(October 16, 1998) In the 1970s, the need for better cross-frontier contact and communication became increasingly obvious to many in the anti-nuclear and safe energy movement. The idea of a newsletter of some kind came up regularly at all the meetings.
In the summer of 1977, the idea was discussed in detail by groups attending very different meetings: at a conference on non-violence in Guernavaca (Mexico) and one on "ecology and European elections" in Bergisch-Gladbach (then West Germany). The catalyst was the news that independent funds might be available via the sales of the Smiling Sun symbol.
A working group was set up, with an informal mandate from the two conferences. Those taking part had all been involved in cross- frontier work, in the energy movement, the non-violent movement or in the alternative press. In November 1977, some 70 people met in Brussels, Belgium, to discuss the project.
Many of them signed a "declaration of intent" about setting up a "World Information Service on Energy - WISE".
The preparatory group, enlarged, went on working and called a founding meeting in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in February 1978. Every effort was made to invite all the branches of the movement. Nearly 200 people attended, and WISE was formally established. In May 1978 the first issue of theWISE Bulletin, a bimonthly magazine in several languages, was published. The WISE News Communique (only available in English) was already existing and was a collection of press releases. Sometimes just two pages, sometimes five or six; it was mailed out if there was need to, not on a regular basis.
The WISE Bulletin (first produced in Amsterdam, later in Washington and then for a while in Oxford) existed until December 1984 and was then totally replaced by the News Communique, which became a regular magazine, published 20 times a year. Meanwhile, many versions in different languages of the News Communique had seen the light (see Wise; the News Communique).
The Smiling Sun
From January 1978 until 1980, a small slice of the income from the sale of the Smiling Sunwas being used to serve the movement, by helping to finance WISE. The Smiling Sun was designed in April 1975, by a member of the Aarhusgroup of OOA, the Danish "Organization for Information on Atomic Energy". It was a winner from the start, with badges, stickers, posters, T-shirts selling faster than anyone could have predicted.
It was decided from the start that income from the sale of the emblem should go to the autonomous OOA groups, not to the central OOA office. The badges and stickers were produced centrally, so the price for the groups was low; the money they made by selling them helped finance their activities.
The OOA was determined not to let the Smiling Sun be kidnapped, either by party political groups, or by private business. So it has been registered as a trade mark in Denmark and many other countries.
The Smiling Sun was launched on an international level at the
World Congress Against Nuclear Power, in Göteborg (Sweden) in May 1976. By December of that year it was being produced in several foreign languages, and from the start the OOA asked for the same principles to be respected. The Smiling Sun should help all groups in the movement. The next step was a logical one. In September 1977 the OOA, still acting as guardian of the Smiling Sun, agreed to the idea that part of the income from sales should go towards financing a multi-language energy information service. For the first two years, WISE was the main beneficiary.
Declaration of Intent (1977)
Reasons for an information service
Opposition to nuclear energy is becoming a worldwide transnational movement. It is the most advanced manifestation so far of a broad movement of opinion against a technocratic, centralized, authoritarian, undemocratic form of society. Its strength and originality lies in the direct involvement of citizens, many previously uncritical or inactive, in deciding about things that affect them.
But the forces behind the nuclear option already operate at the international level (industry and governments). It is therefore high time for the movement to organize a flow of information and experience that can enable its actions to be more effective and better coordinated. This is also needed for the development of the positive side of the movement; the elaboration and promotion of viable alternatives (renewable energy sources, other patterns of energy consumption, etc.).
Functions of the service
One of our functions is to serve the movement, in particular by the transmission of information and the promotion of direct contact within the movement.
For reasons of effectiveness (concentration of limited resources), and clarity, its field of action is limited to energy, taken in the broadest sense (e.g., activities and methods of the anti-nuclear movement, implications for employment of different patterns of energy production and consumption, worldwide activities of the nuclear industry...).
The prime aim is to ensure the flow of information that is relevant to action (e.g., material for legal and political presentation of the anti-nuclear case; practical experience of alternative energies; information on impact, dangers, problems, etc., of the nuclear industry....)
Information will be made available both in response to specific requests and in the form of a regular publication available to all.
It shall be a ruling principle of the service to avoid any monopoly of information. Thus it will seek to promote and facilitate direct contacts and information exchange within the movement, across all barriers (geographical, linguistic, political, etc.), and not to centralize or canalize contacts.
The service must be flexible to respond to the immediate priorities of the movement (e.g., contacts, international press coverage in liaison with the preparation and follow-up of an international demonstration), but never at the expense of its obligation to serve the movement as a whole throughout the world.
The service will require a permanent team able to ensure communication in the widest possible range of languages (in particular English, French, German). The statute of the service must ensure its independence from all political or ideological allegiance, inside or outside the movement.
(Signed in Brussels, November 1977, annexed to the statutes of WISE, February 1978)