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Group raises nuclear
awareness
NEVER FORGET: A political analyst said the
lessons from Japan’s nuclear crisis should be remembered and discussed to pass
on a clean environment to future generations
By Lee I-chia / Staff Reporter
Author Neil Peng wears a mask
with a bleeding nose drawn on it as he speaks at an anti-nuclear press
conference at the legislature in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
A dozen people from arts and literary
circles gathered at the legislature yesterday to express their opposition to
nuclear power, announce their participation in the anti-nuclear movement and
raise public awareness about the possibility of a nuclear disaster in Taiwan.
About a week before the first anniversary of the nuclear crisis at Japan’s
Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, the artists and writers said the
government has long touted nuclear power as a “clean, safe, eco-friendly and
cheap” source of energy, but the crisis in Japan has taught people a lesson
about its dangers.
The group urged the pubic to join an anti-nuclear power parade on Sunday and to
support their “My home doesn’t rely on nuclear power” movement.
Political analyst Yang Hsien-hung (楊憲宏), who chaired the meeting, said he was
shocked when he visited Japan about 20 years ago and found that many young
people were unaware of the risk posed by mercury pollution, which can lead to
Minamata Disease, after a pollution scandal was exposed in that country in the
1950s and 1960s.
In that same vein, the lessons from last year’s nuclear crisis must not be
forgotten and should be discussed in the hope of passing on a clean environment
to future generations, Yang said.
Film director and actor Arika Chen (陳文彬) said the biggest hurdles facing the
anti-nuclear energy movement were that Taiwanese have few options in their
sources of electricity and many do not understand how the electricity they use
is generated, which is why many could be led to believe that abolishing nuclear
power would lead to power shortages.
The government should disclose information about the electricity usage structure
to let us understand how much electricity is consumed by energy-intensive
industries and what benefit people are getting from it, Chen said.
“I support the public, but am against violence,” Chen said, adding that nuclear
power has been forced on Taiwanese and that the storage of nuclear waste on
Orchid Island (蘭嶼) was a form of violence against the Tao Aborigines who reside
there.
The decision to use nuclear power was made by our generation, Chen said, but
future generations are being forced to suffer the consequences.
“I often write about the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll and many famous rockers are
publicly against nuclear power because they are against dictators,” music critic
and author Chang Tieh-chih (張鐵志) said.
The anti-nuclear movement was also about democracy, Chang said, because the risk
of a nuclear disaster forces people to talk about the issue, to reflect on what
kind of values they hold dear and what kind of industrial policy a nation should
adopt.
Local artist Tsui Kuang-yu (崔廣宇) said that as Taiwan is an island, people should
think about using renewable energy sources, such as wind or sea power.
“I suspect many nuclear policy decisionmakers don’t really care about the risks
because their families have already moved to the US or other countries,” said
Neil Peng (馮光遠), award-winning screenwriter of The Wedding Banquet (喜宴). “But
the rest of us have to stay on this land if a nuclear disaster ever happens, so
we need to take the issue seriously,” he said.
“People who have more knowledge of nuclear safety issues have to keep talking
about it, to raise the public’s awareness,” Peng said.
National Chengchi University Department of Radio and Television associate
professor Kuo Li-shin (郭力昕) said people with expertise or knowledge of the topic
should stand together on nuclear power because “everyone is in this boat
together. Only a few people would escape should a nuclear disaster ever take
place.”
Green Consumers Foundation chairman Jay Fang (方儉) said three anti-nuclear power
rallies would be held in Taipei, Greater Taichung and Greater Kaohsiung on
Sunday to mark the nuclear incident in Japan.
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