The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
Internet café refugees started appearing in Japan in the late 1990's. They are temporary workers who live in Intenet café cubicles because their salaries are too low to rent apartments. Japan's temporary workers earn less than half the income of full time employees; a disparity that leads directly to poverty.
“Net Café Refugees” is a short film by Shiho Fukada. It forms part of a trilogy of films that examine Japan's highly stressful work environment. From...
“If you leave it to the Japanese government, we're never going to get transparency,” contends Arnie Gundersen a nuclear specialist. “Japanese researchers are afraid to tell the truth. We've got doctors calling us saying we know our patients have radiation illness and the hospital isn't allowing us to tell the patients that. We've got researchers talking about defects in animals, and they're not allowed to publish their data,” says Gundersen, in response to recent...
Last week Japan's nuclear watchdog said a toxic water leak at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant has been classified as a level 3 "serious incident" on an international scale. But, Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear argues that this rating is far too low. He explains what Fukushima really means for the planet.
Presently there are large volumes of radioactive groundwater leaking into the Pacific Ocean from the site, bypassing an underground barrier built to contain it. Meanwhile there...
A Japanese parliamentary inquiry has concluded that the 2011 nuclear meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was "a profoundly man-made disaster that could and should have been foreseen and prevented".
The more than 600-page report urged greater safety around nuclear plants. It also urged the Japanese government to be more transparent about its relationship with the nuclear industry. In a surprise turn, the report also leveled criticism at the Japanese culture of...
Glenn Ashton -
The technocrats are on the ascent and nuclear power is yet again on the cards for South Africa. How has the moratorium of 2008 been reversed? How can nuclear power, which was then considered an unaffordable option, suddenly have become affordable again? This is a story with many twists and turns.
The nuclear lobby is, like any major industry, well resourced. It has consistently managed to project positions, which appear logical and reasonable – that nuclear power is safe, reduces...
Russell D. Hoffman -
Glow Boys and Gamma Sponges
They call them "gamma sponges" and "glow boys." The teams are called "suicide squads."
Richard "Rich Rad" Meserve, former Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- and now head of a mindless Washington pro-nuclear lobbying think-tank -- calls them "jumpers" as if it were something fun to do. Or perhaps he considers the job healthy exercise. The suits are certainly very heavy, the work arduous, tedious,...
