From October 11 to 13, an anti-nuclear mobilization took place in Rouen
against the restart of two EPR2 reactors on the Penly plant site. UCL
comrades from Caen, Le Havre and Rouen were there to support the fight,
but it is clear that the anti-nuclear movement in France is in decline.
UCL Rouen shares its analysis of the situation in this article, knowing
that the anti-nuclear position is not unanimous within the local group.
---- The anti-nuclear coordination called for a national mobilization
against the restart of nuclear power from Friday, October 11 to Sunday.
After a public meeting on Friday evening, a village was set up on the
quays of Rouen on Saturday morning with numerous stands; then in the
afternoon, under the fine Normandy rain, a stroll went through the
streets of the city.
UCL was present at the October anti-nuclear rally in Rouen.
UCL Rouen
The whole day was punctuated by speeches, debates and musical or
theatrical performances. Finally, on Sunday, symbolically, a planting of
sticks on a beach near Penly denounced the installation of the new reactors.
Although supported by about fifteen associations and political parties,
only a thousand people marched through the streets of Rouen, fewer than
in Caen on March 23, 2024 against the EPR (European pressurized reactor)
in Flamanville. This small number raises questions but reflects several
developments in the French anti-nuclear movement, which is no longer
able to mobilize as much as in the 70s/80s.
The two pillars of the nuclear lobby
We can question the communication and the relay made by the
organizations present. It is not surprising that the initiative was not
or very little announced by mainstream media. But the fact that
activists discovered the mobilization by chance on the same day reveals
a lack of communication.
The anti-nuclear struggle suffers from less interest than in previous
decades. If the overall loss of momentum in the struggles is to blame,
we should not underestimate the success of the nuclear lobby in making
nuclear power less undesirable. Indeed, nuclear power seems to be a
secondary or even accepted subject for new generations of environmental
activists. Climate change appears more urgent than ever and it seems
less of a priority to tackle nuclear power, which would, after all,
decarbonize the French energy mix.
There has clearly been a lack of generational transmission because the
anti-nuclear struggle has never been about this subject. Nuclear power
was developed to reduce the country's dependence on fossil fuels and
therefore on oil-exporting countries. The environmental movement was
fighting for another model of society opposed to the authoritarianism
and productivism driven by the nuclear industry.
All over the world (here in Brussels), groups are organizing to fight
against the nuclear industry, on the occasion of the creation or
extension of a power plant or on the occasion of the appearance of a new
nuclear waste disposal site.
Patrice Deramaix
In 2024, we are facing a "liberal realism" where the end of the world
seems more conceivable than the end of capitalism. The anti-nuclear
fight is therefore the victim of a strategic change in the environmental
movement where it seems simpler to compromise with the interests of the
industrial lobby to slow down climate change than to fight its power and
influence.
Increasing nuclear production capacities should make it possible to
decarbonize the economy by replacing fossil fuels. This "carbon
degrowth" would not only avoid jeopardizing economic growth but will
even be a lever for future production.
For example, the automobile industry is assured of being able to
continue its uninterrupted growth by selling electric vehicles thanks to
the development of nuclear power. This production is based on an intense
exploitation of resources in so-called "critical" metals (rare earths)
but also on very large quantities of common metals such as iron.
Beyond the disasters and environmental inequalities that this creates
with the countries of the Global South, we must emphasize that this
"green" productivism is only a lesser evil in the mouths of
industrialists who wish to preserve their power. Indeed, nuclear power
is not an energy with zero carbon intensity (this does not exist) and
the energy transition that it proposes is not able to stop climate
change, at best to mitigate it.
A deleterious and anxiety-provoking climate
The government policy is even from this point of view a disaster. Public
austerity targets the ecology budget very strongly and these budget
reductions, or even eliminations, put a stop to many energy renovation
projects for buildings or infrastructures dedicated to alternatives to
cars. Thus it is clear that ecology is only a practical element of
discourse for the State when it is necessary to justify the existence of
nuclear power.
Macron, after many anti-social policies, with his dissolution
accentuates the climate of uncertainty and anxiety. The world is
lurching and this leads to a wait-and-see attitude and withdrawal into
immediate experience, into what seems essential (purchasing power,
health system, debt/budget and restrictions, etc.)
Faced with anti-social policies and attacks coming from all sides
(retirement, extreme right, imperialism), long-term struggles offer
little perspective or hope either. However, we will suffer the
consequences at one time or another.
The alternative to nuclear power that we must bring is democratic
control of energy production and its uses. Only in this way will we be
able to profoundly change production and consumption.
The libertarian movement must keep and transmit this approach that
should not capitulate to the power of the industrial lobby and the State
and their impact on the environmental movement.
