Difference between revisions of "Baltic Sea Info Tour/Riga"

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{| style="float:right;"
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|-
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|[[Image:BalticTour Riga Action Installation 4.jpg|Street theatre in the center of Riga|thumb|right]]
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|-
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|[[Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 12.jpg|Renewables hunting nuclear power in the streets of Riga|thumb|right]]
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|-
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|[[Image:BalticTour Riga Action Statue 1.jpg|Atomic funeral performance in front of the statue of liberty|thumb|right]]
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|-
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|[[Image:BalticTour Riga 1.jpg|Nuclear waste barrel in our hostel... :)|thumb|right]]
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|-
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|[[Image:BalticTour Riga InfoEvent 3.jpg|Per Hegelund: The radioactive contamination of the Baltic Sea|thumb|right]]
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|-
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|[[Image:BalticTour Riga Action 1.jpg|Last preparations of the nuclear coffin|thumb|right]]
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|-
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|[[Image:BalticTour Riga Action 2.jpg|Starting the anti-nuclear funeral procession|thumb|right]]
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|-
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|[[Image:BalticTour Riga Action 3.jpg|Anti-nuclear street theatre in Riga downtown|thumb|right]]
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|-
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|[[Image:BalticTour Riga Action 4.jpg|The area of this action was very limited by Police|thumb|right]]
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|-
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|[[Image:BalticTour Riga Action 5.jpg|...thus, the procession walked some hundred meters in one direction and back all the time|thumb|right]]
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|-
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|[[Image:BalticTour Riga Action Tourist 1.jpg|Informing tourists about the radioactive pollution of the Baltic Sea|thumb|right]]
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|-
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|[[Image:BalticTour Riga Action 6.jpg|The text says: "Your children, grandchildren, grand-grandchildren"|thumb|right]]
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|-
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|[[Image:BalticTour Riga Action 7.jpg|The action drew attention of most of the passers-by...|thumb|right]]
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|-
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|[[Image:BalticTour Riga Action 8.jpg|It was one of these hot days and black costumes in the burning sun must have been difficult...|thumb|right]]
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|-
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|[[Image:BalticTour Riga Action 9.jpg|The cloth with nuclear symbol had been prepared by the biketour activists in [[Baltic Sea Info Tour/Turku|Turku]]...|thumb|right]]
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|-
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|[[Image:BalticTour Riga Action 10.jpg|It was an action just with symbols and gestures, without words - no language problems!|thumb|right]]
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|-
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|[[Image:BalticTour Riga Action 11.jpg|While street theatre was going on, other activists distributed flyers|thumb|right]]
 +
|-
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|[[Image:BalticTour Riga Action Installation 3.jpg|Police was irritading...|thumb|right]]
 +
|-
 +
|[[Image:BalticTour Riga Action 12.jpg| ...every half an hour they reduced the area of the action|thumb|right]]
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|-
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|[[Image:BalticTour Riga Action 24.jpg|Thus we discussed not to announce actions again to the police!|thumb|right]]
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|-
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|}
 
'''[[Action:Infotour Around The Baltic Sea|<<= back to the ''Baltic Sea Info Tour'' main page]]'''
 
'''[[Action:Infotour Around The Baltic Sea|<<= back to the ''Baltic Sea Info Tour'' main page]]'''
 
__NOTOC__
 
__NOTOC__
 
== Tour Stop in Riga ==
 
== Tour Stop in Riga ==
'''Riga''' is the capital of Latvia and with about 700,000 inhabitants the largest city of the Baltic states.<ref>http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Riga&oldid=73424539 as at April 23, 2010<br/>http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Riga&oldid=357461995 as at April 23, 2010</ref> Since 2004, Latvia is member of the European Union.<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Riga&oldid=357461995 as at April 23, 2010</ref> Within a radius of several 100 kilometers Riga is surrounded by the nuclear power plants in Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg in Russia, the closed NPP Ignalina in Lithuania, the Swedish nuclear power plants Oskarshamn and Forsmark and the Finnish NPP Loviisa.
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'''Riga''' is the capital of Latvia and with about 700,000 inhabitants the largest city of the Baltic states.<ref>http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Riga&oldid=73424539 as at April 23, 2010<br/>http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Riga&oldid=357461995 as at April 23, 2010</ref> Since 2004, Latvia is member of the European Union.<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Riga&oldid=357461995 as at April 23, 2010</ref> Within a radius of several 100 kilometers Riga is surrounded by the nuclear power plants in Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg in Russia, the closed Ignalina [[NPP]] in Lithuania, the Swedish nuclear power plants Oskarshamn and Forsmark and the Finnish Loviisa NPP.
  
