Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 05.09.06

            P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R     05.09.06

1. Death penalty      5.10 12noon
2. Moret/DU/AM950     5.10 5pm
3. Anti-torture       5.10 6:30pm
4. Rwanda/film        5.10 7pm
5. Blaine residents   5.10 7pm
6. Death to stadiums  5.10 7pm
7. Transportation     5.10 7pm

8. CD/impeach         5.11 8am
9. Vs Medicare D      5.11 11am
10. Indian culture    5.11 1:20pm/7pm
11. Eagan peace vigil 5.11 4:30pm
12. Indian art        5.11 5pm
13. Northtown vigil   5.11 5pm
14. Union v NWA       5.11 5pm

15. Bonnie Urfer  - 100 Prairie Island workers contaminated last Friday
16. Leuren Moret  - DU: weapons to die for
17. John Woodcock - Chernobyl: the legacy
18. Barb Guy      - There is nothing divine about a bomb test

--------1 of 18--------

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Death penalty 5.10 12noon

May 10 - The European View on the Death Penalty in the Context of the War
on Terror.  12noon-1pm.

Death Penalty Speaker Series
Presented by Dorsey & Whitney LLP and Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights

European Human Rights Law, particularly through the jurisprudence of the
European Court of Human Rights has developed strong prohibitionary views
on the use of the death penalty. Fionnuala N Aol in will assess the
contemporary European 'view' on the right to life in this context,
underscoring the potential pressures which the war on terror may exert on
an absolutist prohibition position.

This event is a brown bag lunch. Beverages will be provided. Application
will be made for one CLE credit. For more information or to RSVP, please
contact Rose Park at (612) 341-3302 ext. 106 or rpark [at] mnadvocates.org.

Location: Dorsey & Whitney, 15th Floor, Seattle Room, 50 South 6th Street,
Minneapolis, MN 55402

--------2 of 18--------

From: Producer <Producer [at] AirAmericaMinnesota.com>
Subject: Moret/DU/AM950 5.10 5pm

On Wed night May 10 AM950 Air America Minnesota will be interviewing
scientist and author Leuren Moret on the evening news/political talk
program Minnesota Matters from 5-6pm.

Leuren has written extensively on the impact and effects of depleted
uranium and recently published a story in the Pulse entitled "WEAPONS TO
DIE FOR: FROM THAT PENTAGON DEATH STAR, AND THE UNIVERSITY THAT POISONED
THE WORLD" [See item #16 below, by Leuren Moret. -ed]

--------3 of 18--------

From: Dave Bicking  <dave [at] colorstudy.com>
Subject: Anti-torture 5.10 6:30pm

Every Wednesday, meeting of the anti- torture group, T3: Tackling Torture
at the Top (a sub-group of WAMM).  Note new location:  Center School, 2421
Bloomington Ave. S., Mpls.

We have also added a new feature:  we will have an "educate ourselves"
session before each meeting, starting at 6:30, for anyone who is
interested in learning more about the issues we are working on.  We will
share info and stay current about torture in the news.

--------4 of 18--------

From: Bonnie [at] mnwomen.org
Subject: Rwanda/film 5.10 7pm

Wednesday, May 10, 7pm at the St. Anthony Park branch library, the Women's
Human Rights Film Series presents "God Sleeps in Rwanda." The Rwandan
genocide left the country nearly 70% female, handing Rwanda's women an
extraordinary burden and unprecedented opportunity.
mhunt [at] mnadvocates.org

--------5 of 18-------

From: Ron Holch <rrholch [at] attg.net>
Subject: Blaine residents 5.10 7pm

Bring Your Issues and Concerns to the Blaine City Council

The City of Blaine is actively seeking resident's input.  Over the next
three weeks, each of the city council districts will hold a district-wide
meeting.  These meetings are for residents to get together with the City
Council representatives to talk about issues or concerns they may have.

Council District One will have a meeting on May 10 at 7pm at Sunnyside
Park Building.  Council District Two will hold its meeting on May 17, and
the third district's meeting will be on May 23.  If you're uncertain as to
which district you live in, contact city hall at 763.784.6700.

--------6 of 18--------

From: Ron Holch <rrholch [at] attg.net>
Subject: Death to stadiums 5.10 7pm [ed head]

Taxpayers For an Anoka County Stadium Referendum
formerly Taxpayers Against an Anoka County Vikings Stadium

Wednesday May 10, at 7pm

Centennial High School Red Building - Room 104 4704 North Road Circle
Pines, MN
The red building is on the east end of the high school complex, and is set
back furthest from North Road.  Enter on the East side of the building.  The
largest parking lots are near this building.

