Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Nuclear Engineer: Japan's PM "Lying to the Japanese People" About Safety of Fukushima

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Nuclear Engineer: Japan's PM "Lying to the Japanese People" About Safety of Fukushima

Click here to access the 7:01m video and transcript of interview with nuclear engineer Arnie Gunderson.

So, they are lying. But, how could one expect otherwise from a capitalist ruling class? The same thing would be happening here--wait a second--maybe it is already happening here! So far I have been unable to find websites that are publishing any scientific research on the potential hazards to us in the US related to radioactive hazards from Fukushima. Tepco specialists have been unable to control the ongoing leakage of highly active radioactive material into the ocean, and winds are carrying radioactive material to our shores as shown graphically in this YouTube video, however the source is not indicated:

The interviewer asks Gunderson this important question:

...why do you think there hasn't been more worldwide reaction to the disaster in Japan? I mean, in terms of nuclear power, we've seen Germany has decided to phase out its nuclear power by 2022, but we really haven't heard about this elsewhere.

His answer was that advanced countries are addicted to nuclear power. I find his answer ridiculous. It is like claiming that heroin users are addicted to needles. The capitalist ruling classes are simply protecting their system which requires growth in a world where fossil fuels are increasingly hard to extract economically. They are addicted alright, but their addiction is to the wealth and power that the capitalist system provides them. They will do anything to protect this system--that is the addiction, and we must take that addiction away from them.