"A train loaded with radioactive waste ended its controversial journey through Germany on Monday. Its path had been blocked by up to 50,000 protesters over the weekend, sparking violent clashes between police and anti-nuclear activists."

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to, despite very strong public opposition, extend the lifespan of Germany’s 17 nuclear reactors has helped highlight the issue of these nuclear waste trains. See my post from last year regarding this matter: Atomkraft? Nein danke! 50.000 people protest against nuclear energy in Germany. The anti-nuclear organizations in Germany have as a result of this seen the largest mobilization of protesters in recent years this past weekend. And the protests are expected to continue with severe long-term political consequences for Merkel and her political pro-nuclear friends in the coming elections. Apparently the current right-wing coalition in Germany never imagined that there would be this much and strong opposition against nuclear energy in Germany. An energy source that is expensive, dangerous, not cost-effective and will worsen climate change.

Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director of Greenpeace International, held a speech (see video) in front of around 50 000 protesters in Dannenberg, Germany, where he lashed out against the CASTOR nuclear waste transports which he called "an example of the nuclear madness" which must be stopped. Naidoo called on Merkel and Germany to end their investments in an "outdated" and "obsolete" energy source and instead focus on a "real energy revolution", a successful renewable energy sector which currently employs 380 000 people in Germany:

" The CASTOR nuclear waste transport is an example of the nuclear madness that must end. It is a train convoy carrying eleven 100-tonne containers of radioactive waste that is reprocessed in France and returns to Germany each year for storage. Measurements of these eleven containers done by ANDRA (National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management) show that the radioactivity in each container is higher than what was released at Chernobyl in 1986 – this makes the CASTOR transport effectively a Chernobyl on wheels.

The final destination for this dangerous convoy is Gorleben, Germany – where it is to be placed in a storage facility that is completely geologically unsuitable. Of course, there is no suitable storage site for nuclear waste – the nuclear industry has no permanent solution for the problem of radioactive waste."

Video of the “nuclear train clashes” in Germany:

“On the 16th of December, at the start of the high-level “ministerial” phase of the two-week summit, we, the movements for global justice, will take over the conference for one day and transform it into a Peoples Assembly.

Our goal is to disrupt the sessions and open a space inside the UN area to hold the Assembly. The assembly will give a voice to those who are not being heard, it will be an opportunity to change the agenda, to discuss the real solutions, to send a clear message to the world calling for climate justice.”

During her days in Copenhagen Naomi Klein has encouraged people to take part in this demonstration. Yesterday she spoke about tomorrow’s action at an event in Christiania: see video one and video two. In an interview with Katherine Goldstein, from the Huffington Post, Klein said that “its a possibility that there will be mass arrests” during the protest:

“I’m not concerned about people’s safety, but I do think its a possibility that there will be mass arrests. I think its a powerful message that people care enough to get arrested.”

And the organizers of the protest are expecting confrontation with the Danish police. In an interview with the Guardian Kevin Smith, an organiser for activist group Climate Camp, said:

“The Danish government knows just how embarrassing it will be when hundreds of delegates walk out tomorrow to join us in the protest tomorrow against the climate talks, and it is trampling over all manner of civil liberties to try and prevent that from happening.”

Earlier today Tadzio Mueller, a spokesman for Climate Justice Action, was arrested by plainclothes police as he left the Bella centre.

“It’s unbelievable that in a supposed democracy, undercover police are silencing spokespeople that are criticising the climate talks”, Smith said. “How far are the Danish authorities prepared to go to stop tomorrow’s protest from going ahead?”

Watch Naomi Klein talk about the Reclaim Power! demonstration tomorrow in this video from Grist:

“In Berlin an estimated 50,000 people have joined a demonstration against nuclear power in the run-up to the German general elections.

The rally was headed by a convoy of 350 tractors, which drove past the office of Chancellor Angela Merkel,” Radio Netherlands Worldwide reports.

Back in 2001 the former Social Democratic chancellor, backed up by the Greens, pushed through a new legislation in 2001 that would phase out nuclear energy from Germany within two decades. But the Social Democratic and Green government lost the election in 2005 to a right-wing coalition consisting of the current Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right Christian Democrats and the liberal Free Democrats.

