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Floodplain Park victimized for Toll-free Road - index  

River floodplain as a park on the river Wiese - demonstrations against the planned toll-free road - March 22, 2004

Photos from Mr. Andreas Wicki

  

presented by Michael Palomino (2005 / 2008 / 2010 - translation 2024)

Big photos

The ambience

Der Fluss Wiese, Auenpark mit Tüllinger Berg im Hintergrund, mit Zeltlager gegen die Zollfreistrasse. The river Meadow (Wiese), floodplain park with Tüllingen Mountain (Tüllinger Berg) in the background, with tent camp against the toll-free road. This landscape spot is a quiet, relaxing spot with deciduous trees, shrubs and conifers alike, and with a river about 20 meters wide called "Meadow" ("Wiese"). It is also the water enclosure area of Little Basel (Kleinbasel). The trees and firs rustle in the wind, and you can hear the rustling well, because there is no traffic audible at this spot. Mopeds are also not allowed to drive on the river path, but noiseless cyclists and pedestrians recover here together from the stress of everyday life. The initiators against the toll-free road had set up a tent camp here in 2004 in order to persuade politicians to adopt a different variant of the toll-free road, or even having a solution without it altogether, because this unique spot of Basel with the medium-sized river "Wiese", which in its combination with fruit trees, shrubs and a southern slope of the Tüllingerberg, should not be left to traffic. For many birds, this spot is a home that is no longer found very often in industrialized Europe, and certainly not in the Basel region.

The river Wiese with its banks. Here we see the river "Wiese" with its "thresholds". Well, the "thresholds" only exist because the river has been straightened and the slope of the river is far too steep. The natural gradient would be much less, and the natural course of the river would be in large meanders and curves. These meanders were all destroyed in the 18th and 19th centuries and filled up into "cultivated land", and so the river became a "canal". But at least no road has yet been built on the "straight" river, but there are deciduous trees, firs, and in the immediate vicinity are the sunny slopes of the Tüllingerberg, where there are even a few grapes.

Protest banner against the route. Here is a map of the impossible route of the highway "Toll-free road" ("Zollfreistrasse"). The entire bank of the river "Wiese" will be disfigured, and even provided with a motorway bridge, so that the cars and the 40-ton trucks will then be particularly audible. Nature can then no longer live here in the exhaust fumes and in the noise that will develop here. I know what the Catholic car noise of Baden-Württemberg sounds like: In Freiburg im Breisgau, the river Dreisam was raped in exactly the same way with a motorway. When the 40-ton load paths race past there, the houses next to them are vibrating. I can see the residential buildings in the background in the photo. They will soon have no peace and quiet when the Catholic speeding traffic of the people of Baden-Württemberg races on the "toll-free road". One wonders why the stupid Catholic government in Baden-Württemberg has not found a tunnel solution.