The ''Baltic Sea Info Tour'' will stop from '''July 11-13''' in Riga. We will provide a '''public information event''', a '''public street action''' and a '''regional network gathering''' here. Alternatively to visiting the previous Russian stop in St. Petersburg some participants of the infotour will already be in Riga from '''July 6-10''' to prepare the stop here.
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The ''Baltic Sea Info Tour'' stopped from '''July 11-13''' in Riga. We provided a '''public information event''', a '''public street action''' and a '''[[Baltic Sea Info Tour/Network Gathering|regional network gathering]]''' here.
  
  
 
=== Local contact ===
 
=== Local contact ===
'''...''' <span style="color:red">coming soon</span>
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'''Baltic Sea Info Tour Support Group'''
* phone: '''+371 ...''' <span style="color:red">coming soon</span>
 
 
* email: '''[mailto:riga.baltic-tourATnuclear-heritage.net riga.baltic-tour AT nuclear-heritage.net]'''{{Spamprotection}}
 
* email: '''[mailto:riga.baltic-tourATnuclear-heritage.net riga.baltic-tour AT nuclear-heritage.net]'''{{Spamprotection}}
 
  
 
=== Travel Schedule of the Riga Stop ===
 
=== Travel Schedule of the Riga Stop ===
Line 19: Line 60:
 
* '''Saturday''' ''(Jul 10)'': travelling from the previous stop in [[Baltic Sea Info Tour/St. Petersburg|St. Petersburg]] to Riga
 
* '''Saturday''' ''(Jul 10)'': travelling from the previous stop in [[Baltic Sea Info Tour/St. Petersburg|St. Petersburg]] to Riga
 
* '''Sunday - Tuesday''' ''(Jul 11-13)'': STOP in Riga
 
* '''Sunday - Tuesday''' ''(Jul 11-13)'': STOP in Riga
* '''Wednesday''' ''(Jul 14)'': travelling to the next stop in Belarus
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* '''Wednesday''' ''(Jul 14)'': travelling to the next stop in [[Baltic Sea Info Tour/Belarus|Belarus]] ''or alternatively to [[Baltic Sea Info Tour/Vilnius|Vilnius]]''
 +
 
 +
 
 +
=== Report from Riga ===
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==== Anti-nuclear Infotour in Riga ====
 +
On its 5th stop the anti-nuclear “Baltic Sea Info Tour” visited Riga, the capital of Latvia. As in St. Petersburg, the weather was incredibly hot and we had three days full of actions and events from July 11-13. Many people in Latvia don't know much about nuclear energy and the impacts of this dangerous form of energy generation. Latvia has no own nuclear power plants. Besides the local residents we reached masses of tourists from all countries around the sea, as Riga seems to be a popular place for holidays...
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 +
The Sunday we had a 3 hour network meeting in the afternoon, where we went deeper into the preparation of a brochure about nuclear facilities around the Baltic Sea which is a project connected to the Tour and we chatted about the Olkiluoto blockade which is going to take place just one week after the last stop of the Tour in Finland. The rest of the day was filled with action preparation for the next days. While some people wrote a flyer about effects of the radioactivity of the Baltic Sea for the normal population, others built a coffin from cardboard, which was to be used in a performance the next day.
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 +
With five experienced theatre people in our group, we had a really good performance nearby the Laima clock in the center of Riga on Monday. An atomic funeral procession walked around, catching the eyes of the passers-by. The coffin had a radiation symbol with a skull attached to it and the message “your children, your grandchildren, your grand-grandchildren” in Latvian. Many people willingly took our leaflets, asked questions about nuclear power and were generally interested. Only the police were annoying: They were present with 4 to 6 officers who harped on about some ridiculous rules (seems they had nothing else to do). After two hours in the burning sun we finished our action, having spread about 1,000 flyers.
 +
 
