[Sustain] My Report on DC Summit

[Don Eichelberger]

Report on CAN Nuclear Summit Meeting 9/21/12 in DC

Don Eichelberger

At the congressional briefing scheduled on 9/19 by Rep. Kucinich, S. 
David Freeman said that he had been in meetings with "some of the best 
people in the world", but had still seen frustratingly little movement 
in efforts to stop nukes.  He said even the highly touted vote to shut 
down Rancho Seco was actually just a vote for SMUD to stop operating the 
nuke, and Duke, Entergy and others were lining up to run it.  If not for 
his strategic position as head of SMUD, they would likely have had their 
way.

So, it was with some trepidation that I stepped into the room full of 
some of the best people in the world I had been in a room with at the 
9/21 summit meeting.  About 40 people sat in the room, representing most 
regions of the US, many with over 30 years working on the issue.

As the meeting progressed, stresses were apparent. Frustrations were 
expressed at the intransigents of regulators and decision-makers and the 
low turn-out for anti-nuclear events, including this one, with thousands 
protesting in Japan, Italy, and Germany.  We had to remind ourselves 
that America is a vast, diverse, relatively conservative country, and 
the three countries mentioned are all about the size of California.

We spent a lot of time brainstorming strategies and tactics, and there 
was general agreement that a vast educational campaign is needed to let 
people know about the dangers the mainstream media is not telling 
about.  It was also agreed that more focus is needed on social justice 
aspects. Dine from New Mexico spoke of how much of the uranium came from 
indigenous land, and most of the wastes are likely to go there unless 
they can get help, which means more than white people coming in and 
telling them what needs to be done.  They know what to do; they just 
need access to the resources we can provide, and to not be an 
afterthought of the movement.

There were a great number of tactics brainstormed, but not much headway 
was made in prioritizing them in to a coherent strategy of actions.I 
have listed a few of the ideas for action below, in no particular order 
of priority, in the hope that folks might be enticed to follow up on 
them until something more coherent can be developed.

Harvey Wasserman said he is interested in doing economic studies of what 
it would take for each of our nukes to be replaced by renewables and 
conservation. I have offered to help with that effort.

Karl (with a K) Grossman said we need to make best use of social media 
to get our word out, and major environmental groups, except Greenpeace, 
PSR, FoE, and (maybe) Sierra Club, are not good on the issue and need work.

Social justice, as mentioned above, was deemed a very important 
concern.As part of the mining, milling and waste issues, we also need to 
craft a message that speaks to the power dynamics of energy industries, 
and their oppressive tactics used in their siting, including 
decolonization of tribal lands. As well, amending the national Mine 
Workers' Compensation Act was an effort being made in New Mexico.Miners 
impacted by uranium mining after 1971 are given no benefits, and that 
needs to be addressed. Also, national gatherings such as this one should 
offer travel stipends to allow less affluent constituencies to take 
part.And our taking out our frustrations at each other through flaming 
was seen as not good for strengthening our community.Meetings of native 
people always begin and end with a prayer, and it was suggested that it 
would be good for our meetings to incorporate prayers or centering 
meditations and a kinder tone.

There was much self-criticism at not having more people of color in 
attendance, and we need to focus on building minority constituencies in 
to our ranks.As we do so, we also need to recognize that a great many 
minorities come from lower economic means, and have other obstacles to 
participation, especially in direct action-type activities. A large 
number of minorities have had close shaves with police and societal 
racism, and do not trust the criminal justice system to look out for 
their free speech rights.

Additionally, we must try to bridge concerns about nuclear with the 
realities faced in poor communities, who might be inclined to favor 
"clean" nuclear power as a replacement for the soot of coal and natural 
gas fired plants, which add to the scourge of asthma and other 
respiratory illnesses in these communities. Much thought needs to be 
given on how to sensitively bridge those gaps to involvement.

Along this line, we are saddened that our first elected black president 
gets so much backing from the nuclear industry and is outspokenly 
pro-nuke.One answer to this was posed to me by a member of the National 
Black Political Caucus I met, who were in DC this week for a national 
gathering.He suggested that Michelle Obama, with her focus on childhood 
health and nutrition might be reachable on food safety issues, and 
should be approached.

A lot of ideas were presented to try and break the media blockade 
against the issue.Mainstream media is seen largely as useless and in 
industry pockets, and there was a general feeling expressed that we need 
to tell our own stories through independent media and find innovative 
ways to use social media.

But there was also a fear that, unless mainstream media could be 
mobilized, we hold slim chances of reaching a mass audience.Such ideas 
were suggested as setting up editorial board meetings to discuss the 
issue, calling media outlets and journalists who do bad, misleading or 
inaccurate reporting on the issue, and reaching out to media 
celebrities, like Tom Brokaw, and try to get their support (some feel, 
for instance, that Walter Cronkite's news reports had a lot of influence 
in stopping the Viet Nam War).

Along this line, we also need to produce good visuals and research and 
buy magazine ads, etc. to get our word out.

In the absence of mainstream media, we need to concentrate on the 
grassroots, and hold street actions that can involve more people, again 
utilizing Internet and social networks to build numbers.CAN will be 
discussing nationally coordinated actions the end of October in the 
lead-up to the election to try and get attention to the cause.

Another suggestion was to form speaker bureaus to go speak at Rotary 
Clubs, Business Associations, Kiwanis, Elks, 4-H Clubs, student clubs, 
etc. Also to target constituencies who would be adversely affected by 
nuclear releases, such as farmers, fishermen, real estate agents, and 
the tourism industry.

The idea was also suggested of needing to mobilize internationally on 
the issue, perhaps through a UN Resolution, as well as building 
solidarity with people of Fukushima Diichi, Chernobyl, and indigenous 
communities around the world impacted with contamination.

We also need to focus on conservation and renewables, and make clear we 
do not support fracked natural gas,mountain top removal coal (or any 
other, for that matter) or shale oil pipelines to replace nuclear.

These suggestions are what I gleaned from this gathering.A lot of 
information was shared, and I am sure this is not an exhaustive list of 
things people might do.But it is a start toward ordering thoughts that 
might evolve in to a PLAN.

Finally, CAN invited local efforts to be shared on their web site in the 
"Take Action" section to help build the community and sense of something 
being done.

http://coalitionagainstnukes.org/

-- 
Don Eichelberger
Abalone Alliance Safe Energy Clearinghouse/
Nuclear Free California
Shut down nuclear power
www.nuclearfreecal.org/nfcnet/
www.energy-net.org

Occupy the Oligarchy at Bohemian Grove 2012
www.occupybohemiangrove.com
more info at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/03/01/18708527.php


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