Sadao WATANABE   07.07.1913  -  08.01.1996

Siehe auch die Watanabe-Galerie von 2003 in Finowfurt:
http://www.doam.org/index.php/archiv/advancedmodules/galerie/1037-watanabe-sadao-1913-1996-ausstellung-finowfurt-2003

Teile der Ausstellung in Kemlitz können ausgeliehen werden. Anfragen an die Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein! .

Energiepolitik - Atomkraft

The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 11, Issue 16, April 22, 2013.
Zum Jahrestag der Tschernobylkatastrophe am 26. April 1986

An appeal for improving labour conditions of Fukushima Daiichi workers 
賛同人募集！「福島第一の原発作業員の待遇改善を要求しよう」

Sumi Hasegawa with an introduction by Paul Jobin 

Introduction
Reacting to testimonies of workers published in Sekai (a progressive Japanese monthly journal) and recent radio broadcasts, this individual call from Canada echoes the requests of Japanese NGOs that have been engaged in negotiations with the Ministry of Health and Labor since April 2011 to defend the rights of the workers involved in the “cleanup” of the disaster-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and of those hired to carry out “decontamination” work in Fukushima prefecture.1

 If one considers the tremendous task remaining to be done in Fukushima Daiichi (such as the removal of the thousands of spent fuel rods) to avoid an apocalyptic scenario for Japan and the northern hemisphere,2 the workers employed at Fukushima Daiichi merit world attention and support. Their living and working conditions are indeed apocalyptic.

Besides the problems evoked in this call, another major issue emphasized by the Japanese NGOs is the lack of health insurance for most contract workers. Concerning radiation protection, the biggest problems are the following:

- The Ministry has decided to deny health follow-up checks to workers exposed to a cumulative dose below 50 mSv for external radiation exposure (only those above this dose will receive a one-year cancer test);

- TEPCO declared that there would be no records kept for internal radiation below 2 mSv;

- There is thus far no systematic dosimetry, nor have there been health follow-up checks for the people employed—mainly on a temporary basis—in the “decontamination” work on the various hot spots of Fukushima prefecture which the Citizen’s Nuclear Information Center’s Hideyuki Ban has called “displacing the contamination.”3

All of these issues require immediate attention and response from concerned citizens in Japan and internationally. Paul Jobin

Paul Jobin is Director, French Center for Research on Contemporary China, CEFC, Taipei Office, Associate Professor, University of Paris Diderot, and an Asia-Pacific Journal Associate.

Previous articles in Focus on the conditions and plight of Fukushima workers:

Anders Pape Møller and Timothy A. Mousseau, Uncomfortable Questions in the Wake of Nuclear Accidents at Fukushima and Chernobyl

Shoko Yoneyama, Life-world: Beyond Fukushima and Minamata

Iwata Wataru, Nadine Ribault and Thierry Ribault, Thyroid Cancer in Fukushima: Science Subverted in the Service of the State

Gabrielle Hecht, Nuclear Janitors: Contract Workers at the Fukushima Reactors and Beyond
Paul Jobin, Fukushima One Year On: Nuclear workers and citizens at risk

David McNeill, Crippled Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant at One Year: Back in the Disaster Zone

Cara O’Connell, Health and Safety Considerations: Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Workers at Risk of Heat-Related Illness

Matthew Penney, Nuclear Workers and Fukushima Residents at Risk: Cancer Expert on the Fukushima Situation

ATTENTION:
 
ABE Shinzo, Prime Minister of Japan
TAMURA Norihisa, Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare, Japan
SHIMOKOBE Kazuhiko, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Tokyo Electric Power Co., Ltd. (TEPCO)
HIROSE Naomi, President, Tokyo Electric Power Co., Ltd.(TEPCO)

An Appeal to Improve Labor Conditions for Workers at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant

Labor conditions for the workers employed to clean up after the accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant operated by TEPCO have worsened considerably since the time of the accident; compensation has decreased, the housing situation has worsened, and more.This has been reported in at least three forums: first, on the radio programHôdô suru rajio Radio Broadcast News] broadcast on March 15, 2013, specifically in a segment called “Radio Broadcast News Brings You the True Story of the Two Years since the Nuclear Accident” (hereafter referred to as:Radio Broadcast News); second, a roundtable discussion published in the April 2013 issue of the journalSekaithat featured three workers at the nuclear plant, entitled “What is happening now at 1-F [an abbreviation for “Fukushima Dai-ichi”]?” (hereafter:Roundtable); and third, a report filed in the same issue ofSekaiby Fuse Yûjin titled “1-F Has Not Yet Been Restored” (hereafter:Report).These sources have publicized the issue in some detail, so in what follows, I would like to draw from these sources what I consider to be the main points of concern and my opinions on how to address them.

