earthfirst – Page 110

Mass environmental justice uprising engulfs Damietta on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast

Nov 15, 2011

The popular movement against a Canadian petrochemical plant has forced the Egyptian government to shut down the Agrium-Mopco gas-fertiliser factory, after residents shut down highways, bridges and a deepwater port, and battled the Egyptian military in the street.

Grainy photos and video-clips tweeted out – especially by Al-Jazeera’s @Mansourtalk – show locals standing up to military forces using live ammunition and tear gas. After 25 were arrested, fellow protestors besieged an army unit and APC until their friends were released. At least one local – Islam Abdullah – was killed by police or military and many others injured.

Twitter: Protestors besiege APC demanding release of their comrades @mansourtalk

Following the repression by the Egyptian state, the Damietta uprising has escalated its demands, calling for closure of other polluting factories in Damietta (including Methanex and SEGAS LNG – financed by RBS), and banning the construction of similar factories and complexes.

Repression threatens the uprising in Damietta @mansourtalk

The popular campaign against Agrium’s plant – using local gas to produce urea fertiliser – already scored a victory in 2008, forcing the Canadian company Agrium’s plans for a new petrochemical factory to merge with Egyptian Mopco. People in Damietta – and especially the Ras El-Barr island designated as the site – were worried about pollution destroying their health, the fish, the natural environment and potential for tourism. Fertiliser-producing plants are known to make local communities sick, with Agrium specifically facing controversy in several countries. Opposition to the new factory was strong across the town – including lawyers, fisherfolk, political activists, families and tourism developers. Black banners against the ‘factory of death’ were draped from homes and across streets: “Against Resource Drain and Pollution in Damietta…and No to Pollution in Ra’s al-Barr.”

Public unhappiness with the pollution from the existing factory and continuing construction grew since January, using the political space generated by the revolution. Newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm quotes a statement from the protestors:

“They told us Agrium factory was moved out of Damietta. In 2011, after the revolution, we found out that we were deceived and that the factory wasn’t moved. The committee formed to mull the region’s environmental status proved that this factory had caused people many diseases and dangerously affected man, animal, plant and fish resources.”

The paper also quoted a local resident, Mohamed Hassouna, as saying

“We are choking from the toxic fumes coming out of the garbage dumped close to residential areas. The fumes are causing serious respiratory problems among the elderly and the ill.”

The uprising – in which the local community successfully shut down Damietta’s massive deepwater port and blockaded the highways and bridges for days – has touched a nerve in Egypt. There is already widespread unhappiness about the collusion between foreign multinationals, military-controlled companies and private Egyptian elite interests in using Egyptian resources (land, natural gas, etc) – frequently subsidised – to make outrageous profits. The role of the military in attacking the Damietta community physically enacts this co-operation against the people.

Pollution and dumping of waste in Egypt – such as in Idku by BG and BP – is increasingly being publicly challenged as a political decision, that prioritises profits for those in charge over the lives and rights over fenceline communities. The language of the revolution is being used to describe environmental injustice.

The militarisation of the Susa Valley: final act & Brief History of the No TAV movement

12.11.11

Berlusconi’s moribund government has finally managed to pass a decree – with the opposition’s approval – that formalises the current state of militarisation in the Susa Valley. The construction site in La Maddalena will become a “site of strategic national interest”, that is, a military area. The consequences for those who trespass will be the same imposed by law for any other military area trespass: a prison sentence between 3 months and one year, or the payment of a fine between 51 and 309 Euro. That’s not it, though! The rock extracted on the site will become a legal construction material, even if contaminated by uranium, asbestos and other chemical products released by the excavation process. This will have a huge impact on the industry of the “great useless public works” beloved by the current government; and it’s a huge present to the construction mafia. Also, it’s another heavy attack to freedom of protest and dissent, and a clear message for the people of the Val Susa: don’t disturb the construction!

In the meantime, a couple of weeks ago a public youth hostel managed by an organisation close to the NO TAV movement was attacked and vandalised. The building is often used by NO TAV protesters coming from the surrounding areas. The attackers stole money and damaged the furniture. Special attention was reserved to the books, magazines and original materials about the Antifascist Resistance which the building makes available to the public. Just in case it wasn’t clear who was behind the attack.

