This weekend Steffi and I went to her moms for the annual protest against the nuclear waste transport. The spent fuel rods are processed in France and then sent back to Germany to their final destination, a small city named Gorleben. The highly radioactive waste is packed in thick metal containers and is shipped by rail 1200km (750 miles) until the last 30 km, where it is transferred to trucks. The route the Castor follows is occupied by more than 20,000 police men and women to ensure the security of the transport. They use dogs, horses, armored vehicles equipped with water cannons and helicopters to protect the route from protesters who chain themselves to the rail or create blockades. Another tactic used by protesters is to remove the rocks from under the rail ties, destabilizing the track. This is called Schottern. The train moves at a slow enough speed to where engineers can check each section of track, ensuring the safety of the transport. Schottern of course is highly illegal and many protesters simply sit on the road or rail and wait for the police to physically remove them. There are so many protesters the police cannot arrest them all and therefore only try to secure them and move them away from the track until the Castor passes.
The nuclear waste left France on Thursday and is expected to arrive in Gorleben on Monday. The route the Castor takes is less than 20 km from Steffi’s moms house. Many factions have organized to delay the transport as long as possible. They range from the well-known environmentalist such as Greenpeace and Robinwood to the small groups of farmers that form their own strategies to delay the transport. The groups do not coordinate amongst themselves as it more difficult for the police to counter many different strategies as opposed to one. The goal is to make the transport as expensive as possible to undermine the nuclear lobby and their ties with the government. Each year more and more people realize that nuclear power is neither a clean source of energy nor is it cost effective. The majority of Germans are now against nuclear power and that is why the government has agreed to slowly start decommissioning its plants. The government has reneged on its promise to move away from nuclear power in the past and that is why the activists will not stop until the transport does.
Our first stop last Saturday was a rally in Dannenberg, a small city of about 9000 residents. The Castor passes through the town’s train station. Around 15,000 turned up for the rally. All over the city there were information booths educating the masses on the myths of nuclear energy. At the nucleus of the booths and tents was a make shift information center monitoring the transport and the events that surrounded it. Eye witnesses could call in and report both police and protester activities. Maps hung from large billboards showing protester camps and past Castor routes. The map also contained information about police locations and what city the police unit came from. Not far from the information center was a large tent that served hot food and drink to the protesters, organized on a donation basis. After having a look around, we joined the march to the rally point. A large stage was set up from which we heard speeches from activists. A woman from Fukushima gave a chilling account of how her government also made promises about the safety of nuclear power and now she has no home to return to. This was not lost on the farmers who are not only residents of the area but also make their livelihood from the land and have everything to lose from a leak. As a sign of unity but also to later serve a purpose, the farmers brought over 300 tractors with them to the rally. Last year farmers chained their tractors to one another blocking vital intersections outside of the police perimeter, effectively cutting the police off from reinforcements and supplies. This year the same strategy will be used although it is doubtful that it will be as successful given that the police now expect it.
After the rally we tried to go to Gorleben where Anne was to give a concert with her choir. We were stopped at a checkpoint, had the trunk searched, and were told only residents and police were allowed to pass. The police were friendly but persistent. We turned around and drove about 200 meters to a protest camp. The camp was on a farmer’s property and the sign on the gate read, private property, police not allowed. Again there were large white tents set up and people sitting before them smoking cigarettes and talking. A small tent adjacent to a large white one played jazz music while three women stirred large vats of food and drink. We entered a large white tent and it was filled with people eating and drinking at tables. In the corner were hundreds of backpacks standing next to one another. A large white board displayed the evening program. There were short training sessions on topics like, your rights as a protester, how to speak to the police, what to do in case of injury and so forth. A loud speaker announced that a session was about to start in the Phillipsburg tent. We left the tent and walked around the grounds. It was like out of a US civil war movie. The landscape was dotted with small camp fires surrounded by small handfuls of people sharing their stories. A banjo could be heard somewhere in the darkness. The only thing that was missing was someone cleaning a musket. I later learned that these camps are not uncommon and there are many of them of various sizes along the Castor route.
We left the camp and drove 4 km to another village where there was a free concert. What we found was a small enclosure of three gypsy-style wagons and a 20 meter long wall tent. A small audience of about 50 watched a comedy act followed by a magician. A band then began to play and after listening to a few songs, Per (pronounced pair), a resident of the county led us on a walking tour of the village. We walked a couple of streets southward to the infamous stretch of asphalt where in the next couple of days the Castor would pass over. There are many alternative routes the trucks could take to get to this final stretch but it was certain they would roll over this street as it is the only one to Gorleben. We were allowed to walk the street because the Castor was blocked by Greenpeace 100km north and still a good day and a half away. The street cut right through the small village and there were houses not 10 meters from the road. It was eerie to think a mother could be preparing dinner for her family and look out the kitchen window and see highly radioactive waste pass right before her garden. The waste is so toxic that the police that accompany the trucks on foot have to rotate out every hour or so because of the radioactive doses they receive. Women are not rotated in for fear of reproductive complications if they should ever become pregnant. Every 200 meters along the street we saw large vans filled with police, sleeping or reading books. Every now and then they would say hello as we passed by. We concluded our tour and headed back to the car.
The ride home took longer as expected as we ran into several barricades set up by the farmers. Large sections of the street were blocked with cement blocks, tree stumps, large piles of dirt, twisted metal. The Farmers use anything that will effectively block the street, including livestock. For some interesting photos of blockades type in Castor blockieren 2011. Per knew his way around and eventually, from taking side roads, we made it out before the area was completely sealed. We made it home around midnight and continued to follow the events over the radio and Internet.
It was interesting to hear the personal experiences the protesters had with the transport. It seems at one point or another over the years someone had been sprayed by a water cannon or detained by the police. Timm, Steffi’s brother had his nose broke by a police baton four years ago. The younger generations tend to take more risks with their activism towards the Castor. The older generation support the movement but in less confrontational ways. This game of cat and mouse between the police and protesters have produced many stories over the years that have turned into legends and are now intertwined with the movement. A favorite of the residents is about a handful of protesters who broke through police lines by positioning their cars in a police caravan. When finally stopped they told the police they were undercover and were allowed to immediately pass. Whether this is true or not, has no effect on the enjoyment of the person reciting it.
Angela Merkel, Germany’s Chancellor, has promised to shut down all of Germany’s nuclear power plants by 2022. Hopefully the promise is kept.