 +
Thursday was the day of a big panel with 6 lecturers in the Latvian Ministry of Environment, a small four-story building nearby the Daugava river. Chris Busby, a scientist from the UK, discussed the health impacts of nuclear facilities around the Irish Sea as well as around the Baltic Sea. The Belarusian professor Georgy Lepin told about the atomic situation in his country mentioning also international impacts of the nuclear industry. Other presentations covered the radioactive pollution of the Baltic Sea, cancer cases in Latvia and the unsolvable challenge of final disposal of nuclear waste.
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 +
Afterwards, another anti-nuclear performance took place in the streets. Activists dressed up as water power, wind power, earth power and solar power chased nuclear power through the streets. This street theatre caught the sympathy of the public everywhere as did not look scaring. The first impression for the hundreds of tourists and locals we reached was a funny performance, but at a second glance the anti-nuclear message was obvious. Many people were curious and asked really interested questions about nuclear power and our action. The hard day was followed by an evening with chilling down and swimming before leaving to Belarus and Lithuania the next day.
  
  
 
=== Other Information about the Riga Stop ===
 
=== Other Information about the Riga Stop ===
* cooking support by ''[http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/le_sabot/en/general.html Le Sabot]'' - German public kitchen group
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* Network meeting took place on July 11
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* Public event took place in Ministry of Environment on July 13 at 12 noon.
 +
* Participants were staying at "Happy Hostel" in Kartupelu iela 8. It's quite close to the city center (~15 min via public transportation). The hostel is located in one of Riga's green zones. No public events took place there. http://www.hosteli.lv/index.html?l=3&m=1
 +
* HOW TO GET TO THE HOSTEL. Go to the stop near the Central Market (one the market side) and catch trolebus 19 or bus 40. If you use the trolebus, step out in the stop "Kartupelu iela". If you use the bus, step out in the stop "Valdeku iela" and follow the trolebus line until you see a white/grey building. The central entrance is closed so you need to use the one that is in the backyard. In the reception you need to say that you're from "Baltic Sea Info Tour". The staff speaks English, Russian and Latvian.
 +
* Public transportation. We use E-ticket system (almost the same as in Helsinki). Prices: ticket for 10 trips - 4.75 ls, ticket for 20 trips - 9.00 ls, 24 hour ticket - 1.90 ls, 3 day ticket - 5.70 ls, 5 day ticket - (for 2 types of public transportation)  - 7.00 ls.
 +
* Our currency is Latvian lat. 1 lat is ~ 1.5 euros.
 +
* '''Media Coverage''':
 +
** [http://cheyrane.orb.lv/?id=238241&show=blog&entry=106177 Seminārs „Radiācijas problēma Baltijas jūrā un atomenerģijas radītie draudi videi”] ''- some kind of a press release about our event in Ministry of Environment (July 7, 2010)'' <small><small>Latvian</small></small>
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** [http://www.indymedia.org/de/2010/07/939945.shtml Atomic Death in Riga] ''- Indymedia International (July 25, 2010)'' <small><small>English</small></small>
 +
** [http://linksunten.indymedia.org/de/node/23051 Atomic Death in Riga] ''- Indymedia Linksunten (July 25, 2010)'' <small><small>English</small></small>
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** [http://de.indymedia.org/2010/07/286583.shtml Atomic Death in Riga] ''- Indymedia Germany (July 25, 2010)'' <small><small>English</small></small>
 +
** [http://www.bsrrw.org/?page_id=890 Nuclear Baltic Sea Tour events in Riga 11-13 July 2010] ''- coverage of the infotour in Riga'' <small><small>English</small></small>
 +
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0ctlNBbSlU ПБК: Балтийское море подвержено риску радиации] ''- film about the infotour in Riga (July 14, 2010)'' <small><small>Russian</small></small>
 +
 
