The spectrum of activities ranged from starting a tour through Germany against nuclear power (BUND) via a big signature collection action in Vienna (GLOBAL 2000, Atomstopp and others) to Dutch and Bulgarian protest against the government plans for new nuclear plants.

Scotland, Edinburgh

Friends of the Earth Scotland protests against nuclear power outside the Scottish government (“Executive”) building, Edinburgh. Scotland’s government currently says it will not give the go ahead to new nuclear power stations until the problem of waste is resolved. This action, in front to the Scottish government’s offices, was to remind the Scottish Executive of this pledge and that they must respond to the UK’s Energy Review with a clear message that new nuclear build in Scotland remains unacceptable. Moreover, the Executive should warn Westminster that it will strongly oppose any attempts to impose new nuclear power stations on Scotland, reflecting the majority opinion in the Scottish electorate. Also, Scotland could generate twice as much energy than it needs from renewables alone, if given the chance.

France: Perpignan

Activists from “Sortir du nucleaire” and the local Greenpeace group played 3 times a short piece of street theatre in the center of the city.The play was about French nuclear politics and atomic waste. Information leaflets were given and petitions were signed. We have already + 3000 signatures to get out of atomic power and will continue our actions.

France: Strasbourg

In spite of the rain, the association Stop Transports-Halte au Nucléaire was in the streets of the center of Strasbourg to distribute leaflets and to gather signatures for the European petition. In France, the largest user of nuclear power in Europe, a lot of resistance exists against this dangerous form of energy. On 15 April, a big international demonstration is planned in Cherbourg against the building of a new EPR nuclear reactor.

Germany: Schwerin

The Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) started his activities for the „One million signatures against nuclear power”-Campaign in the capital city of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schwerin. Despite cold temperatures and heavy snow, the BUND campaigners installed four inflatable nuclear power stations, symbolising the four next plants in Germany that should be switched off according to the “Atomkonsens” of 2001, and a model of the Chernobyl sarcophagus. Lots of signatures were collected!

Austria: Vienna

In Vienna, Austrian the anti-nuclear groups Wiener Plattform, Atomstopp, Freistädter Mütter and GLOBAL 2000 demonstrated in the heart of the city, collecting hundreds of signatures.

Latvia: Riga

The Latvian action was held in front of the Chamber of Ministers in Riga (banner: “Better active than radioactive!”). The Latvian government recently announced interest in participating in building a new nuclear power station together with Estonia and Lithuania. When the government refused to discuss the issue of nuclear waste with the activists, Friends of the Earth Latvia (Latvijas Zemes Draugi) is now suggesting to dump future nuclear waste in the prime minister’s office.

The Netherlands: Utrecht & Arnhem

Collecting signatures in freezing cold and heavy snow makes you realise the relevance of energy (cf. heating). But nuclear power cannot provide heating. Unlike solar power or biomass. Still, the Dutch governement recently stated that new nuclear power plants are needed again, after a 20 year lasting agreement to phase out nuclear energy. There is lots of opposition in the public, so hundreds of signatures were collected during the day.

Bulgaria, Sofia

The Bulgarian campaign also started on 11 March 2006, in front of one of the captitals architectural icon, the NDK. Weather was siding with the nuclear lobby, rainy and windy, but later (when everybody was drenched to the bone), the sun came back and so came citizens, in order to sign the petition.

Scotland: Nuclear White Elephant

Friends of the Earth Scotland’s ‘nuclear white elephant’ campaign highlighted the many problems associated with nuclear power and proposed more sensible solutions in the fight against climate change. The group marked the launch of the campaign by inflating a giant 14-foot tall inflatable ‘nuclear white elephant’ in front of the Scottish Parliament. The campaign includes a national ‘nuclear white elephant’ tour that will visit Scottish towns and cities, public events and nuclear facilities.

Netherlands: Inflatable NPP

WISE-Amsterdam placed a inflatable nuclear power station in front of the Dutch Parliament building when a new nuclear law was discussed. Anti-nuclear activists from all over the Netherlands were forming a ‘live banner’ with the text: ‘Stop Borssele. Choose renewable.’ The Dutch governement is planning to keep the only Dutch nuclear power plant Borssele open for 60 year – making it the oldest nuclear power station ever! Power plant from a similar type elsewhere in Europe have already been closed down due to safety problems caused by aging.

