European Action Weeks

"For a future after Chernobyl and Fukushima"

All events

All locations

In this interactive map you can find a (still growing) list of all cities in which events within the framework of the European action weeks “For a future after Chernobyl and Fukushima” are held. What events are planned when, learn either by control the respective local point, or on the list of participating cities in the text to the right. There you’ll also find program flyers with information about the organisations.

facebook2_1Informations about the events in several cities in Europe you’ll find on our public facebook-site.

In these cities activities are planned (the links lead to detailled information flyers):

Germany: Angermünde, Bleckenstedt, Braunschweig, Eisenhüttenstadt, Frankfurt/Oder, GlienickeGoslar, Kiel, Münster, NeutrebbinRemlingen, Salzgitter, Schöppenstedt, SchwedtWolfenbüttel 

Österreich: Wien

Spanien: Malaga und fünf weitere Städte

Tschechien: Budejovice

Ukraine: Charkiw

Austria: Vienna

Czech Republic: Budejovice

Spain: Malaga and further cities

Ukraine: Charkiw

Simultaneous candlelight vigils in many countries

Organising groups in Belarus, Germany, Austria, Poland, Spain, the Czech Republic, in Turkey and Ukraine organise conversations with contemporary witnesses, talks, and candlelight vigils to remember the anniversaries of Fukushima on the 11th of March, and of Chernobyl on the 26th of April. Further information on the particular events can be found on the respective country pages, which can be reached via the links below.

European Parliament is the official patron

EP logo RGB_DE

The European Parliament has taken over the role of official patron for the 2016 European Action Weeks „For a future after Chernobyl and Fukushima“. „The European parliament very much appreciates the goal of your initiative“, Martin Schulz, president of the EU parliament, told IBB Dortmund in October 2015. „Our institution is deeply worried on the question of security in the field of nuclear energy“, the letter of parliamentary president Martin Schulz continues.

Delegation visiting the German parliament

In today’s Germany, Fukushima is seen as a symbol for radical rethinking of energy policy. But still, there are more than 100 nuclear power plants running all over Europe, and still, older reactors like Temelin, Tihange, Doel3 and others are a cause for concern, not just in Germany. During a talk at the Bundestag (German parliament), on Wednesday, the 27th of April 2016, IBB Dortmund and its co-organisers of the European Action Weeks will ask for an update on the state of energy transition in Germany and in Europe. They are accompanied by contemporary witnesses, who in 1986 were first responders at the damaged nuclear power plant in Chernobyl. The Social Democratic parliamentary group in the German parliament will host them.

IBB is going to visit the European Parliament

At a visit in Brussels, the co-organisers of the European Action Weeks „For a future after Chernobyl and Fukushima“, on Thursday, 7th of April 2016, will ask for an update on the state of energy transition in Europe. Rebecca Harms, chair of the parliamentary group of the Green Party in the European parliament, is meeting the delegation for an intensive exchange of opinions. Representatives of IBB and the organising groups from Great Britain, Belarus, Austria, Spain, Italy, Ukraine and Germany will listen to reports by contemporary witnesses, look at the health aspects of the Chernobyl catastrophe and discuss questions of safety of nuclear power plants. If you like to take part please use the registration form.

Documentary film maker Hitomi Kamanaka visiting

On the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the nuclear catastrophe of Fukushima, Hitomi Kamanaka, award-winning documentary film maker from Japan, visited Germany and France, invited by IBB Dortmund. In Gelsenkirchen, Dusseldorf, Potsdam, Leipzig, Freiburg, and Paris, she presented her film „Little Voices of Fukushima“, and reported on the current situation in Japan. The film tells the story of how everyday life was changed by the nuclear catastrophe, as seen from the perspective of children and their mothers. The film also shows parallels between Japan and Belarus. You can find the film trailer here.

Against repression and forgetting of Chernobyl and Fukushima

On the 25th anniversary, IBB realised an international project of remembrance with a number of renowned partners, where for the first time cooperation and networking efforts on a pan-European basis were started. 2010, the European Chernobyl Network was founded. Since 2011 a multimedia Chernobyl exhibition was shown in more than 50 cities in Germany, and since 2012 also in Ukraine. In Kharkiv the first history workshop Chernobyl was created, a meeting point for the forgotten contemporary witnesses of the Chernobyl catastrophe.

