The first video is a documentary made in the 50's about what was taking place in the Marshall islands. In it there is a very good picture of the type of racism that was involved in using the Marshall Islands as a testing ground for early nuclear testing.
The second video shows some of the results of that very testing. This is just the beginning of the story however. The US government purposefully and intentionally allowed these people to be exposed to extremely high levels of nuclear contamination in order to study the results.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Do you believe Arizona's SB 1070 had some purposeful racism written into it?
CNN.com
Categories
SB 1070
(2)
NACCS
(1)
Nazi
(1)
conspiracy theorists
(1)
environment
(1)
first
(1)
justice
(1)
purpose
(1)
Blog Archive
Followers
Blogger Templates created by Deluxe Templates
Wordpress by cubex
Copyright 2010 Environmental Conspiracy
All rights reserved.
Powered by Blogger
6 comments:
I took a couple classes with Prof. Holly Barker from the Anthropology department and she talks about the Marshall Islands often. She did two years of Peace Corps there and so this issue is very close to her heart. It is just so ridiculous what happened there and how we will not take any responsibility for what happened. The concrete cap placed on top of the contaminated soil is not a solution. The water often rises to that level and brings the waste and contamination into the ocean.
Thanks for sharing the videos!
Geez talk about taking advantage of peoples' trust. I was trying to think of what to compare this to and it's like most things capitalism pumps out; here's this great product or project, it's going to help people, it's good, trust us ; )
With no regard for the people taking the risks, things are just pawned off on people and their trust is taken advantage of.
partially hydrogenated oils, BPAs (or whatever that nasty stuffy in malleable plastics is that cause cancer and other health problems), GMOs, and probably thousands more things that are not well researched before being put on the market and certainly never come with a disclosure of risks.
I realize that this case is different but it is the same idea behind it all. Human life and full disclosure are not valued by this system of capitalism, we have to fight for disclosure and research . . . then go share our finding with the world.
~Lani B~
Thank you for this post and for your blog. I think that it is important for people to know what happened on the Marshall Islands because to be honest this is the first time that I have heard about this and I am sure that I am not alone in saying this.
Not exactly in line with what happened on the Marshall Islands, but in one of my other classes earlier this year we had a long discussion on forced sterilization. In the 1990's the Peruvian Government was using aid and food amongst other things to get women of certain ethnic groups, primarily those that live in the mountains, in rural communities, to get sterilized. The government had never admitted to this forced sterilization and only recently have new regulations been put in place in hospitals so that the women will not be sterilized without their knowledge or consent. If anyone is interested in this subject here is the YouTube video on it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv9GtGl4Odk. The title is Secret Sterilization.
Great Blog! I too took a few classes with Holly Barker and I was completely shocked and sickened by learning what happened in the Marshall Islands. I could not believe that I did not know about this and that it took for me to take a college class to hear about it. I definitely don't remember hearing about this in any American history class growing up! The fact that the U.S. government would use human beings as their own personal lab rats (for lack of a better term) really left me disgusted. The Marshallese are still suffering today for many reasons, like adverse health affects, loss of TEK, and intergenerational trauma (just to name a few), and though the government has had to pay a few million dollars to the people of a few of the affected atolls (though reluctantly) they haven't even come close to making up for the damage they have done to the Marshallese people and the environment.
I am currently taking a class on the environmental history of the United States taught by Professor Linda Nash. Her class is very informative and I highly recommend it for anyone seriously interested in environmental history, or just alternatives to mainstream history lessons.
Today we covered nuclear research and development in the US during this time period and spent a substantial amount of time talking about the Marshall Islands. What I found compelling is how we took this information and broadened the scope a little. Step back and look at this story and one will see that it speaks volumes about imperialism and environmental history. There are a distinct set of power relations in play and a desire to keep power relations as they are by those who hold the upper hand. The US was immensely powerful and able to ignore the desires of the local, subjugated, people. Thus they had far less ability to control local landscapes and lacked the ability to challenge US policies for their home lands. The voices of the Marshallese and the history of nuclear testing on Bikini island are very hard to find in media of that time. This story is not rare, but instead highlights commonalities shared by environmental imperialist relationships and other instances of environmental injustices. For example, the very reason the US chose to perform nuclear research testing on the Bikini Atoll was because it was far away from the continental US and had a relatively small population. The US didn't want it in its own backyard, so instead it took it to a colonial "possession".
Before the US arrived to do testing, native Marshallese had a subsistence economy living off the land and consuming fish, shellfish, and local vegetables. When the US arrived on Bikini island, they decided to relocate native residents to Rongerik island which had much worse resources and the natives were no longer able to provide for themselves. This demonstrates a chasm in the knowledge/power relationship: Those with the power (the US government) are taking those with traditional environmental knowledge (the Marshallese natives) and making decisions that affect their lifestyles and completely upset their subsistence economy. This, I believe, is an example of how the reach of environmental justice is not limited merely to US cities. It's global.
This kind of stuff has been going on forever. The govt. is always happy to take advantage of indigenous peoples or minorities to gain some benefit, from using them as test subjects (as seen here) to using them as cannon fodder in war (ever see the movie glory? or learn about the racism sent against black vets from WW1?).
50 years from now, I wonder what ridiculous racial scandals will come about.
-Schu
Post a Comment