Nevertheless, the state of permanent mobilisation declared last May by the NO TAV carries on; the national tour that started in October in Bologna will conclude in the next few days in Genoa, and more initiatives have been announced to protest against the new decree.

Sources: this article, and various other things borrowed and recycled from Italy Indymedia.

Written/translated by Italy Calling.

NO TAV (No to the High Speed Train) is a movement based in the Susa Valley in Piedmont that opposes the creation of the new high speed railway line between Turin and Lyon in France. This line is part of a EU project which plans to connect Lyon to Budapest and then onto Ukraine. Similar protest movements were active in the early 90s in Florence, Bologna and Rome, but their militancy and the brutal repression that this triggered in the Susa Valley has made the Piedmontese movement the most talked about.

The simple principle behind the movement is that a new high speed railway line in the Valley is completely useless and not needed, its only purpose being the profit of the many private companies that have shares in it. The NO TAV think that the current railway line between Piedmont and France is more than sufficient, considering that traffic in the area has never been incredibly high. More importantly, the construction of the line would utterly and irreversibly destroy a huge part of the Susa Valley, causing not only an environmental but also an economic and social disaster, with businesses closing down and villages being completely disfigured or disappearing.

High speed railway lines in Italy are considered to be of “strategic interest”, which translated from political bullshit language means that the law allows this type of works WITHOUT consulting the local population and institutions whatsoever. At a time of economic collapse such as Italy is going through, the works require billions of Italian taxpayers’ money, at the expense of primary services like education and health. It would mainly be construction and other private companies profiting from it, but when finished and in use, the low demand for the line would end up making it a loss-making burden on the taxpayers. Like in Rossport, Ireland, the locals’ concerns and proposals are being completely ignored in the name of the only Modern God: money.

The NO TAV came up with their own plan for the area which would include:
– changing the production and distribution processes to decrease transport of people and goods, especially on long distances
– supporting local sustainable trades instead of big industries
– creating or improving local means of sustainable and green transport for workers and students
– supporting and incrementing the use of the already existing local railway line

The main source of this article is Turin’s NO TAV website.

Solidarity Call ANTI-HSL DEFENDANTS for pie throwing on Mrs Barcina

Call of the movement Mugitu! to publish press releases, notes or letters of solidarity with the opponents to the HSL prosecuted for pieing the Navarrese president Yolanda Barcina:

From the movement of disobedience to the HSL of Euskal Herria Mugitu! we call all the groups and people defending the civil disobedience as a way of struggle to express your solidarity and support of the three opponents to the HSL prosecuted in the Spanish Special Court “Audiencia Nacional” as a result of the action of pie throwing against the HSL carried out on the Navarrese president Yolanda Barcina last 27 of October in Toulouse. The action of pieing, which in any place of the western world is merely a humorous action of protest that has very few legal consequences, is in our case, however, object of a political and media criminalization that borders on ridicule: so much so that the three authors of the protest may be sentenced to jail sentences as they have been prosecuted under the accusation of “attack” against the authority in the Special Court “Audiencia Nacional” of Madrid, the exceptional court which mostly deals with crimes described as “terrorism” and before which they will have to make a statement on 16 of November.

For this reason, we want to call you all to express your solidarity with the defendants publishing a press release, a brief note in the media or a letter of support in terms of denunciation of the manipulation and political criminalisation, rejection of the HSL and support to disobedience; that is to say, denouncing the clear manipulative and criminalising spirit of the process driven by the Government of Navarre and defending civil disobedience as a way of fighting the imposition of great infrastructures that bring about serious ecological, economic and social impacts, as it is the case of the HSL in our country.

The call is framed within the initiatives of support and solidarity with the defendants which have been decided in an assembly of last Sunday 6 of November in Pamplona under the motto “I would do also it! HSL STOP: Disobedience”.

Looking forward to your solidarity, we also want to invite you to spread this call around you and to send any manifestation of support that is made public to the following address. Thank you very much…

Movement Mugitu!

