Erklärung der 311: Ostasien ohne Atomwaffen
Declaration by Three Hundred Eleven Representatives for A Nuclear Free East Asia
November 23, 2011
Last March 11, Mother Nature's unforgiving tidal waves devastated the Japanese shores, dealing a heavy blow to East Asia's preeminent consumerist society. The resulting explosion at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Northeast Japan destroyed all illusions of how safe nuclear energy is around the world. This catastrophe demands that Asia and the rest of humanity reexamine the merits of a civilization that is built upon abundance and consumption.
Declarations for denuclearization from European nations stem from nuclear plant accidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima. Germany declared that it would immediately shut down its seven antiquated nuclear reactors and completely phase out its nuclear program by 2022. Belgium, a country with the second highest nuclear plant density in the world, pledged to close its reactors. Switzerland also confirmed its nuclear power free policy by deciding to decommission its nuclear power plants as soon as they reach the end of their lifetimes.
Meanwhile, South Korea, China and Japan, the most relevant nations, still cannot break away from their obsessions with nuclear power. Despite the 3.11 catastrophe, China is building 27 new nuclear power plants on the East coast in addition to its preexisting 14 plants. The Japanese government has not officially discarded its policy of supplying 50% of the nation's electricity with atomic energy, even though 80% of the population support denuclearization. The Korean government has plans to increase the number of nuclear power plants from 21 to 34 by 2024 and expand its nuclear power plant industry with an additional investment of 200 trillion won, a budget that is ten times that of the Four Rivers Restoration Project. This is a devastating idea that will effectively nuclearize the entire Eastern side of the Korean peninsula.
Korea, China and Japan have no boundaries between them when it comes to environmental pollution, ecology and climate change. In addition to its own nuclear plants, South Korea is surrounded by atomic power plants on China's east and Japan's west coasts. The nuclear power plants of Kyushu and Shimane in Japan are closer to Korea than they are to Tokyo. The intertwined nature of East Asia's nuclear perils has created a foreboding path of crisis. It is the mission of the Korean-Chinese-Japanese civil societies to transform this path into a network that guarantees peace and life.
As history has taught us, nuclear material is synonymous with anti-peace, anti-life and anti-civil. Humanity has long lived without nuclear or atomic power, and human civilization is fully capable of continuing to do so even after denuclearization. Nature has always been impartial in providing humankind with sufficient power and wisdom for survival. The sun, wind, and water are examples of nature's beautiful solutions. Nuclear power free does not mean giving up energy, but transitioning to natural energy. Wind power and solar energy, ridiculed in the past as fantasy, are growing by 30% annually.
However to achieve a nuclear power free Korea, China and Japan (the world's most dangerous nuclear zone) will not be possible without a coalition of East Asian civil societies. It is also the key to substantial denuclearization on the Korean peninsula including North Korea. The more we share information on the dangers of nuclear power and spread technology and wisdom regarding natural energy, the more East Asia will become the center of peace, not conflict; of life, not destruction. Today, along with this declaration, we are launching the Network for A Nuclear Free East Asia, which aims at accomplishing this goal.
To remember the catastrophe of 3.11, the Network for A Nuclear free East Asia will consist of 311 members from Korea, Japan, China and other countries. The one hundred Korean representatives are announcing their declaration to commemorate this decisive starting point. citizens in Asia, but will also usher in wisdom and a sacred transformation of the 3.11 catastrophe into an era of peace and life. Accomplishing this aim of a peaceful Asia, requires international support from citizens all over the world. We urge all citizens, in East Asia and around the world who depend on electricity to become part of this historic declaration to transition to nuclear power free, natural energy, and thereby solidify this brilliant moment in East Asia's narrative.
November 23, 2011
100 Declarers for A Nuclear Free East Asia
Source: Global Article 9 Campaign to Abolish War, Newsletter #46, März 2012
Mit freundlicher Erlaubnis von Peace Boat