Thousands surround Merkel office in nuclear protest

[bananas]

http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE68H1L620100918

Thousands surround Merkel office in nuclear protest
Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:46pm GMT
By Dave Graham

BERLIN (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Germans surrounded Chancellor Angela Merkel's office Saturday in an anti-nuclear demonstration that organisers said was the biggest of its kind since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

The protest, which organisers said drew 100,000 people, could help to mobilise growing grass-roots opposition to Merkel's ruling centre-right coalition, which has suffered a slump in popularity since taking office last October.

<snip>

"There's not been such a big (anti-nuclear) demonstration in one place since 1986," said Jochen Stay, one of the protest's main organisers. "We've made it very clear today that a broad majority of the population is against this nuclear cult."

<snip>

NO CREDIBILITY

Surveys have shown repeatedly that a majority of Germans are against an extension to nuclear lifespans, and Merkel still faces a battle to get the measures through parliament.

Left-wing opposition parties, who opinion polls give a lead of more than 20 points over Merkel's alliance of conservatives and pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), have said they will go to court if necessary to stop the extensions becoming law.

<snip>

:applause:

[madokie]

1. Good for them

rec but to no avail

[ensho]

2. right on - keep protesting

nt

[Jack_Lindsay]

4. Eco-correctness run amok

Germany has gone off the deep end when it comes to energy. They've already committed about $75 billion Euros for solar installations that promise to provide almost 3% of their nation's present-day electrical needs. For that price they could build enough nuclear plants to cleanly power the whole country. Instead, they keep burning dirty coal and agitating to shut down their perfectly good nuclear power plants, while hypocritically buying nuclear-generated electricity from France. Their carbon footprint is one of the worst in Europe, along with Denmark, the wind capital of the world. Meanwhile, Sweden and France produce virtually all their electricity with nuclear and hydro and have the cleanest air and lowest electricity rates in Europe, with France being the world's biggest exporter of electricity. Yet Germans refuse to get it. They'll protest by the tens of thousands to cut off the one source of clean energy they've got that produces reliably and substantially, and keep on burning coal to the detriment of us all. They are demonstrating in spades what kind of energy policy to avoid.

[Nihil]

5. Welcome to DU ...

Now prepare yourself for the dog-pile of the anti-nuke brigade ...!

:hi:

[Iterate]

6. You do know don't you that nuclear power

was sold to the skeptical German public in the 1980's as a "bridge technology" to renewable sources and that the current extension is seen as a deeply troubling political betrayal?

It's very risky and almost always wrong to view another country's energy policy without considering the historical, cultural, and resource context. Translating or mapping another country's political culture to that of the US is extremely difficult and I have found that most people will avoid it. They will, rather, simply cite it in the service of their preconceived notions. You can see that here nearly every day.

19.1 vs. 9.7

Welcome to DU.

[Confusious]

8. wow. still trying to get those renewables moving

after 30 years? 75 billion for 3 percent.

that would 2.5 trillion for 100 percent. close to the entire GDP of Germany. depending on how you calculate it.

[Jack_Lindsay]

9. Exactly my point

The historical context of how nuclear was developed in Germany is beside the point. The point is that they have plenty of data from their own real-world experience to know that their chosen path is simply untenable. It's similar to California in denying the obvious and instead relying on one's neighbor's to produce electricity (from whatever source) while pretending to be all eco-correct. Unlike California, though, Germany continues to use and build more coal-fired power plants. California doesn't have a single one. They have them conveniently located in other states (even in Mexico) so that Californians can pretend to be eco-correct. Both Germany and California might manage to continue in this vein for some time as long as their neighbors don't follow their lead. But both have forfeited the jobs and income of energy-intensive industries that have fled their state/country, a process that continues to bleed them both. It's absolutely foolish but continues because of the political clout of so-called environmentalists and the pandering of politicians who are more concerned with keeping their jobs than pursuing policies that they know are sound. It's easy to understand the difficulty for the politicians, though, because if they do pursue what they see as sound policies they might well be ousted and replaced by others who are perfectly happy to deny reality in favor of a world of energy fantasy. Merkel's taking some serious heat here. I don't envy her this quandary she finds herself in.

[kristopher]

3. Left-wing opposition parties ... lead of more than 20 points over Merkel

Yep.

[Iterate]

7. Update, video, and more detail

I got a flyer today from one of the main organizing groups involved in this action.

http://www.atomkraft-abschalten.de/atom2/home

They are also involved in a protest to prevent BP from drilling in the Mediterranean, and what might be surprising to Americans, are opposed to a €9 billion ICE rail extension, new/relocated underground main station, and track relocation in Stuttgart that they view as unnecessary, overly expensive, and destructive to historic buildings. We have enough mass transit they say, no need to overdo it, 54 minutes to get to Ulm is plenty fast enough. The government on the other hand, thinks that it should only take 8 minutes to get from the Central Station to the airport, only 28 minutes to get to Ulm, and that is worth the effort upfront. Up to 60,000 people took part in that protest action.

The Bundeskabinett is scheduled to decide the nuclear power plant issue on 28. September, and needless to say the decision and politics will be interesting. This group expects to collect over 130,000 signatures to have them published in newspapers prior that date. The site also includes video from the 18.9.10 rally in Berlin. Those who enjoy colorful and exuberant marches will be amused. I might as well provide that link:

http://www.atomkraft-abschalten.de/atom2/demo1809/home

Also, I noticed a novel argument, or at least one I'd not heard before, that one other reason the extension shouldn't be granted is because the production profile of the plants is inflexible, wasteful, and incompatible with the renewables that they will finish building. I don't know and can't possibly find the time to research that, but on the off chance it will provide a spark for endless and nasty posts full of citations, I thought I might mention it.

Tschüss