Australia: The Sacred, The Scared and Nuclear Exposure

I use the words the sacred, the scared and nuclear exposure in respect of the indigenous see all land as sacred. Moreover, when you are in sacred alignment with yourself you will express values of compassion, empathy, love and respect. The sacred is really connection with the true spirit of our humanity. Indigneous and non indigenous share this but express it in different ways.

Those engaged in nuclear or conventional warfare are scared or in fear, otherwise they would not feel the need to invent such weapons. The warrior came out of the desire to appear powerful, yet beneath that is fear, which is human. The acknowledgement of it transforms it to awareness and the ability to be defenceless which in truth is not defenceless, it is powerful. As Byron Katie says defence is the first act of war. When you have no fear you will have no need to defend. The last point in the heading is the exposure of nuclear which happened here in Australia at the Woomera test site and in particular Maralinga and Emu Plains. The issues of course are ethical, ecological and indeed was it necessary? What of the fallout that spread over most States in Australia? You can’t put the geni back into the bottle, but you can change the future with a different attitude and perspective of the way we interact with the planet and each other. We learn from the past and don’t repeat the same mistakes.

At this point the thought of violent video games comes up and I feel moved to connect this, we are teaching young people to play games as violent behaviours played out in these games. That war is strong, that boys must be warriors and show no emotion, that we must win and violence destroys the other. When we achieve this we win. These are stong messages yet they are erroneous and continue a tradition of violence that does not bring peace and understanding. The mindset that accepts violence as a solution maps out a different future where there is little regard for servicemen or innocent people, hence human life or the after effects of such actions.

I will add here whilst reflecting on this my radio interview with Major Douglas Rokke some years ago, the former Head of the Depleted Uranium Project in the Pentagon and munitions expert. He spoke of his dismay watching his own team getting sick and die and the high numbers of US army personnel suffering from radiation caused by using depleted uranium in the nose cones of weapons. It is used because it is efficient at armour piercing, yet on impact it spreads everywhere. He spoke out and became a whistle blower because his team were given the same porous protective suits in Gulf War I and II, he saw clearly the government was not looking after its own people, indeed not caring. Not to mention all the Iraq’s, Afghan’s and those in the Balkans who were exposed to depleted uranium without compensation. I believe it has a half life of 4 billion years (need to check that). I asked Major Rokke about the mentality of soldiers, he said something like we are warriors, we kill period. Scott Ritter mirrored this psychology of being a warrior, I wonder why not be one for peace and security. I told him I have no enemies, as a clown you see everyone as yourself, I feel love for all humans. As a conflict resolver I train people to solve the problem not hate the person. The latter is the fundamental flaw in warfare in that people are trained to hate the person and not solve the problem, it is about force. Ritter told me he may re-write his book. You can’t teach peace by war, you can only demonstrate peace by acting in ways that are peaceful that de-escalate violence and create a space for intelligent understanding. That is the psychology that wins for all.

The best place to find out more information about nuclear issues is Helen Caldicott, an Australian Medical Doctor who started Physicians for Social Responsibility and is an expert in her own right on the nuclear issue. refer http://www.helencaldicott.com/

http://news.rosettamoon.com/?p=38

From 1965 to the present time, the South Australian Government carried out monitoring of all reservoirs for nuclear fallout. The graphs created from the data are contained in an earlier report (The Monitoring of the Radiological Contamination of SA Drinking Water, by P. Langley). This data has not received wide publicity. Dr Helen Caldicott and others have however spoken on this theme over a period of many years. Results of British water catchment monitoring of South Australian water, carried out prior to 1965, remains unavailable to Australians. SA Water Corp confirms that Australian radiological monitoring commenced only in 1965 – after the cessation of nuclear weapons testing by the UK in Australia. Although the SA Government does not possess records earlier than 1965, involved exservicemen state that British monitoring of water commenced in the 1950s. The records of this early monitoring are unavailable in Australia.

As British nuclear weapons testing in Australia commenced in the early l950s, this data is of great importance. Given that the Nuclear ExServicemens’ Associations have initiated action against Britain via the European Union Court of Human Rights, it may be productive if Australians petition the court to force Britain to release all Australian radiological data to Australian Nuclear Veterans and hence to the general public. Australians who retain citizenship to member nations of the European Union especially are entitled to petition the EU. (Since the enabling of the Maastricht Treaty 1992, all such citizens are entitled to access to the EU court of Human Rights. As the release of British held documents impact on the human rights of Citizens of Europe living in Australia, petitions to the court may be productive).

In 1956, a senior biologist employed by the CSIRO began a biological survey into the effects of atomic weapons testing in Australia. His name was Dr Hedley Marston. He and his team collected the thyroid glands from cattle and sheep in areas of Australia likely to have contaminated by atomic fallout clouds. He concluded that extensive areas of Australia had been contaminated, including densely populated areas in a band 1,600 miles wide right across the continent. He found that Adelaide and the country surrounding it had been contaminated. He feared that the radioisotope Strontium 90, released by atomic bomb testing, had entered the Australian food chain. He told the CSIRO that his findings indicated that the official version of events was false. He stated that either monitoring instruments were faulty or someone was lying. Dr Marston passed away shortly after making his report.

 
Mohandas Gandhi

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

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