Angela Merkel, who successfully blocked a strong climate deal for the European Union last year, now wants to scrap the nuclear phase-out legislation that the SPD pushed through in 2001. This is similar to what is happening in Sweden after a coalition of right-wing parties won the recent election there. According to Merkel, Germany “cannot phase out nuclear energy as quickly as some imagine.”

“But in the long term, that’s to say in the second half of the century, we will experience a large amount of renewable energy sources. We are convinced that we will be able to stop using nuclear energy at some point”, Merkel said.

The Social Democratic chancellor candidate, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is accusing Angela Merkel’s center-right Christian Democrats and the liberal Free Democrats “of leading the country into an energy policy dead-end and endangering domestic security.”

On the same day as the anti-nuclear protest in Germany were taking place Greenpeace released a survey which found that 59% of Germans are against Merkel’s proposal to extend the deadline for the country’s already aging nuclear reactors.

“Our responsibility is to phase out power plants that endanger the health and livelihoods of future generations, said Greenpeace Finland’s nuclear campaigner, Lauri Myllyvirta at a speech the Brandenburg Gate.

“Each year nuclear power plants are kept running means more nuclear waste, more uranium mining, higher risk of accidents. There is no excuse: Climate change can be best tackled without nuclear plants. The nuclear phase-out in Germany is one of the reasons for the success of wind and solar energy all over the world. A relapse into nuclear power in Germany would send a very bad signal to other countries.”

Nils Diedrich, a political scientist at Berlin’s Free University, says that if Merkel and her right wing coalition manage to push through this pro-nuclear legislation “we’ll see a real battle”. He warns that “then there will be massive demonstrations.”

Although Germany is one of the leading countries in renewable wind energy it still has a dirty and toxic energy portfolio. 42% of the country’s energy comes from coal and 23% from nuclear energy. Only about 15% of the energy comes from clean renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

Images from the Gruene.de

Last week the climate organisation Klimax (climax) held a large demonstration in central Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. The demonstration was the first of many more planned by the organisation before December 2009 when the top UN climate meeting Cop15 will be held.

“Denmark is to host the UN COP15 climate summit in the late winter of 2009. We are going to make that summit one the leaders will never forget. We are going to raise our voices in ways they cannot escape. We are going to tell them that we are not going to accept them playing Russian Roulette with our climate anymore. They are the few yet the consequences of their actions affects every being on the planet. We are going to protest using Nonviolent Direct Action because we cannot allow some delegates to endanger the face of the planet anymore. It is time to take the power back.”

Around 500-600 people participated, mainly young people, in the march through the central parts of Copenhagen under the slogan “hands of our climate.”

The demonstrators also took more direct action by planting trees at a crossing and smashing a window using a miniature version of a wind power station on the headquarter for the Danish Industry. The Danish Industry is a lobbyist organisation which represents some of the dirtiest and most CO2 polluting companies in Denmark.

Later on they released three banners from a construction site with the words “planet” “before” “profit”. When the demonstration was about to end a coffin full of water balloons was opened and thrown on the police.

More photos from the demonstration can be found here.

Photo Credit: Mimo: Mimophoto.dk, Mimophoto.deviantart.com, Myspace.com/mimophoto

The older generation is partly to be blamed for this climate change mess we have gotten our self into. They sit on the power and the money. They decide yours, mine and your children’s future. And from the looks of their inaction it seems they have decided to make the future a real mess for everyone.

No wonder the kids, and their moms, are angry.

They are so angry that they have started a UK network called WE CAN (WE Climate Action Now).

“we CAN was started by a group of mothers and young people who are gravely concerned about the government’s failure to take decisive action on climate change. Many of us have not taken political action before. The CAN in our name stands for Climate Action Now – which is what we’re calling for. The government needs to know that it has a mandate to tackle the problem – we want to show that it has.”

Their first action will be a demonstration against the plans on a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

“How can a responsible government that claims it cares about the environment be giving serious consideration to a third runway which would double air traffic (not reduce congestion) and emit as much yearly CO2 as the whole of Kenya? The government’s stance on this issue sums up the whole problem: profits and popularity are put before the planet.”

They have even made a video:

http://wecan.uk.com