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REPORT ON BERLIN SPACE DEMONSTRATION
June 10th 2000 by REGINA HAGEN |
The Anti-ILA campaign tried to do a blockade of the main gate of the fair area at airport Berlin-Schoenefeld on June 10th. Police had gained advance knowledge about that, however, and did a thorough check of cars that came from closeby Potsdam. They arrested 8 people who wanted to take part in the blockade. At the entrance, they arrested a few more and prevented the blockade.
They also prevented a protest action in the fair at a military Tornado airplane. On Saturday, we built up an information table at subway station Berlin-Rudow where shuttle buses to the main fair entrance left. We had (toy) balloons filled with helium which we handed to children. The balloons said "Use space peacefully" on one side. On the other they showed the CPIS logo (which we also use in Germany" and the words "Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space". The Mutlangen group had published a special edition of the "Weltraum Aktuell" ("News on Space") newsletter.
People were rather in a hurry to get on the buses and get to the trade show. But we handed out many leaflets, had some talks. And the kids took the ballons with them to the fair - I don't think anyone would have dared to take the balloons away from them! We were about 20 people who participated in the Rudow action. At the fair, they had several display areas in the open. In the main display area, most planes were military ones - the Eurofighter, the stealth bomber, and many others which names I don't know. People were allowed to climb up some of them and sit in the cockpit and were explained how they worked. There were many young boys keen to do that. They also had a Eurofighter flight simulator there. All the large military and aerospace/space campanies (with the exception of Boeing) were there. In addition to the fair, there were dozens of conferences and expert meetings during the the fair time. About 70% of these were on military subjects.
This year, the fair had a focus on (military) cooperation with Eastern Europe countries. Because France and Germany had decided to use the Airbus 400 as the new large transport plane for the military, the Russians were angry and did not display the Antonov...