Published in French on 30 November 2015
1. November 29: COP 21 and public freedoms
On November 27 ACDN denounced the scandalous banning of the climat demonstration in La Rochelle, and today is congratulating itself that the government, affected by the concerted protests against that policy, finally ordered the Préfets to authorise climate gatherings in La Rochelle and elsewhere.
In La Rochelle, despite the former ban, over 450 people gathered on 29 November to circle the basin of the Old Port in a joyful human chain and to defend the project of a livable world.
ACDN brought the slogan: No to Nuclear, No to Global Warming! The lack of any incident during this demonstration. or during the La Rochelle Marathon which had just brought together thousands, proves that citizens’ demonstrations for a cause, any cause, need to be held without intimidation by terrorism or by the “state of emergency”. It is essential that the French people continue to enjoy all the freedoms granted by the Constitution, including the right to demonstrate.
Conversely, ACDN
is astonished that the huge mobilization of police in Paris was unable to stop a hundred rowdies from entering the Place de la République and carrying out grautitous acts of violence — the sole appraent purpose of this was to justify after the event the police mobilization against citizens’ demonstrations;
regrets that the cyclists of Notre Dame des Landes were forbidden from reaching their goal in Paris, although the airport project they were opposing with their muscly legs is an economic and ecological aberration in complete contradiction with the aims of the COP21 Conference;
deplores the fact that the great climate march planned for Paris remains banned;
considers that these bans were aimed chiefly at preventing citizens from questioning the government’s strategic and energy choices, notably the choice of nuclear technology.
2. 30 November: COP 21 and CO2 : The Channel France 2 passes on Misinformation from the Nuclear Lobby
Today ACDN wrote to the editors of France 2:
“We are astonished today that France 2, a public TV channel paid for by our taxes, is complacently echoing the lies of the nuclear lobby.
“A item on climate and the COP 21 Conference broadcast during the News on Sunday evening November 29, declared that:
"Europeans emit little carbon, because part of their industries have been outsourced to Asia, and because they use nuclear energy and renewable energies, which don’t emit CO2; these count for 25% in total energy consumption. As for France, she is the stand-out champion, with 41% of her energy coming from nuclear plants."
“Leaving aside the fact that CO2 is far from the only greenhouse gas or the most dangerous, it is dishonest to confuse nuclear energy with renewable energies so as to imply that it shares their merits and to claim that it emits no CO2. In fact the nuclear supply-line is based on uranium, a non-renewable source of energy, and nuclear power generation overall emits nearly as much CO2 as other fossil energies. It is even less acceptable to claim that France takes 41% of her energy from nuclear, since at most nuclear technology provides only 17% for her final energy consumption.
“ACDN asks the editorial tean of France 2 to kindly rectify these untruths and to acknowledge the error in its next News at 8pm.
“Honest journalists need to resist the efforts made by lobbies such as EDF, AREVA, Engie, Total, Shell, Vinci, and other great polluters to get their hands on the COP21. If you want to hear another viewpoint, I recommend that you visit our site and read, for example, these articles: No to Terrorism and State terror. Let’s Change our Software. or Protection against Nuclear Threats – ACDN writes the President and PM, or COP21 No to Nuclear, No to Global Warming!
(...)
For ACDN (Action des Citoyens pour le Désarmement Nucléaire)
Jean-Marie Matagne, President
Addendum, December 1
The News at 8pm on 30 November said nothing about this matter. The editors acknowledged receipt of our message at 10.19 this morning. We await the channel’s response.