Home | 26th April 1996 | Issue 71

WAKE UP! WAKE UP! IT'S YER RADIO-ACTIVE

SchNEWS
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CHERNOBYL: 10 YEARS ON

"Most people did not even know they should take elementary precautions... I saw children running around in shorts, women out shopping, windows wide open in the warm air. I went off to share a bottle of vodka with a friend before going to bed." - Vladimir Zabolodnikh, Power Station water monitor.

Chernobyl. Ukraine 26.4.86 1.23am

Ten years ago today Reactor Four at Chernobyl went 'critical'. What happened next has been described by the United Nations as the worst man-made environmental disaster in human history.

Initially the Soviet authorities hushed up the disaster. However, as information and radiation leaked out from the devastated region, it became impossible to carry out the clear up operation in secret. Before long Western help was forthcoming, but not in time to help the initial 'Liquidate' crews of Belarussians and Ukrainians sent in to fight the fire. The shock wave went right across Europe. In Finland 4,000 women pledged to not bear children until the Finnish government cancelled it's nuclear power programme.

In polls 70-80% of Europeans said they were against the expansion of the nuclear industry. The Caesium fallout from the blast spread as far west as Ireland and down to Greece. But the consequences of Chernobyl travellers further than that.

"Trust in science has taken a very heavy blow. The caesium is transmitted in food chains... and over to political, economic and social structures of the human world This has the effect of dissolving the glue that holds these structures together."
(P. Gould's Fire in the Rain: The Democratic Consequences of Chernobyl.)

Today, barely any of the Liquidator crew personnel are alive to tell the tale. Many of them were sent into the reactor with only a gauze mask as protection, and have paid a heavy price for their bravery (or ignorance.)

"This has been like a Third World War for our country. You talk about pre- and post war; we talk about before and after Chernobyl."
- Professor Igor Rolevitch, Deputy Minister for Emergencies, Chernobyl

This week a fresh tragedy hit the area when fires caused by a dropped cigarette butt swept through five villages. Highly contaminated smoke billowed upwards towards ex-villagers, who were on their annual visit to tend graves. They were so upset by this that they refused to move from the site. This was only miles from the still-burning core of Reactor Four, which is covered in dangerously-cracked concrete. More than two million people in Belarus alone are still living on contaminated land. Scientists have recently found a sinister wildlife discovery: voles that thrive on radioactive pollution and are mutating at an incredible rate.

"Two hundred years from now, we may be living with organisms that are genetically quite different from today's." - John Bickham, University of Texas.

UK NUKE ACTIONS

As far as the British anti-nuclear direct action movement is concerned, the heady days of the 80's may have gone, but they are still coming up with storming actions. From super-glueing themselves inside power stations to locking onto the back of nuclear trains. Activists have been facing similar problems as the anti-roads movement, only for many more years. For example, the Faslane Peace camp in Dumbartonshire (01436 820901), resident for 14 years, is threatened with imminent eviction.

This week a nuclear train due to travel from Dungeness to Sellafield was cancelled by BR because of a peace camp next to the tracks at Hither Green, South London. Trains carrying nuclear fuel rods and waste travel most weeks through London. This weekend millions of people around the planet will descend upon their nearest nuclear installation to register their disgust. The main British protest is at Sellafield, Cumbria, today. In the Ukraine a Walk for a Nuclear Free Future finished today.

Other projects have sprung up to help alleviate the suffering of the people of Chernobyl. The Chernobyl Children's Project, set up in Ireland by Adi Roche, has so far sent nearly $5 million in aid to the area (five times as much as the UN managed.) A Manchester branch of the project was launched last year.

*A group of musicians from Lancaster have come together under the name of "The Purple Zone" to produce a CD to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the accident. It will be premiered in Manchester this week. The disk is available from the Chernobyl Children's Project. Nuclear Power- No Thanks! Contacts:
*Centre for Alternative Technology, Machynlleth, Powys, Wales, SW20 9AZ (01654 702400)
*Contact your local Energy Advice Centre
*Chernobyl Children's Project, One World Centre, 6 Mount Street Manchester (0161 834 8176)
CND (0171700 2393)
Youth CND (0171607 3616)

BILL FOR DECOMMISSIONING BRITISH ENERGY'S NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS: £14.6 BILLION

THE FACTS:

* The contamination caused by the blast was equal to 500 Hiroshima's

* An estimated 70,000 affected by the accident have died, 20% of these have been suicides

* After the accident 110,000 people were evacuated; 131,000 have since been relocated

* 70-80% of Chernobyl's children up to the age of fourteen are suffering from severe headaches, unusual fatigue and depression *There has been a 62% increase in bone disorders, and 38% more malignant tumours in children

* The concrete casing around the reactor is meant to last 100,000 years. It is already seriously damaged

* Children are still banned from walking in the forest, in the rain, playing in parks and picking wild berries or flowers

* These areas will remain contaminated for an estimated 24,000 years

* Two out of the four reactors are still functioning today

MAY DAY! MAY DAY!