 +
 
 +
<small><small>{{Footnotes}}</small></small>
 +
 
 +
=== Images of the Infotour in Riga ===
 +
<gallery caption="Sample gallery" widths="100px" heights="100px" perrow="6">
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga FoodSupply.jpg|Food supplies of the infotour in Riga
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga Kitchen.jpg|In the kitchen of the hostel...
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Image:BalticTour Riga 2.jpg|Nuclear Power dancing with wind power in the hostel of the infotour...
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga Infotable.jpg|Infotable at the info point of the Baltic Sea Info Tour
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Image:BalticTour Riga Evening.jpg|Hanging out in the garden in the evening of the first day in Riga
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Image:BalticTour Riga Evening2.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Evening3.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Evening4.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga FlyerWorkshop 1.jpg|Preparing a Latvian flyer about the radioactive pollution of the Baltic Sea for distribution in Riga
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga Workshop 1.jpg|Lecture about the radioactive pollution of the Baltic Sea
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga Beach.jpg|Hanging out at the beach after info event and renewables-fight-nuclear-power performance
 +
</gallery>
 +
 
 +
 
 +
==== Preparation of the Street Theatre Actions ====
 +
<gallery caption="Sample gallery" widths="100px" heights="100px" perrow="6">
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga ActionPreparation 1.jpg|Preparation of the coffin for the atomic funeral performance
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga ActionPreparation 2.jpg|Preparation meeting of the performance group for the street theatre actions in Riga
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Image:BalticTour Riga ActionPreparation 3.jpg|Preparation of materials for the street theatre actions
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Image:BalticTour Riga ActionPreparation 4.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga ActionPreparation 5.jpg|Preparation of materials for the renewables-fight-nuclear-power performance
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Image:BalticTour Riga ActionPreparation 6.jpg|Preparation of the coffin for the atomic funeral performance
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga ActionPreparation 7.jpg|Preparation of the costum of "water power" for the renewables-fight-nuclear-power performance
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Image:BalticTour Riga ActionPreparation 8.jpg|Preparing the "water power" character for the renewables-fight-nuclear-power performance
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Image:BalticTour Riga ActionPreparation 9.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga ActionPreparation 11.jpg|Practicing the characters for the renewables-fight-nuclear-power performance
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Image:BalticTour Riga ActionPreparation 12.jpg|Preparation of the coffin
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Image:BalticTour Riga ActionPreparation 13.jpg|Practicing the "nuclear power" character for the renewables-fight-nuclear-power performance
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga ActionPreparation 14.jpg|Practicing the "nuclear power" and "earth power" characters
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Image:BalticTour Riga ActionPreparation 15.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga ActionPreparation 16.jpg|Practicing the "earth power" character
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga ActionPreparation Coffin.jpg|Preparation of the coffin for the atomic funeral performance
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga 3.jpg|Nuclear power posing in the hostel of the infotour...
 +
</gallery>
 +
 