No matter where you live in Minnesota, If you haven't already done so
please write your representatives and tell them we do not need to waste
more money on stadium giveaways to Billionaires.  Please continue to tell
them we want a vote as required by state law for any tax increase to pay
for a stadium. Write letters to your local paper too.  If you have done
these things once already do it again.  The time is now.

AGENDA ITEMS INCLUDE:
What can you do right now to keep a referendum on stadium taxes
Up at The Capitol
Website
MN Data Practices Act Request to Anoka County

Any Questions, comments contact me at: Ron Holch rrholch [at] attg.net
<mailto:rrholch [at] attg.net>

--------7 of 18--------

From: Anne White <awhitepho [at] msn.com>
Subject: Transportation 5.10 7pm

I invite people to attend the public information meetings being sponsored
by the District Councils Collaborative and ask their questions directly.
The meetings are set up with approximately a 20-30 minute presentation at
the beginning.  Then the balance of the meeting is devoted to questions
from the audience.

Wed, May 10, 7pm, University of Minnesota, Rm 14, 1701 Unversity Ave
(opposite Church St entrance to U), Minneapolis

Thur, May 18, 7pm, Hubbs Center, 1030 University Ave, St Paul

--------8 of 18--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: CD/impeach 5.11 8am

Thursday, 5/11, 8 am, meeting to discuss civil disobedience for impeachment,
Fireroast Mountain Cafe, 3619 E 38th St, Mpls  gannieca [at] yahoo.com

[A dictatorectomy long overdue. Lance the abscess in the Oval Office.
impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach
impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach
impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach
impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach
impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach
impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach
impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach impeach
-ed]

--------9 of 18--------

From: joel michael albers <joel [at] uhcan-mn.org>
Subject: Vs Medicare D 5.11 11am

Please pass the word. We need as many people there as possible on Thursday
May 11, 11AM to stand up for seniors and people with dis-abilities.

Help Extend the Medicare Enrollment Deadline !!

On May 15th, all seniors and persons with disabilities will be forced to
sign up for a confusing and costly Medicare drug plan.  Those who do not
sign up will face a significant penalty - a 1% increase per month! This
penalty will be paid by seniors and persons with disabilities for the rest
of their lives.

[This shows that Bush, the majority of Congress, and capitalism are
diseases, willing to invade anyone and everyone for the benefit of the
putrifying ruling class. How much longer till we revolt? A big middle
finger thrust in their direction. They deserve no respect, only removal to
and burial in the nearest available toxic landfill. -ed]

Medicare Part D is a Disaster!
Join Americans United for Change at the State Capitol on Thursday, May
11th and tell Congress to eliminate this unfair deadline.

Thursday May 11
11am
Room 181 at the State Office Building
MN State Capitol

Come hold a sign, participate as a speaker and bring others!!

Prescription medication coverage is a right, not a privilege, for all
seniors and persons with disabilities.  We must tell the drug companies
and the insurance companies that they will not control our health care!!

Please contact Donald McFarland at 651-308-8098 for more details.

Joel Albers Minnesota Universal Health Care Action Network 612-384-0973
joel [at] uhcan-mn.org www.uhcan-mn.org Health Care Economics Researcher,
Clinical Pharmacist

--------10 of 18--------

From: Chris Spotted Eagle <chris [at] spottedeagle.org>
Subject: Indian culture 5.11 1:20pm/7pm

Thursday, May 11 Young Native Pride, Each year, the Shakopee Mdewakanton
youth celebrate Dakota heritage with this free event which celebrates
American Indian culture, traditions, and spirituality through song and
dance, Location: Prior Lake H.S. Auditorium,

The public is invited to the performance which will consist of children
and youth in handmade regalia dancing to the songs of a live drum group,
Two performances: 1:20PM for students and 7PM for parents, the community,
and the public, Address: 7575 150th Street West, Savage MN, FMI call (952)
226-8600.

--------11 of 18--------

From: Greg and Sue Skog <skograce [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Eagan peace vigil 5.11 4:30pm

CANDLELIGHT PEACE VIGIL EVERY THURSDAY from 4:30-5:30pm on the Northwest
corner of Pilot Knob Road and Yankee Doodle Road in Eagan. We have signs
and candles. Say "NO to war!" The weekly vigil is sponsored by: Friends
south of the river speaking out against war.