Mayday! Mayday! But what's the score? The celebration of Beltane heralds the start of summer in the pagan calendar - signifying the death of winter and the return of the warm weather. It's a time to reflect upon people's relationship with the earth - working and caring for the land. May Day was recognised by the let Congress of the Second International in the 1880s, in memory of the Haymarket Martyrs - Chicago anarchists framed and executed by the state. The 1st of May was decreed a day of celebration of workers. Since then, May Day has also been known as International Workers/Labour Day. The start of summer parties, festies, greenery and flowers, or time to honour the time held tradition of getting pissed on the beach. May is here!

PARTY ON?

The May Bank holiday Tribal Gathering is off, supposedly because of traffic problems. Ian Blair, Asst. Chief Constable of Thames Valley police, said "We wish to emphasise that we have no objection to whatsoever to music festivals. Our objections were based on the unsuitability of the site." Why then was last years anti Criminal Justice Act (CJA) Mother festival stopped - despite being in the middle of nowhere? And what about the traffic chaos during Henley Regatta, Ascot, Glyndebourne etc. The rich nobs gatherings are allowed to go ahead but what about our free gatherings?

People have been getting together at festivals since time immemorial to trade, meet and celebrate, yet over the past few years the free fun scene has been totally decimated. The CJA being the final nail in the coffin. As people involved in the doomed Mother festival last year would testify, the authorities are prepared to spend their resources to stop us having fun without permission. Doors were kicked in, phone lines went dead, roadblocks set up, helicopters deployed - and Black Moon sound system lost their £6,000 rig in the process - confiscated then destroyed by the police.

Ten years ago the so-called 'Battle of the Beanfield' showed the direction things were going. Since the early 70's more and more people were leaving the rat-race to live on the road. The People's Free Festival at Stonehenge had become the mid-summer meet up point - and had grown too large and anarchic for the powers that be. By '85 they'd had enough and flexed their muscles, trashing travellers and their vehicles. Now it seems travellers, once the back-bone of the free party scene are not wanted anywhere...

Unless you can afford the £30 Tribal Gatherings of this world - when they are allowed - where are we meant to party? On the moon? Tribal Gathering is run by the Mean Fiddler, hardly an underground organisation. Michelle from Advance Party told SchNEWS "It just shows you that the authorities are out to crush the whole movement, be it legal, illegal, large or small." So what are we gonna do? Sit on our arses, watching TV, letting 'em get away with it - or get out there and 'ave some? The choice is ours!

Want some? The new Festival Eye is OUT! chock-a-block full of dates and articles £2 from BCM 2002, London WC1N 3XX.

• Stoke Newington plods, those fine upholders of the law, investigated Club Lunacy after flyers showed an alien tokin'. They eventually closed the club down as the old bill 'didn't like the wording of the flyers!

• Dance Information Network are a coalition of organisations dedicated to promoting the health and welfare of party goers. They are also developing a network to help spread the word of good practice. Release 0171 729 5255.

• The Advance Party have a spanky new leaflet 'Sound Advice' full of spot on information about the legalities surrounding free parties. SAE to Advance Party, PO Box 3290, London NW2 3UJ 0181 4506929

SOME DATES FOR (mostly acoustic) PARTY PEOPLE (please note - some of these are paying events):

April 26 - May 5th Magic Hat Rainbow Circle Beltane celebration 01373 831020.

26 -May 6th Magical Beltane Camp Somerset 01386 554283

27th April-May 6th Beltane gathering in Gloucester 0585 327382 (£30)

April 30th Beltane celebrations at Fairmile, Exeter (possibly followed by eviction - that'll be nice with a hangover) 01404 8!5729

3/4 Snelsmore Common, Newbury 01635 45544

3-6 Teesdale Thrash 01833 638288

5th Anarchist Picnic, 2pm, Parkers Piece. Cambridge

6th Pagan Picnic. Butley nr.. Ipswich People's Festival, noon, Alexandra Park, Ipswich 01473 713179

6th May Day Festie, Clapham Common, London ...Free all-day festie at Loughborough University 01509 217766 ext. 2607

10-12 Beltane celebration and actions at Aldermaston women's peace camp 01222 396563

