March 11 Anti-Nuke Fukushima Action 2024

Abolish all nuclear power plants and prevent nuclear war, with Fukushima’s indignation!

On the 13th anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, the March 11 Anti-Nuclear Fukushima Action was held in Fukushima City with 470 participants from all over the country, which reinforced the struggle against war, nuclear weapons, and nuclear power plants. Japanese imperialism is outrageously dumping radioactive contaminated water into the ocean and restarting nuclear reactors as though the Fukushima Daiichi Disaster had not happened. The Kishida government is thus rushing toward nuclear armament of Japan and an aggressive war against China. The struggle against the restart of nuclear reactors and for total abolition of reactors and the struggle to stop a world war–a nuclear war are one and the same.

The rally began in growing anger over the brutal police raids on 14 premises and homes and arrests of activists on charge of “violation of Law concerning Punishment of Physical Violence and Others of 1926 (Boshoho)” at the August 6 anti-nuke rally in Hiroshima. Chieko Shiina, co-chair of the organizing committee of the March 11 rally, gave an opening speech, “The court denial of the demand for injunction of the Ikata Nuclear Power Plant on March 7 is an attack on people with an aims of erasing the March 11 and to move toward nuclear war. They cannot, however, annihilate angry voices in Fukushima. We will no longer be fooled by the ‘reconstruction’ fraud. Let’s overthrow Kishida immediately.”

The keynote report was given by Norio Anzai from the organizing committee. Calling for the prevention of an impending aggressive war against China–a nuclear war, he issued a declaration of battle; “Sticking to the principles found after the origins of March 11, we must call forth from Fukushima a struggle to overthrow Kishida, who promotes war and nuclear policy.” The participants shared his determination with a round of applause.

Toshiaki Fukui, representative of the Hiroshima Prefectural Coordinating Center of Labor Unions, appealed for the smashing of the state power crackdown against the August 6 Hiroshima rally and brutal oppressive law (Boshoho), calling for “repelling the state oppression and fighting for the August 6 even more than usual!”

Fukushima fighting unyieldingly

The frustration and anger of Fukushima people, who lost their hometown and lives, will not be subdued until the government and TEPCO are held accountable and the nuclear power plants are abolished. Fukushima locals spoke of their determination to fight unyieldingly against the attack to wipe out Fukushima communities by releasing contaminated water AND forcing people to return home at the same time.

Masami Yoshizawa, representative of Yoshizawa Cattle Farm of Hope, expressed his will to fight with all his might, saying, “We will definitely reveal the contamination of fish through radiation examination.” In a video message, Haruo Ono, a fisherman from Shinchi Town and the representative plaintiff in the lawsuit to stop the dumping of radioactive water into the ocean, expressed his determination to remain unyielding, saying, “I am absolutely against it and have sued the government and TEPCO. Nobuyoshi Ito, who has been measuring radioactive materials in Iitate Village, charged, “The contamination is still more than 1,000 times higher than usual. It won’t go away until 300 years from now.” Koichiro Suzuki, a dairy farmer and co-representative of the National Farmers’ Conference, also emphasized the seriousness of the nuclear accident and asserted that anti-nuclear power struggle must be anti-war struggle, citing attacks on nuclear power plants during war as an example. A wagyu (Japanese beef cattle) farmer from Iwaki City said they would join forces with Sanrizuka and Okinawa to fight against nuclear power and war.

In the special appeal, they denounced the volte-face of the Fukushima Collaborative Clinic (FCC) which had teamed up with the forces that deny the danger of internal radiation exposure. Yoshihiko Sugii, who had been the doctor at the FCC, spoke, “Now is the time to reaffirm and stick to the principles to confront Fukushima disaster: ‘evacuation, recreation, and medical care,’ and to protect the entire world.” The audience applauded to his call, “Let’s fight to prevent repetition of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Bikini, Chernobyl, and Fukushima!”

Messages of solidarity from the movement against nuclear waste facility in Gorleben, Germany, Ethecon (Stiftung Ethik & Ökonomie) and Turkey’s UID-DER were introduced.

Fight together with Fukushima

Friends from all over the country took to the stage. From the site of the recent Noto Earthquake, Takeshi Deguchi, chairman of the Hokuriku Coordinating Center of Labor Unions, reported, “Our friends who stopped the construction of Suzu nuclear power plant plan have been working on the recreation of Fukushima residents. Together with these friends, we will fight against the abandonment of the disaster-stricken communities and abolish nuclear power plants.” Michitoshi Seki, president of Doro Chiba, now preparing an anti-war spring strike, said emphatically, “Together we will create a struggle that will never allow nuclear power, nuclear weapons, and war.” Yasunori Terunuma, president of the Doro Federation Mito, denounced the shift to one-crew operation of the JR trains on the railroad track near the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and declared, “We will go on strike to defeat Kishida and JR, who are heading for war.” Tatsuya Nagaoka, head of the Kyoto Prefecture Workers Union Maizuru Branch, showed the power of the labor union by saying, “We will fight to denounce the lie that an evacuation plan for the nuclear power plant accident is feasible.”

Mr. Nobuharu Ito from the Sanrizuka-Shibayama Airport Opposition League, the Hoshino Defense Committee/Osaka Defense Committee and Mr. Chiaki Akamine from the Okinawa Branch of Grand March Against Constitutional Revision and War pledged their strengthened determination for anti-war struggle with people in Fukushima.

A moment of silence was held at 2:46 p.m., the moment of the outbreak of the March 11 earthquake.

Yosuke Oda, Secretary-General of NAZEN, proposed an action to crush the violent oppression and to advance the anti-war struggle, to start a new petition campaign against the promotion of nuclear power plants aiming at nuclear armament, and to join the anti-war Spring Labor Offensive. The participants condemned Kishida, who came to Fukushima for the ceremony, and departed for a demonstration.

The long demonstration that passed through the Prefectural Government Building, the office of Liberal Democratic Party’s Fukushima Prefectural Federation, and Fukushima Station attracted much attention, with calls for absolute opposition to the dumping of contaminated water, the restart of nuclear power plants, and nuclear war. The indignation of Fukushima was unleashed, with high school students following along until the end and elementary students jumping in to grab microphones and shouting their opposition to the war. Let’s fight even harder to overthrow Kishida!