--------12 of 18--------

From: Chris Spotted Eagle <chris [at] spottedeagle.org>
Subject: Indian art 5.11 5pm

May 11 5-8pm "WE ARE painters, sculptors, sketchers, printmakers,
creators" Opening Reception at Two Rivers Gallery (housed in the
Minneapolis American Indian Center), 1530 E. Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis,
MN,

Making Life beautiful as caretakers of the forever giving land brings one
to opportune moments to touch and feel the earth, to see and smell the
earth, while nourishing oneself of her fruits.  This exhibit honors those
who create and make life beautiful in their own way, Ongoing until July
14th, FMI call (612) 879-1780.

--------13 of 18--------

From: EKalamboki [at] aol.com
Subject: Northtown vigil 5.11 5pm

NORTHTOWN Peace Vigil every Thursday 5 to 6 pm, at the intersection of Co.
Hwy 10 and University Ave NE (SE corner across from Denny's), in Blaine.

Communities situated near the Northtown Mall include: Blaine, Mounds View,
New Brighton, Roseville, Shoreview, Arden Hills, Spring Lake Park, Fridley,
and Coon Rapids.  We'll have extra signs.

For more information people can contact Evangelos Kalambokidis by phone or
email: (763)574-9615, ekalamboki [at] aol.com.

--------14 of 18--------

From: Minneapolis Central Labor Union Council <betsy [at] mplscluc.com>
Subject: Union v NWA 5.11 5pm

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Local
Lodge 1833, is sponsoring a Strength and Unity Rally for union members to
stand together and demand that Northwest Airlines address the concerns and
issues of all employee groups by bargaining in good faith. Food, music,
speakers, and balloons for the kids will be provided.

Please join us in supporting Local Lodge 1833 and let our voices be heard!
Thursday May 11, 5pm
Eagles Club #3208, 9152 Old Cedar Avenue, Bloomington, MN
Questions? Contact Local Lodge 1833 at 952-854-6313

--------15 of 18--------

May 8, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Bonnie Urfer, Nukewatch, (715) 472-4185
100 Prairie Island Workers Contaminated Last Friday
100 Workers Contaminated at Prairie Island 1
Nuclear Regulatory Current Morning Report for May 5, 2006

Hidden deep in the web pages of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission can be
found the Current Morning Report for May 5, 2006. Within the brief one
page missive, the NRC says, "Approximately 100 workers present in the
Containment Building were externally contaminated and had small intakes of
radioactive material composed principally of radioiodines." The steam
generators were not properly vented during work proceedures that included,
"removal of the generator man-ways in preparation for nozzle dam
installation." As a result of the error, gaseous contaminants within the
steam generators were exhausted directly into the Containment Building
atmosphere.

According to the brief report, "Workers were decontaminated to remove
external contamination prior to being released from the plant." The
radiation is composed principally of radioiodines.

Radioiodines are difficult to control. The Beta and Gamma radiation can
penetrate rubber and thin neoprene gloves, plastics and tygon. External
doses from gamma and beta radiation is about 100 times less than the dose
received by the thyroid from inhaled radioiodine. The NRC report does not
mention what kind of protection workers were using.

At the time of this release, calls to the NRC have gone unreturned.

Xcel Energy Inc., shut down its 535-megawatt Prairie Island 1 nuclear
reactor on April 28 for refueling and maintenance work.

A shocking silence surrounds this event thus far, perhaps not surprising
however, given intense federal and utility push for new nuclear reactors.

NUKEWATCH P.O. Box 649 Luck, WI 54853 715-472-4185 www.nukewatch.com

[As long as the people harmed are not ruling class, capitalism and the
government don't give a damn. So we have to. -ed]

--------16 of 18--------

WEAPONS TO DIE FOR:
FROM THAT PENTAGON DEATH STAR,
AND THE UNIVERSITY THAT POISONED THE WORLD

By LEUREN MORET
April 24, 2006
http://www.pulsetc.com/article.php?sid=2445,
http://lonestaricon.com/2006/CurrentIssue/17/14guest.htm

Two images changed my life when I visited the Peace Museums in Hiroshima
and Nagasaki in August of 2000, on my first trip to Japan.  I had worked
as a geoscientist in two U.S. Nuclear weapons labs - Lawrence Berkeley
National Lab and Lawrence Livermore National Lab - but I never knew what a
nuclear weapon really was, nor the horrific effects of radiation on the
environment and biological systems.  Now I know.

