Istanbul, London and Tokyo: international solidarity protests against India-Japan nuke deal

By Pinar Demircan and Amrit Wilson

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe arrived in India today with toxic gifts of nuclear power, fighter jets and bullet train.

The deal with Japan is more than a bilateral agreement. It’s a missing piece of the grand Indo-US bargain leading to massive nuclear expansion in India and would fast-track American and French reactors in India.

For the villagers, farmers and fisherfolk of Jaitapur, Mithi Virdi and Kovvada, this is perhaps the last chance to protect their livilhoods and environment as the Indian govt is prepared to bulldoze every other concern and obstacles – environmental clearancs, land acquisitions, nuclear liability and the escalating cost of power from these imported reactors.

Some of the most pristine landscapes, rich bio-diversity hotspots, prosperous agricultural lands and rich community cultures would be destroyed if Shinzo Abe and Modi’s nuclear deal comes through.

Against this nuclear deal, protests have been announced all over India during Shinzo Abe’s visit.

In solidarity, activists staged protest in Turkey’s historical city Istanbul as their country also concluded a similar agreement with Japan and there’s strong local community protest against Sinop nuclear project.

In a publicly held protest, the Sinop Antinuclear Platform emphasized that India -Japan Nuclear Agreement is just an other version of Turkey-Japan Nuclear Agreement which was signed in 2013. Since Turkish and Japanese governments decided to establish a nuclear power plant in Sinop there has been ongoing protests for 2 years. Sinop Antinuclear Platform members expressed that they are against all nuclear power plants in the world and called for peace. Istanbul Antinuclear Platform is also planning a similar protest in Istanbul on 16 December.

In London, the South Asia Solidarity Group(SASG) and Japan Against Nuclear(JAN) along with Kick Nuclear held a powerful protest against the Narendra Modi- Shinzo Abe Nuclear Agreement outside the Japanese Embassy on Friday December 11, 2015. They demanded the scrapping of the impending Japan-India Nuclear Agreement and the creation of a nuclear free zone in South Asia.

Slogans included ‘No more Fukushimas! No more Chernobyls! Scrap the Nuclear Deal!’ and ‘Shinzo Abe, Narendra Modi, Scrap the Nuclear Deal!’ rang out across the posh West End neighbourhood (which includes the Ritz hotel!).

Part of the protest was a short theatrical skit, in which protesters in masks played out the imperialist politics behind the deal with a smiling Obama and Hollande pushing Modi and Abe into a deal which they gleefully accepted.

Protest in London against India-Japan Nuclear Agreement Amrit Wilson

This was followed by speeches which drew attention to the massive people’s movements in India as well as Japan against nuclear power. It was these movements, in Jaitapur, Koodankulam and Mithi Virdi, in India for example, which had inspired this international protest against the Nuclear Deal.

Speakers from South Asia Solidarity Group pointed out that the deal was another face of the US and French imperialism which is currently involved in air strikes in Syria and that it would ramp up regional tensions and strengthen US and NATO military power in the region, with Abe and Modi acting as its agents as well as in their own right. They emphasised that the claim that Nuclear Energy was ‘clean energy’ is a horrific lie and highlighted the reality that while on the face of it, nuclear power plants are for civilian use, the export of nuclear technology has enormous military implications. The BJP’s aggressive militaristic Hindutva ideology, its record on testing nuclear weapons and the fact that India has refused to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty must not be forgotten.

Speakers from Japan Against Nuclear spoke of the horrors of the Fukushima disaster and it continuing toxic fallout which is affecting not only Japan but much of the Pacific even five years after the Fukushima disaster. It is well-known that nuclear power plants pose enormous dangers at every step – from Uranium extraction to radioactive waste –they are a tremendous risk to the environment and to all living creatures in their vicinity This is the case even when there is no accident. Even when they are operating normally, they continuously contaminate the air, water and ground with radioactivity and produce radioactive waste, for which humankind has never found any long-term solution.

A petition to Shinzo Abe was handed in to the Japanese Ambassador in London.

People in Japan are also fiercely against the dangerous absurdity of Shinzo Abe exporting nuclear to India while the crisis in Fukushima is further deepening. Protests were organised today in Tokyo and Osaka.

Protest in Tokyo Against India-Japan Nuclear Agreement

Protest in Tokyo Against India-Japan Nuclear Agreement 4

Protest in Tokyo Against India-Japan Nuclear Agreement 3

Protest in Tokyo Against India-Japan Nuclear Agreement 2

Protest in Osaka against India-Japan Nuclear Agreement

In India, protests were organised today in Mumbai, Kolkata, Kovvada and Koodankulam. In Jaitapur and Mithi Virdi, thousands of villagers will protest tomorrow. This nuke deal will destroy their livelihoods and endanger safety. Solidarity groups would organise protest also in Bangalore, Nagpur, Ahmedabad and Chennai.