Baltic Sea Info Tour/Helsinki

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Tour Stop in Helsinki
In Finland's capital Helsinki the government, parliament and authorities make the basic decisions about the nuclear developments in the country. Currently most concerns are connected to the proposed new reactors (additionally to the faulty Olkiluoto-3 constructions) and uranium mining plans of several nuclear companies. We want to show that there is international attention for the nuclear activities in Finland - thus we bring our protest also to the capital and aim to support the local anti-nuclear movements.

The Baltic Sea Info Tour will stop from June 30 - July 2 in Helsinki. After these three days of activities the participants of the infotour will have two resting days in the region for recreation.

Anyway, the Baltic Sea Info Tour will provide a public information event, a public street action and a regional network gathering in Helsinki.

Infopoint in Helsinki for the Baltic Sea Info Tour will be at the Social Center (Kyläsaarenkatu 11).

Local contact
Ranua Rescue
 * phone: +358 40 476 6672
 * email: [mailto:helsinki.baltic-tourATnuclear-heritage.net helsinki.baltic-tour AT nuclear-heritage.net]

Travel Schedule of the Helsinki Stop

 * Tuesday (Jun 29): travelling from the previous stop in Loviisa/Isnäs to Helsinki
 * Wednesday - Friday (Jun 30 - Jul 2): STOP in Helsinki
 * Saturday - Sunday (Jul 3-4): resting days
 * Monday (Jul 5): travelling to the next stop in St. Petersburg or alternatively to Riga

Report from Helsinki
Helsinki stop had quite busy schedule: network meeting, preparation for actions and, of course, the actions. The stop took place in a very important time for the whole Finland and, actually, for the whole Baltic Sea region – on July 1st Finnish Parliament had a voting about building new reactors in Finland, which was accompanied by a protest action. Inhabitants of Helsinki, inhabitants of other Finnish cities and even people from abroad had gathered near the Parliament to express their antinuclear opinion. Posters, banners, T-shirts with antinuclear symbols, slogans, a gravestone, prepared by Finnish Greenpeace… In case of positive voting, names of all deputies who voted “yes” would be engraved there. Even Death had arrived. She was walking around, asking to vote “yes”. Of course, “Death” was one of the activists. Some activists had gotten into the Parliament to see the voting but they were thrown out after they started to throw confetti. The voting ended at 10 AM. Suddenly the whole square near the Parliament building became completely silent: the Parliament had voted for nuclear, not antinuclear future for Finland. Everyone was disappointed but, luckily, this is not the final decision.

Later that day we had a street action: an info tent and some street theatre. It paid many people’s attention and we were happy for each person who stopped by and showed interest about our materials. During the stop we had a network meeting, which provided us with many facts about real nuclear situation in, for example, Sweden and Belarus. Some of the materials were really shocking. For instance, Swedish reactors are polluting the most, leaving Russian reactors far behind. On July 2nd we had an info tent in Kaisaniemi Park, in the territory of Tuska festival. Despite some organizing problems, we managed to reach many people’s attention – nuclear power and the threats it causes really affects everyone! After hard work we’ve earned some rest, right? So we had movie evenings. One of the movies was “Silkwood”, a very good drama based on true facts. Karen Silkwood, a worker of a nuclear facility who decided to tell the media about safety violations in her workplace, paid for it with her life. Helsinki stop was also important because we met some new people, for example, a street theatre group who joined us in later stops too and some local activists.

Programme of the Infotour in Helsinki
On June 30th at 10 PM the activity days of the infotour stop in Helsinki will beginn with an internal meeting to get to know each other including a presentation of the local anti-nuclear group.

Regional Network Meeting in Helsinki
Organizations and activists are invited to meet with us to get to know each other, make contacts and start future cooperations. The gathering will take place at the Social Center on June 30 at 2.30 PM. Read more

Public Information Event in Helsinki
On July 1 activities will take place at 12 PM next to the Paasikiven Aukio (square close the Parliament) including infotents and an uranium exhibition. Three anti-nuclear theatre shows by groups from Helsinki and Tampere will be part of the street action. During the day workshops and a short film presentation will take place.

Public Street Action in Helsinki
The theme of the action on July 2 will be "Nuclear Pain" (referring to the heavy metal festival "Tuska" in Kaisaniemi Park in Helsinki at the same time). There will be an info stall with tents at the festival with music and performers. An anti-nuclear theatre group will accompany the activities. We invite everyone to join also our anti-nuclear picnic.

Resting Days
At the weekend 3-4.7 there is a choice of relaxing activities for the people joining the Tour. You can either stay in the city visiting for example Seurasaari and Suomenlinna islands with nice parks, small beachs and museums, or stay over night at Luukki nature park 23km from Helsinki. Camping costs per night at camp site will be published here later. It is also possible to camp for free at marked sites. Single ticket for public transport 2.50 EUR in Helsinki, bus fare for Luukki 3.50 EUR one way.

Other Information about the Helsinki Stop

 * press release: Anti-nuclear Infotour Stresses the Threats of Nuclear Power English
 * press conference about the "Baltic Sea Info Tour" in the Parliament visitor center on June 29th at 12 PM
 * in the evening of June 29th a solidarity gig for the Blockade of the NPP Olkiluoto will take place in the social center
 * a vegan public kitchen will take place in the Social Center on June 30th at 6 PM
 * the next preparation meeting for the local stop of the infotour in Helsinki will take place on June 21
 * an earlier preparation meeting for the local stop of the infotour in Helsinki took place on May 17 at 6 pm in Nuorten Luontotalolla, Mechelininkatu 36, and on May 31
 * Media coverage:
 * Tusiņš pie Somijas parlamenta - article about activities at the Parliament in Helsinki: "Party at the Parliament", July 5, 2010 Latvian
 * Infotour joint venture activities with other anti-nuclear organizations:
 * Parliament Votes in Favour of New Nuclear Reactors
 * Anti-Nuclear Energy Protestors Demonstrate outside Parliament
 * Finland's Parliament approves 2 new nuke reactors
 * Finland's parliament approves two new nuclear reactors
 * Finland's Parliament approves 2 new nuke reactors
 * Image of anti-nuclear action on GMX
 * Belarusian coverage:
 * Фотофакт: У здания парламента Финляндии начались международные антиатомные акции с участием представителей Беларуси
 * Финский депутат Пентти Тюсанен: Парламентское голосование за АЭС в Финляндии — это дурной пример для других стран, в том числе для Беларуси
 * Actions in the parliament on July 1: Ydinvoiman vastustajat häiriköivät eduskunnassa - the day of the parliament's vote for more nuclear reactors in Finland
 * Eduskunta myönsi ydinvoimaluvat selkein luvuin
 * Ostsee ist das radioaktivste Meer der Welt