International Anti-nuclear Network Meeting in Czech Republic


 * International Network Meeting of Anti-nuclear Activists
 * on August 1-5, 2011 in the region of České Budějovice (CZ) close to the border between Austria and the Czech Republic
 * overview of former networking gatherings

Invitation to the 2011 network-meeting in the region of the Southern Bohemian City Ceské Budejovice (CZ)
1.8.-5.8.2011 (arrival possible already on Sunday 31.8., departure possible on Saturday 6.8.)

The first international anti-nuclear networking gathering after the Fukushima disaster organized by activists of the Nuclear Heritage Network will take place from August 1-5, 2011 in Ceské Budejovice (Budweis) in the Czech Republic close to the Austrian border and near to the controversial Temelín NPP. You are invited to join us in this anti-nuclear strategy and networking meeting.

Earlier gatherings of the Nuclear Heritage Network took place 2008 in Bure (F) and Frankfurt/Main (D), 2009 in Slovenia (SLO), and 2010 as well in Helsinki (FIN) aa in several Baltic Sea cities as part of the Baltic Sea Info Tour.

As part of the gathering anti-nuclear activists from several countries will also meet with Czech and Austrian activists who cooperate in a unique cross-border network, which is partly coordinated and funded by the Upper-Austrian regional government. We will visit a group of Lower-Austrian activists, who have been organizing for years now so called "energy-meetings" and have become pioneers in using and making renewable energies popular.

The gathering is also supposed to get to know each other in person, to share experiences in the anti-nuclear field, and to develope mutual projects and campaigns. There will be an excursion to the Temelín NPP, too. Our goal is to improve the international anti-nuclear cooperations and to discuss how to provide more resources by the Nuclear Heritage Network as well as by activists and organizations out of the network for international anti-nuclear activities. Thus, our initiatives are supposed to strengthen the anti-nuclear movement as well as to face various obstacles within and outside the movement.

As the logistic frame of our meeting is limited, please announce your participation to us as early as possible, and not later than July 20:
 * [mailto:falkATnuclear-heritage.net falk AT nuclear-heritage.net] (+49 3431 5894177),
 * [mailto:b.rieplATeduhi.at b.riepl AT eduhi.at] (http://www.sonneundfreiheit.eu)

We will provide more information like detailed programme, schedule of the gathering and travel information close to the meeting on this webpage.

See you soon!

Preliminary Schedule of the Gathering
''Anti-nuclear Strategy and Networking Gathering Czech Republic, Ceské Budejovice (Southern Bohemia) August 1-5, 2011''

Monday, August 1 - Introduction and Presentations Day
 * 10 AM - Welcoming, programme overview and introduction of each other
 * 11.00 AM - presentation of the "Nuclear Heritage Network", one of the organizers of the gathering
 * 11.45 AM - Atomic policies, anti-nuclear activities and impacts of the Fukushima disaster on the countries gathered in this meeting
 * Austria
 * including brief introduction of the organization OIZP and "Sonne und Freiheit", one of the organizers of the gathering
 * Czech Republic
 * Germany
 * Russia
 * Canada
 * 4.30 PM - break
 * 5.30 PM - lecture about uranium mining in the Czech Republic and the quest for a final disposal site (Hanka Gabrielova)
 * 6.30 PM - dinner break and informal talks (restaurant)

Tuesday, August 2 - Workshops and Networking Day
 * 9 AM - workshop on the uranium mining topic (Hanka Gabrielova)
 * 10 AM - introduction of the organization ECCB (Tomáš Avramov)
 * 11 AM - lecture about the clean up operation of the former uranium mine and the threat of reopening the mining process in the Liberec area (Josef Jadrný)
 * 12 PM - introduction of the organization CALLA & information about uranium mining in the Czech Republic and the quest for a final disposal site (Edvard Sequens)
 * discussion about the position of NGOs in the process of finding final disposal sites
 * exchange of experience with final disposal challenges in other countries
 * 2 PM - lecture about resistance against nuclear power, history and social context of the Temelín NPP as well as about the cooperation of activists in Austria and Czech Republic (Monika Wittingerová and Daniela Magersteinová, South Bohemian mothers)
 * talk about dealing with the burn-out challenge
 * many activists are faced to working to much due to lacking the necessary support by other people, turning out to eventually be burned out. Exchanging experiences on this field and discussing how to deal with these challenges.
 * 4 PM - experience with suppression of and repression against anti-nuclear activists (Leo Seserko)
 * 4.30 PM - meeting with Dalibor Strásky and talk about his new position as the coordinator of the anti-nuclear agenda of the federal state of Upper Austria