Finland: Anti-nuclear bicycle tour

In Finland, signatures were collected during a anti-nuclear bicycle tour. In Helsinki there was a commemoration event in front of the modern art museum with speeches from members of parliament and the well known Russian scientist Natalia Manzurova. This event was organised together with “Power of Future”, Maan Ystävät Ry / Friends of the Earth Finland, Women Against Nuclear and Greenpeace.

Belgium: March between power plants

In Belgium, anti-nuclear activists walked from the nuclear power plant of Tihange (near Namur) to the nuclear power plant of Doel (near Antwerp) to mark the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. On 26 April, people from all parts of Belgium at 0:23 a.m. symbolically blockaded the nuclear power plant of Doel near Antwerp to commemorate the exact time of the explosion at Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant 20 years ago. The march was organised by Les Amis de la Terre and Mother Earth, the Wallonia and Flemish Friends of the Earth groups in Belgium.

Everywhere: Street theatre

Mister Pi Nokkio, nuclear lobbyist, telling people that nuclear energy is safe, clean, sustainable and cheap. Mister Pi Nokkio, a Dutch street artist and anti-nuclear activist, can make people laugh while at the same time bringing a very serious message. Street theatre is a very nice way of starting a discussion with the public!

France: Smiling hats

In Cherbourg (France) approximately 25,000 people gathered to oppose the construction of a new EPR power plant, to commemorate the 20 years of the Chernobyl disaster. Out of this big demonstration in Cherbourg, more than 60 French groups have created an action plan to never forget Chernobyl and for the ongoing 1 million petition. French activists have already collected nearly 150,000 signatures to this petition.

20th Anniversary of Chernobyl

26 April 2006 is the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. This is no day to celebrate. People are still suffering from the consequences, and nuclear power in general remains the most dangerous form of energy. It is high time to remind the public and our governments that nuclear power should be finally phased out and has no role to play in Europe’s energy mix.

Weeks Of Action

Hundreds of local groups will organise street actions around this 20th anniversary, during the “Weeks of Action” between 15 April and 7 May 2006. the focus of this action period is to collect thousands of signatures for the European Petition against Nuclear Power. Actions will take place all over Europe, and we will see all kinds of actions, from big demonstrations to small fun actions, or simply information stalls in city centres, where people can sign the petition.

Actions will include large demonstration on 15 April in Cherbourg (France) against the planned construction of new reactor, an anti-nuclear march on foot in Belgium from 15th to 26th of April, ot an nternational activist conference on 23-25th April in Kiev, Ukraine, called “Chernobyl+20 – Remembrance for the Future”.

Your Owb Street Action

You can do your own action! You would join the hundreds of actions that are already planned. You can do it just by yourself, or with friends and colleagues, e.g. if you are a member of a local activist organisation, a workers’ union or any other group.

The easiest way is a simple information stand in your city centre (and we’ve got a free “Action Pack” for you, see below). All you need is a table, our action pack with lots of signature lists and a number of volunteers to run the stall.

Contacts

If you would like to participate in the “Weeks of Action” to collect signatures for the European petition, contact us! If you organise a street action, we would like to know, because that would allow us to make a huge list of the hundreds of actions taking place across Europe. Contact details here.

Action Ideas

Whether you are a long-time, smoothly running organisation, or a small group of concerned citizens, it’s always worthwhile thinking of new ways to appeal to the audience, attract the media and make your point – preferably all at the same time! A stall on the market with your material is very important, but sometimes you just want to do something more. Here you find some action ideas – big or small, done or just fantasy, complex or very simple, serious or funny. Please have a look and hopefully you get inspired to take action!
Offering nuclear waste to government building

When the discussion on a new nuclear power plant in the Baltic States arose, Friends of the Earth Latvia wanted to pay attention to the fact that the question of watse storage was completely ignored by the responsible politicans. So they took a number of waste barrels to the government building and offered them for local storage there -of course only temporarily until a better solution would be found.