11th Holistic Spring Fair, Buryfleld, Goldalming 01483810843

17-19 Letham Free Festival. nr. Brechin, Scotland 01436 820901

18th Mind, Body and Spirit Festival Greycoat St. London 0171 938 3788 ... Reclaim The Streets in Norwich

18-19 Devonshire Green Festival 0114 253 4548

18-28 Amazon Women's Festival, Menwith Hill Women's Peace camp - plus actions & workshops to celebrate 2nd anniversary of the camp

23-26 Orkney Traditional Folk Festival 01856 851331

24-26 African drumming weekend in the Coltswolds 01452 812983

24-27 Sellafield Women's Peace Camp Gathering, Cumbria 01706 371387

24th -2nd June Hackney Anarchy Week 01712410412

25/6/7 May Essential Music Festival in Brighton (nineteen quid a day tho' mate) 01273 888787

May 27th Kingston Green Fair 0181 5461827

May 27th Maidstone Green Fair (including SchLIVE!) 01622 673 413

May 27th Festival of Natural World. Colchester 01206 793625.

STOP-PRESS Tribal Gathering now 6th July...?

Trumpton all out

We need more office space like a hole in the head. The development of the Phoenix Brewery site (aka Trumpton) was given the go ahead this Tuesday. The Grand Metropolitan Trust which has been granted permission to build a five storey office block + car park is to also build new houses, but the residents of THAZ (Trumpton Housing Action Zone) and Richmond Terrace will be evicted by CDHA without being re-housed elsewhere. THAZ have restored the four historical cottages from totally derelict states. This commendable example of self help has saved housing benefit £1/4 mil. and resulted in a community of 12 adults and two small children. A spokesperson for Trumpton told SchNEWS : "The Grand Met blackmailed Brighton Council into agreeing planning for the social housing in conjunction with the office space, which means much needed housing will be created along with more offices." A bit crafty to say the least. Eviction isn't imminent, and rumours are that Phoenix Gallery could have another 6 months, but support is needed (01273) 683547.

SchNEWS in BRIEF

ATTENTION! There's been a few changes of venues and times since the tour poster was distributed. Changes in bold type: Glastonbury: 6th May (Assembly Rooms), 7pm; Cardiff: 8th May, (Roberts Emporium) Spin; Exeter, 9th May, (Cavern Club), 2pm; Reading: 15th May, (Rising Sun), 6:45pm; Maidstone, 27th May, Green Fayre, All Day; Canterbury: 28th May, (Keynes JCR University of Kent) 7pm; Manchester: 31st May, (Bridge Street Tavern), 7:30pm; Glasgow: 1st June (Solidarity Centre) 7:30pm; Edinburgh: June 3rd, (Cas Rock Cafe) 8pm.

*** Sorry! Green Anarchist's address is BCM 1715 (not BCM 1717!), London WCIN 3XX.

*** Big Shout to the one like EASY FM! 107.6FM inna Brighton stylee! Drum 'a Bass, Jungle, Techno. Tune in! KATIEEEE's fave!

*** Land occupation in York 5 - 7th May York EF! 01904 634073

*** WANTED! Footage for protest culture and DiY music, featuring Zion Train and the Levellers. Contact Cosmo at the Justice? office, ASAP.

*** John Davis from Irwin Mitchell Solicitors will be at the Corn Exchange. Market Place, Newbury on Friday 10th May to see people who want to sue the police! All welcome.

*** SchNEWS is interested in your thoughts on Newbury - good or bad - for possible booklet. Send articles to usual address.

and Finally

"C'mon haricot if you think you're hard enough" We have it first hand that baked beans were up for it in Newbury. They held their first direct action against invading climbers by voluntarily flinging themselves out of the treetops, in a Kamikaze style protest, landing directly onto the scabs' heads! A member of Baked Beans Against the Bypass commented, "It's time people started to take us seriously. We are deliberately selling ourselves cheap (3p a tin) in order to gain wider coverage where it splatters."

disclaimer

The SchNEWS warns all readers not to attend any illegal gatherings or take part in any criminal activities. Always stay within the law. In fact, please sit at home, watch TV, and go on endless shopping sprees filling your lives and homes with endless consumer crap... you will then feel content. Honest.

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Next Justice? meeting. Tuesday April 30th "The New Terrorists?" Speakers (3rd Battle of Newbury) @ Brighton Unemployed Centre, off Carlton Hill behind Amex

Q: How do you tell when a crusty has been in your house? A: They're still there! BIM! BIM!

SchNEWS, PO Box 2600, Brighton, BN2 0EF, England
Phone/Fax: +44 (0)1273 685913
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