-The Nuclear Free New England Campaign Action Camp on nukebusting drew over 300 registered participants to Dummerston, Vermont from August 21-27. The Campaign is a project of New England's Citizens Awareness Network (CAN) and the national Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), seeking to bring public pressure to close all of New England's failing atomic reactors as soon as possible, beginning with the Vermont Yankee plant in Vernon.

The camp was inspired by similar activities in Europe over the past two years, including radioactive waste train blockades in Germany; nuclear plant blockades in the Czech Republic; and similar activities in Russia against nuclear power stations.

On August 22, 500 people rallied for a Nuclear Free New England on the Brattleboro Commons. On Tuesday, August 25, the Bread & Puppet Theater led a camp workshop, and then a 50-foot dragon on a march through downtown Brattleboro, culminating in skits on the Commons against the proposed dumping of Vermont's "low-level" rad-waste at Sierra Blanca, Texas.

During the camp, over 50 educational and training workshops were held, featuring many of the most knowledgeable members of the environmental/anti-nuclear movements. The program provided participants with a "nuclear toolbox" to use when they returned to their communities to organize their friends and neighbors to shut their local nuke and deal ethically with the monstrous waste problem created by nuclear corporations.

The camp included training in civil disobedience tactics/strategies and the philosophy of nonviolence. Some workshops dealt with understanding scientific jargon used by NRC and utilities to thwart public participation. Leadership development training was offered to help organizers find their voice and combat the financial and psychic stranglehold that nuclear corporations have on their neighbors.

Campers received hands-on experience by participating in the running of the camp, the rally, the parade, leaf-letting, and the demonstration at the gates of Vermont Yankee. Food and other supplies were donated by local New England businesses. Professional cooks who donated their time ran the kitchen. Child care was provided by a cooperative system.

On Thursday afternoon, August 27, over 120 camp participants and local residents gathered at Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor in Vernon, Vermont, five miles south of Brattleboro, for a disciplined, nonviolent direct action to publicly indict corporate crimes. At the request of the Vernon school board, the demonstration was held after the elementary school across the street let out for the day so as not to disrupt class or expose children to the potentially large police presence. Organizers wanted to make clear that their quarrel was not with the people of Vernon, Vermont Yankee's work force, or the Vernon police, but with Vermont Yankee Corporation.

The demonstration included a citizens arrest of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation and a marking of the site with yellow crime scene tape. People served Vermont Yankee with a Citizen Warrant for crimes against humanity. Three 3' x 6' warrants were placed on the gate:

1) For dumping waste in the local community,
2) For practicing environmental racism by dumping waste on poor, rural, minority communities, such as Barnwell, South Carolina and
3) For the planned dumping of waste at the proposed site in Sierra Blanca, Texas.

Forty-five white baby coffins were placed at the gates of Vermont Yankee by a procession of demonstrators to acknowledge those in their community who had been sacrificed. Twenty-one people blockaded the gates of the reactor site.

They were cited for trespass and released until arraignment September 30. The camp had a transformative effect on many. People will return to their communities mobilized, empowered, and dedicated to ending the nuclear experiment. Already, there are plans for another action camp in New England next year, and activists in the Midwest have begun considering a camp there, too. A full report with photos will be posted on NIRS' website, www.nirs.org

For more information, contact Citizens Awareness Network, (413)339-5781 or email: can@shaysnet.com or the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, 1424 16th Street NW, #404, Washington, DC 20036, (202)328-0002; email: nirsnet@igc.org

(Thanks to CAN and NIRS for their contributions to this account.)

next: Why an Action Camp?