Bedrohung des Friedens in Nordostasien

Civil Society Organisations Network in Korea Civil Peace Forum

[Press Conference]
People of All Walks for Peace and Cooperation in the Korean Peninsula 

(11 April 2013, Seoul)
Marking the 60th anniversary of armistice agreement, the Korean peninsula in 2013 is facing an unprecedented level of military tension – moving dangerously close to a state of war. Shutting down the Kaesong Industrial Complex, which was deemed as the last resort for exchanges of dialogue and cooperation between the two Koreas as well as the recent North Korean threats of a missile launch are testament of deteriorating relations. On the other hand, the voices for peaceful reconciliation have had very little effect, causing concern amongst the public which has resulted in fluctuations in the state of the economy.
 
For this reason, Peace Forum under the Civil Society Organizations Network in Korea held a joint meeting of representatives from all spheres to call for peaceful dialogue and cooperation and the withdrawal of all types of military threats. Fifty representatives who gathered today have agreed to organize the “Joint Meeting of People of All Walks for Peace and Cooperation in the Korean Peninsula” and to take actions on the prevention of armed conflicts, achieving peaceful resolutions through negotiations, creating an environment of mutual respect where the viewpoints from the opposing party are respected and seriously considered, people-oriented peace alternatives, and implementation of peace and solidarity. The Joint Meeting is determined to promote peace talks in all social spheres, carry out campaigns and urgent action in all areas to prevent a military conflict in the Korean peninsula, explore peaceful cooperation with the Parliament and the government, suggest peace from the perspective of the citizens, and to perform non-governmental diplomacy.
 
For this press conference, fifty figures from various fields gathered and issued the statement: ‘People should Act Now to Overcome Crisis of Armed Conflict in the Korean peninsula,’ an open letter to the government of the Republic of Korea and the USA “We Have to Avoid a Military Conflict in the Korean Peninsula through Dialog and Cooperation” and an open letter to the government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea “The Recent Temporary Closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex”.
 
Attachment 1.
[Press Statement] People should Act Now to Overcome Crisis of Armed Conflict in the Korean peninsula
 
Attachment 2.
[Open Letter to the Government of the Republic of Korea and the USA] We Have to Avoid a Military Conflict in the Korean Peninsula through Dialog and Cooperation
 
Attachment 3.
[Open Letter to the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] The Recent Temporary Closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex
 
For more information
Ms. Jeyoung Lee, Civil Peace Forum
Tel: +82 2 733 3509, Email: Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein!

Bedrohung des Friedens in Nordostasien

Drei Erklärungen/Petitionen aus Südkorea haben uns erreicht:

1. von der PROK vom 13. März 2013
Statement on the Current Situation in the Korean Peninsula in View of the Joint US-ROK Military Execises and Threats of War between North and South Korea

Vollständiger Text hier  |  Hier als pdf zum Download

2. von der PROK vom 22. März 2013
Statement on Attempts to Amend the Japanese Peace Constitution under the government of Prime Minister Shinzo ABE  -  We urge the Japanese Government to keep its international promise, the Peace Constitution. 

Vollständiger Text hier  |  Hier als pdf zum Download

3. vom KNCC vom 10. April 2013
Urgent Petition for Peace on the Korean Peninsula  -  Praying for the Peace of God and in the name of the Lord... 

Vollständiger Text hier  |  Hier als pdf zum Download

4. Die Stellungnahme des Generalsekretärs des Ökum. Rates der Kirchen

Vollständiger Bericht hier  
 

Zu [1] kommentiert unser Geschäftsführer, Lutz Drescher (am 10.4.2013):

 Die Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK) hat unter der Überschrift „Stoppt die Gefahren des Krieges, ohne jegliche Bedingungen, beginnt Dialog und Verhandlungen!“ eine Stellungnahme zur gegenwärtigen Situation auf der koreanischen Halbinsel veröffentlicht. 