In the Hiroshima Museum, as a nuclear weapons lab whistleblower I wandered
through the exhibits with TV cameras in my face, keeping it together by
stuffing my emotions.  I walked past the mangled lunch boxes and
tricycles, thinking of the school children as I looked at the watches and
clocks stopped at the moment the first thermonuclear weapon detonated on a
human population.  Shadows of people vaporized on stones, and on the steps
of a building where one had sat, waiting for the bank to open on that
fateful morning.  A diorama showed the reality of dying people walking
through the streets of Hiroshima with skin dripping and hanging from their
bodies.  In another image a man stood looking down at his eyeball he held
in his hand. When I looked up at a model of LITTLE BOY, the atomic bomb
dropped on Hiroshima, I lost it and broke down in sobs which did not stop
until half an hour later, half way through a press conference.  The
cameras continued to roll, capturing my horror and real feelings of the
realization that scientists had made that "gadget" possible.  I am a
scientist, I worked in those laboratories of death.  And I am a graduate
of the University of California, which will forever be known as "the
University that poisoned the world".  The University managed those
laboratories of death, unchallenged, for more than 60 years.

Three days later in the Nagasaki Peace Museum, I saw FAT MAN, the first
plutonium atomic bomb which was dropped on Nagasaki.  There were photos
taken by a local photographer just hours after the bomb destroyed the
city. People were standing on a bridge absolutely devastated, lying on the
ground dying, patterns from their kimonos burned into their skin.  And
then I saw THE photo.  A young mother standing with her kimono open
barebreasted, with a vacant stare, while she nursed her dying baby.
Sobbing overwhelmed me once again, and still brings tears to my eyes when
I think of that image, which is burned into my brain by now.  I am a
mother, and in that moment I knew that mother could have been me, with the
life of my baby taken from me, or any other mother around the world.
Radiation respects no living thing. That is when I made the decision to
spend the rest of my life doing research and educating the public about
radiation.  I never knew that I could make a difference.  Now I know that,
as a citizen scientist, empowering others is the best way of all.

I started by writing a Letter to the Editor, not expecting to have it
published, but it was.  And then I started writing articles about depleted
uranium which I had learned about from a journalist, Akira Tashiro, whom I
met in Hiroshima on that first trip to Japan.  In 2002 he asked me to
write the Forword to his prize-winning book DISCOUNTED CASUALTIES: THE
HUMAN COST OF DEPLETED URANIUM.  Then I was asked to be an expert witness
in Japan for the International Criminal Tribunal for Afghanistan in 2003.
Marion Fulk, a Manhattan Project scientist and Livermore nuclear weapons
program researcher, prepared me with the best science in the world for my
testimony. The testimony resulted in a very strong conviction on depleted
uranium weapons, illegal under all laws, war conventions, US Federal Code,
and US military law.  In fact, during testimony the exposure of the
original 1943 Manhattan Project plan to develop it as a radioactive poison
gas weapon, convinced the international panel of Judges to make two
additional charges: it was a crime against the environment, and President
George W. Bush was guilty of war crimes by knowingly exposing his own
troops to illegal radioactive weaponry.

My motivation to expose the horrible truth about depleted uranium,
resulted in very unexpected successes.  One of the most important actions
was taking a bill, introduced and stuck in limbo in the Connecticut
legislature, to New Orleans on a speaking tour in March 2005.  I joined
antiwar protestors and veterans marching through the streets of New
Orleans on March 19.  We ended up standing on the white marble steps of
the antebellum Louisiana Supreme Court in the heart of the French Quarter.
While I stood in the hot sun describing the horrors of depleted uranium
weapons, a withered grinch of a security guard glared out at me from
behind the locked doors of the Courthouse, while a police van across the
street secretly videotaped our speeches.  Bob Smith, a Vietnam veteran,
came up afterwards and asked me for a copy of the Connecticut depleted
uranium bill originally written and introduced by Pat Dillon.  Dillon is
an epidemiologist and was the Speaker of the House in Connecticut, a
position she lost shortly after her bill was introduced.