@mail: mugituaht@gmail.com

Tel: (0034) 654480589

http://mugitu.blogspot.com/

Account of what happened between the anti-HSL pieing in Toulouse and the transfer of the case to the Spanish Special Court “Audiencia Nacional”:

The movement Mugitu! of disobedience to the HSL –in fight against the imposition of the “Basque Y” and the “Navarrese corridor of High speed”–, supported by the Occitan movement Libertat, made a protest action on 27 of October interrupting the 29th Plenary Council of the CTP (Community of Work of the Pyrenees) that was being held in the Occitan city of Toulouse and throwing three meringue pies in the face of the president of the Foral Community of Navarre Yolanda Barcina, with the aim of denouncing the imposition of the HSL in our country. Indeed, the Basque Government and the Navarrese are determined to impose these disputed projects at a time when the construction of new lines of High speed is questioned in many countries because of its ruinous and destructive character. At the same time of the pieing, we demonstrators explained the reasons of the action in the meeting room, showed posters and shouted slogans against the HSL as we threw leaflets demanding the immediate paralysation of the “Basque Y” works and the abandonment of the project of the Navarrese corridor of the HST, infrastructures of high ecological, economic and social impact in our country and characterized by an absolute lack of information and social debate, refusing the participation of the population in the decision making. “In any case – we said–, the solutions must be found in a deep transformation of the present society, because the crisis is becoming worse and it is evident that we must not only reduce and distribute the “pie”, but also and mainly change its recipe”.

In Toulouse , the action of the pieing was made without any other incidents, taking place like anywhere else in the world as a humorous action of protest that has very few legal consequences. There was no intervention from the police or from the agents in charge of the security of the meeting, so nobody was arrested and after the action, the activists even gave a small press conference in the outside of the building explaining the reasons for the protest. Nevertheless, in the Spanish state, the Government of Navarre immediately made a public declaration of “condemnation”, conceived with clear aims of politically manipulating and criminalising the anti-HSL pie throws, finally suspending the activity of the foral parliament and boasting about being a victim, which bordered on ridicule, whereas in the street the action was received with an enormous delight in ample sectors of the population.

In view of the informative poisoning started by the Government of Navarre, those of us who took part in the action quickly decided to call a press conference for the following day in Pamplona, with the purpose of giving all the details about the protest and in order to deny the supposed “violent” character of the pie throws, making clear that this form of action does not mean to cause physical harm to the chosen person, but to damage the image of the authority that he /she represents. But as soon as we arrived in Pamplona in the afternoon of the 28th, the Foral Police arrested the three activists of the group in the street, when they were going to the press conference. The police said that they were accused of “Attack to the authority” and transferred them to police station. When we contacted several lawyers, these showed their surprise about the circumstances in which the arrests were made, as there were apparently no judicial diligences in the country where the protest had taken place. Concerning the arrests, it must be said that the last person who was set free had spent 22 hours in jail and denounced the treatment received since he had been prevented from sleeping during the night. The arrested were forced to give DNA samples as an indispensable condition to be released, although neither is it obligatory nor did it have any justification in this case since the action had been public and the arrested people were going to give a press conference, also public.

Finally, our companions were set free by the Foral Police that charged them for a crime of “attack to the authority”, in addition transferring the case to the Spanish Special Court “Audiencia Nacional”. In other words, the Navarrese president Yolanda Barcina, who considered, in her first declarations, the action of the anti-HSL pieing to be “a very sweet beginning” for her presidency at the front of the CTP, has not accepted the “sweetness” of our protest very well. It is so much so that with the accusation made, these three people may be sentenced to jail by an exceptional court, before which they have been called to make a statement next 16 of November

Occupy Shellanaboy set up at refinery gates in Erris (& solidarity with Ogoni 9)

November 11, 2011

About 40 Shell to Sea campaigners blocked the Aughoose compound this morning – all Shell employees prevented entering compound 7.30 to 9.30. The road was kept open to local traffic by the campaign. There was no Garda presence. Just after 10 Shell to Sea activists started setting up an Occupy Shell Corrib Camp at the gates of the refinery in a show of solidarity with the global Occupy movements!

