Consequences…from Chernobyl
By: Erreh Svaia
“Show me a fantasy novel about Chernobyl--there isn't one! Because
reality is more fantastic.”
Svetlana Alexievich
Prior to winning the 2015 Literature Nobel Prize last
year, I wasn't familiar with writer Svetlana Alexievich work, if you consider
my fascination with Soviet era Russia, Svetlana's book Voices from Chernobyl
was an obviously mandatory lecture, and once I got the book, it was such an
impressive experience, having read and watched countless books articles,
documentaries and movies about the Chernobyl tragedy, Svetlana's book was a
definite game changer, going through such a genuine piece of art, learning
about the tragedy through so many different opinions by the victims, Svetlana's
daring mix of brutal journalism and dramatic literary use of polyphonic voices
in true eastern style, was a truly intense experience.
Pripyat, the sadly legendary city located next to the
place of the nuclear accident, remains a ghost town, lonely decaying buildings,
rusty metal and the surprising invasion of nature, reminding humanity that
after we are gone from this planet, our vestiges will be slowly erased from
this planet memory, Chernobyl is a painful scar not only for Russia and for the
world, also for Ukraine, where the Chernobyl nuclear plant was located and
where 31 people did died directly because of the explosion, and for Belarus,
the small country where 60% of the radioactive fallout landed, for Belarus,
Svetlana's birthplace, is an even bigger tragedy, considering its country size
and the dimension of the radioactive fallout, a place where long time effects
of radiation, such as cancer is still investigated.
In Chernobyl, and in Pripyat, it looks like time has
stopped forever, but inside the damaged reactor, toxic materials still burn,
and will do it for thousand years, Chernobyl is a big scar in the memory of the
Soviet nation, a tragedy that the USSR secrecy policies helped to aggravate, a
night many Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians won't ever forget, a ghost town
that will last until nature devours it, and the voices of Svetlana's book
reminding us of the dangers of government policies directed toward reducing costs
at the expense of security, just think also about the also tragic events
happening in México, in PEMEX oil plants, where budgets cuts are turning into dangerous
events in a more regular way because of the lack of proper maintenance.
Chernobyl is a painful reminder that when a government
acts authoritarian in order to keep their good image, and to cover up their
ineptitude, is when those tragedies become bigger, and turn against them, like
in Chernobyl Power Plant in the now defunct USSR, like in the Kursk submarine
contingency in Russia, like during the SARS outbreak in China, or the
kidnapping and disappearance of 43 citizens in Ayotzinapa, México, let's not
forget that things can be done the right way, with sensibility, honestly and
with transparency, asking for international help in a humble way when needed,
like on the rescue of workers in a mine in San José, in Chile.
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