Anti-Nuclear Rally
(30-31 May 98)
- A European Rally was organised and held at the Vosges to protest against the disposal of nuclear waste. The French Government is prepared to legally authorise the disposal of nuclear waste in deep biological landfills. The foreign delegations (England, Japan, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, United States of America, Belgium...) have informed us of what has been happening in their respective countries.
Over a field where tractors were earthmoving, we performed a symbolic act: we sowed 100 000 grains of wheat to protest against the nuclear waste, and to show that earth is a fountain of life and not death. With many thousands of people, I, for the first time, performed the same gestures as a farmer.
A network has been organised in France, with already 220 member Associations who signed the letter "abandon nuclear".
This network should be ready to fight against the French nuclear lobby, so powerful that they impose their own law on everyone, obstructing the transparency of information and offering bribes to the elected.
But the nuclear incidents are an every day menace: yesterday we had the radioactive leak at the English Channel storage centre, after the incident of the contaminated convoy. Today, the cracked piping at the new Civaux nuclear station. Tomorrow, what will there be to report? We became aware, after Chernobyl, that the possibility of a major accident can never be excluded, which is why we question the nuclear creed.
And the European Rally has loudly cried out that: such disposal of the nuclear waste is to expose the underground to uncontrollable contamination. To dispose of the waste will represent a senseless wager on a future that will be inherited by the coming generations.
This cry needs to be heard and re-echoed. Before it becomes too late.
Let the 21st century be clean from the nuclear danger and allow humanity
to live a long healthy life.
Jacques Gaillot