(322.3226) WISE Amsterdam - The local Solidarity committee of Gdynia immediately made an appeal to the dockworkers not to unload the ship. As a result, the committee, together with the dockworkers, are urging the government to hold a national referendum on nuclear energy.
The next day, between six and seven in the evening, the wharf (with facilities for loading and unloading ships) was blocked with tractors and bulldozers. Joining in the blockade were members of the organizations Wole Bye (I prefer to be), Wolnose i Pokoj (Freedom and Peace) and representatives of the Federation of Greens. Citizens supported the blockade as slogans were yelled and soup and tea were served. The result was - no unloading could be done.
Meanwhile, the Solidarity committee was visited by representatives of the transport company Megadex, with the request to allow the transport to Zarnowiec - but, the committee did not comply. Further discussion will, however, take place.
In the 1970's, Zarnowiec was to be the pride of government plans to introduce Poland to the exclusive group of countries using nuclear energy. To the benefit of the government, public discussions were interrupted by the introduction of Martial Law in 1981. This interruption has continued to the present day. And while there was no discussion taking place, construction of Zarnowiec began.
Then, soon after the catastrophe at Chernobyl in 1986, members of the Freedom and Peace Movement (WiP) from Gdansk organized the first street manifestation against Zarnowiec. Since then, WiP has continued to fight. At the beginning of 1989, WiP initiated a series of anti-Zarnowiec demonstrations which took place each Friday in the Old Town of Gdansk. Then, at the end of April 1989, the Antiatom Federation was founded by people of different political views, but with a common interest in halting nuclear development.
The Franciscanian Ecological Movement in Gdansk has been and still is also active in opposing the plant, which is close to the mass of inhabitants of Gdansk-Sopot-Gdynia, numbering over one million. As if that is not bad enough, the plant is situated directly on fault lines active over the last 70 years. An agreement, reached on 16 August, gave Siemens (a West German company) the building contract for the Zarnowiec nuclear power plant. The managers of the plant decided to sell the energy produced for less then five phening per KWh for a period of five years.
It is clear to all groups involved in the fight against Zarnowiec that an increase in nuclear power until the year 2010, such as the government plans, can only result in more economic and environmental problems. They are appealing for international help.
Sources:
- Green Brigades: Environmental Protectors Paper No.1, Autumn 1989
- Franciscanian Ecological Movement, "Concerns - Nuclear Power Plans" position paper, October 1989
- Solidarity committee of Gdynia (telephone)
Contact: Axel Horn, Hans Leipeltstr. 8/10, 8000 Mflnchen 40, FRG, tel: 89 3232121
Franciscan Ecological Movement, c/o Jerzy Jaskowski, MD, PhD, MS, Department Physics and Biophysics, Medical Academy, Gdansk, Suwalska 6, Poland
Freedom and Peace, c/o Radostaw Gawlik, Zielinskiego 69/4, 53 523 Wroclaw,
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