But as this week's Temelin blockade dramatically demonstrates, the Web offers anti-nuclear activists a powerful new medium for communicating their concerns directly to the public. The Temelin Web site is being updated several times each day, with print quality photos, reports from participants, and other details. An English language version of the site is available in text-only format as well as with full graphics. Four years behind schedule and many millions of dollars over budget, the plant has recently become the focus of renewed debate both within the Czech Republic and internationally. While a leader of the Czech opposition party has condemned the plant as a bad investment and is seeking a local public referendum to decide the plant's fate, representatives of the Czech electric utility have claimed that protest organizers invited violent anarchists from Germany to participate in the blockade.
Protesters hope to stop all construction work on the plant during the week.
Supporters from around the world can find out whether they succeed by clicking on the site. As the Czech anti-nuclear activists are demonstrating with this week's blockade, the Internet can give us an immediate connection to events taking place in distant corners of the globe. It can also be used to monitor, and regularly report on, an infinite range of issues, industries, and political activities. U.S. West Territory Consumer Watch, sponsored by a multi-state coalition of consumer rights organizations, uses the Web to monitor regulatory and legislative developments in states where U.S. West is the incumbent local exchange carrier. Visitors to the site can register consumer complaints and provide suggestions on what sorts of services they want from their local phone company.