 +
 
 +
==== Atomic Funeral Performance ====
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<gallery caption="Sample gallery" widths="100px" heights="100px" perrow="6">
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action ArrivalCenter 1.jpg|Arrival in downtown by taxi... the coffin was to big for the Trolley bus
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga Action ArrivalCenter 2.jpg|Preparation of an anti-nuclear funeral action
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action ArrivalCenter 4.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action ArrivalCenter 5.jpg|It looks pretty good, anyway...
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action ArrivalCenter 3.jpg|Waiting for the other organizers in the hot burning sun...
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action ArrivalCenter 6.jpg|Escaping into the shadow
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action ArrivalCenter 7.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action ArrivalCenter 8.jpg|The flyers are still not ready copied - waiting more!
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Installation 5.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action ArrivalCenter 9.jpg|Passers-by get already attracted by the coffin
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga Action ArrivalCenter 10.jpg|Preparation of the costumes of the artists for the anti-nuclear funeral action
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action ArrivalCenter 11.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action ArrivalCenter Flyer.jpg|Folding flyers
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action ArrivalCenter Flyer2.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Coffin.jpg|Distributing flyers to passers-by while the action gets prepared
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Installation 6.jpg|Atomic coffin
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Coffin2.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Coffin3.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action 27.jpg|The action starts now...
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Pillar1.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Pillar2.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Pillar3.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Installation 2.jpg|Distributing flyers
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Flyer 1.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Police 1.jpg|Discussion with police about the announced action in the center of Riga
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Police 2.jpg|The police officers were disturbing the street theatre...
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga Action Police 3.jpg|...by limiting the permitted area for the atomic fumeral procession every half an hour
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Police 4.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Police 5.jpg|When asked about at least helping us to distribute the flyers they objected, too...
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action PeopleTalk 1.jpg|Informing people about the radioactive pollution of the Baltic Sea
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Flyer 2.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Photograph.jpg|Tourists were obviously attracted by the performance
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga Action 13.jpg|Anyway, Riga was a good place for action - hundreds of tourists were attracted by it
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga Action 14.jpg|The coffin symbolizes the victims of the dangerous atomic technology
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga Action 15.jpg|Anti-nuclear funeral action group in front of the statue of liberty in Riga
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Statue 2.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Statue 3.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action 16.jpg|The activists are part of a theatre group from Tampere in Finland...
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga Action 17.jpg|They participated later also in [[Baltic Sea Info Tour/Vilnius|Vilnius]]
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action 18.jpg|Most action materials had been prepared just one day before using simple materials
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Flyer 3.jpg|While the procession took place, other activists distributed flyers
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga Action Tourist 2.jpg|Informing tourists about the radioactive pollution of the Baltic Sea
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Tourist 3.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Flyer 4.jpg|A flyer in Latvian was created to inform about the radioactive pollution of the Baltic Sea
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Flyer 5.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Flyer 6.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action 19.jpg|Not only nuclear power is deadly... think about McDonalds, too! ;)
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action 29.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action 20.jpg|Nuclear death this direction!
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Installation 1.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action 21.jpg|Another picture of the radioactice coffin in front of the statue of liberty
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action 22.jpg|Lifting up the coffin again...
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga Action 23.jpg|Moving forward... the next session of the funeral starts
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga Action 25.jpg|While walking the artists were humming sacral melodies
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action 26.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action 28.jpg|Funeral procession in front of the "Hotel de Rome"
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga Action 30.jpg|Many passers-by were very interested to learn more about nuclear threats
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Flyer 7.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Ministry 1.jpg|Final disposal of the radioactive coffin at the Ministry of Health
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Image:BalticTour Riga Action Ministry 2.jpg
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga Action Ministry 3.jpg|To remind the Ministry about the nuclear threats around Latvia...
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga Action Ministry 4.jpg|...the NPP developments in St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Lithuania and Belarus as well as the impact of the most radioactive sea in the world, the Baltic Sea!
 +
</gallery>
  
  
 +
==== Info Event in the Ministry of Environment ====
 +
''Info event with several lectures about nuclear issues in the center of Riga.''
 +
<gallery caption="Sample gallery" widths="100px" heights="100px" perrow="6">
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga InfoEvent 1.jpg|The audience was a mixture of environmental organizers, scientists, Infotour activists and residents of Riga
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga InfoEvent 2.jpg|Per Hegelund: The radioactive contamination of the Baltic Sea
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Image:BalticTour Riga InfoEvent 4.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga InfoEvent 5.jpg|Chris Busby: The nuclear pollution of Irish Sea and Baltic Sea and the health effects of this radiation
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Image:BalticTour Riga InfoEvent 6.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga InfoEvent 7.jpg|Aivars Stengrevics: Cancer cases in Latvia
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Image:BalticTour Riga InfoEvent 8.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga InfoEvent 9.jpg|Chris Busby commented that the health impact of radiation is underestimated in official calculations...
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga InfoEvent 10.jpg|... because the official risk model is wrong!
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Image:BalticTour Riga InfoEvent 11.jpg|Professor Lepin: Nuclear impacts to Belarus and in the world
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Image:BalticTour Riga InfoEvent 12.jpg
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga InfoEvent 13.jpg|Ditta Rietuma talking about several nuclear topics
 +
</gallery>
  