(lunch will probably be taken parallel during the day)

Wednesday, August 3 - Excursion Day 1
 * Excursion to the Temelín NPP
 * Meeting with a local critic in Temelín - talks about the local resistance against the NPP, the relocation of the inhabitants of five villages due to the atomic Temelín project and about impacts of the border blockades of the Austrian anti-nuclear campaigns on the Czech anti-nuclear movement and the relations between Czech and Austrian anti-nuclear groups
 * Excursion to Věžovatá Pláně, the first Czech village which became member of the climate alliance. Meeting with the mayor Josef Mach.
 * Meeting with the Upper Austrian coordinator of anti-nuclear policy Dalibor Strásky his activities and discussion about the PR policy of the Temelín operator
 * Discussion about possible anti-nuclear strategies in a country like the Czech Republic with a great lack of public knowledge on atomic threats
 * Talk about possibilities of financial support for anti-nuclear work
 * how to provide financial support for participants of international events, for the production of information materials and for anti-nuclear activities in general (gathering information about possibilities, experiences and contacts as well as discussing how to establish a system of support for each other)

(Staying overnight in the village)

Thursday, August 4 - Excursion Day 2
 * 10 AM - visit of Windhaag, an Austrian village planning to become energetically independent from fossile fuels and guided tour through the wind power exhibition with the former mayor Alfred Klepatsch
 * 12 PM - meeting with Austrian activists (and lunch)
 * 3-6 PM - meeting with Lower Austrian Greens in Schrems in Upper Austria
 * 6.30 PM - presentation of a new project of citizen's photovoltaik investment
 * 8 PM - partizipation in the "Waldviertler Energie-Stammtisch"

(Staying overnight in the town)

Friday, August 5 - Reflection and Future Campaigning Day (back in Ceské Budejovice)
 * 10 AM - Preparation of the afternoon workshops, exchange of impressions of the anti-nuclear resistance in Austria and the Czech Republic
 * 12 PM - Feedback on this gathering
 * 1 PM - Network reflection: what impact do we have, what do we want to change, how to increase the results of our anti-nuclear activities?
 * 3 PM - workshops on specific campaigns, projects and activities
 * discussing new flyers about nuclear power plants, uranium mining and the search for a final disposal in CZ; agreeing about timetables and other arrangements
 * introduction of the NukeNews newsletter system and discussion about starting a Czech language version
 * information about the proposed next network gatherings, the planned uranium mining exhibition and the Fukushima emergency alert
 * 5 PM - Dinner and end of the gathering

(The topics of the specific workshops had been collected in the "wishlist" started here on the webpage of the gathering.)

Practical arrangements: The arrival was possible already on Sunday, July 31, and the departure was also possible on Saturday, August 6. Breaks for having food or coffee were made spontaneously depending on the dynamic of the gathering. At some days, when we had excursions or events outside the gathering place, we had food at local restaurants.

Wishlist - Topics for the Gathering
Workhops to improve our anti-nuclear network: (please add the topics you want to present/discuss yourself)
 * Nuke News Newsletter system (next issue deadline: August 28)
 * developing the information system, establishing a bigger group of anti-nuclear activists providing the newsletter with messages about atomic developments and anti-nuclear activities and supporting the translation process


 * International media work
 * gathering collections of media contacts, discussing how to provide this database to activists and how to ensure the qualitiy of this database


 * international reach-out materials
 * latest issues: Uranium; final disposal sites Gorleben, Morsleben and Schacht Konrad; search for a final disposal site in Switzerland; La Hague
 * new issues in preparation: Fukushima disaster; atomic situation in Belarus; Kola NPP
 * new ideas: atomic situation in the Czech Republic and in Slovenia


