[Russia] INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION

On Tuesday, August 10th, the participants of the radical eco-protest site
will hold an action together with local inhabitants of the central Russian
city of Perm against the planned highly toxic fuel and rocket
dismantelling and burning programme. The action will start at 13:00 h
Moscow time, that is 11:00 h Central European Time, and will continue an
hour later around the office building of the regional administration.
Simultaneously there will be actions happening in solidarity in several
other towns and citys in Russia.

The idea is to put as much pressure as possible on the governor of Perm as
well as on the managing directors of the companies directly involved and
of the factory on the premises of which the rockets are to be burnt. With
YOUR involvement in YOUR town or city it will not only be a national, but
become an INTERNATIONAL day of action!!!

What is it all about?

According to a number of non-proliferation and disarmament treaties
between the US and the former USSR, Russia is obliged to destroy all of
its RS22-type long-distance rockets, wich used to carry nuclear warheads
during the time of the Cold War . As the government keeps the flow of
information as low as possible ther is no definite number of rockets known
to be dismantled in Perm; the numbers vary from 56 to 76 the only thing
that is definite is that Russia still posesses around 1000 of these
rockets, all of which are to be destroyed, but (so far) not have been
mentioned+

Looking for an appropriate place for burning these gigantic rockets, the
authorities and experts came up with a factory in the city of Votkinsk.
But facing a radical and offensive campaign of resistance by local
inhabitants and anarchist and radical ecologist groups, they decided not
to do it there.

Then, in 2001 the decision was made to make use of the premises of the
Kirov Factory in Zakamsk, a suburb of the 1 million strong city of Perm
at the foot uf the Ural mountain range. At first plans said that the
rockets are to be burnt in a so-called closed stand , whereas now they
have been changed to preparing an open burning stand , which in effect
means that the rockets are to be burnt in open air together with their
special fuel and other highly toxic parts and ingredients. According to a
survey by Dr Lev Fyodorov, president of the Union for Chemical Safety in
Russia, just the burning of the special fuel, would set free great amounts
of Dioxin on a highly toxic basis, which even in low concentration causes
cancer and destroys the immune system.

The regional administration of Perm recieved a general donation of 72
million dollars under the condition that they use the special burning
technology of US-based arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin . Abother
US-based multinational, Washington Group International Ltd. , is to
facilitate the organisation of the burning procedure. In Perm itself the
rockets are planned to be dismantled by the Mashinostroitel factory and
then in their parts to be burned by the company FGUP NII PM on the
premises of the Kirov factory.

Of course, we are NOT opposed to any kind of disarmament itself! But the
poisoning of a City of a million people with such a plant must call for
our resistance!!! For that reason radical environmental activists from
Perm and other russian cities are holding a protest site since the
beginning of July until the end of August, supported by a (by russian
measures) large number of local inhabitants. With rallies, info-boards, a
demonstration, graffiti, street theatre and other actions the participants
of the protest camp are putting pressure on those in charge and
approaching the public every day with this subject. As it happened in
Votkinsk, we can also stop the plans for burning rockets here in Perm with
our resistance. Moscow correspondents of the main german state tv-stations
ARD and ZDF as well as of british BBC have announced potential interest in
the subject; if the subject gets to the western european public a bit
more, this might support their decision to report on it.

Organise:

Any kind of actions in your town or city (e.g. at russian consulates or
embassies, russian corporations, Lockheed Martin or Washington Group
International Ltd +) (in Russian, English, or+) phone, fax, e-mail
protest to:
-governor of Perm region OLJEG TSCHIRKUNOV

Tel: (RUS)-(3422)-587071, -587069

Fax: -901356, -905566, -360952

Mail:  obladmin@permreg.ru

-general director of Kirov factory, GENNADIN KUSMIZKI

Tel/Fax: -501901

Mail:  niipm@pi.ccl.ru

-gen.dir. of FGUP NII PM company, ANATOLIJ TALAJEV

Tel: -540001, -555683

Fax: -553587, 540088

Mail:  niipm@pi.ccl.ru

-gen.dir. of Mashinostroitel factory, VLADIMIR LOMAJEV

Tel: -726730

Fax: -726614

Mail:  skif@permonline.ru

3. Tell us (as well as the public) about the actions you did!

4. Forward this call for action to anyone who might be able and willing to
organise kind of protest or action in solidarity with the activists in
Russia.

For any further information check:

Tel.: 8-922-242-78-00, 8-922-601-05-31 (in Russia)

E-mail:  lager_perm@mail.ru

 http://perm.indymedia.ru

 http://www.avtonom.org

 http://russia.indymedia.org

 http://russia.indymedia.org