Success of Flotilla Protests signals a new era in anti-Sellafield Activism
Graham Caswell | 18.09.2002 16:03
The dramatic success of the Nuclear-Free Seas Flotilla offers hope of a new era of anti-Sellafield activism as intensive corporate media coverage penetrated even the British corporate press. Backed up by Greenpeace's skilled abilities in using corporate media, the drama of small boats searching the Irish sea to tell BNFL's ships to fuck off was irresistible even to the BBC (who's reporters expressed anger at the restrictions imposed on their reporting by headquarters).
Success of Flotilla Protests signals a new era in anti-Sellafield Activism
The flotilla consisted of 20 boats included small sailing boats, luxury yachts, a rusty old trawler hired by the Pembroke Anti-nuclear Alliance and Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior - backed up by half a dozen 'Ribs' (small and dramatic 'rigid inflatable boats'). The boats assembled in Holyhead last Friday and, after a spectacular 'sail-by' display for the corporate media, set out at 4am on Sunday morning.
A Greenpeace spotter plane flying out of Cork airport has got a positive identification on the ships off Portugal on Thursday, but could not find them on Friday, or Saturday. Because of the uncertainty of the nuke ships location it was decided (through a democratic decision of the skippers of the boats involved) to split the flotilla into two with half going north to Barrow (where the nuke ships were heading) and half going south into the Irish Sea.
Continued at
http://www.indymedia.ie/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=12335
A Greenpeace spotter plane flying out of Cork airport has got a positive identification on the ships off Portugal on Thursday, but could not find them on Friday, or Saturday. Because of the uncertainty of the nuke ships location it was decided (through a democratic decision of the skippers of the boats involved) to split the flotilla into two with half going north to Barrow (where the nuke ships were heading) and half going south into the Irish Sea.
Continued at
http://www.indymedia.ie/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=12335
Graham Caswell
e-mail:
caswell'indigo.ie
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Subsidies illegal - but who cares?
20.09.2002 18:15
EU SAYS NO DECISION YET ON BRITISH ENERGY BAILOUT
Friday September 20, 01:47 PM
BRUSSELS Sept 20 (Reuters) - The European Commission has yet to determine
whether a multi-million pound British government bailout of nuclear power
producer British Energy Plc is legal, a Commission spokeswoman said on
Friday.
On Thursday, the global environmental group Greenpeace wrote to Patricia
Hewitt, Britain's Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, arguing the
loan had violated European Union rules.
A Commission spokeswoman said while the British government may technically
be out of compliance with the law now, that makes no difference in the end.
"Unfortunately, national governments violate European Union rules every
single day," said Amelia Torres. "But what matters is the final assessment."
She said that while the government theoretically should have notified the
Commission and then waited for a response before making the loan, the
reality was different when a country needs to make an emergency loan.
She conceded the loan may be now be "classified as illegal" but added: "This
is not the final assessment."
Unable to sell its electricity at a profit and tottering at the edge of
insolvency, British Energy last week persuaded the government to issue it a
410-million pound ($635.3 million) emergency loan that runs until September
27 while its future is hashed out.
Greenpeace argued that the loan was "unfair support to a polluting
industry."
Eurocrats don't