2024 / Nuclear Pride Coalition & Greenwash - Stand up for nuclear Propaganda
Veröffentlicht am 08.08.2024 in der Kategorie English Section von Axel Mayer
Nuclear Pride Coalition = Stand up for nuclear Propaganda
On 21st October 2018 an article was published by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, reporting on a rather curious scene that took place in Munich. In a ‘Nuclear Pride’ event, organizations like ‘Ecologists for Nuclear’ and the ‘Humanist party’ alongside other participants tried to raise awareness for their goal: The return to nuclear energy, whilst simultaneously calling themselves climate protectors.
20.10.2019 Stand up for nuclear Propaganda in
Paris, London, Helsinki, Stockholm, Kopenhagen, Amsterdam, Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Taipeh, Seoul, Melbourne
A few years after the devastating nuclear accidents of Fukushima and Tschernobyl, which both resulted in extremely high numbers of casualties, the international nuclear lobby decided to shun the limelight for a little while. But apparently it takes more than just two global disasters to bring them down for good. The global nuclear society, the old and powerful networks between enterprises, lobbyists and nuclear parties are still very much in tact. Even though renewable energies are on the rise in the western world, and many outdated nuclear power plants are going offline, dictatorships and economically weak countries continue to establish new nuclear power plants. That is one of the reasons why new NPP’s are promoted so massively in 2018. The nuclear power plant operators make a big effort to try and win over the wary public after Fukushima and Tschernobyl. Consequently cunning campaigns are run and used to cover up facts, to spread half-truths and to boast.
The only thing that has changed over the years are the propaganda and enforcement strategies that are being utilized. In former times, conflicts revolving around nuclear energy, protection of the environment and climate were argued out between environmentalists and opposing enterprises. Unfortunately the environmentalist movement today still thinks and acts upon outdated ways of thinking and conflict patterns. Nowadays those conflicts are being ‘outsourced’. It is alarming how all over Germany organisations of the nuclear and coal corporate groups, foundations and faked citizen initiatives like ‘Nuclear pride’ are supporting the usage of nuclear power plants and coal power stations while fighting environmentally friendly renewable energies.
The German newspaper die Zeit states the following about the ‘German sister’ of Nuclear Pride: 'Disguised as independent citizen initiative, the organisation ‘Bürger für Technik BfT (Citizens for Technology)’ has been praising nuclear energy for a long time. In reality the BfT is a group of energy industrial lobbyists. In addition nuclear scientists and engineers of the KTG (nuclear technology corporation) are pleading for the peaceful usage of nuclear energy. Furthermore The KTG are receiving financial support from the Deutschen Atomforum (The German nuclear forum), which officially represents the interests of the nuclear power plant operators.'
A recently produced NPP-Commercial titled: ‘Thorium-Atomkraft ohne Risiko? (Thorium- Risk-free nuclear energy?)’ acts as the perfect example for the clever enforcement strategies of the industry. The commercial makes it seem as if it were the citizens who want the establishment of new nuclear power plants, not the corporate groups.
Dr. Sebastian Schwark of the PR- agency Hill & Knowlton said the following: ‘The key question is not how to avoid but how to manage protest.’
President Trump’s electoral campaign was largely financed by wealthy American lobbyists who also bear a tremendous interest in keeping NPPs in further operation. Additionally they strive for the erection of new nuclear power plants and coal power stations and further fuel the denial of climate change by fighting against renewable energies.
What Nuclear Pride would like to keep a secret: Not only is the usage of nuclear energy life threatening but also the most expensive form of climate protection. In fact electricity from alternative energy sources that are combated vigorously by both the nuclear and coal lobby has become more cost efficient in recent times than the electricity produced by dangerous nuclear power plants. Environmental researchers have calculated that investments in energy conservation could prevent double the amount of carbon dioxide from being produced than comparable investments in the new construction of NPPs.
The nuclear lobbyist Michael Shellenberger is being portrayed as ‘environmental activist’ by the public and media. But Michael Shellenberger is ‘a radioactive wolf in green clothing: Dissecting the latest pro-nuclear spin’ as Independentaustralia goes on to describe the impact of the nuclear travelling salesman. Furthermore Friends of the Earth Australia critically analyzes the well financed global lobbying activities. We would appreciate a similarly critical analysis by the German media. In addition both the nuclear and genetic engineering corporations pursue an almost identical PR-concept with Patrick Moore.
Eco-optimism, Eco-realism and the Nuclear Pride Coalition The industry guided eco-optimism and eco-realism campaign is an American campaign, run to divide the environmental movement. Now it’s being carried over to Germany and the whole of Europe. It lies in the eco-optimists interest to attack positive terms like protection of the environment, sustainability and ecology. Furthermore they try to discredit sustainability and put environmental movements and religious sects in political relation. Simultaneously Nuclear Power Plants, Coal Power Stations and genetic engineering are being praised. The Nuclear Pride Coalition counts as one of the most aggressive industry guided ecooptimistic groups.
There’s a basic principle in advertising business: “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth.”(Proverbs, 27:2) According to this principle it does not appear very credible when McDonalds itself claims that McDonalds-Burgers are the best, when oil and coal corporate groups deny the existence of the climate change, when the tobacco industry plays down the risk of cancer, when Bayer-Monsanto extols genetic engineering and when nuclear corporate groups praise the safety of nuclear energy. But when “neutral third parties” assume responsibility for advertising they make a detached and therefore plausible impression and are able to cleverly sell the corporate groups opinions. On this account tobacco-, asbestos-, nuclear- and genetic engineering groups frequently exploit the credibility of scientists and “former environmentalists” like Michael Shellenberger.
The Nuclear Pride Festival was just the visible tip of the propaganda-eisberg. In the past it often was the worlds best and simultaneously worst PR-organisations that have been pulling the strings behind PR-campaigns like the Nuclear Pride festival. Burson Marsteller., for instance, is one of them. One of the conflicting messages spread by the worlds most influential PR-agencies reads as follows: "The manmade climate change doesn’t exist but we still urgently need more nuclear power plants to fend off the impending climate disasters." Furthermore it was those same old PR-agencies that have been lying through their teeth to benefit the Swiss Nuclear Forum. Moreover similar campaigns have been supported by paid trolls that were hired to anonymously write hundreds of "letters to the editor" and to litter online forums with promotional messages. Even the manipulation of Wikipedia articles is part of the PR-agencies everyday business. You’ve only got a chance to fight against this manipulative force if you don’t stay silent and utilize all of your knowledge and intelligence to compose your own letters to the editor and your own online posts to eradicate purposely planted misinformation.
The polar bear mascot called Melty which was supposed to draw attention to the melting of the polar ice caps during the lobbyist-protest in Munich is an especially clever PR-stunt. It’s not the citizen initiatives that are hiding behind the façade of those Nuclear Pride protests and associations but PR-agencies and corporate groups.
