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Five-Ring Circus Comes to Brattleboro

by: Christian Avard

Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 08:06:38 AM EDT

Another "only in Brattleboro" story.

Bob Audette, of the Brattleboro Reformer writes:

"Representatives from Vermont's Department of Public Service were heckled by anti-nuclear activists during a public meeting in Brattleboro last night.
The meeting was the last of four around the state that the DPS hosted to discuss the future of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
DPS Spokesman Stephen Wark was interrupted several times as he attempted to explain to the crowd of more than 100 people gathered at the Red Roof Inn the process behind the state's review of the power plant... the hearing in Brattleboro was meant to inform the Department of Public Service, the Public Service Board and the Legislature in its deliberations over Yankee's future."

It gets better.

"Off to the side, a pair of anti-nuclear activists performed a kind of street theater. A man wearing a placard reading "Public Service" and a woman wearing a placard reading "Nuclear Industry" mimicked a couple engaging in foreplay, bordering on sex.
At one point, Wark threatened to call the police to remove at least one of the loudest protesters.
"Some people here tonight are more interested in grandstanding than in participating," said Wark, after the crowd broke into five groups to discuss Vermont Yankee. "We're here for a period of time with a serious mission and that's to collect information for in-depth studies. We want to make sure we are hearing the people."
Wark said previous meetings in Burlington, St. Johnsbury and Rutland were not disrupted by protesters.
"This doesn't dissuade us from what we came here to do," he said.""

To read more of the recap, Click here.

Christian Avard :: Five-Ring Circus Comes to Brattleboro

Tags: Brattleboro Reformer, nuclear power, Brattleboro, Vermont Yankee, (All Tags)

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Five-Ring Circus Comes to Brattleboro | 9 comments

If it was a sham hearing... (3.00 / 1)

...basically providing cover for everybody, than I certainly have no problem with activists interfering with it... the sex schtick sounds kind of funny.

I dunno. I don't know enough about it, but I certainly am not inclined to condemn it without more info.

Nullius perfectus est

by: odum @ Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 14:32:06 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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Yes, and there's more (4.00 / 1)

"This whole thing is a farce," said Claire Chang, a board member of Citizen Awareness Network and the coordinator of the Safe and Green campaign. "The whole DPS procedure is rigged."

She called the public meeting a "five-ring circus" with questions slanted in favor of keeping Vermont Yankee open through 2032.

Asking "common ordinary citizens" to provide the expertise on how the department and the Public Service Board should proceed with their reviews is backward, she said. Instead, the DPS and PSB should perform their reviews, present them to the public and then seek feedback.

"That's their responsibility. They're the public advocate."

by: auclair @ Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 14:53:53 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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Well put auclair. (3.50 / 2)

That's the other part of the story. I left that out so that people would read Bob's article instead of me copying it all.

While the skit sounds funny, I wonder if actions like that will encourage others to join in the cause not to re-license VY. I think there are people out there who support CAN, Nuclear Free Vermont (hi Ed!), NEC, and other individuals but don't you think that kind of activity (engaging in sex) is going win over people to our side? Does that really make us look good in the public eye? I'm not so sure. It may only continue to reinforce the people who already disagree with VY and their re-liscenure efforts. Know what I'm talking about? I think there are more effective and less insulting means to get across these meetings are shams.

Just a thought.

by: Christian Avard @ Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 15:36:21 PM UTC

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by: you @ soon

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Correction (0.00 / 0)

I wrote:

but don't you think that kind of activity (engaging in sex) is going win over people to our side?

I meant "won't" win over people to our side. Sorry.

by: Christian Avard @ Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 15:38:31 PM UTC

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by: you @ soon

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another view from a satire site (3.00 / 1)

"At events like last night's Department of Public Service meeting in Brattleboro, you can always tell the Vermont Yankee employees from the nuclear activists because the activists are wearing fake beards and prosthetic bosoms with bright orange nipples."

"Vermont Yankee employees know how to answer a question like "What are the benefits to continued operation of Vermont Yankee?" as it is asked and not insist on the question being reframed on suspicion of it having been scientifically designed by imperialist dogs to do untold harm."

http://fakerobwilliams.blogspo...

I hope Christian is not suggesting we put sex back in the closet. Yes, satire uses sex and other volatile subjects to get your attention. And it works :-)

by: auclair @ Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 15:56:46 PM UTC

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Fine by me. (3.50 / 2)

While it does get attention, is it effective? Will it win more people to our side? I just wonder if that could possibly turn off a lot of people who may actually be sympathetic to stopping VY. I would think there are people out there who will read about this, not identify with it, and/or reconsider not to associate with groups engaged in this behavior. Not to sound like a prude or anything but I can just imagine people out there thinking this is petty and juvenile. The last thing we want are people acting like those nitwit Communists yelling in Boston T-stations about capitalist conspiracies. They get attention but are people really listening? Are they being convinced?

I'm just playing devils advocate here. It's the same people engaging in the same actions every single time the NRC, PSB, and others come to Brattleboro. Do actions like this reinforce us or does it win us more allies? It's going to take more than the usual suspects to take these bozos down.

by: Christian Avard @ Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 16:11:48 PM UTC

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by: you @ soon

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Doesn't turn me on (4.00 / 2)

I've always been anti-nuke but it's not my key issue. However, a couple in foreplay as "theater" is just gross and silly theatrics of the desperate. How much thought went into that? A minute? Doesn't make me think, which is what good activist theater is supposed to do. It's a spectacle, not a statement. Teenagers would've done better. I'm embarassed for them, and this is one of the reasons I don't get involved.

by: annikee @ Sun Apr 06, 2008 at 14:54:05 PM UTC

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Effective protest (3.75 / 4)

Obscene language and behavior generally does get attention, but it gets attention for the wrong reason. Modifying a manger scene to have the wise men holding a balloon that says "it's a girl!" gets attention, and does so in a funny and creative fashion. I'm not sure exactly what it's trying to accomplish but it's still damned funny.

Abby Hoffman putting up a sign that says FUCK COMMUNISM in order to screw with the minds of censors by giving them something they want to censor while still agreeing with the message gets attention by pitting two oppressive mindsets against one another in an extremely clever way.

When the Yes Men faked their way into an oil industry event and proposed a means by which to make fossil fuels out of human corpses, they came up with an extremely disturbing way of drawing attention to the limitations of our fuel economy.

When people engage in theater protest, they should do so with wisdom, intelligence and creativity. Fake copulation doesn't have nearly the effectiveness as just skipping around holding hands would. It draws attention to the method of protest that makes the protesters look like morons and gives intelligent people a good excuse for tuning them out.

Musician, Web Designer, Photographer

by: JulieWaters @ Sun Apr 06, 2008 at 16:38:39 PM UTC

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You're right. It's a two way street... (0.00 / 0)

... and it works. Those are some good examples when it does work. I'm thinking results. "Is this something that will win people over?" "Will this action gain me potential allies?" Especially those who may not identify with activism? To reach beyond the usual suspects is something I consider important. Always great to get diversity instead of the same people involved in all the other issues, a la Brattleboro, right? That's why I had to stop and question this. What we assume will be agreeable may always not be with others.... something like that. I'm so tired right now I can't think straight.

by: Christian Avard @ Sun Apr 06, 2008 at 21:51:39 PM UTC

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