Nuclear Futures

Mr. Oishi Matashichi, survivor of the Lucky Dragon #5 Fishing Boat / Photo Jessie Boylan

We were very fortunate to have Mr. Oishi Matashichi agree to meet and talk with us about his experiences as one of the fishermen on the Lucky Dragon Number 5 boat, which was fishing near Bikini when the Bravo test took place. They witnessed the blast and white ash fell down on them which later caused blisters, hair loss and various painful forms of radiation sickness. Of the 23 fishermen, 16 have passed away. Mr Oishi has so far survived a number of life threatening health problems and has been a highly respected, vigorous campaigner against atomic weapons and testing. It was an incredible privilege to meet him have him talk to our group.

Yasuyoshi Komizo, Chair of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation and Secretary General of Mayors for Peace / Photo Jessie Boylan

Our next guest, visiting dignitary Mr. Yasuyoshi Komizo, chairperson of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, works towards the abolition of nuclear weapons and towards a world society that can appreciate the differences of others and so live in harmony. In his moving and powerful talk to the students he said “We rely on your generation not to create the same tragedy.” (refering to the effects of nuclear weapons and testing)

Bill Graham, Public Advocate for the Nuclear Claims Tribunal / Photo Mick Broderick

Bill Graham, Public Advocate for the Nuclear Claims Tribunal re-inforced the need to listen to and record the stories of people who have been affected by nuclear fallout. He also emphasized the importance of having facts and timelines available while doing this work, to help place events and memories. The Nuclear Claims Tribunal has a digital archive of peoples’ testimony stored in Spain which Bill can help the students gain access to.

Linda gave an overview of copyright issues with social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Jessie ran through some of the basics of photography including setting up a  large format film camera for us to all try out. The rest of the afternoon was spent learning to edit and render videos with iMovie on the ipads and Hertes actually completed an entire project including titles and audio.

Jessie and Kana with the 5×4 camera / Photo Jessie Boylan

In the evening everyone swam and hung out down by the water until it was almost too late to be fed in the hotel restaurant.