Much to my complete shock, Bob Smith and Ward Reilly, two Vietnam era
veterans, took it to the Louisiana legislature.  They told two legislators
willing to introduce the bill to "white out Connecticut and write in
Louisiana".  It was quickly passed unanimously by the legislature and
signed into law by the Governor within a few months.  What I didn't know
then, was that bill would set States rights against Federal rights, and
National Guardsmen against regular military personel, busting the depleted
uranium issue open on a national scale.  Because state governments have
legal jurisdiction over the National Guard, the state bill requiring
mandatory testing for depleted uranium exposure did not cover regular
military personel.  This angered the regular soldiers who were frustrated
and angry over being "kicked to the curb" by the Pentagon and Veterans
Administration. The state is legally entitled to force the Pentagon to pay
the costs of implementing the bill, because the Pentagon is in violation
of its own mandates, directives and orders which require training,
testing, and treatment for soldiers handling depleted uranium.

In May of 2005, Congressman McDermott M.D. (D-WA), introduced a depleted
uranium bill in Congress.  Attached to the bill as a supporting document
was an entire issue of President Bush's hometown newspaper in Crawford,
Texas, THE LONE STAR ICONOCLAST, which Leon Smith, the Editor, had
dedicated to "What is DU?".  On March 1, 2006, a second issue "Have DU
Will Travel"  came out with extensive interviews with scientists.  After
covering Cindy Sheehan and Camp Casey last summer, the paper is now widely
read in Washington DC. Recently, Editor Leon Smith published a book called
THE VIGIL: 26 DAYS IN CRAWFORD, TEXAS about Camp Casey.

Today, more than 15 states have introduced a depleted uranium bill, and
Louisiana and Connecticut have passed theirs.  It has created a nightmare
for the Federal Government and put the Pentagon in permanent PR
counterspin as well as exposed 15 years of official coverup under three
Presidents and corruption in Congress.  Our children, our sons and
daughters, have been sent off to the battlefields of the Middle East and
Central Asia to become uranium meat.  The cost of their care has been
dumped on the state medical facilities.  Their families have been
destroyed, not to mention their lives. It is time for citizens and state
elected officials to pass depleted uranium bills which will help all
soldiers by putting pressure on the Federal Government.

Each of us has a part to play by demonstrating at local facilities like
Alliant (manufacturer of depleted uranium weapons), writing letters to local
newspapers, contacting elected officials, counter-recruiting in schools, or
just passing on the information so that others can become aware.  Put a song
in their hearts by sending "Johnny Got A Gun" to your local radio station
or Indymedia site to play on the air.

Depleted uranium is Washington's secret nuclear war.

*Download the MP3 file for "Johnny Got A Gun" -
http://radio.indymedia.org/news/2005/07/5801.php

FURTHER INFORMATION:
DISCOUNTED CASUALTIES by Akira Tashiro:
http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/abom/uran/index_e.html

"Depleted Uranium: Dirty Bombs, Dirty Missiles, Dirty Bullets" by Leuren
Moret 8/18/04
http://www.sfbayview.com/081804/Depleteduranium081804.shtml

"Depleted Uranium: The Trojan Horse of Nuclear War" by Leuren Moret
07/1/04
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2004/DU-Trojan-Horse1jul04.htm

"THE QUEEN'S DEATH STAR" by Leuren Moret
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2006/DU-Europe-Moret26feb06.htm

Elephant Talk CHLY 101.7FM Snuneymuxw Territory, BC, Canada:
"Depleted Uranium: the gift that keeps on giving" radio interview with
Leuren Moret 4/15/06
http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=program-info&program_id=17667&nav=&;

Video presentation by Leuren Moret to Therapists  for Social Responsibility
9/11/05
"CONNECTING THE DOTS 9-11 Four Years Later: From the A-Bomb to Depleted
Uranium and Beyond"
Download at http://www.art101.com/radiation/index.html

"Blowing Smoke: LANL is Sending Deadly Depleted Uranium into the Air We
Breathe"
A Special Report for Sun Monthly by Marilyn Gayle Hoff
http://www.sunmonthly.com/HOFF%20%20.htm

"What is DU?" Lone Star Iconoclast May 12, 2005:
http://lonestaricon.com/2005/xArchives/2005/1-26/19_Issue/Default.htm

"Have DU Will Travel" Lone Star Iconoclast 3/3/06:
http://lonestaricon.com/2006/Archives/09/news03.htm

To purchase Cindy Sheehan book "THE VIGIL" contact:
http://www.thevigilbook.com/

Leuren Moret is an independent scientist and Environmental Commissioner in
the City of Berkeley.  She is featured in documentary films on depleted
uranium: BEYOND TREASON (2005), BLOWIN' IN THE WIND (2005), BAGDAD
RAP(2004).  They can be purchased by contacting her at
<leurenmoret [at] yahoo.com>.  She also does speaking events.

