reprinted with permission from
Poison Fire, Sacred Earth,
TESTIMONIES, LECTURES, CONCLUSIONS,
THE WORLD URANIUM HEARING, SALZBURG 1992
pages 259-260There is not a centimeter of White Russia where radioactive cesium cannot be found. The specialists know that radioactive cesium actually does not exist in its natural state, nearly always it is the product of technology. That is why we can speak now about the fact that the whole territory of White Russia emits radiation. But not only the technical catastrophe was a crime against the White Russian people, against the peoples of the Ukraine, of Russia, against other nations who protected themselves against this danger in 1986. It is also the deliberate crime of those who did not summon up the courage to admit frankly: Atomic energy after the 26th April, 1986, is a crime! . . .
This is why Chernobyl changed the character of man. This is why now there is no justification for those who search for arguments referring to the scientific expertises to the opinion of specialists and scientists actually representing the atomic lobby which is guilty of many crimes, on whose conscience weigh the life and health of millions of people. And today, now, literally as we are carrying out this Hearing, those experts continue their criminal activity. They try to convince the governments of the new states which arose after the crash of the Soviet Union that with the technical help of western states it is possible to reconstruct and to build new nuclear power stations which will serve as a basis for the economic progress of these new states. We all have to clearly understand what is going on today.
Gernadij Grushevoi
Gernadij Grushevoi, White Russia, CIS. Co-founder of the Foundation for the Children of Chernobyl.
(This speech was held originally in Russian)
Iam pleased to greet the participants of this most important event in the history of the peoples, who are now at a turning point. At this Hearing, I represent the White Russian people who, like the peoples of the Ukraine and of Russia, share the tragic fate of many peoples, who became the victims of uranium production, of the nuclear tests, of the nuclear explosions. Three more old nations will now testify about the crime that people who protect and propagate the atomic energy commit against mankind.The Chernobyl catastrophe was inevitable. It had to happen, because there is no -- and there cannot be any -- absolutely safe engineering system. The technical equipment, which does not allow, at least, a minimal probability of an accident, does not exist. The price of such least possible probability is so enormous that it forces us to forget all the arguments of those who call today's nuclear technology safe.
That means that those who were working at and testing the atomic equipment, they were sure that all this was far away, that it would happen on far away islands, in the deserted deserts, that only small-numbered peoples would get to know, have known about that, who were the inhabitants of these distant places because of historical fate. But Chernobyl showed how near tragedy lies to every people, to every human being who lives nowadays on earth. As you know, the Chernobyl radiation became apparent in three weeks virtually everywhere on the terrestrial globe. The increase of the radiation background was observed even in the Antarctica. And this event, in fact, becomes the last one in the chain of those tragic events which must finally bring this mad experiment to an end, this mad experiment with humankind, civilization, nature.
The fate of the White Russian people took such a shape that 70 percent of the radioactive stuff that had been thrown away by the explosion on the Chernobyl station, landed on White Russian territory. There is not a centimeter of White Russia where radioactive cesium cannot be found. The specialists know that radioactive cesium actually does not exist in its natural state, nearly always it is the product of technology. That is why we can speak now about the fact that the whole territory of White Russia emits radiation. But not only the technical catastrophe was a crime against the White Russian people, against the peoples of the Ukraine, of Russia, against other nations who protected themselves against this danger in 1986. It is also the deliberate crime of those who did not summon up the courage to admit frankly: Atomic energy after the 26th April, 1986, is a crime! These people, these leaders did everything in order to keep all the information secret, proving the danger of the Chernobyl radiation to the people. The regime of secrecy was the first step, I think, not only of that defective system, of that absurd social order, that was the direct cause of the Chernobyl tragedy.
Thus, this is how the governments of many countries could obviously act and had acted, and this Hearing confirms it. But that crime which the White Russian people will never forgive, that crime which, I hope, will soon become the object of investigation of an international trial -- this crime appeared in the endeavour to hide what had happened.
Four days after this terrible accident in the towns and villages of White Russia which are situated some kilometers away from Chernobyl, festivities were demonstratively held according to the decision of the authorities. A celebration such as the 1st May was used in order to demonstrate to the whole world how good the people felt who lived directly near the Chernobyl station. I can testify how sport competitions were intentionally organized, how the people were paid money to sit in the football stadiums. All this was shot on a film and it was shown to the whole world as a proof that nothing terrible had happened. In May to June, children, teenagers were sent to the fields which were littered with radionuclides. In the archive of our Fund a letter of a boy is kept who says, recalling the year 1986: "I understand now why we found so many dead mice in the earth which we dug up."
In May to June, the children did not understand why all the mice had died and those who already clearly knew what had happened, sent these children onto these fields. The first action which was carried out as an action for saving the people -- the evacuation from the 30-kilometer zone around Chernobyl -- had been carried out barbarically. The people had been given 30 minutes to get ready and had been driven away practically without their belongings, they drove them away into uncertainty, they drove them away forever. And up until today, many thousands of these people still cannot find any accommodation, cannot find homes.
Having resettled these villages in the direct neighbourhood of Chernobyl, the government censored all the information about how dangerous the radiation was for those towns which had not been resettled. The people were mislead over a period of three years by saying that they could plant everything on this land, that one could eat all the fruit and vegetables. This is not only a technical catastrophe, not just a tragedy, which is connected with some technical problems, this is already a social catastrophe.
This is why Chernobyl changed the character of man. This is why now there is no justification for those who search for arguments referring to the scientific expertises to the opinion of specialists and scientists actually representing the atomic lobby which is guilty of many crimes, on whose conscience weigh the life and health of millions of people. And today, now, literally as we are carrying out this Hearing, those experts continue their criminal activity. They try to convince the governments of the new states which arose after the crash of the Soviet Union that with the technical help of western states it is possible to reconstruct and to build new nuclear power stations which will serve as a basis for the economic progress of these new states. We all have to clearly understand what is going on today.
They are striving to create such a mighty block of atomic danger near Europe that will unconditionally bury the whole civilization not only on our continent, but also in the whole world. We see Chernobyl as a world-wide catastrophe and it, this catastrophe, must be the last step, it has to be the last step in this tragic history of atomic research.
I call upon the participants of this Hearing, I appeal to the organizing committee to turn to all governments for support, all states of the world with the last warning because the fate of all children, of all peoples is in our hands today. If we can stop this madness, then one day future generations will thank us for having been courageous and brave.
Freda Meissner-BlauNow Irina Grushevaya for the children of Chernobyl. Please.
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