Life of an ACTIVIST - Japan's Satomi Oba

[seemslikeadream]

The death of Japan's Satomi Oba, an anti-nuclear activist, leaves a large void in the struggle for world peace

Story and photo by VASANA CHINVARAKORN


The three ladies look jubilant; one could almost glimpse a jovial wink in their eyes. Collectively they are known as The Trident Three. The name was coined for their historic victory in civilly disarming a research barge associated with a nuclear submarine called The Trident. The court later acquitted them. The sheriff said the three plaintiffs _ Angie Zeller, Ulla Roder and Ellen Moxley _ were "justified" for what they had done. They even received an alternative Nobel prize, the Right Livelihood Award, for this valiant, unprecedented act.

As she pushed a post card showing the Trident Three across the table to me, I could somehow sense a similar streak of cheerful determination in this small-built Japanese lady. Satomi Oba said she would like to share with me this little "memento". It was to show her cordiality and to explain, with minimum use of words, her source of inspiration _ why she continued her small crusade despite the cost.

"It was so funny," she said, "it caused a lot of shame to the Navy. They always boasted about their fool-proof security measures but the act has shown how easy it was for ordinary citizens to climb on board and throw away the equipment."

What Satomi _ that was what her international circle of friends called her _ did may not have that dare-devil element like the Trident Three's. But as the founder and director of Plutonium Action Hiroshima (PAH), Satomi has taken a lot of risks in pursuance of her beliefs: that this earth of ours would be a much better place without nuclear power, in any guise or form.

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http://www.bangkokpost.com/en/Outlook/30Mar2005_out01.php