Furthermore, the Fukushima disaster has led to a practical elimination of free speech and free reporting of information from within Japan. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Designated Secrets Bill was arguably written for and because of the Fukushima disaster after authorities failed to manage the radioactive leaks and news spread around the globe. Since it could not contain the nuclear contamination, the Japanese government instead decided to contain information about it, creating laws that enable punishment of individuals for leaking or reporting information about their disastrous failure. Despite drawing criticism and protest at home and around the world, the Japanese parliament has since passed the law under which people convicted of leaking classified information will face 5 to 10 years in prison.
Clearly nuclear experimentation does not co-exist alongside freedom of speech or transparent access to information. It can only exist in a fascist state, which suppresses information and opposition.
Severely Nationalistic Policies
The only part of the definition of fascism that nuclear experimentation does not technically fit is that nuclear experimentation operates on an international level, not just a nationalistic one. However it seems even nuclear disaster rings opportunity bells for nationalistic governments.
As reported by Bloomberg in 2013, "Japan will receive international help with the cleanup at the Fukushima atomic station once it joins an existing treaty that defines liability for accidents at nuclear plants, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said." This means that the United States' "offer" of assistance is conditional upon Japan signing onto an international convention known as the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage, designed only to protect US nuclear interests from liability in the event of an accident. The U.S. Government has lobbied for the international adoption of the convention for many years, and now it seems it has Japan over a barrell. Surely this political opportunism qualifies as "severely nationalistic' behaviour. Yet it in the United States, it seems we can barely distinguish this kind of fascism from the actions of true democratic government.
We are so confused in the United States that we call our country "America', ignoring the unity of our "United States'. We are so confused that we equate freedom with liberty, but in actuality, freedom allows fascism. It allows people to punch you in the face without consequence or destroy ecosystems via oligarchical energy systems requiring destructive, extraction, refinement and use. We are so confused we think we can declare wars on other countries in the name of peace. We are so confused we think that digging up nuclear resources is different than digging up petroleum resources, but both nuclear and petrol fuels destroy human life, destroy ecosystems". and destroy liberty.
Liberty is the oppositional factor against fascism and its facsimiles. Liberty is the quality individuals have to control their own actions. Liberty promotes the rights of individuals, whereas freedom allows oligarchical energy institutions to punch you in the face through The Price Anderson Act and the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage". and all the other reinforcements that build up institutions at the expense of individuals, allowing them to make uncapped fortunes without liability for their actions.
The Final Word
For the record, I tried to communicate with several pro-nukers about this question, but between their close-mindedness and my lack of sycophancy the conversation went nowhere. Without naming names, I will say that one pro-nuker actually used the high survival rate of those suffering with thyroid cancer in the Ukraine as justification to further promote nuclear power, I kid you not! I was also called a bigot which, being white, half Jewish and raised in uptown Manhattan, I find incredibly funny. [For more information on my stand on racism and prejudice in general, please see my previous article The Matrix of Four Forms of Racism which was published on opednews.com in February 2013]
So, to end my examination of the fascism of nuclear experiment, I want to share the video the pro-nukers shared with me when I mentioned the crew of the U.S.S. Reagan. The U.S.S. Reagan was exposed to radiation after being redirected towards Japan to provide support immediately after the massive Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami off the coast of Japan. In this video, pro-nukers liken the risk of nuclear radiation to the risk of driving a motor vehicle, downplay the levels of contamination found on the U.S.S. Reagan, and question the cause-and-effect relationship between the crew's exposure to radiation and the dramatic health issues they experienced thereafter.
Interesting.
According to an article in the New York Post, Senior Chief Michael Sebourn, a radiation-decontamination officer who tested the aircraft carrier for radiation found that "levels were incredibly dangerous and at one point, the radiation in the air measured 300 times higher than what was considered safe." The article continues: "The former personal trainer has suffered a series of ailments, starting with severe nosebleeds and headaches and continuing with debilitating weakness" has lost 60 percent of the power in the right side of his body and his limbs have visibly shrunk." As Senior Chief Michael Sebourn stated, "I've had four MRIs, and I've been to 20 doctors" No one can figure out what is wrong." He has since retired from the Navy after 17 years of service.
And he is not alone. According to The Post, "crew members on the aircraft carrier and a half-dozen other support ships are battling cancers, thyroid disease, uterine bleeding and other ailments." Of the 5,000 sailors on board, at least 70 have contracted some form of radiation sickness, and of those, "at least half" are suffering from some form of cancer," said lawyer, Paul Garner, who is representing the sailors in a lawsuit against the operators of the Fukushima Daiichi energy plant. "We're seeing leukemia, testicular cancer and unremitting gynecological bleeding requiring transfusions and other intervention," said Garner.
In a Voice of Russia report, Mr. Garner elaborated: "it seems that there's too many people at the same place at the same time without any family background or any reason to believe that they had these issues to now show up with these significant cancers and beyond. So we feel that time will tell in many instances". especially, because they all had physicals and were all in top health."
Navy sailor Lindsay Cooper, who was also present on the U.S.S. Reagan, stated that crew members suffered from excruciating diarrhea at the time. "People were s-"-tting themselves in the hallways," Cooper recalled. "Two weeks after that, my lymph nodes in my neck were swollen. By July, my thyroid shut down."
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