earthfirst – Page 137

Beat the Boreholes! Stop Shell Hell in Mayo this Summer!

BEAT THE BOREHOLES!!
Stop Shell Hell in Mayo in 2010.
A continuous mass act of civil disobedience is planned against Shell this Summer in Mayo, Ireland.

BEAT THE BOREHOLES!!
Stop Shell Hell in Mayo in 2010.
A continuous mass act of civil disobedience is planned against Shell this Summer in Mayo, Ireland.
Shell plan to drill up to 80 boreholes to survey the Sruth Fhada Chonn estuary for their proposed raw gas pipeline. We plan to stop them! Work will start in July & continue till mid-October. The idea is that groups or individuals pledge to stop a borehole at a some time this summer. Actions could range from walking out on the sands to boarding drilling rigs. The aim is to get each of the 80 boreholes assigned a Beat the Borehole group. Between local groups, national Shell to Sea groups, other supportive political groups, groups from abroad, student groups, surfers, kayakers we might just do it! The project is already a decade late and three times over budget; impressive for a small community fighting one of the biggest multinationals in the world!

Why Stop the boreholes?
Shell plan to build a tunnel at a cost of 100million euro under the estuary linking up the offshore pipeline with the refinery. This new route avoids land at Rossport where 5 local men were sent to jail for opposing Shell 5 years ago. The new route is still close to several houses & crosses protected habitats including salt marsh, inter-tidal mud flats & blanket bog. The boreholes are to provide a survey of the estuary to determine the final plans for the tunnel. Due to the tides, & seasonal nature of the job any disruption to work will slow the process down & could prevent them getting an adequate survey done this year. They have to stop in mid-Oct on the arrival of the Brent Geese. The estuary is a Specially Protected Area & part of the Broadhaven bay Special Area of Conservation; protected under EU legislation. The operation will damage parts of the estuary & disturb the wildlife there, particularly Atlantic salmon,otters & several species of birds.

Information about the drilling operation
Each borehole will take 2.5 days & up to 4 a week could be made. They will be drilling from 7am-7pm every week day but not at weekends. There will be movement of barges & personnel outside these hours. Two jack-up barges will be working at once in the estuary.

Ideas for Action
We are asking people to come to Mayo & pledge to Beat a Borehole! Here are some ideas for action:

* Walk out on the sands at low tide to the drilling rigs.
* Stop the machines driving over the beach/mudflat areas
* Have a picnic & hold banners on the beach.
* Row out to the rigs in currachs & try & get in the way.
* Kayak in our inflatables out to the rigs & get in the way ( (training session essential, but as long as you can swim anyone can learn).
* Board the drilling rigs.
* Block the boats with nets.
* Disrupt the flow of personnel/equipment from Ballyglass pier

The Solidarity Camp is situated on land right next to the estuary. Everyone is welcome to stay here & we can provide equipment/training if required. There is also a camp house & a local hostel nearby if camping isn’t for you!
If you would like to pledge to Beat a Borehole please email/ring the camp +353(851141170)
rossportsolidaritycamp@gmail.com. For more information about Shell in Mayo see www.rossportsolidaritycamp.org
www.shelltosea.com

Direct action against the High-Speed Railway in the Basque Country

Itsasondo – FROM MINES AGAINST HIGH-SPEED TRAIN
Today, July 1, we have locked ourselves up inside an underground mine with the aim of stopping the construction of the HST and the destruction this is causing/will/would cause, to denounce the social model it represents.

Four people locked themselves up in underground mines Itsasondo, with no way out. But they are not alone, outside many people athered to protect them and to show them our support.

Near here, at the Mariaratz construction site, there are daily explosions – explosions which destroy Earth and everything on/in/within it. as a consequence of the tunnel digging these mines can collapse, endangering the lives of these four people. Therefore, we demand the immediate halt of the works.

We know the risk is high. We’ve got into the depths, to secure this land with our bodies. We are locked into the mines to defend our ideas and to denounce the lack of a sense of the powerful. Our bodies are our weapons, direct action our way. Once again we have gathered here in Goierri (one of the valleys where the railway linking Bilbo with Donostia (Saint Sebastian) would run through), because the situation in the area is really worrying. They are currently working on five points: Mariaratz, Olaberria, San Martín, and Berostegi Itsasondo.

In October last year we climb the trees to stop the work and warn people about the situation and today we had to get underground. Trees and land, two key elements and seriously affected by the HST works. They know and we know that many people are against the HST. More than 15,000 people in the manifestation of Hendaye, clearest results in popular consultations and other events.

But power is deaf to this massive opposition and the situation is worsening. Civil disobedience and direct action are the only way we can stop this disaster, and as long as they keep so adamant to build the HST we will continue to confront them. Horizontal organization and self-organization, that’s the way. To transform this social model we need to change the basis of it, priorizing proximity and small things, building local networks and promoting peoples’ lifestyle and culture.