Our specific focus is still on the great number of liquidators, migrants and contemporary witnesses in Belarus: IBB Dortmund and Minsk together stand up against the forgetting of the catastrophe of Chernobyl and the fate of millions of effected adults and children.

''The legacy of Chernobyl will accompany us and our descendants''

“The legacy of Chernobyl will accompany us and our descendants – for many coming generations…”

Kofi Annan,
former Secretary General of the United Nations, New York 2000

 

Chernobyl was a nuclear catastrophe with incalculable effects upon humans and nature up to this day. It taught us that technogenic catastrophes know no national boundaries. As Belarus is the country most affected, IBB Dortmund and IBB “Johannes Rau” Minsk saw it as their special duty to act towards an alleviation of the effects: Under the motto of ‘Chernobyl warns’, the German-Belarusian and the German-Belarusian-Ukrainian partnership conferences took place on the 10th and 20th anniversary of the catastrophe, in 1996 and 2006. This way, the creation of networks between partnership organisations and aid organisations was strengthened enormously and new project ideas were born.

Activities simoultaneously in Europe

The concept

At the European Action Weeks ‘For a future after Chernobyl and Fukushima’ IBB gives a voice to those whose lives has been changed forever by the catastrophes. The remembrance of Chernobyl and Fukushima is connected to concepts of renewable energy and energy conservation. The action weeks take place each year between the 11th of March, the anniversary of Fukushima, and the 26th of April, the anniversary of Chernobyl. A sustainable energy policy is necessary not just in Germany, but all over Europe. Thus the action weeks are realised in cooperation with numerous European organisations, which in 2010 have joined forces in the European Chernobyl Network (ECN) – from 2014 on, the International Chernobyl Network (ICN).

The network

Within the framework of the European Action Weeks ‘For a future after Chernobyl and Fukushima’, groups of organisations realise evening discussions, candlelight vigils, and talks with contemporary witnesses. Most of the events are open to the public. Talks with contemporary witnesses at schools are, for the most part, not open to the public. Here you can find the detailed programmes for all participating countries.

Life memories of contemporary witnesses

Within the framework of the European Action Weeks ‘For a future after Chernobyl and Fukushima’, IBB Dortmund enables a connection to contemporary witnesses, who, from first-hand experience, can report the effects of the catastrophes of Chernobyl and Fukushima on their lives. Most of them were active as so-called liquidators, as firemen, helicopter pilots, or the like. The collection of written biographies can be found here (soon).

Publications about the topic Chernobyl and Fukushima

The Fukushima reader for teaching

The Fukushima reader, published in December 2012, contains a comprehensive collection of materials for teaching in secondary schools from years 5 to 12. It can be used both in science and humanities classes. The reader contains information about radioactivity and its effects, about the course of events of the Fukushima accident, the results of the disaster, reports on the workers at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, the population of Japan, the information policy, reports of affected persons and on reactions in Japan. A list with further reading and sources completes the collection. A supplement on the topic of Chernobyl is currently being prepared.

Die PDF file can be downloaded here. (Higher resolution on request!)

''Lost towns, broken biographies''

On the 26th of April 2011, the 25th anniversary of the nuclear catastrophe in Chernobyl, IBB published a book with photographies by Rüdiger Lubricht: ‘Lost towns, broken biographies’ shows 120 pages of abandoned towns and the remaining inhabitants of the region around Chernobyl, which was irradiated by radioactive fallout. The book, published by Peter Junge-Wentrup, General Manager of the International Association for Education and Exchange Dortmund, contains a preface by Dr. Astrid Sahm.

(February 2011, 25,- €, can be ordered from internet book sellers)

Books, brochures and films

IBB Dortmund has published a series of publications on the topic and collected materials. The books and brochures can be ordered, some of them are available for download.

‘Create a future after Chernobyl and Fukushima’, Documentation

‘Chernobyl and the European Solidarity Movement’, Hardcover book

‘Voices after Chernobyl and Fukushima’, Documentation

Initiatives present themselves

The nuclear catastrophe of Chernobyl has led to a unique wave of solidarity all over Europe. People touched by the tragedy came together in initiatives and associations, and built bridges to Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. And there as well, aid organisations were founded, which fostered partnerships across borders.

The list of Chernobyl initiatives can be found here.

Contact

Anton Markschteder

markschteder@ibb-d.de