reprinted with permission from
Poison Fire, Sacred Earth,
TESTIMONIES, LECTURES, CONCLUSIONS,
THE WORLD URANIUM HEARING, SALZBURG 1992
pages 205-207
. . . I would like to insist on the fact
that it is extremely difficult to make an inquiry on
site, and what our friends who came from India told us
just two days ago goes for us, too. In our case, it
happens on a small island. You are not allowed to
bring any verification material along. Everything
is under control. Let's not forget that Taiwan has
been under martial law for 40 years and that this
situation has only changed recently. For this, on
the occasion of this Hearing and recalling the words
of Raul Montenegro
from Argentina, I suggest that it is necessary and
urgent to create a chain of laboratories all over
the world checking the radioactivity level,
inquiring and controlling on site. Small didactic
manuals with basic information should be
published and distributed on place.
. . . between 1986 and 1991, the Yami people started
many protest operations on the island and also in
Taipei, the capital. They are furious. Atomic
waste is being stored in their land, and these are
all dangerous products. They have not been asked
about that, the waste has just been imposed upon
them. Nobody informed them about the risks. All
Yami agree on this: The waste must leave Botel
Tobago. If it has to be stored somewhere
somehow, this is not their problem, anyway. They
don't want to be the victims of Taiwan's nuclear
program, that program being so far from their own
problems, material needs, life-style and tradition. I
can assure you that they struggle very hard and
that they are determined, but they also need to
rely on someone. They need you. Do not forget
them!
Sharon Venne (Moderator)
We are still in the Far East, and we are going to go to Taiwan and Fiorella Allio. I met this lady last summer when I was sitting in a cafe in Geneva. You meet the strangest people in cafes. She probably thinks the same about me.
We're going to have a small introduction, and then
we're going to have a video-tape on what is going
on in Taiwan.
Fiorella Allio
Fiorella Allio, France. Ethnologist, activist for the
Yami, the aboriginal people of Taiwan.
(This speech was held originally in French)
The reason I'm here is to talk about the Yami, the
aboriginal inhabitants of Taiwan, and about the
atomic waste being stored on this little island
called Botel Tobago. Unfortunately, Porniet, an
anti-nuclear energy activist and Yami himself,
was not able to come to Salzburg and talk about
this case. I'll try my best to transmit the message
given to me by the Yami people who
hope that it will get to the International
Community and help them to come out of their
isolation in the media.
Who knows anything about the Yami?
340,000 aborigines -- probably as many as in
Australia -- of eleven different ethnical groups
live in Taiwan. As for me, I just want to say that
I live in France and that I am an ethnologist. There
are not many ethnologists who are interested in
current subjects, in reporting them or in
committing themselves to the peoples they
work on. Only a few among them are against
exploitation and scientific spoliation, but they
exist.
Let's get back to the Yami. As pictures
say more than words, I brought a ten-minute long
video-tape that I would like to discuss. Before
showing it to you, I would like to insist on the fact
that it is extremely difficult to make an inquiry on
site, and what our friends who came from India told us
just two days ago goes for us, too. In our case, it
happens on a small island. You are not allowed to
bring any verification material along. Everything
is under control. Let's not forget that Taiwan has
been under martial law for 40 years and that this
situation has only changed recently. For this, on
the occasion of this Hearing and recalling the words
of Raul Montenegro
from Argentina, I suggest that it is necessary and
urgent to create a chain of laboratories all over
the world checking the radioactivity level,
inquiring and controlling on site. Small didactic
manuals with basic information should be
published and distributed on place.
I would like to project the video now. Thank you.
[She comments on the pictures of the video]
Botel Tobago, a volcanic island 70 km
in the Southeast of the peninsula of Taiwan, is a
beautiful place. Here is where the Yami people
live. They are more than 4,000 people and of
Austronesian origin. They have been colonized
for about more than a century by the Chinese
and then by the Japanese.