 * Fukushima update
 * proposed project including website, printed information materials etc. including investigations on the developings connected to the disaster, connecting anti-nuclear activists working on the topic and providing basic information to activists for anti-nuclear work


 * internation network office
 * with volunteers from several countries responding to requests from activists all over the world helping them to connect to other activists, experts and speakers for events, coordinating international networking activities and supporting the production of multilingual anti-nuclear information materials


 * multilingual uranium mining exhibition
 * investigating and creating the exhibition posters, producing, translating into several languages, promoting the exhibition and organizing an itinerant exhibition tour accompanied by vernissages, movie screening and additional information events


 * information database on nuclear facilities around the Baltic Sea
 * booklet and website - already in procsess, but much information and writing contributions still lacking


 * extending the information basis of the Nuclear Heritage Network website
 * responsibilities and resources for adding contents to the country pages or specific content pages and providing technical services for activists

Joining Organizations and Participants
As of July 5, 2011 we will have participants of the following regions and organizations in our gathering.

Some of the organizations involved:
 * Greenkids (D)
 * Sonne und Freiheit (A)
 * Zveza ekoloških gibanj (SI)
 * Southern Bohemian Mothers (CZ)
 * CALLA (CZ)
 * ECCB (CZ)
 * Just1world (CA)

Regions participants came from:
 * Austria
 * Czech Republic
 * Germany (Berlin, Saxony)
 * Russia (Murmansk)
 * Slovenia
 * Canada

Report
Nuclear Heritage Network meeting 2011 in České Budějovice (Budweis), Czech Republic From the 1st-5th August 2011 in the southern bohemian city

České Budějovice (Budweis) was the main location for the 2011 summer meeting of the "Nuclear Heritage Network". This International Meeting of Anti-nuclear Activists was organized by local NGO representatives, with the main responsibility carried by the Austrian-Czech NGO „Gemeinsam für Sonne+Freiheit“.

Among the participants were activists from the Czech Republic, from Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Canada (India) and Russia. They got to know each other and met with other Czech and Austrian activists, visited the NPP Temelín, a photovoltaic plant and two villages trying to become energetically independent from fossile and nuclear fuels. (Windhaag/Fr. in Northern Austria and Věžovatá Pláně in Southern Bohemia).

It was the first „Nuclear Heritage Network Meeting“ of anti-nukes-activists after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan.

1. Day: After getting to know each other, the activists analysed the situation of nuclear industry and anti-nukes-movement in different countries after the Fukushima-disaster. There were presentations about the work of the Nuclear Heritage (Falk Beyer), the NGOs „Sonne+Freiheit“ and „OIZP“ by Bernhard Riepl as well as by Sophie Hohenberg and Hans-Diemar Wölfle, the German participants from Brandenburg about their activities, by Vitaly Servetnik, a Russian activist with "Nature and Youth", on the situation in his country and also the global perspecitve was highlighted (by the Chai Kalevar, the Canadian representative, who has his roots in India). Elisabeth Kerschbaum, a green senator from Lower Austria informed about her work and experience among others as a member of the inter-parliamentary group on the NNP Temelín.

In the evening followed a talk on unranium-mining and nuclear waste by, Hanka Gabrielová, a Czech activist. By then had arrived the representative from Slovenia, who, as the former environmental- and vice-primeminister spoke about his experiences and efforts of organizing a referendum on whether or not to stop the nuclear developement in his country.

2. Day: The particiants visited the Institute „Energy Center České Budějovice“, where they were informed about the perspectives of using renewable energy resources in Southern Bohemia. In the afternoon they met Czech activists and discussed different aspects of their work and their situation within a quite pro-nuclear leaning public. Topics were among others problems with uranium-mining and the necessity of getting rid of nuclear waste (Eda Sequens, CALLA). An activist from Northern Bohemia (Josef Jadrný, http://www.nasepodjestedi.cz) gave a talk on the situation there, where there is a huge area contaminated as a result of former uranium-mining activities and what to do about that, considering that this area is not far from the former East-German border with a possible impact on the ground water across the border as well. Then there was a discussion with representatives of the „Southern Bohemian Mothers“ (Daniela Magersteinová, Monika Wittingerová). They spoke about the social context and the history of nuclear resistence in Southern Bohemia, with a special regard of the cross-border cooperation between Czech- and Austrian activists. In the evening the former Slovenian environment-minister and vice-premier Leo Šešerko informed about the pressure, which has been and is exerted on him and other anti-nuclear activists and about his intention of writing a book on the topic of why and how representatives of the anti-nuclear movement are beeing discriminated.

