In the final stages of World War II, Japan found young men willing to give
their lives in suicidal missions against Allied warships. Scarves tucked
around their necks blowing in the wind identified them as men willing to die
for their country.
The modern day kamikazes are the men who have been sent day after day
into the unshielded nuclear morass of the smoldering Fukushima nuclear
power complex.
Why must we ask such noble sacrifices from individuals
when this crisis could and should have been avoided?
The inherent danger of nuclear power creates known risks that the world
has chosen to ignore, including higher cancer rates, nuclear proliferation
and terrorism, and contamination from nuclear waste.
（中略）
Around the globe, members of the public are trying to push the reset button.
Anti-nuclear protests have spread in Europe, including Germany, France,
and Italy. As a result of the crisis in Japan and an anti-nuclear protest in
Germany that drew over 100,000 people, the German government has
reversed its plans to extend the operating lives of its aging nuclear reactors
by 12 years, and has shut 7 nuclear plants for safety inspections. The EU
has announced plans to stress test the 143 plants in its 27 countries, and
Switzerland has suspended a project to replace its nuclear reactors.
（中略）
The nuclear industry will not passively watch the galvanizing public
pushback against its ambitious plans to expand nuclear power. It will
take a sustained and well organized political movement for people
around the world to counter
the nuclear industry’s global power, fueled
by its political and media connections.Nothing but a powerful political movement can dispel the confusion and
misunderstanding created by the mainstream media’s poor coverage of
the dangers of nuclear power, including the dangers of the industry’s
routine radiation emissions.（後略）
イスラエルのテルアビブ大のイツハク・ベンイスラエル教授（物理学）は
東日本大震災による 福島第１原発事故に関し、これほど強い地震でも深刻
な事態には至っていないとの認識を示し「原子力問題に対する世界的な
ヒステリー状態」を批判、原発建設 の推進を訴えた。22日付のイスラエル紙
イディオト・アハロノトに寄稿した。同国のネタニヤフ首相は同原発事故を
受け、国内初の原発建設計画の中止を決定している。
ベンイスラエル氏は「日本の原発は最も厳しい基準に沿って建設されて
いる」と強調。人々は放射線という「未知のものへの恐怖」と「専門家
や政府への不信感」から神経質になっているが、今後、原発なしで
「日常生活を送ることはできない」として冷静な対応を訴えた。（共同）
