants, Japan, who caused the worst nuclear power plant disaster within a year and three months ago, didn't even talked about it. Neither the other countries. People who came to talk about the situation in Fukushima and in Japan had different feelings. An organic farmer in Fukushima, a mother in Fukushima and young people from Fukushima talked at the press conference and at the workshops. Everybody came to Rio de Janeiro holding the same hope to stop nuclear power plants, on the other side of earth with regard to Japan. But there was a difference of understanding in communications. At the same time there was The Government's will to avoid to talk about nuclear power plant appeared and disappeared.
I interviewed Mrs. Masako Sakata The representative of environmental NGO organization, "Kenju no Kai※" who came from Japan about the bare truth of her travel in Rio.
Conflict of citizens in Fukushima Prefecture
"Under the situation without being able to know what will become of Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, because of the accident is still ongoing, there is an organic farmer who says he still want to sow the seed and grow vegetables in the land of Fukushima and the mother who feels guilty to give food to her children thinking that this food might be radioactive. Both of them want nuclear energy to be stopped but the farmer can't accept the mother who says she can't eat food made in Fukushima. We arrived in Rio with this conflict without being solved. It's really a difficult matter. There is a farmer who studies radiation to pieces and makes vegetables after a decontamination work and also a farmer who sells vegetables according to the safety standards of the government. I can also understand the mother's feeling who doesn't want to let her child to eat radioactive food even with only 10 becquerels. Both of them have their reason and they are not wrong. This problem didn't started in Rio but it's been a long time those conflict exist. Until today there was no occasion for them to talk to each other. So it will be a task to be settled in Japan" Ms.Sakata said.
Ms.Sakata also talked about the speculation of the Japanese Government.
"When i was preparing my conference "From Fukushima,The proposal for the sustainable society created by organic agriculture and local area" at Japanese pavilion in "Rio+20", I was asked by The Ministry of Environmental "Will you put off Fukushima from your title? Can't you change your title to Easter Japan's Green Economy?. I said that i can't change it. In foreign countries, many people even can't understand when we say: "March 11" and if i just say "Eastern Japan", nobody will recognize that it's about nuclear power plant problem. Finally i left the name of Fukushima in my speech. It means The Japanese Government didn't wanted to talk about nuclear power plant".
Mrs.Sakata energetically went to search for the opinions beside the conference of Rio+20 of local people and NGO from other countries at the people's summit which was held at the same time. "It's more important to connect with people from many different countries than just to give the effect on the outcome document .There's more than 50000 people from the world who came to Rio actually". For Mrs.Sakata, this is the meaning of the international conference. There's many countries who promote the nuclear power. Brazil who organize the conference has two nuclear power plants and they are establishing a third plant. "There was almost only Japanese people in Japanese pavilion so it was meaningless. I thought i'll never do the conference in the Japanese pavilion". Then Mrs. Sakata could appealed at the press conference of people's summit in front of the participants from other countries and she felt relieved.
Mrs.Sakata energetically went to search for the opinions beside the conference of Rio+20 of local people and NGO from other countries at the people's summit which was held at the same time. "It's more important to connect with people from many different countries than just to give the effect on the outcome document .There's more than 50000 people from the world who came to Rio actually". For Mrs.Sakata, this is the meaning of the international conference. There's many countries who promote the nuclear power. Brazil who organize the conference has two nuclear power plants and they are establishing a third plant. "There was almost only Japanese people in Japanese pavilion so it was meaningless. I thought i'll never do the conference in the Japanese pavilion". Then Mrs. Sakata could appealed at the press conference of people's summit in front of the participants from other countries and she felt relieved.
The Japanese Government said that they are "addicted to denuclearization". But still the policy of the government is not clear either they stop or promote nuclear power. If they talk about nuclear power in the international conference because if they talk about it, they will be trailed? They just kept silence.
※Kenjû no Kai (Kenjû Group) : The group took their name from the fairy story "Kenjû Garden Grove"of Kenji Miyazawa. The group make proposals of methods (different from the economic growth made of mass production, mass consumption, mass disposal) by their action to protect the nature of Mount Takao. Kenjû no Kai website : http://homepage2.nifty.com/kenju/index.html
Courtesy : Miyako Suwa