Nuclear Powertry Contest

Many people like to express themselves in words: rappers, poets, writers. Why not organise a contest for the best (anti-)nuclear power rhyme? Most medium-sized (and bigger) communities have organised groups of performers who can be actively approached to join or help. And don’t forget school language classes/teachers!

Nuclear power cookies

In many countries there are three types of cookies quite easily available, who together can be combined into a cookie nuclear power plant: a flat cookie for the ground base, a half round cookie for the actual power plant, and a thin-rolled cookie for the ‘chimney’. Nice to hand out at stalls! See for example

Disaster rehearsal

In late 1988, the Dutch anti-nuclear movement organised a very cool action, which required quite some planning, preparation and people: the imitation of a ‘disaster rehearsal’. With the help of two fire engines, motorbikes, an ambulance and 80 people, the main highway to and from the province where the Borssele nuclear power plant is situated, was blocked off for a number of hours. All traffic was diverted into a parking place, checked for radioactivity and questioned about their ‘contact with the open air’ in the past 24 hours. Kilometres of blocked traffic was the result. Leaflets were handed out saying one cannot rehearse for a real nuclear accident, therefore: no nuclear power! The local police, convinced they were dealing with an official rehearsal, assisted with traffic control and even loading the material back on afterwards.

Applying for a safety job at a nuclear power plant

When the Borssele nuclear power plant got a negative report from the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), stating there wasn’t enough skilled personnel and safety measures were insufficient or malfunctioning, 25 activists went to the power plant and applied for the clearly needed safety jobs. They were carrying well-documented information on how to stop and dismantle a nuclear power plant, by far the safest way to deal with nuclear power.

Official Letter

We recommend to only organise actions that do not break any laws. One hears that official letters, even if they are actually fake ones, cause a lot of attention, especially if such a letter carries a message to ‘every citizen’ about a fact concerning nuclear power. One example is an urgent request from the owner or developer of a (new) nuclear power plant, to all people living in an area close to the site to take part in a survey on testing the ‘starting levels’ of radioactivity in their body for legal certainty about future radiation exposures. Or a letter announcing an upcoming invoice or an extra tax rise due to the increased safety or dismantling or waste storage costs that a nearby nuclear power plant is causing. Some activists have even added an official telephone number of a directly involved company or the local government, who then had to deal with hundreds of requests from concerned citizens. Those letters work best if spread door-to-door to a relatively large group of people.

And a few more brainstorm ideas

1. Distribution of apples (because of apple-pectin as means against radioactivity in the body or biomass instead of nuclear) with a petition sticker on the streets to the people.
2. Distribution of postcards with a petition-tea-bag on it on the streets to the people.
3. Distribution of nuts (our way of nuclear fission) on the streets to the people.
4. There is a net of rivers through Europe – and there are many NPPs situated near rivers. What about a Message in a bottle action (with the petition text in all of the bottles – and a specific text for the plants that are in the near of the river)?
5. Demonstration in the front of an embassy of a country which has concrete plans to build a new nuclear power plant.
6. Exhibition with the posters and blank sheets of papers where people can paint their own pictures against nuclear.
7. Forming the text “Million Against Nuclear” with people (needs many people) or with candles, Smiling Sun Stickers or whatever.

This reaction is in sharp contrast to the usual harsh reaction to unauthorised protest. Putin recently signed a new law, giving Moscow broad powers to monitor the activities and finances of NGOs. The new powers include the right to suspend NGOs. His mild response to the EcoDefense protest must be considered an attempt to smoothen down the sharp criticism on the antidemocratic tendencies of his government.

“It’s very good that the president had such a positive reaction… It was a good sober reaction of a person who believes that environmentalists have a right to speak their mind,” said Vladimir Slivyak, a leader of EcoDefense, commenting after the protest on Tuesday. But “here there was the president and there were TV cameras and journalists and this gives a certain protection,” Slivyak said. At an anti-nuclear demonstration near the Kremlin in April, security officers detained a dozen campaigners and several reporters.

The protest of the anti-nuclear activists was widely reported in the Russian media. At the end of the speech the protesters applauded after Putin said that efforts should be made to find an alternative to nuclear energy.

The two-day Civil G-8 is the official NGO prep meeting for the G-8 summit later this month that is (partly) dedicated to Energy.