Solidarity Actions in Copenhagen — No More Dams; No More Smelters!

Today, 18 Sep­tem­ber, we received a let­ter from Den­mark:

This morn­ing, big ban­ners were hanged on a build­ing in Copen­hagen say­ing: „Alu­mini­um Indus­try is destroy­ing all major Ice­landic rivers!” A big adver­tis­ment from Ice­landair Air­line Com­pa­ny, show­ing Ice­landic rivers, was hang­ing on this same wall last week.

Copenhagen Saving Iceland banner hangToday, 18 Sep­tem­ber, we received a let­ter from Den­mark:

This morn­ing, big ban­ners were hanged on a build­ing in Copen­hagen say­ing: „Alu­mini­um Indus­try is destroy­ing all major Ice­landic rivers!” A big adver­tis­ment from Ice­landair Air­line Com­pa­ny, show­ing Ice­landic rivers, was hang­ing on this same wall last week.

The con­struc­tion of the planned new Cen­tu­ry alu­mini­um smelter in Hel­gu­vík and Alcoa’s smelter in Húsavík, will lead to damming of more glacial rivers and geot­her­mal areas. Today it looks like dams will be built in Þjórsá Riv­er, Tung­naá, Skjál­fandafljót and Jökul­sá á Fjöl­lum; only for fur­ther heavy indus­try projects.

To sup­ply ener­gy for Alcoa’s 346 thou­sand tons smelter in Húsavík, a reser­voir big­ger than the infa­mous Hál­slón in Kárah­n­júkar will be need­ed; 72 km² (1).

There is no rea­son for feed­ing com­pa­nies like Alcoa with more cheap ener­gy. Alcoa is a arms pro­duc­er, direct­ly work­ing with the Amer­i­can army, the weapon pro­duc­er Lock­heed Mar­tin and oth­er mean com­pa­nies (2).

Alcoa is also well known for it’s human right crimes in the company’s fac­to­ries in Hon­duras and Guatemala. In Hon­duras work­ers often have to uri­nate and defe­cate in their clothes because they are not allowed to go to the toi­let more than two times a day; women have to take down their pants to prove they are hav­ing peri­od; and work­ers who plan to form unions get fired. These are just few exam­ples (3).

Ice­landic nature and soci­ety are in dan­ger!

No more Dams! No more Smelters!


Resources:

(1) Jaap Krater, Morgun­blaðið, Bak­ki Impact Assess­ment Should Include Dams, 22. Ágúst 2008.

(2) Snor­ri Páll Jóns­son Úlfhildar­son, Morgun­blaðið, Lygar og Útúrsnúningar, 24. Júní 2008.

(3) Nation­al Labor Com­mit­tee with Com­mu­ni­ty Comu­ni­ca­tion Hon­duras (2007). The Wal­mart-iza­tion of Alcoa. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=447.