People's Movement In the Post Fukushima Nuclear Power Catastrophe

On March 11 2011, a huge earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, and the nuclear accidents followed in the still shaking land of Fukushima. The catastrophe continues today, haunting the lives of the people and the environment. Meanwhile there has been a dramatic rise of new movements of the people to fight against the state that strives to stay with nuclear energy, as well as global capitalism that grounds it. The people, in distrust of authorities, have begun monitoring the level of radioactivity by themselves. There have been innumerable rallies and demonstrations in Japan. They are establishing a global network of the anti-nuke movements in a new context. These fronts cover a wide range of spectrum of struggle, from street actions, everyday reproduction, to revisions of political affairs. Significantly, the main constituencies of this new movement are young precarious workers, women and mothers in particular. It is they who are radically questioning not only the policies of the Japanese government, but also the global capitalism that prioritizes the profit of the few over the well-being of the 99%. Our aim of the discussion is, on one hand, to provide historical and social analyses on the nuclear state Japan in its relation to what may be called the global nuclear regime; and on the other hand, to introduce the movement in the post-3/11 Japan and discuss its connection to the global uprisings against the 1%.