November 20, 2021

4.3: The Cobalt Blue Planet

Show Notes

With last week's general discussion of the plot of Char's Counterattack out of the way, it's time to start diving deep on specific aspects of the film. This week: environmental justice advocate Colin joins us to discuss the environment, and environmentalism, in Char's Counterattack. Plus in the research Thom explores what it might mean that the Federation is headquartered in Lhasa while Nina looks at how a 1988 audience might have responded to talk of 'nuclear winter'.

From the Talkback

In preparation for our conversation, Colin had us read "Principles of Environmental Justice" by the Delegates to the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held on October 24-27, 1991, and "The Progressive Plantation" by Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin.

You can find Colin on Twitter at @padgettish and listen to them co-host for Wow! Cool Robot!!'s coverage of Zeta Gundam, or their own much less serious podcast about Medabots at Medawatch.

They also recommended the Environmental Justice Network as a resource.

Lhasa, Tibet

Timeline of major events in Tibetan history from the BBC.

Tibetan history via Britannica.

Wikipedia pages for the history of Tibet, Lhasa, the 5th Dalai Lama, Tibet under Qing rule, and Mongol invasions of Tibet.

General Tibetan history:

“Tibetan Nation: A History Of Tibetan Nationalism And Sino-tibetan Relations,” by Warren Smith. Routledge. 1997.

Tourist guide to the Potala Palace (which definitely appears in the movie) and the Jokhang Temple (which probably does). By She Jingwei for China Global Television Network, Mar. 26, 2019. Available at https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d514d30496a4e33457a6333566d54/index.html.

Recent History: Tibet and China:

“Tibet, China and the United States: Reflections on the Tibet Question.” By Melvyn C. Goldstein for The Atlantic Council of the United States. 1995. Available at https://web.archive.org/web/20061106021854/http://cc.purdue.edu/~wtv/tibet/article/art4.html.

Topgyal, Tsering. “Identity Insecurity and the Tibetan Resistance Against China.” Pacific Affairs 86, no. 3 (2013): 515–38. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43590713.

“The Monastery as a Medium of Tibetan Culture,” Donald S. Lopez, Jr. For Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine. March 1988. Available at https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/monastery-medium-tibetan-culture.

“Timeline of Destruction of Tibetan Buddhist Monasteries in China,” by Alexander Berzin. 1994. Available at https://studybuddhism.com/en/advanced-studies/history-culture/buddhism-in-east-asia/timeline-of-destruction-of-tibetan-buddhist-monasteries-in-china

“Threat from Tibet? Systemic Repression of Tibetan Buddhism in China,” by Ryan Cimmino for Harvard International Review. Sept. 16, 2018. Available at https://hir.harvard.edu/repression-tibetan-buddhism-china/.

“Genocide in Tibet,” by Maura Moynihan for the Washington Post, Jan. 25, 1998. Available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1998/01/25/genocide-in-tibet/27c0891c-57f1-4a7c-b873-a1071d93cbfd

“’Prosecute them with Awesome Power’ - China’s Crackdown on Tengdro Monastery and Restrictions on Communications in Tibet.” Human Rights Watch. July 6, 2021. Available at https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/07/06/prosecute-them-awesome-power/chinas-crackdown-tengdro-monastery-and-restrictions

International Resolutions and Recognition on Tibet (1959 to 2004), assembled by Lobsang Nyandak Zayul for the Department of Information and International Relations, Central Tibetan Administration. Available at https://tibet.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/International-rsolutions-on-Tibet.pdf

The Dalai Lama:

“Chronology of Events [in the Dalai Lama’s life].” From the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Available at https://www.dalailama.com/the-dalai-lama/events-and-awards/chronology-of-events

“14th Dalai Lama,” by Britannica. Available at https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dalai-Lama-14th/Life-in-exile

“Dalai Lama caught in the middle as India and China reboot ties,” by Sugam Pokharel for CNN. March 30, 2018. Available at https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/30/asia/india-tibet-china-dalai-lama-intl/index.html

“Dalai Lama opens exhibit of Tibetan art at Ueno,” by Ray Mahon for Stars and Stripes. Sept. 28, 1967. Available at https://www.stripes.com/news/dalai-lama-opens-exhibit-of-tibetan-art-at-ueno-1.18977.

The 1980s Negotiations:

Norbu, Dawa. “China’s Dialogue With the Dalai Lama 1978-90: Prenegotiation Stage of Dead End?” Pacific Affairs 64, no. 3 (1991): 351–72. https://doi.org/10.2307/2759468.

“Tibet 1985: The Last Fact-Finding Delegation - A Personal Account” by Tenzin Phuntsok Atisha.” 2020. Available at https://www.atc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Tibet-1985-EBOOK.pdf.

