From Hiroshima to Fukushima

‘A nuclear explosion [dubbed ‘Little Boy’] was detonated some 600 metres above Hiroshima at 8.15 on 6 August 1945 … a second, over Nagasaki three days later, was a plutonium bomb, dubbed ‘Fat Man’. It is 66 years since those terrible experiments, which instantly killed hundreds of thousands of people, many of them civilians. Tens of thousands more suffered lingering deaths due to their injuries, caused by intense heat, blast, and radiation sickness … As the nuclear disaster at Fukushima continues to unfold, Japanese perceptions have probed more deeply. Sumiteru Taniguchi survived extensive injuries suffered during the nuclear bombing of Nagasaki and, at 82 years of age, maintains a lively presence on behalf of the Nagasaki Council of A-Bomb Sufferers (or Hibakusha, in Japanese). He recently observed that

‘Nuclear power and mankind cannot co-exist. We survivors of the atomic bomb have said this all along. And yet, the use of nuclear power was camouflaged as “peaceful” and continued to progress. You never know when there’s going to be a natural disaster. You can never say that there will never be a nuclear accident.’

There is a rising tide of opposition to nuclear power in Japan. In response to all this, something is moving in Japan. It was reflected in this year’s World Conference Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs, which we report in this issue of The Spokesman.’

Tony Simpson, from his Editorial
The Spokesman 114

CONTENTS:
Editorial: From Hiroshima to Fukushima - Tony Simpson
Hibakusha and Fukushima - Terumi Tanaka
Fukushima’s Quagmire - Hachiro Sato
Fukushima’s Radioactive Elements - Helen Caldicott
Black Rain - Seiji Takato
A world without nuclear weapons - Hiroshi Taka
Declaration - World Conference Against A & H Bombs
***
Occupy! - Naomi Klein
Academic Freedom? - Noam Chomsky
Apartheid in South Africa and Palestine? - John Dugard
The ‘great game’ in Syria - Alastair Crooke
Iraq Report X - Brian Jones
Building Bridges - Stephanie Sampson
The Country and the City - Raymond Williams
Collier - A poem by Mike Harding

Reviews: Ken Fleet, Michael Barratt Brown, John Daniels, Daniel Jakopovich, Stan Newens, Barry Baldwin, Ghadi Al-Hadi, Abi Rhodes

ISBN: 978 0 85124 8097 Price £6.00

You can read the contributions by Terumi Tanaka, Hachiro Sato, Seiji Takato and Hiroshi Taka on our website.

Available to BUY NOW from Spokesman Books

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