Comment Gallery
Social Change
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Critical Mass
Submitted by J.T. Cassidy in Yokohama, Japan on 26th September 2011 | Social Change |
Before leaving my home to take part in this anti-nuke demonstration in Tokyo I spoke with a fifty-something resident of my neighborhood in Yokohama. “Get caught in the rain and you’ll lose your hair.” That’s what the kids used to chant when I was a girl, she tells me. It was the late sixties and radioactive particles carried by the wind from above ground nuclear testing in the South Pacific had pushed radiation levels sky high. “Compared to now, the radiation level was actually much higher around here back then,” she utters with a shrug and look that says she has seen this all before. “Shoganai,” says her nephew. It’s a common Japanese expression, an almost fatalistic resignation that we are powerless in the face of events that have unfolded like the roll of a pair of dice or perhaps fate. It seems to roll off peoples tongues here at the worst of times.
In the wake of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that triggered the monster wave that has swallowed whole towns and rocked the Fukushima nuclear power plant to its core you can here “shoganai” echoing from just about every corner of Japan. While fears of radioactive contamination blowing downwind have touched off a roller coaster of emotional responses in the capitol area 170 miles south of the leaking power plant, anger seems to be the most subdued. Sure, Twitter and internet sites rage with tirades against TEPCO, the owner of the Fukushima Daichi nuclear power station, for a chain reaction of failures in response to the accident but the streets have hardly erupted. While Japan’s nuclear nightmare has sparked huge anti-nuke demonstrations as far away as Germany, a rally outside the TEPCO headquarters in Tokyo this Sunday barely drew a crowd of one hundred. A recent survey by a major metropolitan daily newspaper, the Tokyo Shinbun, revealed that residents of Tokyo are evenly divided with more than half willing to accept whatever risks may accompany nuclear power. While for now the breaks have been put on nuclear power plant construction from one end of this island nation to the other, that could all change. The nuclear power industry could be back to business as usual before we know it. If you look at the numbers at Sunday’s demonstration in Tokyo, it would seem that Japan lacks the critical mass of people needed to erase nuclear power from the energy map. Then again when it comes to nuclear physics you need only just enough material to sustain a chain reaction. Let’s hope they have what it takes and remember the words of Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
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Church and State
I was on a Greyhound bus on the way to a Philosophy Conference with my girlfriend when we stopped somewhere in upstate New York and saw this sign. I wonder how much it speaks to the church/state interaction…
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We are still here.
Submitted by Robert L. Peters in the woods of Eastern Manitoba on 3rd December 2010 | Social Change |
I recently experienced flooding in the lower level of my home. I lost lots of stuff, including many old pieces of art and posters I’ve collected over the years. One of the items I was able to salvage (albeit with a few water stains) was this poignant poster illustrated by Paul Davis… “Leonard Crowchild Medicine Man : We are still here.”
I found the sentiment to be reassuring… if somewhat ironic… and relevant.
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Live Here
Submitted by Terry Steyn in Toronto, Ontario on 12th November 2010 | Social Change |
Liberty Village – Developers “re-branding bill board” spotted during the demotion of the old Inglis industrial plant, formerly the Old Central Prison in Toronto.
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Respect
This is a picture I took of myself in front of a string of prayer flags. As you might notice- I wanted to create emphasis on the word respect over my shoulder. By using a visual message, I aspire for it to interpreted as simple on the surface but personally complex.
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