According to the plans of the German government, there will be a further nuclear waste transport to the German town Gorleben located in the infamous Wendland region this November. It will be probably the last transport from the reprocessing plant at La Hague. During the last years, the transport didn’t happen without interference: hook claws (German: Hakenkrallen) and fire sabotaged the railway service, at many stations along the route, tens of thousands of people gathered at rallies and blockades or chained themselves to the tracks. This successful international resistance was possible even though the Castor train is regularly accompanied by an armada of armed and armoured police force, which is equipped with heavy gear.
Starting from the boarder of the Wendland, the cops behave like an army of occupators. The Wendland is packed every year with cops and their cars, trucks, water cannons and other uniformed junk. The people living in the Wendland region are fed up with this situation for years – continuous inspections, controls – which start often already two months before the actual transport. No wonder the slogan that adorns a lot of posters for years: “occupators out”. This is exactly what we want to achieve this year. In 2010, farmers set-up massive road blockades in the countryside and expanded very successfully the space and sphere of activity concerning the whole Castor resistance. This autonomous concept was already carried out in earlier times by protesters. The autonomous tractor groups have in recent years made it clear again: occupators are vulnerable. They depend on the fact that they are supplied with food and drinks – because in the public kitchens of the resistance they get nothing. They are dependent on Dixie-potties along the way – because who wants to let this occupation army into the own house to go to the bathroom? And they are dependent on continuous exchange of staff – after ten or more hour shifts even cops need a break. In addition they will eventually be tired from hours of standing around, carrying blockades away or beating – in short, they are exhausted from carrying out the dirty jobs for the nuclear industry and its governmental supporters.
Increase the space of resistance
Expanding the areas of resistance means for us to block these supply lines and sabotage them. It can start ahead of time, because the cops of your city might go to Wendland as well?! Focussing on this concept locally – of course embedded in the overall resistance – means being self-organized in order to act unpredictable. Convoys can be stopped for example through barricades or sabotaged car tires. Cut the lines of food supply or be creative in any other way that serves the purpose. The possibilities are endless, the sphere of resistance is huge. Militancy is not an end in itself but a form of resistance by many – but one that requires very high responsibility. The goal is to create a maximum of targeted damage without endangering uninvolved people. The goal is to create space for many different forms of resistance and thus jointly make the movement of the police army as difficult as possible.
Therefore, autonomous groups call out this year to the “Summer holiday in Wendland”. The autonomous campaign “Shut down the nuclear state! Castor 2011 – widely uncontrollable and unruly” advises affinity groups to gain knowledge and an overview of the surroundings ahead of time before the resistance days – whether its the first time resisting against the Castor transport or a yearly tradition with your affinity group. Importantly, we want to show ourselves only from our best side: self-organized, unpredictable and unforgiving. So that we can operate successfully in small groups, there is a map available (castor2011.org) on which the infrastructure of the cops is marked. The supply chains take which route? How does their food reach the tracks and their area of operation? Where are their barracks, sleeping-places? Where are their toilets? Let’s make their operation hell!!!
But let’s go back to the concept – equipped with the above mentioned map. The best practice would be to make plans now and spend a weekend in the Wendland together with the affinity group. The experiences of many autonomous people and anarchists during the past years have shown that preparation is needed and useful. Knowledge of the place and area are important and it is even better if preparations for actions are already made ahead of time. Otherwise, the general autonomous small groups during the action days rely on others’ ideas, which maybe do not fit their own action ideas. And if there are no offers, then all are anyway only for hours hanging around the fire, debating what could be done. So get active!
To act unpredictable and decentralized is a huge advantage towards the heavy cop army. But it also carries risks. That’s why we recommend to all, look at the routes, tracks, paths’, the best possibility to retreat, the surrounding area in advance. Many actions are possible, getting busted is annoying. We have confidence that self-organization is actually one of our strengths. We want to expand the concept of resistance in the Wendland again with own autonomous actions.
