Martyn Lowe

Just like the way in which some people describe there
relationship situation in Facebook,
there is only way in which one can describe the relation between
all the interested parties in the shipping industry:-

- It’s complicated.

&

Particularly so while addressing the whole issue of armed
merchant ships.

This was highlighted in the welcoming speech by the IMO
Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu
at the IMO Maritime Safety committee in Lambeth this week.

I would recommend anyone who is interested in this issue to read this speech.

In the meanwhile South Africa has become the 19th state to sign
the Djibouti Code of Conduct concerning the Repression of
Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in the Western Indian
Ocean and the Gulf of Aden.

Right Now.

There is an increasingly optimistic prospect that the proposed two
new EDF nukiller plants at Sizewell and Hinkley may not be
built.

If Centrica be also be persuaded to pull out of new build,
then what we will have left are just the existing plants to close down within the UK.

In to the future.

The real problem with campaigning about nukiller power is that
it involves some very long term thinking.

Within 30 - 40 years Sizewell could be a island if sea levels
continue to rise as the result of global warming.

While at Bradwell the decommissioning process
will not be completed until 2087.

That is 75 years from now,
by which time all of the current anti-nukiller power activists will be dead.

In to the centuries to come.

This says nothing about all the other long term problems about
the safe storage of nukiller waste which  will pose major problems
in the centuries to come.

In other words: -
We not only need to think about short term campaign to stop new
build and closing down the existing nukiller plants,
but make sure that what’s left over at the plants does not become
an environmental danger in the years to come.

This means we will all need to do some very long term thinking,
and that must also be a very different way of thinking.

Gothic thinking.

It all reminds me about those who built the Gothic cathedrals.

They would plan and work upon them,
while also knowing that they would be long dead after the
buildings were completed.

It’s a very long term vision of a nukiller free world which we now
need to start thinking upon.

It’s a very long term campaign for us all.

Following the news that both E.ON and RWE are pulling out of a
project to building new nukiller plants in the UK,
there has been a lot of speculation about which companies will
buy in to Horizon.

One of the companies which has been mentioned in this context is
Westinghouse.

Westinghouse already own the Springfields plant in Lancashire
where nukiller fuel rods are manufactured.

Westinghouse has been in the ownership of Toshiba since 2006.

Another subsidiary of  Toshiba is the
Toshiba Power System Company,
which is heavily involved in the nukiller power industry.

Here is a quote from their website: -
‘ The Power Systems Company’s capabilities cover the full
spectrum of power generation systems, including high-efficiency
thermal and hydro power generation, renewables such as
geothermal and wind power, and nuclear power, all essential for
realizing the stable electricity supply essential for powering our
modern world.’

I doubt that many people in japan believe that line after the disaster at Fukushima.

Toshiba needs to be reminded about just how dangerous nukes can be.

Following that you can also boycott Toshiba -
until they pull out of the nukiller power industry.

Next week the International Maritime Organisation’s
Maritime Safety Committee will be holding its 90th session.

The meeting will be held at  the International Maritime
Organisation headquarters in Lambeth from the 16th to the 25th
of May.

On the agenda will be what has been refereed to as: -
‘private maritime security’.

The agenda will include a :-
‘Proposed Interim Guidance to (PMSC) providing privately
contracted armed security personnel (PCASP) aboard vessels
transiting the high-risk area off the east coast of Africa.’

I look forward to reading just what they have to say upon this issue.

There is no such thing as a safe nukiller power plant,
&
there certainly is no easy way to clean up the mess after any
nukiller power disaster.

The word at both Fukushima and Chernobyl is that it’s much
more of a dangerous situation that we face than the last time
anyone looked at what was happening at these sites.

After the  Chernobyl Nukiller Power Plant disaster of the 1986 a
sarcophagus was built over the plant.

Now a quarter  of a century later there is to be a new sarcophagus,
known as a Safe Confinement (NSC or New Shelter),
built over the plant.

The reason for this is that plant is currently leaking a lot of
radiation,
while we still don’t know what the full state of the present
sarcophagus might be.

Building the new sarcophagus will be a major civil engineering project.

My only Question is just how long will it be before that in turn
needs to be replaced?

The Guardian has just published the following news feature:-

Outgunned Somali pirates can hardly believe their luck.

The subtitle of this piece being:-

Few countries are willing to prosecute and most captives
suspected of sea piracy are eventually released.

This news feature covers the activities of the various warships
operation in the coastal waters off the Horn of Africa,
but says nothing about the various private companies which
provide armed guards to merchant shipping.

Neither does it cover the poverty which is pushing people to take
up this piracy in the first place.

The real clue as to what should of been covered in this piece
comes in the last paragraph with the following line: -

Said one commander. “Somali piracy cannot be solved by us. It is
primarily a civil problem, which needs to be solved on land, not at
sea.”

Here is the latest headline from Lloyds List:-

‘ Eagle Bulk and Trident identified in pirate shooting video’.

This follows an earlier report about a video of armed guards
shooting at a pirate skiff, which in turn had generated heated
debate within the International Maritime Industries Forum.