At 9.30 campaigners started moving from the Aughhoose compound to the refinery site where there will be meet up at 10. This action was part of the day of solidarity called both to remember the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa and for people from around Ireland to stand in solidarity with the local community in Erris, Mayo.

Local residents and their supporters will gather at 10am at the gates of Shell’s inland refinery. From there they will walk to Bellanaboy Bridge to commemorate a baton charge by Gardaí on November 10th, 2006. The baton charge resulted in numerous injuries to campaigners and is one of the low points of the 11-year struggle against the inland refinery and high pressure pipeline. They will also be marking the 16th anniversary of the execution of nine activists in Ogoniland, Nigeria. Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others were hanged by the Nigerian government on November 10th, 1995 for their opposition to Shell’s environmental destruction in the Niger delta. The walk which is now (11.20) underway is lead by people carrying the 9 crosses to commemorate the Ogoni 9 executed on this day in 1995. Over 100 people are taking part

anti-shell protest at awards

9.11.11

tomorrow marks the sixteenth anniversary of the killing of ken saro-wiwa and eight other activists in nigeria. today, shell, complicit in their execution, was polishing its image by sponsoring an awards event for young entrepeneurs at the centrepoint building in central london. rising tide organised a reminder of shell's bloody history outside the event, involving grim reapers, sombre drums, and hundreds of leaflets.

after meeting and dressing just round the corner, a dozen or so activists arrived outside the centrepoint building, creating quite a stir with a morbid beat from two huge surdo drums, several ghostly shell logo skull-faced grim reapers, and an excellent banner using the shell and livewire logos and the slogans "shell livewire – supporting bright young business, shell deathrope – hanging outspoken young nigerians".

centrepoint security at first overstepped the mark, pushing people and trying to snatch the banner, but they retreated indoors and closed off the entrance when they realised they were being filmed, allowing the protest to continue right outside.

hundreds of leaflets were handed out to interested passers-by, and police, who arrived after around 40 minutes, waited for instruction up the command chain before deciding to leave the protest alone.

after about 90 minutes, with leaflets running out, and the young entrepeneurs apparently led out of the building via an underground car park, it was off to the pub for a well-deserved drink for the activists.

it was on the 10th november in 1995 that the nigerian government hanged ken saro-wiwa and eight other young activists who were campaigners against the devastation caused by shell and other oil exploiters in their homelands. shell was later shown to have been complicit in the murders. to this day, shell still attacks communities (like rossport in northern ireland, as well as continuing abuses in the niger delta) and destroys the planet through oil extraction, and to offset their destructive image they put tiny amounts of their profits into high profile sponsorship events like 'livewire', a youth business enterprise.

VIDEO
Thanks too to 'You and I Films' for producing a video of our (S)Hell DeathROPE action, and to Kevin Smith of Platform for the informative interview/voiceover, which you can watch online at:

• ‘Shell Death Rope – In Memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa’, at vimeo
» video, 2:29 – http://vimeo.com/31879898

BLOGS
Thanks to Ben Amunwa at Platform, there are also two blog postings about our (S)Hell DeathROPE action:

• ‘Protest Exposes Shell’s Grim Record on Human Rights’
» http://blog.platformlondon.org/2011/11/10/protest-exposes-shells-grim-record-on-human-rights/
» http://remembersarowiwa.com/protest-exposes-shells-grim-record-on-human-rights/

FUTURE ACTIONS
If you are also inclined to acknowledging that the catastrophic climate chaos caused by anthropogenic global warming is the most serious social/economic/political issue humankind has ever faced, and want to join in taking grassroots direct action to influence our civilisation toward climate justice, then do please consider joining London Rising Tide (or your local Rising Tide group).

