Dear Mr Bolt, we Ukrainians in Australia are a tolerant multicultural bunch.
Your statements about the Chornobyl Nuclear accident of 1986, however, have stirred us to comment and respond. (yes, Chornobyl is the Ukrainian and not Russian name of this Ukrainian landmark associated with the tragedy).
In doing so, we have consulted with our colleagues from the Belarus and Russian Federation communities in Australia.
We do NOT wish to insert ourselves into your alt-Right vs. Left cultural war in Australia. Far from it. Our members come from across the Australian political spectrum, and we like it that way.
We seek to point out to you, that your public statements diminish the human, environmental, social and economic impact of the Chornobyl Nuclear disaster.
When you say that fewer than 100 people died as a direct impact of the disaster, we firmly believe you are undertaking an exercise in political sophistry in support of your own private political pro-Nuclear agenda. 100 or 4000, an unforgiveable ‘faux pax’, which we cannot let pass.
As Australian Ukrainians – we say this motive is just fine (although most of us are horrified by it), if you had taken account of the empirical, lived and on the ground facts relating to that disaster, for the people directly impacted. You have, of course ignored us. You are of course, entitled to your own set of opinions, but you are not entitled to your own set of “Facts”.
The real life, empirical evidence in Ukraine, Belarus and the Russian federation is clear. Today, more than 50,000 families receive government health payments because of the death of their primary income earner from Radiation poisoning from Chhornobyl. Yes official payments.
These real and lived circumstances do not represent those deaths from amongst non- income earners. So they are a severe underestimate of the negative impact of Chornobyl.
In addition to this, congenital and birth defects have also continued – 3 generations later! The health and social cost of these has been estimated in the millions of US Dollars, and is ongoing.
THE LATENT AND LONGITUDINAL EFFECTS OF THE CHORNOBYL NUCLEAR DISASTER ARE STILL BEING STUDIED AND MEASURED.
Mr Bolt, we who have a lived, real experience of this tragedy appeal to you to better asses your facts when seeking to argue your case for Nuclear Energy in Australia.
We ask that you apologise for diminishing the enormous national and regional tragedy of Chronobyl, and withdraw your offensive characterisations of the eyewitness and victim accounts in the HBO – SKY documentary as ‘lies’ & ‘eco porn’.
Sincerely,
The Australian Ukrainian Congress Presidium
Spokesman: The Hon. Andrew Olexander mob: 0409 513 465