  
<small><small>{{Footnotes}}</small></small>
+
==== Renewables Hunting Nuclear Power Performance ====
 +
<gallery caption="Sample gallery" widths="100px" heights="100px" perrow="6">
 +
Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 4.jpg|"Nuclear power", "water power", "earth power", "wind power" and "solar power"
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 1.jpg|"Wind power"
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 2.jpg|"Earth power", "wind power" and "solar power"
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 3.jpg|"Water power"
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 5.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 6.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 7.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 8.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 9.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 10.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 11.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 13.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 14.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 15.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 16.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 17.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 18.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 19.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 20.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 21.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 22.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 23.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 24.jpg|Police didn't intervene this day - obviously it is better not to announce actions to them!
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 25.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 26.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 27.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 28.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 29.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 30.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 31.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 32.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 33.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 34.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 35.jpg
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 36.jpg|Nuclear power is crying...
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Image:BalticTour Riga EnergyPerformance 37.jpg
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</gallery>
  
  
[[Category: Projects]]
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[[Category: Baltic Tour Stops]]
[[Category: Events]]
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[[Category: Baltic Tour Events]]
 
[[Category: Latvia]]
 
[[Category: Latvia]]
 
[[Category: 2010/07/11]]
 
[[Category: 2010/07/11]]
 
[[Category: 2010/07/12]]
 
[[Category: 2010/07/12]]
 
[[Category: 2010/07/13]]
 
[[Category: 2010/07/13]]
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[[Category: Gallery]]
 +
[[Category: English]]

Latest revision as of 10:56, 23 July 2015

Street theatre in the center of Riga
Renewables hunting nuclear power in the streets of Riga
Atomic funeral performance in front of the statue of liberty
Nuclear waste barrel in our hostel... :)
Per Hegelund: The radioactive contamination of the Baltic Sea
Last preparations of the nuclear coffin
Starting the anti-nuclear funeral procession
Anti-nuclear street theatre in Riga downtown
The area of this action was very limited by Police
...thus, the procession walked some hundred meters in one direction and back all the time
Informing tourists about the radioactive pollution of the Baltic Sea
The text says: "Your children, grandchildren, grand-grandchildren"
The action drew attention of most of the passers-by...
It was one of these hot days and black costumes in the burning sun must have been difficult...
The cloth with nuclear symbol had been prepared by the biketour activists in Turku...
It was an action just with symbols and gestures, without words - no language problems!
While street theatre was going on, other activists distributed flyers
Police was irritading...
...every half an hour they reduced the area of the action
Thus we discussed not to announce actions again to the police!

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Tour Stop in Riga

Riga is the capital of Latvia and with about 700,000 inhabitants the largest city of the Baltic states.[1] Since 2004, Latvia is member of the European Union.[2] Within a radius of several 100 kilometers Riga is surrounded by the nuclear power plants in Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg in Russia, the closed Ignalina NPP in Lithuania, the Swedish nuclear power plants Oskarshamn and Forsmark and the Finnish Loviisa NPP.

The Baltic Sea Info Tour stopped from July 11-13 in Riga. We provided a public information event, a public street action and a regional network gathering here.


Local contact

Baltic Sea Info Tour Support Group

Travel Schedule of the Riga Stop

  • Monday (Jul 5): travelling from the earlier stop in Helsinki to Riga
only those participants who don't join the stop in St. Petersburg
  • Tuesday - Friday (Jul 6-10): preparation of the stop in Riga
  • Saturday (Jul 10): travelling from the previous stop in St. Petersburg to Riga
  • Sunday - Tuesday (Jul 11-13): STOP in Riga
  • Wednesday (Jul 14): travelling to the next stop in Belarus or alternatively to Vilnius


Report from Riga

Anti-nuclear Infotour in Riga

On its 5th stop the anti-nuclear “Baltic Sea Info Tour” visited Riga, the capital of Latvia. As in St. Petersburg, the weather was incredibly hot and we had three days full of actions and events from July 11-13. Many people in Latvia don't know much about nuclear energy and the impacts of this dangerous form of energy generation. Latvia has no own nuclear power plants. Besides the local residents we reached masses of tourists from all countries around the sea, as Riga seems to be a popular place for holidays...