• Rising Tide, London
» http://www.londonrisingtide.org.uk
• Next action planning gathering: Thu 17 Nov 2011, 19:30-21:00 (and afterwards (optionally) down t’pub), at the London Action Resource Centre, 62 Fieldgate Street, Whiechapel, London E1 1ES
» LARC – http://www.londonarc.org

• Rising Tide, UK and around the world
» http://risingtide.org.uk
• see left hand column for links to Rising Tide groups all around the world

How to use a bikelock to save the Great Barrier Reef – protest halts Gladstone dredging

9 November 2011

Derec Davies used a bicycle U lock to attach himself to a dredger in Gladstone Harbour this morning. The direct action was taken to protect the Great Barrier Reef against the development of Gladstone harbour liquefied natural gas facilities on Curtis Island to export Coal Seam Gas. Massive Dredging of the Gladstone harbour is occurring which fisherman and environmentalists say is causing turbidity in the water and causing illness of fish effectively closing down the local fishing industry. Development is endangering the World Heritage status of the Great Barrier Reef.

Related: In 2010 Conservationists criticised government over coal ship grounding on Great Barrier Reef near Gladstone | Capricorn Conservation Council: The LNG invasion of Curtis Island | ABC TV Four Corners: Great Barrier Grief | Getup! petition to Save the reef

Derec Davies, a Friends of the Earth campaigner, was whisked out to a dredger about 9.30am this morning by a fast inflatable boat. He unfurlled a banner on the dredge, which read "Save the reef, halt dredging" and chained himself. All dredging stopped when he locked onto equipment. The police were called and attended to cut him free. Dredging was stopped for over 2 hours.

Derec Davies was released from custody at 3:40pm today with three charges under the Transport Operations and Maritime Safety act. The charges carry a total maximum penalty of $74000 or one years imprisonment.

"The Great Barrier Reef is worth a lot more than $74 000, so I think that it was worthwhile," said Mr Davies. "We shouldn't have to take action like this, but our Environment ministers Vicky Darling and Tony Burke are letting us all down. Hopefully the judge will see that people need to have the right to protest, otherwise this destruction of the reef will go unchallenged." said Mr Davies.

Drew Hutton, a spokeperson for Friends of the Earth said that the purpose of the protest was to call for a halt to all dredging in the harbour until a genuine independent enquiry was held into the causes of the apparent ecosystem collapse in the harbour.

The ABC TV Four Corners current affairs Program on Monday night did an in depth report on port developments in Queensland and their impact on The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and World Heritage Area. (Watch Great Barrier Grief)

In the 12 hours following the airing of the program some 19,000 people signed an online Getup! petition to Save the reef.

There are six major port developments already planned or underway along the Queensland coast to export coal and coal seam gas.

"ABC has reported that the chair of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority expressed ‘extreme concern’ to the Government about the dredging and its unacceptable impacts on marine life within the World Heritage area," said Senator Larissa Waters from the Greens.

“We now have a huge spike in marine animal deaths up and down the coast, a fish disease epidemic in Gladstone harbour and the fishing industry on its knees, after just 1.5 million of the 46 million cubic metres have been dredged. The turbidity conditions imposed by the federal Environment Minister for the dredging are being continually breached, and now we learn that three heavy metals – aluminium, copper and chromium – are exceeding the national safety guidelines. And still the dredging continues." Senators Waters said in a media release.

Mr Hutton said the disproportionate number of marine animal deaths and diseased fish in Gladstone harbour reflected an ecosystem under extreme stress and his organisation had no faith in the Queensland Government's preparedness to look seriously for the causes.

"This is an issue of concern to all Australians who believe the Great Barrier reef should not be sacrificed for fleeting economic development. The coal seam gas industry, once again, has demonstrated what a detrimental impact it is having on rural and regional Queensland." said Drew Hutton.

According to Drew Hutton in a report on Lock the Gate, neither the Queensland government nor the federal government were trusted by most people to get to the bottom of the problem because they had too strong a vested interest in seeing these projects go ahead.

"So far all we have seen from the Bligh government is flawed water quality monitoring, constant assertions that the problems of marine species’ deaths and fish disease have nothing to do with developments in the harbour and the desire to see developments proceed at breakneck speed."

"The Gladstone Port Corporation’s dredging program is one of the biggest in our history and we need to know if dredging up historic layers of industrial pollutants as well as the acid sulphate soils that are known to be in the area are linked with this catastrophe."

Drew Hutton has highlighted the links between the reckless pace of development in Coal Seam Gas wells, with the port expansion threatening major impacts to fisheries and tourism industries associated with the Great Barrier Reef.