Darin werden vier Forderungen erhoben:
1. Wir fordern Nordkorea auf, Kriegsdrohungen und Versuche, Atomwaffen einzusetzen zu stoppen und sich nicht aus dem Waffenstillstandsabkommen von 1953 zurückziehen.
2. Die Regierungen der Vereinigten Staaten und Südkoreas sollen sofort die gemeinsamen militärischen Übungen einstellen!
3. Die Hardliner Reaktion der Regierung von Südkorea soll gestoppt und Verhandlungen und Dialog sofort wieder aufgenommen werden.
4. Die internationale Gemeinschaft soll unverzüglich alle Sanktionen gegen Nordkorea aufzuheben

Darüber hinaus setzen sich die Kirchen, die dem nationalen Kirchenrat angehören dafür ein, das seit 6o Jahren gültige Waffenstillstandsabkommen in einen Friedensvertrag zu verwandeln. Nötig dazu wären direkte Verhandlungen zwischen den USA und Nordkorea.

In der gegenwärtigen Situation gewinnt das Gebet, das über der ÖRK Vollversammlung in Busan steht, eine tiefe Bedeutung und wir beten es mit den Menschen in Korea: „Gott des Lebens, weise uns den Weg zu Gerechtigkeit und Frieden“.

Zu [3] fasst unser Geschäftsführer die Ggebetsinhalte kurz auf Deutsch zusammen:

1. Wir beten für die Normalisierung der Situation in der Gaesung Sonderwirtschaftszone
(Gaesong ist nicht nur eine Sonderwirtschaftszone, sondern als ein Ort, an dem jetzt schon Nord- und Südkoreaner zusammenarbeiten, ist es fast so etwas wie ein Symbol
dafür, dass Kooperation möglich ist).

2. Wir beten für die Beendigung der gemeinsamen Militärmanöver Südkoreas und der USA

3. Wir beten, dass sowohl Süd- als auch Nordkorea umgehend ihren wechselseitigen Dialog wieder aufnehmen.
(Dabei wird in Erinnerung an den Besuch von Jimmy Carter in einer ähnlich brisanten Situation () vorgeschlagen, dass ein Sonderbotschafter nach Nordkorea reist, um den
Weg für Gespräche und Entspannung zu ebenen)

4. Wir beten dafür, dass die Ursachen der militärischen Konfrontation beseitigt werden.
(Die aktuelle Krise resultiere u.a. aus der Tatsache, dass sich während der fünfjährigen Amtszeit der letzten Regierung die innerkoreanischen Beziehungen stetig verschlechtert haben).

5. Wir bitten darum, dass Christen sich erneut für dieses Anliegen einsetzen und in dieser Situation beten.

Ein Kreuzweg auf Chejudo 2013

The Stations of the Cross on Jeju

Posted by Save Jeju Now | Friday, 5 April 2013
Remembering the sufferings of April 3rd massacre. . .These are scenes from a performance held just before Easter on Mar. 29 at Jeju April 3 Peace Park. Members of the Catholic Youth Pastoral Committee enacted the Stations of the Cross, followed by Jesus Christ before his crucifixion. The site commemorates the victims of the Apr. 3 Jeju massacre, which started in 1948. . . . Bishop Peter Kang U-il and many Catholics of Jeju island attended this performance on Good Friday during the Passion week (Post by Regina Pyon)
Re-post from Hankyoreh, April 4, 2013

Zu den Bildern dazu hier.

Eine Pressemitteilung der Antidiskriminierungsstelle des Bundes (5.4.2013)

Vor dem "Internationalen Tag der Roma" am Montag (8. April) hat die Leiterin der Antidiskriminierungsstelle des Bundes, Christine Lüders, vor einer Stigmatisierung gewarnt.

"Sinti und Roma sind die größte ethnische Minderheit in Europa. Viele von ihnen leben seit Jahrhunderten in Deutschland und sie gehören zu uns. Bis heute sind aber Ausgrenzung und Benachteiligungen wegen Vorurteilen europäische und deutsche Realität".
...
"Es ist wenig hilfreich, hier Menschen mit willkürlich interpretierten Zahlen zu verunsichern. Panikmache und Ausgrenzung ist hier der falsche Weg, Anerkennung und Integration bringen uns weiter."