A report about the 1980s negotiations, based on declassified documents created by US officials at the time. “U.S. Officials Hoped Chinese Liberalization Program for Tibet in Early 1980s Would Bring Significant Improvements,” by Robert A. Wampler for National Security Archive. Feb. 28, 2013. Available at https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB414/.

Press release: “Sino-Tibetan Contacts to Resume,” by Chhime R. Chhoekyapa from the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, including an annexed timeline of negotiations between the Dalai Lama and Beijing. May 2, 2008. Available at https://www.c3sindia.org/geopolitics-strategy/sino-tibetan-contacts-to-resume/

Additional relevant Wikipedia entries on the "Great Game," the 1959 Tibetan uprising, Tibetan unrest 1987-1989, the Tibet Autonomous Region, Chushi Gangdruk, the Tibetan independence movement, the Convention of Lhasa, and the Seventeen Point Agreement.

Japan, Chernobyl, & Nuclear Anxiety

Wikipedia pages for the Chernobyl disaster, its effects, and its cultural impact,

Page on the Chernobyl accident from the World Nuclear Association.

About the "Red Forest."

Page on the "Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident."

Wikipedia pages for the band The Blue Hearts (ザ・ブルーハーツ), and for "On Your Mark," the Change and Aska song with the Ghibli/Miyazaki AMV (anime music video).

Radiophobia.

Specific pages on the nuclear-power debate, the anti-nuclear movement (in general and in Japan), and anti-nuclear organizations.

Japanese-language page on the anti-nuclear movement.

Website for the Citizens Nuclear Information Center (原子力資料情報室) (shortened to CNIC), a Japanese anti-nuclear organization (in Japanese),

History and timeline for CNIC (in English).

CNIC English-language newsletters, Oct. 1987, Dec.1987, and Jan-Feb 1988.

Contemporary articles the Chernobyl disaster:

Silk, L. (1986, May 02). Economic scene|: Chernobyl's world impact. New York Times (1923-) Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/economic-scene/docview/110930284/se-2?accountid=35927

Hudson, Richard L., Terence Roth. "Chernobyl: Coping with Consequences --- Lingering Fallout: A Year Later, Mishap at Chernobyl Damps Atom-Power Industry --- Siemens Plant-Building Unit Battles Germany's Greens, Seeks to Reassure Public --- in Britain, Cuddly Reactors." Wall Street Journal Apr 23 1987, Eastern edition ed.: 1. ProQuest. 10 Nov. 2021.

STUART D. "BIG AREA STRICKEN: SPREAD OF RADIOACTIVITY WAS FAR GREATER THAN INDICATED BEFORE FALLOUT FROM CHERNOBYL DISASTER AFFECTED LARGER AREA THAN FIRST REPORTED." New York Times (1923-) Aug 22 1986: 2. ProQuest. 10 Nov. 2021.

Taylor, Robert E. "Scope of Chernobyl Accident is Unclear to West as Fallout Continues to Spread." Wall Street Journal May 05 1986, Eastern edition ed.: 1. ProQuest. 10 Nov. 2021.

"Panel Says Japan should Boost Nuclear Power use." Wall Street Journal Jul 21 1986, Eastern edition ed.: 1. ProQuest. 10 Nov. 2021.

WEINSTEIN, BERNARD L. and HAROLD T. GROSS. "Japan is Spending Heavily to Avoid Oil." New York Times (1923-), Mar 27, 1988, pp. 1. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/japan-is-spending-heavily-avoid-oil/docview/110543916/se-2?accountid=35927.

ERIK E. "After Accident at the Soviet Station, Nuclear Power is Questioned again." New York Times (1923-), May 02, 1986, pp. 1. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/after-accident-at-soviet-station-nuclear-power-is/docview/110943137/se-2?accountid=35927.

Other articles and papers:

Zhukova, Ekatherina. “Foreign Aid and Identity after the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster: How Belarus Shapes Relations with Germany, Europe, Russia, and Japan.” Cooperation and Conflict, vol. 52, no. 4, Sage Publications, Ltd., 2017, pp. 485–501, https://www.jstor.org/stable/48590276.

Okabe, Aki. “Japan Reacts to Chernobyl.” Earth Island Journal, vol. 2, no. 2, Earth Island Institute, 1987, pp. 14–15, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43881866.

Great book about film director and screenwriter Honda Ishiro (本多猪四郎): Ryfle, Steve, et al. Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa. Wesleyan University Press, 2017.

English and Japanese Wikipedia pages for the Kurosawa Akira (黒澤明) film, 生きものの記録 or "I Live in Fear."

About the Stanley Kubrick film "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb."

Not mentioned in the research but when I was editing and got to the part about Nazi scientists, I remember the existence of this satirical song, "Wernher Von Braun" by Thomas Andrew Lehrer (1965).

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