3. Day: The first half of the day was spent on the compounds of the younger of two Czech NPPs (Temelín NPP). As usual the view from the outside and in the brochures everything is very neat. After the excursion the activists met with a local resident, who has long been confronted with the NPP Temelín completely changing the local and regional structures. His perspective is not so much the one of a classical activist, but of somebody living in a society, which is systematically being „bought“ by the investor of the NPP (ČEZ). So his role is a specific one of course, but communication with other regional NGOs, and, after various misunderstandings and complications, also with Austrian activists is continuing – it is however something like the classival David-Goliath-situation, compared with the possibilities of ČEZ.

On our way to the little village Věžovatá Pláně, not far from the border to Austria (this village was the first Czech village to become member of the (Climate Alliance)we could also visit a larger photovoltaic plant, placed in the field and discussed the different aspects of this kind of alternative energy production in a specific Czech context, which often prefers large investors, while using „pseudo-ecological“ arguments. (during the excursion in the NPP Temelín the day before we had been told, that photovoltaic plants are a very good support for nuclear power, because exactly when the nuclear fuel is beeing changed in summer, which takes several weeks, the huge amount of electricity produced by photovoltaic plants perfectly substitutes the lack of nuclear energy during that period of the year,... during the last 3 years the installed photovoltaic capacity in the Czech republic rose, by the way, to around 2,000 MW, which is about the capacity of both blocks in Temelín together).

In the evening we met the mayor of Věžovatá Pláně, Josef Mach, and, as already the day before the new anti-nuclear coordinator of the Upper Austrian government, Dalibor Strásky and discussed with both, the possibilities and mutual synergies, to support each other´s aims.

4. Day: Now in Upper Austria already, we met with Alfred Klepatsch, former mayor in the village Windhaag bei Freistadt, whose plan it is, to become independent from fossile and nuclear energy ressourses. Mr. Klepatsch led us through the local energy-exhibition (German and Czech texts). Then we met with Gabi Schweiger from the NGO Mütter gegen Atomgefahr, who is one of the driving forces in the attempt, to question Austria´s membership in EURATOM, current developements within the Anti-Nuclear-Movement and their own role in it. There was a consensus among the participants in Windhaag, that it is not responsible to consume more energy than we can produce, because that would be something like stealing our childrens' future.

After lunch we went on to the Lower-Austrian city of Schrems, where we met with a group of green politicians and exchanged views on each other´s activities in the field of nuclear resistance and the necessary emphasis on renewables. In the evening then we were guests during the 10. anniversary meeting of the monthly so called Waldviertler Energiestammtisch, a meeting of local activists, who have been already trying for years to join forces between anti-nuclear and pro-renewables. Not only were their members among the founders of Austria´s largest windenergy company with a partly public ownership WEB Windenergie AG but also initiators of smaller regional projects with public participation.

On the 5th day we returned back to České Budějovice (Budweis) and evaluated the week while discussing in more detail possible future activities and synergies we could make use of.

The next international action will be the blockade in Finnland (Olkiluoto) and in November is another CASTOR transport with used nuclear fuel due.

Our meeting was generously supported by financial resources of the Upper Austrian regional government, the Lower Austrian Green party (Bettina Hradecsni) and the "Waldviertler Engergiestammtisch-Team" (speaker Renate Brandner-Weiß). We agreed, that we would use the mutual ressources mainly through international information exchanges including translating various texts. Besides that the established contacts ought to be used for the realisation of own projects in the different countries and in the framework of planned meetings in the year 2012 and beyond.

Minutes by: Vitaly Servetnik, Bernhard Riepl

Media Coverage

 * Internationales Anti-Atom-Treffen: Zusammenarbeit soll forciert werden - oekonews.at (August 8, 2011)