UCL Rouen
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Anti-nucleaire-Face-a-la-puissance-de-l-Etat-nucleaire
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
against the restart of two EPR2 reactors on the Penly plant site. UCL
comrades from Caen, Le Havre and Rouen were there to support the fight,
but it is clear that the anti-nuclear movement in France is in decline.
UCL Rouen shares its analysis of the situation in this article, knowing
that the anti-nuclear position is not unanimous within the local group.
---- The anti-nuclear coordination called for a national mobilization
against the restart of nuclear power from Friday, October 11 to Sunday.
After a public meeting on Friday evening, a village was set up on the
quays of Rouen on Saturday morning with numerous stands; then in the
afternoon, under the fine Normandy rain, a stroll went through the
streets of the city.
UCL was present at the October anti-nuclear rally in Rouen.
UCL Rouen
The whole day was punctuated by speeches, debates and musical or
theatrical performances. Finally, on Sunday, symbolically, a planting of
sticks on a beach near Penly denounced the installation of the new reactors.
Although supported by about fifteen associations and political parties,
only a thousand people marched through the streets of Rouen, fewer than
in Caen on March 23, 2024 against the EPR (European pressurized reactor)
in Flamanville. This small number raises questions but reflects several
developments in the French anti-nuclear movement, which is no longer
able to mobilize as much as in the 70s/80s.
The two pillars of the nuclear lobby
We can question the communication and the relay made by the
organizations present. It is not surprising that the initiative was not
or very little announced by mainstream media. But the fact that
activists discovered the mobilization by chance on the same day reveals
a lack of communication.
The anti-nuclear struggle suffers from less interest than in previous
decades. If the overall loss of momentum in the struggles is to blame,
we should not underestimate the success of the nuclear lobby in making
nuclear power less undesirable. Indeed, nuclear power seems to be a
secondary or even accepted subject for new generations of environmental
activists. Climate change appears more urgent than ever and it seems
less of a priority to tackle nuclear power, which would, after all,
decarbonize the French energy mix.
There has clearly been a lack of generational transmission because the
anti-nuclear struggle has never been about this subject. Nuclear power
was developed to reduce the country's dependence on fossil fuels and
therefore on oil-exporting countries. The environmental movement was
fighting for another model of society opposed to the authoritarianism
and productivism driven by the nuclear industry.
All over the world (here in Brussels), groups are organizing to fight
against the nuclear industry, on the occasion of the creation or
extension of a power plant or on the occasion of the appearance of a new
nuclear waste disposal site.
Patrice Deramaix
In 2024, we are facing a "liberal realism" where the end of the world
seems more conceivable than the end of capitalism. The anti-nuclear
fight is therefore the victim of a strategic change in the environmental
movement where it seems simpler to compromise with the interests of the
industrial lobby to slow down climate change than to fight its power and
influence.
Increasing nuclear production capacities should make it possible to
decarbonize the economy by replacing fossil fuels. This "carbon
degrowth" would not only avoid jeopardizing economic growth but will
even be a lever for future production.
For example, the automobile industry is assured of being able to
continue its uninterrupted growth by selling electric vehicles thanks to
the development of nuclear power. This production is based on an intense
exploitation of resources in so-called "critical" metals (rare earths)
but also on very large quantities of common metals such as iron.
Beyond the disasters and environmental inequalities that this creates
with the countries of the Global South, we must emphasize that this
"green" productivism is only a lesser evil in the mouths of
industrialists who wish to preserve their power. Indeed, nuclear power
is not an energy with zero carbon intensity (this does not exist) and
the energy transition that it proposes is not able to stop climate
change, at best to mitigate it.
A deleterious and anxiety-provoking climate
The government policy is even from this point of view a disaster. Public
austerity targets the ecology budget very strongly and these budget
reductions, or even eliminations, put a stop to many energy renovation
projects for buildings or infrastructures dedicated to alternatives to
cars. Thus it is clear that ecology is only a practical element of
discourse for the State when it is necessary to justify the existence of
nuclear power.
Macron, after many anti-social policies, with his dissolution
accentuates the climate of uncertainty and anxiety. The world is
lurching and this leads to a wait-and-see attitude and withdrawal into
immediate experience, into what seems essential (purchasing power,
health system, debt/budget and restrictions, etc.)
Faced with anti-social policies and attacks coming from all sides
(retirement, extreme right, imperialism), long-term struggles offer
little perspective or hope either. However, we will suffer the
consequences at one time or another.
The alternative to nuclear power that we must bring is democratic
control of energy production and its uses. Only in this way will we be
able to profoundly change production and consumption.
The libertarian movement must keep and transmit this approach that
should not capitulate to the power of the industrial lobby and the State
and their impact on the environmental movement.
UCL Rouen
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Anti-nucleaire-Face-a-la-puissance-de-l-Etat-nucleaire
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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