"Coal seam gas is, in all likelihood, linked with the problems in Gladstone harbour but you can follow the trail of destruction and possible catastrophe back to the tens of thousands of hectares of bushland being cleared for gas pipelines and the long-term destruction of underground water." he said, "It is only people power that will force recalcitrant governments to act responsibly to bring the coal seam gas industry under control and to act to protect the Great Barrier Reef from high-impact development.."

Friends of the Earth is calling for a dredging halt, independent testing in Gladstone harbour, and the current enquiry announced by Federal and State Governments to widen its terms of reference to include all aspects of industrial development in the region.

Australia failed to notify the World Heritage Committee earlier this year regarding the port developments and their possible impact on the World Hertiage status of the Great Barrier Reef. They have called for a strategic assessment of all coastal assessments impacting on the reef. The reef may be in danger of losing its World Heritage status.

“Australians have to ask right now – are we prepared to lose one of our greatest national assets so we can turn the Great Barrier Reef into a coal and gas highway?” concluded Senator Waters.

EXCAVATORS VANDALIZED, SET ON FIRE, SWEDEN

reported anonymously to Örebro's ALF/DBF Press Office:

"The night to the 7th of November we vandalized 3 excavators in Ladugårdsängen Örebro. We crushed the windows of all of them and set one on fire with two explosive devices.

We did it for mainly three reasons:

reported anonymously to Örebro's ALF/DBF Press Office:

"The night to the 7th of November we vandalized 3 excavators in Ladugårdsängen Örebro. We crushed the windows of all of them and set one on fire with two explosive devices.

We did it for mainly three reasons:

1. For ALL the animals that get killed directly by these hellmachines– worms, snakes, ants and snails, and all the other living beings.

2. They are building a big road through the Wild animals habitat. They not only clearcut the forest and bush, they also crush the so often forgotten life under the ground.

3. For all the animals that could get killed on this road if we didnt do anything– and for the total suffering following global warming that roads contribute to.

This is for everyone that simply wants to live and not get crushed by a killing machine of mass destruction.

For all beings

ANIMAL LIBERATION FRONT SWEDEN

DBF"

http://www.youtube.com/embed/67jNXebCUP8

10.11.11
anonymous report received by Örebro's ALF/DBF Press Office:

"I saw another excavator in Örebro city vandalized. It was standing near the store Lidl on the west side.

Thanks alot! They mess up my home!

An observant rabbit"

Protests Continue Against Iron Mining in Armenia

9.11.2011

Opposition politicians and environmental activists joined on Wednesday about two hundred residents of the central Armenian town of Hrazdan in protesting against the opening of an iron mine which they believe would have grave ecological consequences.

The crowd rallied in Hrazdan’s central square before heading to a nearby hill rich in iron ore in a convoy of buses and cars.

Bounty Resources Armenia Limited (BRAL), a company partly owned by a Chinese firm, plans to launch open-pit operations there and in two other, larger iron deposits elsewhere in the country in the coming years. A team of geologists hired by BRAL is currently working there to ascertain iron reserves hidden underground through test drilling.

Environment protection groups are strongly opposed to iron mining in the area, saying that it would pollute air, agricultural land and the Hrazdan river, the main supplier of irrigation water to the fertile Ararat Valley in the country’s south.

Many Hrazdan residents share these concerns. Some of them already demonstrated against the project late last month.

“There is a ghost town in China near a similarly exploited mine,” said one woman taking part in the protest. “We would have the same situation here.”

Miasnik Malkhasian, a geologist coordinating test drilling at the site, dismissed such concerns as he and his workers were confronted by the angry crowd. “There is no danger whatsoever,” he said.

The protesters remained unconvinced. Some of them smashed wooden boxes containing drilling samples. Police officers monitoring the demonstration did not intervene.

“Such criminal decisions are not made in Hrazdan,” Karine Hakobian, a leader of the opposition Zharangutyun (Heritage) party, told the protesters before the march. “They are made in Yerevan, at the presidential palace and the government building. They have turned us into slaves in our own country.”

