Sebastopol Meeting With Chieko Shiina And Screening Of "Fukushima, Never Again"

7/18 Sebasterpol Meeting With Chieko Shiina And Screening Of "Fukushima, Never Again"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FUKUSHIMA RESPONSE
Media Contact: Gabriella Randazzo
707-888-0923 gabriellarandazzo(at)gmail.com


"FUKUSHIMA, NEVER AGAIN"

A public Film Screening on July 18, 2012 - with guest Chieko Shiina from Japan

(Sebastopol 6/22/12) Residents of Sonoma County are invited to a unique public screening of an important new film "Fukushima, Never Again." The film will be screened at the Sebastopol Grange, 6000 Sebastopol Road, on July 18, 2012 at 7:00PM. Immediately after the film, the audience will have the opportunity to hear about the current situation in Japan, and ask questions of guest speaker Chieko Shiina. Founder of Fukushima Women Against Nuclear Power, Ms. Shiina is part of a Japanese delegation touring California to meet with people in their local communities and bring them crucial information about what's happening - and needs to be happening - in Fukushima right now.

The film tells the story of the meltdowns and exposes the cover-up by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and the Japanese government. This is the first film shown in the United States to interview the mothers of Fukushima, nuclear power experts and trade unionists. It breaks with the dominant media silence around this subject, with the notable exception of a recent NYT article about the spent fuel pool in Unit 4.

Experts are saying that the failure of one reactor in Fukushima could release "5,000 Hiroshima bombs" worth of radioactive cesium-137 into the atmosphere and ocean; most acknowledge that this threat calls into question the safety of dozens of identically designed reactors in the U.S. "Unfortunately, nuclear radiation may be heading toward the West Coast from Fukushima, Japan. How safe are we? What can we do?" asks Sebastopol resident Shepherd Bliss in a recent article published by Counterpunch.

Grave international concern about the situation at Fukushima began March 11th last year when a 9.0 earthquake provoked a devastating tsunami and multiple reactor explosions destroyed much of the nuclear plant. In April of this year, US Senator Wyden (D- OR) returned from a tour of Fukushima and immediately began pushing for an International Effort to stabilize the situation. Many in Japan, Canada and the U.S. have joined his call for an international response.

"We have a choice," says psychiatrist Dr Carol Wolman. "We can deny the imminent threat posed by the damaged reactors, or we can unite and work together to demand that all possible measures be taken, as quickly as possible, to defuse the danger." In a second informational event planned for this summer, Fukushima Response is bringing Dr. Wolman and Yasuteru Yamada, co-founder of the Skilled Veteran's Corps of Fukushima, to speak to residents of Sonoma County on Sunday, July 29.

Fukushima Response is a volunteer group of concerned people in Northern California collectively demanding that our leaders initiate and direct an international response to the dangers currently posed by the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan. Lynda Williams, Professor of Physics at Santa Rosa JC, will moderate the discussion after the film.

In organizing this first Sonoma county screening of "Fukushima, Never Again," and by bringing an eyewitness from Japan to tell her story, event organizers hope to engage the public in a critical discussion of the situation in Japan; that no one is talking about this is perhaps the most disturbing element of the situation for those who already know about it.


"Fukushima, Never Again" screens at 7:00PM on Wednesday, July 18, 2012 at the Sebastopol Grange, 6000 Sebastopol Ave on Highway 12. Admission is free, donations requested.



For more information, contact Gary Abreim of the Sebastopol Grange at 707-823-8196


For more information about "Fukushima, Never Again" http://nonukesaction.wordpress.com/fukushima-never-again/ or contact lvpsf [at] laborvideo.org


Links cited in this release:

Chieko Shiina http://nonukesaction.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/shiina_chieko_tour/

Unit 4 spent fuel pool http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/world/asia/concerns-grow-about-spent-fuel-rods-at-damaged-nuclear-plant-in-japan.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1

Shepherd Bliss article http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/06/19/the-fukushima-gyre/

Sen. Wyden's visit to Fukushima http://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/after-tour-of-fukushima-nuclear-power-station-wyden-says-situation-worse-than-reported



FUKUSHIMA RESPONSE http://fukushimaresponse.org/
Mobilizing an international effort to stabilize Fukushima now