smile

2002. since 1995, high level radioactive waste is transported from the plutonium factory in la hague in france to a storage site in gorleben, germany. locals in the wendland region have been protesting against this in every possible way: formally, practically, with help from activists from all over germany, even europe, about 10.000 humans are stopping this so-called castor-transports. demonstrating, staging blockades with sit-ins, tractors and if all else fails, sabotaging the tracks. committing acts of civil disobedience, believing to do so is better than to have the children radiated.

existing laws allowing citizens to gather voicing their concerns are suspended during the time of the transports. however, the same emergency law does allow people to meet for religious celebrations. resulting in a mass church service outdoors and a carnaval promenade heading to the police lines guarding the railroad tracks and dannenberg station. there the nuclear waste will be transferred from trains to trucks for the last kilometers by road to the village of gorleben.

while outnumbered by some 30.000 cops ordered to stop the stoppers, activists succeed in delaying the transports. but the nuclear waste always reaches its final destination. does it mean that resistance failed? no! mass media coverage and the extra costs of hiring an insane policeforce, repairs of the sabotaged railways, make nuclear power even more (economically) unattractive. archive 2002 update: following the fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, germany has permanently shut down eight of its 17 reactors and pledged to close the rest by the end of 2022.