How a Group of Japanese Mothers Are Saying No to Nuclear Power

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/world/155154/how_a_group_of_japanese_mothers_are_saying_no_to_nuclear_power/

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On the one-year anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japanese women in New York City gathered for a rally they called Pregnant With Fear of Radiation. Protestors wore fake pregnant bellies, or carried posters with images of pregnant women wearing face masks.

Well aware that fetuses, children under five, and women are at the greatest risk from radiation exposure, mothers have emerged as a powerful voice in Japan’s growing anti-nuclear movement.

To call attention to their message, the mothers have organized marches, petitioned government officials, fasted, and held months-long sit-ins in public locations. They regularly wear symbols of maternity and motherhood in deliberately confrontational ways.

The mothers call for action on multiple fronts. Most immediately, they demand the evacuation of all the families of Fukushima, where radiation emissions continue. They ask for tougher safety standards for food and drink in Japan, and an end to the practice of spreading and burning radioactive rubble from the contaminated zone throughout the country’s various prefectures. And, to prevent future disasters, they call for the permanent closure of all nuclear power plants in Japan and throughout the world.

[kristopher]

1. Listen up and heed the call, DUers.

Izumi recounts her own story as a mother-activist. “I was not an activist before Fukushima. I’m a social scientist by training.I kept waiting for someone else to do something, to act, to challenge the government and Tepco for these crimes. Then I couldn’t wait anymore for someone else to take action. I had to do something.”

Is this type of loss what it takes to move us to do something?

[RobertEarl]

2. Just reccomended

Why isn't this on the greatest page?

These women are fighting on the front lines for all of humanity and it only has 4 reccs?