I predict that we are going to read a lot more about this shooting
within the next few months.

Griffins.

Griffins are mythological creatures which protect the gold.

They are used in the coat of arms of the City of London,
& thus upon the helmets of the City of London police.

Griffins are also used upon the crest of the Civil Nuclear
Constabulary, which is why many anti nukiller activists  refer to
them as Griffins.

A Mix and Match Police Force.

One of the most interesting trends in policing over the last few
years has been the way in which police forces help each other out.

For example:
After the riots in Haringey last year,
it became very common to see the streets of Turnpike Lane and
Wood Green patrolled by none metropolitan police offices.
e.g.
From the Strathclyde force,
etc, etc.

Earlier this year I was on the protest at the Hinkley and Sizewell
nukiller power plant protests.

At Hinkley the local Somerset police were on duty outside of the
plant.

At Sizewell the local Suffolk police were on duty outside of the
plant.

While the security just inside these EDF owned nukiller plants
was being provided by a private security company.

The Shape of the Future Nukiller Police.

Now comes the news that the Cumbrian police are being asked to
provide security at the Sellafield ( Windscale ) plant.

This is so that in future:
‘the nuclear constabulary will deal solely with anti-terrorism issues’.

Boots, Truncheons, & Iodine Tablets.

Apart from the cost aspect of local police forces undertaking to
‘protect’ nukiller plants,
there is another question which comes to my mind.

Given the move towards that mix & match form of policing.
then will all those police officers who are deployed at nukiller
plants be given extra training and equipment to deal with any
future radiation leaks?

Will they now all be provided with iodine tablets,
or guider counters as part of their standard equipment ?

or

Is this yet another ill thought out set of ideas?

It would be interesting to learn just what rank and file police
officers think about these issues.

Which Side Are You On ?

One of the problems with politics is that it can be a game of
changing alliances and shifting ideologies.

Yet if only it were that simple !

There are those who see every issue from a very fixed political
ideology,  and who will forever spend their time condemning
those who do not see the world in the exact same way as they do.

Then there are those political alliances which are more to do with
a shared culture,  or personality clashes,
than with holding a shared ideology.

It makes for a mix and match way of dealing with the ongoing
problems which we all have to face,
but never for an ideal set of solutions.

Just because some people do not share our own political analysis,
it doesn’t mean that we can’t work with them upon those issues
about which have common concerns.

Some issues are just too important to embryol them within
ideological debates !

Many issues can not be solved by politics,
but more by the application of knowledge and practical skills.

This is particularly so when it comes to ecological and energy
issues.

We are never going to solve the problem of atomic energy if all
our efforts only start or end with a willingness to just co-operate
with those who share our own political or ideological ideas.

The issue of nukiller power is so pressing that we have just don’t
have that luxury.

We just have to work with people who come from a wide range of
social and political backgrounds.

Sizewell

Over the weekend I was at a demonstration rally outside of the
Sizewell nukiller power plant.

After the rally we were  given a guided tour of Sizewell Beach: -
Right in front of the power station.

Sizewell Beach is made up of sand dunes which are constantly
subject to tidal movements.

It is a coast line which will become seriously eroded within the
next half century.

This will be due to  rising sea levels.

As a result of this the Sizewell plant may well become a coastal island.

The scary thing is that there will still be a lot of highly toxic and
very radioactive spent fuel rods stored at the site.

Now there may be very little we can do about rising sea levels,
but we can work to close down the existing Sizewell plants,
&
Campaign to stop the building of Sizewell C.

So just forget ideology and political allegiances !

This is one issue we all need to work on together !

Books.

Some books contain such horrific images that I would be very
reluctant to show them to anyone who has no need to view them.

Such books include: -

Ernst Friedrich.
Krieg Dem Kriege
( War against war ).

&

Lord Russel of Liverpool.
The Knights of Bushido: A Short History of Japanese War Crimes.

Both of these works contain very important information about the
horrors of war, but there they also have some very disturbing
photographic images.

The same also applies to those works which describe the effects of
Atomic Bombs dropped at Hiroshima & Nagasaki.

What applies to books about war also applies to those works
which show the medical effects of radioactive leaks from Nukiller
Power stations.

War is Not a Game.

Many media images of soldiers just show men in combat or
on military parades.

This also extends to the model soldiers which are on sale in toy
shops.  Most of these models either glorify war, or show soldiers
engaged in acts of violence.

This is why many pacifists are concerned with the sale of war toys.

It is very rare to come across model soldiers as the casualties of war, or in need of medical Help.

Veterans for Peace.

Veterans for Peace UK has recently been established with the following Aims:-

- To resist war through non-violent action.
- Support persecuted war-resisters.
- Counter militarism in society through education.
- Increase public awareness of the costs of war.
- End the arms race and to reduce and eventually eliminate
nuclear weapons.
&
- Abolish war as an instrument of national policy

As ex soldiers they have experienced the truth about war.

They deserve to be heard.