Aikajana – Perspective of Time

On our excursion in spring 2016 to Pyhäjoki and the future Fennovoima Nuclear Power Plant on Hanhikivi peninsula, we met with two anti-nuclear activist groups: Pro Hanhikivi, a registered local society that aims at affecting decision making with democratic means on both regional and national level; and a loosely associated group of individuals sharing a culture of activism, the base of which is in a long-standing international anti-nuclear movement. At the time of our visit, there were a handful of international activists holding fort in a house some kilometers to the side of the actual Hanhikivi construction area. Previously, the activists had been camping inside the area, but as the land movers and tree cutters advanced, the activists were forced out.  After one of the demonstrations at the camp had turned violent, Pro Hanhikivi had ceased to associate themselves with the international activists.

Salla Keskinen writes in her report:

It was surprising to notice the differences and disputes between the different anti-nuclear activist groups. I realized that we always are nevertheless dealing with imperfect people (us all) and their (our all) mutual communication.

This is why it felt pertinent to learn about Consensus Decision Making – a communication technique introduced to us by Hyökyaalto activist Jason Marshal.

How to make people come together and understand each other? If those fervently resisting nuclear power cannot agree amongst each other, how will they ever make themselves understood to those defending nuclear power?  At the Community House in Pyhäjoki, we met with the Mayor, a representative of the Pro-Hanhikivi Society, and three local citizens, one of which had sold his land to the Fennovoima nuclear power plant. This meeting spurred further questions. What does such a mega project as Fennovoima’s power plant mean to a small town? How about the perspective of time? In Pyhäjoki, the Mayor makes decisions affecting Finland and its environs for 100 000 years.

A few months later Salla Keskinen and Sade Hiidenkari, another student participating in the course, revisited Pyhäjoki at the same time as the international activist group had made a call for reclaiming their camp at the Hanhikivi construction site. Public media seemed not interested in bringing up any of the arguments against Fennovoima, but rather focused on the violence of the activists. We also heard rumors, that local reporters were afraid to report other than pro-Fennovoima news.

Rather than participate in the daily demonstrations at Hanhikivi, where only international activists, Fennovoima personnel, and the police, engaged in their tug of war, Salla and Sade made Aikajana performance in the center of Pyhäjoki. Chalking a line along Pyhäjoki main street, marking the timeline of 100 000 years by an extremely slow walk – and the short snippet, half a foot step, of human life on earth in relation to it – Salla and Sade brought the perspective of time into the everyday life of the residents of this small town.

The success of this performance was confirmed by Raahen Seutu newspaper. In an article about art, for the first time since Fennovoima entered the community, reporter Raili Virret was able to write about the many sides of the conflict, which was tearing apart the social fabric of the town.

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