The tent camp and the cultural activities
Table session under an overcast sky	Tent camp with teepee
The tent camp with the "leader" and "hunger striker" Mr. Vosseler wanted the governments of Germany and Switzerland to take a look at this place, which is unique for the Basel region and still somewhat naturally preserved. Everyone could bring their tent and spend the night here with the babbling of the river Wiese and then wake up to birdsong. Apparently, the stupid governments from Baden-Württemberg (Freiburg im Breisgau) and from Basel (Cantonal Councillor of Basel Town) have NEVER taken this opportunity, otherwise they would have noticed: This place MUST be protected, otherwise the region will lose this place, which has an atmosphere like the Maggia Valley in South of Switzerland in the canton of Ticino. In the background you can see residential buildings again, this time from the German side. These residential buildings will soon no longer have peace and quiet when the "Toll-free road" motorway will be built.
Transparent: Rather Regional City Railway instead of Motorway! (German: Lieber Regio-S-Bahn statt Autobahn!)	Marquee with bad weather
The tent camp also consisted of many large tents where events took place. On the banner on the large group tent, for example, the demand was clearly written: "Rather Regional City Railway instead of Motorway!" This means that the initiators knew that Lörrach had a connection problem to international traffic, but this problem should be solved with more City Railway lines and not with a motorway that destroys the last quiet natural place with trees, river and southern slope that the region still has.
Tipi tent	Tent camp with fir trees
The feeling of being a "native" could also be experienced in this camp. A teepee tent was set up, which roughly corresponds to the tent shape of the native tribes of North "America". In the background you can see residential buildings again, which were in a 1a location until the construction of the Zollfreistrasse.
Transparent: Build roads in Pfefferland (Gernam: Baut Strassen im Pfefferland)	Tree with grave cross and bicycle
Some of the banners spoke clearly: "Build roads in Pfefferland". You don't need more roads, because there are already enough. The car already dominates people enough, and politics should finally go in a natural direction. The red bicycle / bicycle on the right photo stands at a large fir tree, which was to be felled during the construction of the toll-free road. The fir tree was decorated with flowers. The red and white marking tape was stretched from this fir tree over the river Wiese to indicate where the motorway bridge of the "Toll-free Road" would run.
Cultural activity: Arrival at the Wiesenuferweg 01	Cultural activity: Arrival at the Wiesenuferweg 02
Twice a week there were ornithological tours from this camp for bird watching, some of which were only found here in the Basel region at this spot "Floodplain Park Wiese" ("Auenpark Wiese"). Other cultural activities also took place on Saturday. Here is someone is driving towards the camp with a drum on his back and a trailer. We will find out later who it was.
Mr. Vosseler's entrance of his tent Martin Vosseler had initiated this camp. The conservationist says crystal clearly: "The highest priority is the following task: There is no more important task than the EARTH, to keep our wonderful planet habitable!" (see: http://www.martinvosseler.ch/) (orig. German: "Die höchste Priorität hat folgende Aufgabe: Es gibt keine wichtigere Aufgabe, als die ERDE, unseren wunderbaren Planeten, bewohnbar zu erhalten!" (siehe: http://www.martinvosseler.ch/) Well, the Catholic government of Baden-Württemberg (Freiburg im Breisgau) and the government of Basel Town and Berne apparently did not understand the sense of this tent camp on the river Wiese against the toll-free road until the end. They didn't understand that this is a place with a quality of life like in the Maggia Valley, with many birds that are no longer found in the Basel region. Vosseler was also attacked by many stupid Catholic car Germans, who thought he was blocking the construction of a necessary road. But firstly, the road could be built in a tunnel through the mountain and thus preserve the location, or the road would be completely superfluous if public transport was optimally linked. But the governments wanted the road...
Cultural activity dulcimer music Cultural activity dulcimer music, zoom Cultural activity dulcimer music with tent and colored sky in the background Dulcimer in the tent camp. The atmosphere was so nice and quiet in this tent camp at this place that you could make a music performance with a dulcimer. You could also recite, and you understood every word, so quiet was this wonderful place, without car noise, without aircraft noise, without trucks or motorcycles, 100% nature.
Cultural Activity Recitation	Cultural activity juggling

The speeches and the banners
Speech of the native representative with Vosseler On a Satruday afternoon, Mr. Martin Vosseler had organized a native from Bolivia to convey a greeting from the rainforest to the public. The native (called "Indian" in children's language) came with his drum and told that the most important thing is to preserve nature and not destroy it. But the governments probably had no ears in this case. Now some more banners are shown which could be seen at this Saturday demonstration:
Banner: "Don't take away the air we breathe!" (Transparent: "Nehmt uns und euch nicht die Luft zum atmen!")	x	Banner: "We don't bite the bullet (in German: toads) - we protect the toads!" (Transparent: "Wir schlucken keine Kröten - die Kröten schützen wir!") A newspaper commentary in Basel claimed that the "toad" of the toll-free road was to be "swallowed". The man who wrote this banner and holds it in his hand in a modest way was me, Michael Palomino.	x	Alphorn player: Mr. Linder Ruedi Linder, one of the initiators of the orchestra "Basel Sinfonietta", gave an interlude on the alphorn at the big Saturday demonstration for the preservation of the Auenpark Wiese. Alphorn music needs very quiet places to create a real, devotional atmosphere. This place on the river Wiese also offered this.
Speech of Martin Vosseler
		Speech of Martin Vosseler: a photographer takes photos of his sandals
Martin Vosseler gave a big speech against the nonsensical transport policy of the Catholic government of Baden-Württemberg (Freiburg i.Br.) and the ignorant Swiss government, both of whom wanted to destroy this valuable place with a road. At the same time, there was a German photographer here who did not pay attention to Vosseler's texts, but who noticed above all that Vosseler was wearing sandals without socks. The photographer found this so sensational that he took several photos of Vosseler's feet in sandals. Well, at least the photographer had really noticed something: In order to live more naturally, you should walk more barefoot, or at least without socks. [Addition 2024: Mountain people in the high Andes have no socks, and natives in the Jungle have no socks].