The Yami are fishing people. As on many other Pacific
islands, they also plant the "taro". Taro and fish
are the basics of their nutrition. When in
the late seventies the government starts
raising up a harbour in Botel Tobago, the Yami
are told that it will be used for military
projects. In February of 1980, when the government starts
new constructions of a different kind, they are
told that this is the project for a tinning factory. In
fact, that was true. But the cans are sort of
special: They hold atomic waste of weak activity,
that can last from 30 to 300 years. From 1982 to
1991, 78,000 barrels with atomic waste were
brought here to Botel Tobago by ship. The waste
comes from Taiwan that owns six nuclear reactors
and three nuclear centers. This crane and this
equipment empty the containers. This is the zone
where they store atomic waste. This spot has to
be expanded in order to hold 550,000 barrels,
exactly where this desert area is. These are the
storage channels, which I have been able to get nearer
to. The factory puts nine aborigines to work in
these channels when it is necessary.
The complex is only 50 meters away from
the traditional fishing place. The water passes
through this tube on the right. There is the
complex and there, to the left, the sea. Botel
Tobago has a wet climate and many typhoons. The
tubes help to evacuate towards the shore
water that gets into the channels. From there, it
flows into the sea. But the Yami people
traditionally fish here.
I repeat -- this is not only the place where
the Yami used to fish, but this shore also is a
holy place that welcomed their ancestors when
they first came to Botel Tobago. And this island
is becoming a place for storing highly radioactive
atomic waste. But the Yami do not have only this
to handle: In order to develop tourism, the island
should become a national park. And there is even
more: In the eighties, their traditional habitat that
we are going to see and that I'm going to
describe right now has been completely
destroyed. This is the place they used to live, a
terrace in the blowing wind, a place where to
work with all tools and a house whose inner
space is dug deep into the earth in order to
protect themselves from the typhoons. This is the
house from inside. Here is the terrace again, very
appropriate for this climate. Here a little smile.
In 1970, the government marks this
habitat as primitive and decides to raise up a new
and modern one. Here you can see this kind of
modern place of concrete, absolutely not adapted
to the Yami's life-style. I insist on the fact that
their natural homes have been completely
removed. Some of them were left there for
tourists. That's the new place where the Yami
have been parked. But they have understood that
and finally had the last word, because they are
using those houses as public toilets.
Let's talk about what the Chinese did. The
Tibetans spoke a few days ago about the
"Chinezation", in fact the assimilation of the
Chinese culture. This example could be compared
to Taiwan if it was not for the difference that the
government in Tibet is a communist one. The
assimilation problem of the Yami is related to the
evangelization, which is also well established in
Botel Tobago. You have there two types of
churches, two different examples. But there are
many others.
I'm going to translate an interview I had
with Porniet's sister, the man who was to join us
in Salzburg: "Well, I'd like to talk to you about
atomic waste, a real danger for us all. We have
organized many enterprises in the past, and we
go on struggling. Atomic waste is being stored
against our will, and nobody is listening to us. They
just stop importing the waste for some time,
but then start doing it again. They are making
fools out of us. We all are very upset about
this." "Let's take the other example, how was
that?" "Yes, the national park project. We don't
want anything of that kind here. A national park
in Botel Tobago would mean another step
forcing the Taiwanese life-style upon us."
I would like to finish by saying that
between 1986 and 1991, the Yami people started
many protest operations on the island and also in
Taipei, the capital. They are furious. Atomic
waste is being stored in their land, and these are
all dangerous products. They have not been asked
about that, the waste has just been imposed upon
them. Nobody informed them about the risks. All
Yami agree on this: The waste must leave Botel
Tobago. If it has to be stored somewhere
somehow, this is not their problem, anyway. They
don't want to be the victims of Taiwan's nuclear
program, that program being so far from their own
problems, material needs, life-style and tradition. I
can assure you that they struggle very hard and
that they are determined, but they also need to
rely on someone. They need you. Do not forget
them!
Thank you for your attention.
Sharon Venne (Moderator)
Thank you very much for the presentation. Don't indigenous children look the same all over the world? It's amazing.
Our next speaker is Mr. Peter Salamonsen and I'll let him tell you where he's from. Go ahead.