Fukushima en procès : un mouvement social dans les tribunaux pour repenser la catastrophe

Abstract

Like many industrial calamities that have marked the history of modern and contemporary Japan, the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster has given rise to many lawsuits; currently, these involve several thousand plaintiffs from all over Japan. On top of a criminal case against three Tepco executives, there are more than 30 class actions pending against Tepco and the state. These lawsuits raise fundamental questions about the origin of the disaster as well as its future fallouts due to radiation exposure. While the compensation awarded by the judges so far remains low, the court decisions carry a moral and symbolic—even cathartic—importance for the plaintiffs, as well as for contemporary Japan as a whole and for other countries vulnerable to a nuclear disaster. I further argue that these mobilisations are drawn from a legacy of collective lawsuits that have marked Japan over the past 50 years.

Keywords

• Fukushima
• Nuclear
• Class Actions
• Lawsuits
• Mobilisation
• Radiations