Not all affinity groups will have the opportunity or the time to prepare ahead of time on the spot, we know that. There are also lots of possibilities for these people. Material blockages for instance are also spontaneously set-up – the above mentioned map will help you plan on the spot as well. To familiarize yourself with the situation and the area and to warm-up for the action, the “Rally Monte Göhrde” took place during the last years. A “we explore the forest and roads leading to the rail transportation route” obstacle course, which usually takes place on Friday during the action days. Participants must be human, whether with tractor or car, by motorcycle or bicycle, on horseback or by foot. Here we can cause already trouble for the cops whilst getting familiar with the surroundings.
Shut down the nuclear state – the debate beyond the Castor transport
Even though the nuclear lobby seems to retreat after the meltdown of the nuclear plant in Fukushima, their current phrases about the “break” and “reflection” remind us of the promises made 25 years ago. After the meltdown at the nuclear plant in Chernobyl, these phrases went on until most people were pacified and kept quiet. Just a few weeks – and still in the midst of the meltdown in Fukushima – the same old habits of nuclear companies to discredit the resistance as “emotionally” came up. We already know that. The four nuclear companies in Germany and the suppliers want to continue with their money making machinery and they want to have a monopoly on electricity supply. Everything should go on like this in the future, as it was negotiated for many years with the respective governments: a deal in favour of the companies RWE, Vattenfall, EnBW and Eon – and without any responsibility for environment and people. Company representatives like Mr. Grossmann and others don’t care about the danger to human life. They want to use the time strategically to secure their daily profits in other ways. Decentralized energy supply is the real threat to the power companies, because they lose power and thus profits. Therefore we aim to get not only the Castor transport into the spotlight, but also this part of the capitalist commodity flows. We want to sabotage them as well in order to make our irreconcilability with the capitalist system significantly clear.
This also applies to the currently debated concept of the energy transition. The bourgeois-green government will insist that everything stays as it is – just a bit more ecological. It is necessary to intervene in this debate and to make clear that the fundamental relationship between man and nature exploitation justified by steady growth results in the real problem. This is not an end in itself, is not about prosperity for all, but about access to and exploitation of resources by a few. Not only in regard to the power supply, we want to attack this ratio in principle. Everywhere. And we are not afraid that the light turns off.
After the transports from La Hague, more will follow from Sellafield to Gorleben. Nuclear waste transports to Ahaus and Lubmin will take place again and there are several transports throughout the country that happen unnoticed by the public. The madness in the name of capitalism will go on. Let’s resist and put an end to the nuclear state – in November together with the people in the Wendland region and along the entire route.
Let’s make the coming Castor transport financially and politically as expensive as possible by operating jointly, self-organized and internationally. Let’s encourage many others through our actions to participate in active resistance – unpredictable and unforgiving.
Source: castor2011.org
INVITATION FOR A BIG CAMP AND MASS ACTION AGAINST THE NUCLEAR TRANSPORT CASTOR IN VALOGNES (FRANCE) FROM 22ND TO 24TH NOVEMBER 2011, JUST ACROSS THE CHANNEL
The French and the English government have this common feature of being mad about nuclear power. Whereas Germany, Switzerland and Italy are stepping out of the nuclear energy, France and Great-Britain are doing as if Fukushima never happened. If we refuse to let Fukushima become, like Tchernobyl before, an accident without consequence, it is time to take action, NOW.
More than ever, it is obvious that it is only on an international level that we can think the struggle against nuclear power, because it is on this level that the contradiction between the states that step out of it and those who don’t becomes explosive. As our aim – to free ourselves of those who destroy our lives and everything alive for the last money left to make – can in no way be achieved by them, as all the governments can do is greenwash their tools of destruction, we should use this moment to make it clear that we still envision a future. For it is not only the question of energy that we are determined to take back in our own hands but our lives. That is why we invite all British comrades to join our initiative right on the other side of the Channel, in Valognes (near Cherbourg) from 22nd to 24th November 2011.
On these dates starts the CASTOR transport of highly radioactive refutes that goes from La Hague to Gorleben (Germany). This year for the first time, in coordination with the German comrades, there will be a camp and mass action in order to block this transport at its very starting point, in Valognes, just like the Germans do it in Gorleben.
LET’S MEET THERE AND DISTURB LIKE NEVER BEFORE THE QUIET ROUTINE OF THIS DEADLY INDUSTRY!
Source: Valognes Stop Castor