> http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/feb2001/germ-f16.shtml
>
> German Green party leaders suppress protests against transport of
> nuclear waste
>
> By Dietmar Henning
> 16 February 2001
>
> Oh, to be a cabaret artist! The German Green Party is supplying
> material for a new theatre piece from the ecological madhouse.
> Satire at its best!
>
> The leadership of the party that not so long ago emerged from the
> peace and anti-nuclear movement is seeking to push through the
> transport of nuclear waste in Castor containers, and in the process
> coming into conflict with sections of its own membership that want
> to protest the project. This latest dispute within the Green party
> overshadows all the previous political somersaults and twists taken
> by the party since it entered the federal coalition government.
>
> Since they joined the Social Democratic Party (SPD) government two
> years ago, the Greens have done an about-face on every issue
> concerning which they previously organised protests: international
> peace, inner-party democracy, a variety of social issues. That the
> issue of nuclear power is no different became clear last summer,
> when the government reached an agreement with the nuclear
> industry-the so-called "nuclear consensus."
>
> Green Environmental Minister Jürgen Trittin gave in to all of the
> demands of the nuclear industry and signed an agreement that
> guarantees the existence of the majority of nuclear power plants for
> the next 30 years. This, however, did not prevent Trittin from
> claiming that the "nuclear consensus" meant the "beginning of the
> abandonment" of nuclear energy.
>
> Trittin, who in the past never missed a demonstration against
> nuclear power or against the transport of Castor containers, and was
> often carried away by police after attempting to block such
> transport, is now seeking to push through the transport of nuclear
> waste. Today he speaks for the government and acts to block
> anti-nuclear protests.
>
> In so doing he has advanced utterly contradictory arguments. Last
> week he warned his opponents within the party: "If we want to remain
> credible, we must stand by the consequences of our politics." It is
> no doubt courageous for a Green minister to speak of "credibility,"
> but Trittin leaves no doubt that his credibility is surpassed by the
> suppleness of his spine.
>
> Since the "nuclear consensus" guarantees the existence of nuclear
> power plants over the coming years, Trittin declares that the Greens
> in government should aim to insure uninhibited business for the
> nuclear industry. According to his new credo, this includes the
> transport of nuclear waste in Castor containers.
>
> The SPD-Green coalition government has already planned several
> transports of highly radioactive material. The first is to begin on
> February 28, starting from the nuclear plant Neckarwestheim and
> proceeding to a temporary storage point in Ahaus. The next begins
> March 27 from the reprocessing plant in La Hague, France and
> proceeds to what could become a permanent disposal site in Gorleben.
> There are plans to make room at this site for the storage of used
> fuel rods from German nuclear power plants, similar to the storage
> of nuclear waste at the Sellafield plant in Great Britain.
>
> The German nuclear industry could not maintain production without
> such transports, which is why the export of used fuel rods had been
> an important form of support for the nuclear industry under the
> previous government-the conservative regime headed by Helmut Kohl.
> Blockades mounted by anti-nuclear activists were directed not only
> against the transport of nuclear waste and the dangers involved in
> the movement of radioactive Castor containers through highly
> populated areas, but against the overall functioning of nuclear
> power plants, since they would not be able to operate if the
> transports were halted.
>
> But under conditions where these forms of protest failed to stop a
> single Castor transport-the Kohl government used massive police
> deployments and water cannons to break up the demonstrations-the
> Green party claimed it would be possible to stop such nuclear
> "madness" and the dangers to the general population only from a
> position of strength-inside the government itself.
>
> Now the Greens have been in government for two years, and what has
> changed? The old "madness" is being justified with new arguments. As
> the saying goes: "The more things change, the more they stay the
> same." As if eager to confirm this saying at any cost, Trittin
> behaves like the patron saint of the nuclear industry. In a tone of
> utter conviction he claims that the "Green" Castor containers are
> complete safe, and that unrestricted collaboration with the nuclear
> lobby means the "beginning of the abandonment" of nuclear energy.
>
> The arrogance and lack of scruples with which the Green party
> leadership proceeds underscores the change that has taken place
> within the former environmentalist party. In a January 22 resolution
> the Green party claims that, in contrast to the transports carried
> out under the Kohl government, today "the contamination limits shall
> be maintained with sufficient security during the entire transport."
> Residents living along the transport routes are not alone in
> harbouring doubts about this claim.
>
> No one in the leadership of the Greens refers any longer to the
> security of the population. For them it is much more important to
> develop arguments to break down popular resistance to the measures
> they are planning. The stock phrase, "We want to achieve the
> abandonment of nuclear energy through the nuclear consensus," is
> repeated in all sorts of variations and permutations. It is usually
> followed by the admonition: "The attempt to organise stoppages that
> are not founded on security considerations is in contradiction to
> the nuclear consensus.... This goes for blockages of necessary
> transports, such as those called for by parts of the anti-nuclear
> movement." This is why the party leadership is calling on its
> "communal and regional associations to support only such
> demonstrations as are aimed at abandoning nuclear energy, while
> maintaining maximum security"-in other words, to support only
> pro-government demonstrations.
>
> Following opposition within the anti-nuclear movement to this
> resolution (especially from the affected region of Lower Saxony),
> Trittin became more outspoken. In his letter of February 6 he
> bluntly demanded that the party organisations in Lower Saxony
> abstain from any kind of protests against the nuclear industry.
> Naturally, he insisted, he still defended blockages as "a form of
> civil disobedience." But if they were directed against nuclear
> energy, he would not stand for any nonsense.
>
> "Just because somebody sits on his backside on a street doesn't mean
> we agree with it," he declared. Regarding the Castor transports, he
> said, "The party leadership thinks that the protests against the
> transport of nuclear waste are ... politically wrong. Not because we
> reject blockages, demonstrations or singing, but because we reject
> the aims that are to be achieved by this sitting, walking and
> singing."
>
> "The requirements for carrying through the transports are in place,"
> Trittin writes. "Consequently there is no reason for Greens to
> demonstrate against them." And that's that!
>
> Meanwhile, party Chairman Fritz Kuhn is visiting the party's
> communal and regional organisations, attempting to bring the rank
> and file into line with the policies of the government. He also uses
> the "nuclear consensus" and the phrase "the beginning of the
> abandonment" of nuclear energy to pressure and silence the rank and
> file. As if it were some kind of incantation, his arguments are all
> founded on the "nuclear consensus," which is so obsequious and
> unconditional toward the nuclear industry that industry leaders have
> thus far not even bothered to sign it.
>
> When the Green party was founded some 20 years ago, a large section
> of its rank and file came from anti-nuclear groups. Today this party
> utilises its position in government to suppress any opposition to
> nuclear power. Its turn to the right seems to know no bounds. The
> logic of their own arguments will lead the Green leaders to call for
> the police truncheon and harsher punishment against anti-nuclear
> activists.
>
> A further thought regarding the credibility of the Greens: the
> former spokeswoman of the Green party, Gunda Röstel, is now earning
> millions as manager for project development and business planning
> for Gelsenwasser AG , a subsidiary of the E.ON group, which under
> the slogan "New Energy" (water, sun, wind) sells cheap
> nuclear-generated electricity.