GR- MELTDOWN EVACUATION DRILL AND AOB

national | miscellaneous | news report Wednesday February 20, 2002 16:55 by Joe Carolan - Globalise Resistance globalise_resistance at yahoo dot com The Other World which is possible 087 9032281

Sellafield Happening and Globalise Resistance update

Strategy and Creativity gathering this Friday in NCAD 6 to 9pm

http://globaliseresistance.cjb.net

Plans for the demonstration in Dublin against Sellafield are well on the way.
Lots of work on banners and costumes started last Friday in NCAD and Globalise Resistance activists are planning to meet again on this coming
Friday to finalise details. We will be building a Sellafield reactor core for the meltdown drill, and are asking anyone who knows anything about flares, coloured smoke, theatrical primal screaming, the uniforms of the Ministry of Disasters and the Civil Offence, gasmasks, sound systems, fake newspaper headlines and articles a la Orson Welles for the day, nuclear body shadows, horror make up, blood capsules, burned clothes, mutations ETC ETC ETC to help bring materials, paints, props ETC ETC up to the

National College Art and Design,
Thomas Street, Dublin.
(on the concourse, just inside the main entrance
on your right)

this Friday from 6pm to 9pm

Contact Joe for details – 087 9032281
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OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS AND INFORMATION:

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Public Meeting

"Can the UN deliver?"
Organised by Irish campaigns on Debt, the Tobin tax and Trade
To highlight the first UN conference on global finance

Date: Tuesday 26th February 2002 at 7-30 pm

Venue: Buswells Hotel, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2

Speakers:

DEBT: Romilly Greehill - Jubileeplus UK.
The debt crisis has not gone away. A new process to deal with debt is
urgently needed to release indebted countries from the chains of debt
TRADE: Deirdre de Burca - Green Party and Comhlamh How can
international
trade rules ensure that developing countries have sufficient resources
to fund development
TOBIN TAX: Speaker from attac Ireland - Currency speculators trade over
$1.8 trillion dollars each day across borders. A tobin tax on currency
speculation has the potential to generate up to $300 billion per year
to
fund development.

The 'Financing for Development' conference will be held in Monterrey,
Mexico, this coming March 2002.

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Defence Campaign:
The first court cases of the protestors arrested at the
anti-privatisation demonstration (at the Burlington Hotel) last October
, are taking place this Thursday.
There will be a protest at Old Richmond Hospital courthouse, North
richmond St
9:30 AM Thursday 21st February

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There is a student conference on “Students and revolution” taking
place
this weekend feb 22nd and 23rd in Trinity College, Goldsmith Hall,
pearse Street.
It starts at 6.30pm on Friday evening and runs from 10am to 6pm on
Saturday.
Tickets are 4euros and all are welcome.
Hosted by the Socialist Workers Student Society – more info phone
087
9890330

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There will be a critical mass cycle at 2 pm on Saturday, 23 February,
starting from the Garden Remembrance at Parnell Square.

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Over the next few weeks The Students Union of the National College of
Art
and Design, Dublin is holding a series of five public talks and
screenings
focusing on various aspects of Art, New Technology, Politics Journalism
and
Activism.

All talks / screenings are free and open to everyone, student or not.

The talks/screenings will take place on Thursday evenings beginning at
7pm
in the main Lecture Theatre in NCAD.

The line-up is as follows

Thursday Feb 21st - Conor McGarrigle on Net Art, Surveillance and his
‘Spook’ Project.
Thursday Feb 28th - Ken Fero presents a rare Irish screening of
‘Injustice’,
a controversial documentary on deaths in Police custody in the UK.
Thursday Mar 7th - Greg Palast on GW Bush, Enron, Argentina and his new
book
- ‘The best Democracy Money can Buy’.
Thursday Mar 14th - Fiona Raby on the fusion of information space and
urban
territory.
Thursday Mar 21st - Reclaim the Streets (London) on changing the world
with
cunning direct action, crowd empowerment, fun, humour and raving.

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The demonstration last week in Sellafield against nuclear power
attracted lots of media attention and brought the whole issue of
nuclear
threats to people and the environment to a wide audience.

Below is an Irish Times report of the demonstration:

Eleven Irish people were arrested today at a protest outside the
Sellafield nuclear plant in
Cumbria.
More than 170 Irish protestors began a peaceful blockade of the nuclear
facility organised by
Globalise Resistance and Gluaiseacht.

Five women and six men are currently being questioned at Workington
Police Station in Cumbria.

Protestors confirmed to Ireland.com that a formal protest is being
lodged against the allegedly
"heavy-handed" approach of the police. A number of protesters claimed
they were struck by police.

Superintendent Steve Turnbull, for West Cumbria, denied those
allegations. He said the protestors
had altered tactics and recklessly blockaded the main road in the
region, causing "horrendous
problems".

"The general public were brought into today’s protests. Schools
couldn’t
open, trains didn’t run
because staff couldn’t get through and we have been flooded with
complaints about their action.
Workers travelling to and from Sellafield were also delayed in
tailbacks
on the A595.

"We agree that the protestors are able to exercise their legitimate
right to protest, and to also
ensure operations at Sellafield are not disrupted by the protests."

Today’s action is part of an ongoing protest by Irish student groups
against the commissioning
last December of the mixed oxide (MOX) plant at Sellafield which
recycles used uranium and plutonium.

Separately, the British government this afternoon published an "Energy
Review" study to plan for the country’s energy systems over the next 50
years.

Published by the Performance and Innovation Unit, the report says the
option of "new investment in nuclear power needs to be kept open" in
the
context of moving to low carbon power generation techniques.

Legal action taken last year by the Irish Government failed to reverse
the decision to open the MOX plant.

Environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace have
continually stated that MOX production at Sellafield is environmentally
damaging and financially risky.

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