The audience with their banners The majority of the audience of the many speeches was in favour of preserving this natural spot in the Basel region as a place of recreation. Only one group from Tüllingen demonstrated for the road, without caring about the route. One can also look at it in another way: The government in Freiburg i.Br. did not allow any other variant planning and played off the population groups against each other. Reason prevails in Baden-Württemberg in the end, and Hitler's descendants are unfortunately still at the helm in Baden-Württemberg when it comes to car traffic...
Banner: "Even more roads? No: less traffic! Carpooling." (Transparent: "Noch mehr Strassen? Nein: weniger Verkehr! Fahrgemeinschaften bilden.")	Poster of the people from Tüllingen, who have massive traffic without a duty-free road: They claim: "Duty-free opponents are in favor of environmental pollution." (Tafel der Leute aus Tüllingen, die ohne Zollfreistrasse massiven Durchgangsverkehr haben: Sie behaupten: "Zollfreie-Gegner sind für Umweltverschmutzung.")
Speech by Mrs. Heute-Blum in favor of the toll-free road.	Speech by a representative of the Greens against the toll-free road.
In the background a banner: "The MADNESS is short - the REMORSE is long - DUTY-FREE ROAD NO." ("Der WAHN ist kurz - die REU ist lang - ZOLLFREIE NEIN.") Mrs. Heute-Blum, the woman mayor of Lörrach, said that the toll-free road simply had to be built and finished. Mrs. Heute-Blum had no sensitivity for nature. The entire time that the tent camp existed, it was not able to get involved with nature and protect people from the disaster of the toll-free road. On the contrary, she said that the region would receive added value through more traffic. She meant this because the access roads to the toll-free road had already been built and masses of natural landscape had already been concreted over there, just the cars were simply missing. There is no worse affair than this in Catholic Baden-Württemberg. The representative of the Greens from Lörrach gave a speech for the preservation of the town without a toll-free road and for the linking of public transport. The banner in the background clearly warned against the toll-free road that they would regret it for a long time if this beautiful place, which is unique in the Basel region, was destroyed with a motorway, in a water protection area and on a sliding slope ("Schlipf"). That can't go well.
Children of the audience  Adults have no right to destroy the world for children and thus block the future. But the Catholic government in Baden-Württemberg (Freiburg i.Br.) meant it differently. She said that the construction of the road and the destruction of nature were forward-looking. Well, maybe the beaver [as a protected animal] of the motorway will be able to block these building works... [coming and building his dikes - but he did not come unfortunately].

	Speech of the native from the Jungle
Photo 1: There are dwarves and gnomes in nature.	2nd photo: The children in particular have a relationship with these beings. The children can mediate between these worlds.	3rd He called like this: Ask the children what they would do. Children are the future of humanity.
The native from Bolivia from the Bolivian rainforest spoke clearly: the children have no say in the Catholic government of Baden-Württemberg (Freiburg im Breisgau). The children do not want the last quiet places of nature in the Basel region to be destroyed. And there is something else: the animals also have no say in the decision-making process. So one can only appeal to the future: The humans must learn to live with nature again and no longer live against nature. Nature also has a value, even a very high value. Unfortunately, this did not enter the head of the government of Baden-Württemberg (Freiburg im Breisgau). These people were not present at the demonstration at all...
Floodplain alluvial forest of the Long Alders District (Lange Erlen), tree image with treetops with sprouting leaves. Andreas Wicki had a fantastic talent for capturing nature in a photo. Here are two tree figures shaking hands.
Floodplain Park: Children's group, residential building in the background. And right next to it we see the residential buildings again, which will be under constant noise after the construction of the toll-free road, like the residential buildings in Freiburg im Breisgau near the River Dreisam. It is terrible what the Catholic government from Baden-Württemberg is planning here. The justification was always: "State Treaty - State Treaty", as if the State Treaty were unchangeable. But these idiot Catholics from Freiburg im Breisgau desperately wanted a motorway that would make the entire Wiese Valley noisy. What is to come, you can see on the following photo:
Basel: Motorway junction to France. Something like that should come to Wiese River here?
Alluvial forest of the Long Alders District, forest path. This nature is to be preserved. The Catholic government of Baden-Württemberg (Freiburg im Breisgau) and the Basel government as well as the Swiss government from Berne have NEVER spent one night in the tent camp to experience what a unique spot of nature the Floodplain Park of River Meadow (Wiese) was...

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