[Government policy means ruling class policy. It will rain destruction
upon us and and our future, for more yachts and caviar and pumped-up
self-images. -ed]

--------17 of 18--------

CHERNOBYL: THE LEGACY
By John Woodcock
The Independent
March 18,  2006

_http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article351273.ece_
(http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article351273.ece)

Twenty years on from the world's worst environmental catastrophe, John
Woodcock revisits the still-poisonous landscapes of Ukraine and Belarus.
But as Britain debates whether to build a new generation of nuclear power
stations, are we forgetting the terrifying lessons of 26 April 1986?

Tourism does not come more chilling than in the visitor centre at the
remains of the Chernobyl nuclear power station. The view from the window
is hypnotic in its awfulness. It overlooks what appears to be an
unremarkable industrial complex, dominated by a red-and-white striped
chimney stack wrapped in a steel frame. Pop music blaring from a radio
somewhere within the site adds to a sense of normality that is misleading,
shockingly so.

The surrealism of disco sounds in such a place is reinforced by the
centre's ominous exhibits. They are dominated by a large model of what
cannot be seen from the window. It represents the inside of the wrecked
Reactor No 4. Tiny figures in white protective suits are placed among the
mock debris, replicating those who today, only a few hundred yards away,
perform the most dangerous tasks imaginable.

Beside the display, a video relates what happened at the plant 20 years
ago next month, on 26 April 1986. In brief, inexperienced operators in the
control room made catastrophic mistakes during the testing of equipment,
compounding fundamental design flaws and inadequate safety procedures.

The result was the world's worst - and continuing - environmental disaster
involving nuclear energy. One casualty was the company town of Pripyat,
little more than a mile down the road. It was home to the plant's workers
and their families, until the population of nearly 50,000 was evacuated en
masse, as a radioactive vapour descended on them. What they left behind
will remain abandoned forever. It is the ultimate ghost town.

There are still scenes, among its poplar-lined avenues and Party symbols
of the Soviet era, which capture the poignancy of a hurried escape: a
piano in the remains of a 14th-floor apartment; a doll left in the
community's nursery where bed-frames line the walls; books strewn on the
floor of what was the public library, some date-stamped on the day
disaster struck.

As the commentary in the visitor centre puts it: "Like Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, Pripyat was conquered by the atom." The film ends with the
message: "The Chernobyl problem is still unresolved." The changing red
numbers on a digital panel are part-confirmation of that. On the day we
were there the figures were darting between 1.21 and 1.17, and back again.

Julia Marusych, head of the information department at Chernobyl and the
woman with possibly the toughest public-relations job on the planet,
explained what the numbers meant. They represent, in milliroentgens, the
level of radiation outside the centre. 1.21 did not seem a lot, I
suggested, and she agreed, before making the point that modest or not, it
is still 100 times more than the average natural level of background
radiation.

Inside the perimeter fence enclosing the vast redundant plant itself,
so-called "stabilisation crews" monitor what is going on at the heart of
the site now. It is perilous work. Censors indicate that radiation levels
at the reactor's core are 300 million times greater than normal safety
margins.

Devastating though the explosion and fire were in 1986, only 3 per cent of
the reactor's lethal cocktail of radioactive material escaped at the time
-- sufficient, however, to lay waste to parts of northern Ukraine, and
contaminate 70 per cent of neighbouring Belarus.

Two decades on and more is now leaking into the atmosphere through large
holes in the concrete sarcophagus that was built to encase the reactor.
Experts said at the time that the protective structure would have to
survive far longer than the pyramids of ancient Egypt, such is the
long-term potency of radiation.

The present structure has proved inadequate and only now, after years of
argument, is work scheduled to begin on what is hoped will be a permanent
solution. In the meantime, how safe is the site, which, remarkably in the
circumstances, drew 2,000 visitors last year, many with a scientific
interest, but also those classed as "disaster tourists"?

The spokeswoman doesn't know. No one does. "We cannot say conditions are
safe," said Julia Marusych. "Risks remain." How secure is she in her
cheerful, modern office when it overlooks the menacing complex which emits
such a deadly and invisible poison?

How is her health? She shrugs. She feels fine, but after working there for
six years...

Officially the disaster claimed 56 lives, mainly among those who fought a
heroic battle to contain it. Doctors and others are in no doubt that the
true figure is already into the thousands as the long-term effects of
radiation take their toll. Cancers in various forms have soared, as has
the number of children being born with deformities.