The Sunday we had a 3 hour network meeting in the afternoon, where we went deeper into the preparation of a brochure about nuclear facilities around the Baltic Sea which is a project connected to the Tour and we chatted about the Olkiluoto blockade which is going to take place just one week after the last stop of the Tour in Finland. The rest of the day was filled with action preparation for the next days. While some people wrote a flyer about effects of the radioactivity of the Baltic Sea for the normal population, others built a coffin from cardboard, which was to be used in a performance the next day.

With five experienced theatre people in our group, we had a really good performance nearby the Laima clock in the center of Riga on Monday. An atomic funeral procession walked around, catching the eyes of the passers-by. The coffin had a radiation symbol with a skull attached to it and the message “your children, your grandchildren, your grand-grandchildren” in Latvian. Many people willingly took our leaflets, asked questions about nuclear power and were generally interested. Only the police were annoying: They were present with 4 to 6 officers who harped on about some ridiculous rules (seems they had nothing else to do). After two hours in the burning sun we finished our action, having spread about 1,000 flyers.

Thursday was the day of a big panel with 6 lecturers in the Latvian Ministry of Environment, a small four-story building nearby the Daugava river. Chris Busby, a scientist from the UK, discussed the health impacts of nuclear facilities around the Irish Sea as well as around the Baltic Sea. The Belarusian professor Georgy Lepin told about the atomic situation in his country mentioning also international impacts of the nuclear industry. Other presentations covered the radioactive pollution of the Baltic Sea, cancer cases in Latvia and the unsolvable challenge of final disposal of nuclear waste.

Afterwards, another anti-nuclear performance took place in the streets. Activists dressed up as water power, wind power, earth power and solar power chased nuclear power through the streets. This street theatre caught the sympathy of the public everywhere as did not look scaring. The first impression for the hundreds of tourists and locals we reached was a funny performance, but at a second glance the anti-nuclear message was obvious. Many people were curious and asked really interested questions about nuclear power and our action. The hard day was followed by an evening with chilling down and swimming before leaving to Belarus and Lithuania the next day.


Other Information about the Riga Stop

  • Network meeting took place on July 11
  • Public event took place in Ministry of Environment on July 13 at 12 noon.
  • Participants were staying at "Happy Hostel" in Kartupelu iela 8. It's quite close to the city center (~15 min via public transportation). The hostel is located in one of Riga's green zones. No public events took place there. http://www.hosteli.lv/index.html?l=3&m=1
  • HOW TO GET TO THE HOSTEL. Go to the stop near the Central Market (one the market side) and catch trolebus 19 or bus 40. If you use the trolebus, step out in the stop "Kartupelu iela". If you use the bus, step out in the stop "Valdeku iela" and follow the trolebus line until you see a white/grey building. The central entrance is closed so you need to use the one that is in the backyard. In the reception you need to say that you're from "Baltic Sea Info Tour". The staff speaks English, Russian and Latvian.
  • Public transportation. We use E-ticket system (almost the same as in Helsinki). Prices: ticket for 10 trips - 4.75 ls, ticket for 20 trips - 9.00 ls, 24 hour ticket - 1.90 ls, 3 day ticket - 5.70 ls, 5 day ticket - (for 2 types of public transportation) - 7.00 ls.
  • Our currency is Latvian lat. 1 lat is ~ 1.5 euros.
  • Media Coverage:


  1. http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Riga&oldid=73424539 as at April 23, 2010
    http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Riga&oldid=357461995 as at April 23, 2010
  2. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Riga&oldid=357461995 as at April 23, 2010
  3. For protection against automatical email address robots searching for addresses to send spam to them this email address has been made unreadable for them. To get a correct mail address you have to displace "AT" by the @-symbol.

Images of the Infotour in Riga


Preparation of the Street Theatre Actions


Atomic Funeral Performance


Info Event in the Ministry of Environment

Info event with several lectures about nuclear issues in the center of Riga.


Renewables Hunting Nuclear Power Performance