reprinted with permission from
Poison Fire, Sacred Earth,
TESTIMONIES, LECTURES, CONCLUSIONS,
THE WORLD URANIUM HEARING, SALZBURG 1992
pages 259-260
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! . . .
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-Blau
Now Irina Grushevaya for the children of Chernobyl. Please.