Humanitarian aid groups in western Europe do what they can. An Irish-based
charity is at the forefront, providing respite for the terminally ill,
helping to pay for life-saving operations, and giving money and practical
support to impoverished, state-run institutions which will struggle to
cope with the human cost of Chernobyl for generations to come.

The charity's founder, Adi Roche, has been to the region about 50 times,
and visited the plant itself on eight occasions, putting her own health in
jeopardy. She believes the risk is justified in promoting her anti-nuclear
stance, all the more relevant to her now that Britain is considering an
energy policy ever more reliant on nuclear power.

With its greatest calamity looming behind her she said: "We are in the
middle of madness here. Chernobyl represents the first large-scale
'experiment' in the management of a nuclear crisis, and it has failed
miserably."

Her opponents include Viktor Krasnov, director of the Department of
Nuclear Radiation Safety at Chernobyl, where he has worked for 14 years.
He talks optimistically about the situation there, despite the fears of
some experts that the reactor's core could implode, causing even greater
devastation than before. "There is no immediate danger," he insists.
Krasnov is also confident about the sarcophagus, despite its leaks through
a decaying shell and the fact it will be relied upon for at least six more
years before a new protective shield is constructed. "The situation is
under control. It is absolutely safe."

He has not lost faith in nuclear power. On the contrary, he thinks it was
a mistake to abandon Chernobyl's other reactors. If he had his way
Chernobyl would still be generating electricity in support of Ukraine's
four other nuclear plants, and helping to reduce reliance on politically
vulnerable energy supplies from Russia.

Krasnov's view is that the lessons learned at Chernobyl have reinforced
the industry as a whole. He added: "I am absolutely sure that such an
accident will never happen again. Nuclear energy is safe."

You do not have to travel far for contradictions. The scene is a vehicle
graveyard where 2,000 contaminated relics - former Soviet helicopters,
army trucks and tankers, fire engines, ambulances, buses and cars - reveal
the scale of the so-called Battle of Chernobyl. In the words of a retired
Army colonel who ruined his health in flying numerous sorties over the
site during the emergency, it was nothing less than a battle "to save the
world" from unprecedented amounts of fallout.

The wreckage is kept in a guarded compound while the authorities decide
what to do with it. After 20 years, answers remain elusive. In the end it
may join more heavily contaminated equipment and have to be buried.

Such desolation also exists in a different form 100 miles and more from
Chernobyl. Radiation pays no heed to national borders. In Belarus,
exclusion zones contain numerous villages emptied of life because the land
is dangerously irradiated, and will remain so for centuries. Their names
have already disappeared from updated maps.

Where bulldozers haven't already removed the past, wooden and brick houses
look forlorn as they collapse bit by bit and are embraced by the
vegetation of an apparently normal landscape, dominated by forests of pine
and silver birch, and almost devoid of human activity. Yet for those who
can obtain the documentation to venture into these beautifully desolate
areas, there are a few signs of habitation.

Take the case of what once was Komsomolskya Street, in the hamlet of
Bartolomeevka, in Belarus. At No 23, the electricity is cut off, the
postman never calls and officialdom has ceased to recognise its existence.
This is the home of Ivan and Lena Muzychenko, an elderly couple who
refused to leave and now survive through their chickens and hens, and the
food they produce in their polluted garden. "It is better to die from
radiation than hunger," they say.

A handful of others have, against all advice, returned to the village.
One local man, Nikolai Gordunov, was evacuated in 1991 to a "safe" town
far away across the country. After three years he could no longer tolerate
what he calls "balcony life" in an urban apartment and chose to return to
the contaminated countryside where he grew up. Sharing the risks with him
is Svetlana, the woman he met and married while in exile.

Chernobyl wiped out numerous villages in 1986 despite the valiant efforts
of 600,000 people, many of them volunteers, who risked their health - and
in many cases gave their lives - to "clean up" the polluted land in the
days, months and years afterwards. They were the so-called liquidators, or
likwitators.

Few were braver than retired Soviet colonel Oleg Chichkov, now 65. At the
time of Chernobyl he was flying army helicopters near the Chinese border.
He recalls reading a "tiny article" about an incident at a nuclear power
station across the continent. "They'll soon have that under control,"  he
said to himself. Shortly after, he and a few colleagues were ordered there
immediately. From Chichkov's military training and knowledge of nuclear
power he was under no illusions about what was at stake.