Sasun Mikaelian, a Hrazdan-based former parliamentarian affiliated with the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK), singled out former Environment Minister Vartan Ayvazian for blame.

The Hetq.am news service reported last January that by Ayvazian and his family at least partly control BRAL. The ex-minister, who now chairs one of the standing committees of the Armenian parliament, did not deny that.

The Hetq report followed the announcement by the Chinese company Fortune Oil that it has paid $24 million to acquire a 35 percent share in BRAL. Fortune Oil has the option of raising the stake to 50 percent for an additional $16 million.

Ayvazian had considerable regulatory authority over the mining industry when he served as environment minister from 2001-2007.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/24386103.html

Earth First! Winter Moot 2012 – 24-26th February 2012. Updated: location & what to expect

A weekend of discussion and networking for those taking direct action against ecological destruction.

Please note date & location change (due to date clash & venue problems):

24-26th February 2012, near Glasgow

Nearest train station: Lanark.

A weekend of discussion and networking for those taking direct action against ecological destruction.

Please note date & location change (due to date clash & venue problems):

24-26th February 2012, near Glasgow

Nearest train station: Lanark.

See earthfirstgathering.org.uk for further information about location, programme and contact details

Update:

Where – this years Earth First Winter Moot will take place in Glespin Village Hall, South Lanarkshire. Glespin is a small village about 14 miles south of Lanark, and 35 miles south of Glasgow. South Lanarkshire also has many beautiful areas with rivers, hills, forests and peat bogs. Full directions

What to expect – this years Earth First! Winter Moot takes place in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. In a months time environmentalists from across the UK and beyond will converge to discuss and debate. Below is an update from the organising collective who are working on the program.

The Moot 2012 collective has felt that at previous EF! Gatherings groups have primarily attended to recruit for their respective campaigns. Yet those who attend EF! Gatherings are predominantly already active, making them good places for networking, but not necessarily for outright recruitment. We recognise the effort gathering organisers put into planning agendas but often the more discursive aspects of the gatherings focus on larger, abstract questions and debates have often been framed by self-appointed experts. We feel that these discussions ineffectively attempt to find answers or reach consensus where this is inappropriate.

For example at the first EF! Gathering 20 years ago the question was asked: 'What is EF!?' 20 years later in 2011 at the last Moot the same question was still being asked . . .

The answer is EF! is what we make it, and this year we are going to make it a space in which we can approach our campaigns both critically and analytically by asking more specific and practical questions. Our activism should be constantly evolving not stuck in a rut asking the same questions again and again.

The agenda will be designed to ask questions around four key issues: the tactics we use; the strategies that we employ in our campaigns; community solidarity; and sustainable activism. There will be no attempt to reach conclusions or consensus especially about what EF! is. Instead we want to have discussions that lead to new ideas that could evolve ongoing campaigns or give creative inspiration to ones that are just getting started.

A free space will be provided in which campaigns will be able to hold meetings and have further discussions if they wish, and there will also be some space given for campaign updates with an emphasis on honest analysis rather than promotion.

For updates and more info check the website or email us.

efwintermoot@noflag.org.uk

Plane Stupid on the runway at Southend

3.11.11

16 protestors, who occupied the runway at Southend Airport, have been arrested by Essex Police. It is believed they are being held at Southend Police Station. Campaigners from Plane Stupid and Climate Rush entered the airport shortly after 9am this morning. The protest is against the planned expansion of Southend Airport.

3.11.11

Plane Stupid installed solar panels on the runway. Campaigners from Climate Rush, dressed as pilots and cabin crew, were on a nearby footpath performing a dance routine.

A spokeswoman for the protestors said:

“Southend Council say the expansion will bring jobs. But investment in renewable energy would create many more jobs without damaging the climate. What we need is solar power not plane power. The bigger runway is bad for climate change, bad for local residents under the flight path and is not needed to help the local economy.”

Southend Airport has been bought by Stobarts, the logistics firm. Easyjet has announced that it plans to start operating commercial flights from the airport in spring 2012.

There has been a major local campaign. It has focused on the impact the airport would have on the thousands of people who will live under the flight paths.