Mehr dazu hier.

Energiepolitik - Atomkraft

The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 11, Issue 12, March 25, 2013.
Quelle: http://japanfocus.org/events/view/177 

Fukushima - Two Years On

Mar. 25, 2013
David McNeill

Two years after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami triggered the planet’s worst’s nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, journalists are still often asked: is the crisis over? One plausible reply might be that it has just begun.

While the threat of another catastrophic release of radiation has receded, perhaps for good, the long, complex struggle to safely remove nuclear fuel from the reactor basements of the Fukushima Daiichi plant is still in its early stages. Reactors still seep radiation, although at a rate of 10 million Becquerel per hour for cesium versus about 800 trillion right after the disaster, according to Reuters. The level outside reactor 3 is 1,710 microsieverts an hour, enough to quickly induce radiation sickness. But radiation around the complex has fallen by about 40 percent in the last year, says operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO).

Plant manager Takahashi Takeshi has again predicted that safely dismantling the six-reactor facility will take up to 40 years. “Radiation levels at units one, two and three are very high and the cause of that is the fuel that has melted inside the reactors," he said during a rare media tour of the plant on March 6. "Radiation levels within the buildings are all very high, although the level at Unit 4 is lower.” He insisted that the ruined No. 4 reactor building, containing 1,530 highly toxic fuel rods, would withstand another earthquake, despite doomsday predictions by some.

He said the unit’s fuel cooling pool has been reinforced and could resist a quake equivalent to
the one that struck on March 11, 2011. Reporters were shown a huge steel structure under construction right next to Unit 4. Engineers explained it will eventually be fitted with a giant crane to lift out the spent fuel rods stored in the top of the Unit 4 building. Takahashi said the fuel removal would begin in November.

The twisted steel frame of Unit 3, now partially covered with huge gray steel panels, is still visible from the hydrogen explosion that ripped the building apart. Two large unmanned cranes stand next to the unit, clearing up the debris on the top floor, where some 500 spent fuel rods are kept in a pool. Another 6,300 fuel rods are stored in a common pool nearby.

Daiichi’s nuclear fuel is kept cool by thousands of gallons of water pumped every day which engineers are struggling to decontaminate. Over 930 water tanks, each holding 1000 tons, have mushroomed at the plant. Engineers said a single tank fills once every two and a half days. A huge structure with lines of Toshiba-designed filtering equipment labors to remove 62 different types of radioactive materials from the water. There is nowhere else for the water to go.

There are widespread reports of shortages of labor at the plant and in the surrounding areas. Reuters says that 70 percent of a sample of workers surveyed by TEPCO late last year made more than 837 yen per hour, roughly equivalent to the hourly remuneration at convenience stores in Japan. The news agency says that as of the end of December 2012, 146 TEPCO workers and 21 contract workers “had exceeded the maximum permissible exposure of 100 millisieverts in five years.”

Estimates of the cost of clearing up from the disaster keep rising. Some experts believe
compensation could double from its current estimates to 10 trillion yen. Not a single one of the approximately 160,000 nuclear refugees has been fully compensated for the loss of their property, land and income. The Japan Center for Economic Research, a Tokyo-based think tank, has estimated that decontamination costs alone in the Fukushima residential area could balloon to as much as $600 billion. TEPCO was nationalized in 2012 so much of the burden of paying for this will fall on the taxpayer.

Outside the plant, in the towns and villages that evacuated in March 2011, life has frozen in time. Police barricades prevent all but authorized people from entering the 20-km contaminated zone. The sea is still too contaminated to fish so hundreds of local fishermen are idle. Parents around Fukushima Prefecture, home to about two million people, face years of worry about the impact of the Daiichi plant’s payload on their children. In this Greenpeace-produced video, the victims of Fukushima express anger and bewilderment at their predicament, and at what the future holds.

Video

Dr David McNeill is the Japan correspondent for The Chronicle of Higher Education and writes for The Independent and Irish Times newspapers. He covered the nuclear disaster for all three publications, has been to Fukushima ten times since 11 March 2011, and has written the book Strong in the Rain (with Lucy Birmingham) about the disasters. He is an Asia-Pacific Journal coordinator.

Mit freundlicher Erlaubnis von Japan Focus.

Hier gibt's die pdf-Version