In his MI26 helicopter, supposedly protected against radiation by its
lead-covered floor, he and other pilots between them flew 60 sorties a day
for more than five weeks above the site. Chichkov was 45 then and had
three children. Although the pilots were given iodine pills, he understood
the perils of radiation and refused to expose younger crews who were not
yet fathers to the risk of becoming infertile. Of those who shared the
missions with him, four are now dead, and his own health is deteriorating.

He has had a stroke, suffers from a bone disease, and walks with a limp.
He retains his military bearing however. His uniform is ablaze with
medals, one of them for service at Chernobyl. But on a practical level
life has been tough since the collapse of the Soviet Union and what he
describes as the resulting "mess".

A grant covers half the rent on his apartment, he receives a state pension
equivalent to about �25 a month, and once a year has a paid-for spell in a
sanitorium. He has another perk as well - the man who helped "to save the
world" is entitled to travel free on public transport in Minsk.

Not only has his own health suffered. His wife, Natasha, had thyroid
cancer, one of thousands of such victims whose condition is marked by a
post-operative red crescent scar across the throat known locally as the
"Chernobyl Necklace".

Life has changed in other ways for Igor Avetisov. He lived in Uzbekhistan,
more than 2,000 miles away, when he was told that his driving skills were
needed at Chernobyl. He was flown to Kiev with 120 others - including
friends, many of whom he says died prematurely. They arrived at Chernobyl
nearly two months after the explosion, and even then they were not told
how dangerous the situation was.

He remembers seeing an army of people washing down the roads in a
near-hopeless effort to keep the radioactive dust down in the summer heat.
He also recalls driving near Pripyat and other places where one minute
there had been everyday normality, the next only clues to indicate
vanished lives that would never be restored. "In the gardens, washing was
still on the lines. In a shop I saw sausage on the scales, and money that
had not been locked away. It was kind of scary."

Avetisov is 70 now, with a smile dominated by his gold tooth. He is
surprisingly cheerful considering that his poor health has exiled him in
Belarus for the past 16 years. He is both angry and philosophical, proud
too to have a medal which records that he was "a participant in the
liquidating of the consequences of Chernobyl nuclear power plant".

He did return to his distant homeland for a while but because of his lung
disorder doctors there advised him to live by the sea or near pine
forests. A relative offered to care for him, though it meant returning to
a country which, for all the official assurances, continues to pay a huge
environmental and human cost.

This is confirmed by scenes at Vesnova, a state-run institution in the
countryside south of Minsk. It is part orphanage, part unit for severely
handicapped children and young people. It is home to 138 victims, aged
four to 25, and the director is in no doubt that in many cases physical
and mental abnormalities are linked to their mothers' exposure to
radiation and its genetic consequences.

Several of the children were abandoned by their parents because they
lacked the resources to cope. Countless other families struggle to care
for their sick children at home, despite the hardships and minimal state
support. Charities help alleviate the suffering - which in some families
has affected three generations since the disaster - by providing drugs,
nursing care and other forms of help.

Despite Chernobyl's tragic toll - a 2,400 per cent increase in the
incidence of thyroid cancer, 250 per cent increase in congenital birth
deformities, 100 per cent increase in cancers such as leukaemia, plus
heart disease and a soaring suicide rate, according to one charity -
Soviet-style persecution is being inflicted on those who speak out. The
most famous dissident is Professor Yuri Bandazhevsky, former rector of the
medical institute in Gomel. He went public after noting an alarming
increase in heart problems and birth defects among children after
Chernobyl.

As a result he was hounded by the secret police and removed from his post.
He continued to challenge the government line and in 2001 was jailed for
eight years with hard labour on trumped-up bribery charges. He was adopted
as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International and eventually
released in 2004.

Even so, he remains under virtual house arrest and risks further
punishment for continuing his work. He also has a personal incentive. His
wife, Galina, has had her thyroid and womb removed - cancers that he
attributes to the disaster.

Their apartment in Minsk also serves as a makeshift laboratory where the
professor researches the effects of radiation on animal foetuses, notably
those of hamsters, which have a genetic print similar to that of humans.

Unsurprisingly he is a fervent opponent of nuclear power. So what is his
message to Tony Blair as the British government considers building more
nuclear plants?

"To those sitting in offices, debating this issue, I have this simple
message: to want more nuclear power rather than less is madness. I wish I
could show these people what I see in mortuaries in my country. I wish I
could show them the horror of what my experiments reveal. I would say to
them, 'Do you need further proof?'

Progressive Calendar 05.09.06	<– Date –> <– Thread –>
From: David Shove (shove001tc.umn.edu)
Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 03:40:08 -0700 (PDT)