Therefore, we invite you come along to Itsasondo, to participate in the organised activities and protests and to spread information and mobilize on behalf of these activists and against the HST in your villages and cities.

– Everyday vigil at 7 pm in Itsasondo.
– Demonstrations in the towns – Sunday 4th July, rally at 5 pm from the Plaza de Ordizia

ONGOING INFORMATION POINT at Itsasondoś main square Contact: 695 715 510
makinengainetik.animaliak@gmail.com

http://www.avatartherevolution.com/en/1
http://www.sindominio.net/ahtez/?q=es (Spanish)

(Brief update: the construction company, the Basque Railway Service and the police have all refused to stop the explosions of the tunnel excavations, thereby endangering the lives of the four activists who are currently underground)

Brazilian Indians protest against dams

1st July 2010
Enawene Nawe Indians in Brazil are demonstrating against a series of hydroelectric dams which are killing the fish they rely on.

Three hundred Indians have gathered in the town of Sapezal in the Amazon state of Mato Grosso, armed with bows and arrows to protest against the dam project.

Survival International is calling for the Enawene Nawe’s rights to their land to be upheld.

Unlike most tribes in the Amazon, the Enawene Nawe do not eat meat, so fish are essential to their diet.

A total of 77 small hydroelectric dams are planned for the Juruena River, upstream of the tribe’s land. Five are already under construction.

The Enawene Nawe were not consulted about the project, and they say that since work started the Juruena and its tributaries have become polluted.

During the protests the Enawene Nawe have met with the Brazilian authorities to reiterate their opposition to the dams. They are also demanding a full, independent environmental impact study.

Every year the Enawene Nawe perform yãkwa, an important ritual in which they build intricate dams across the smaller rivers and trap fish in large baskets.

The fish are smoked and transported back to the village, where some are offered to the yakairiti spirits of the underworld in elaborate ceremonies.

This year and last year the Indians caught almost no fish, a disaster for the tribe, who rely on fish as their main source of protein.

In 2008 the Enawene Nawe occupied one of the dam construction sites and destroyed much of the equipment on the site.

Lewes Road Community Garden V Tesco, Brighton

Gardeners and residents on Brighton’s Lewes Road Community Garden face the bailiffs in the next few days. THE GARDEN IS OPEN despite sub-contractors Terrins locking up the front gates today (June 30).
More bodies the better over next few days. Gardens By The Community For The Community – Fuck the Corporates…

On Monday (June 26) 200+ people protested outside the site after the gates were locked by the gardeners to comply with a court possession order. This was done to keep a community activist from coughing up £7,000 in costs.

A day later the garden had been re-occupied and opened up. It is currently open having been cleaned up and watered. Main contractors Gilbert-Ash are expected on Thursday July 1 with sub-contractors Terrins scheduled to clear the site and put up hoardings on either Friday or Monday.

Meanwhile a legal and planning battle continues over lack of consultation and flawed planning process involving Brighton Council, main developers Alburn Minos Ltd and Tesco.

Since May 2009, when guerilla gardeners took over a derelict Esso garage, the Lewes Road Community Garden has provided a meeting space and green haven along the busy, traffic-clogged Lewes Road. It has been enjoyed by thousands of people, providing a venue for community events and bringing together local residents many of whom don’t have gardens themselves. There is a food waste compost scheme, vegetable growing and Fairlight school-kids have their own ‘pot up a plant’ project.

Attack on GM field in Pully, Switzerland

During the night of June 23-24, an experimental field of GM wheat was attacked with herbicides with the aim of killing the plants and preventing research into genetically modified organisms. This was despite 24 hour guard, a double fence, CCTV and plain clothes cops in the surrounding streets. Unlike in 2008 and 2009 when the field was also decontaminated, the research centre this year did not issue a press release about the ecotage.

The activists explained, “Opposition to genetic engineering is part of a wider opposition to the total control of society and life that is being created thanks to the development of nano and biotechnology.

For these reasons, we also want to express our solidarity through concrete actions with those who oppose this technoscientfic capitalist system, and in particular with Marco Camenisch, Silvia, Costa and Billy, revolutionary prisoners who are now jailed in Switzerland because they understood that words are not enough and that action is needed to create radical change, even if this means risking their own freedom.

Communique in full

Anti-GM cycle caravan and links to other anti-genetics info

Tesco targeted in Beeston, Nottingham

30.6.2010
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the gates of a construction site of Tesco supermarket in the Beston area of Nottingham were d-locked shut and graffiti was sprayed on the boards surrounding the site saying ‘TESCO – FUCK OFF’ and ‘EVERY LITTLE HURTS – FUCK OFF TESCO’

The more we allow our food supply to be controlled by corporations, or to be administered by the logics of capitalism, the more we surrender our autonomy.

Tesco is just one cog in a capitalist machine that is based on exploitation and oppression, and is ruining our ecology and environment.

Solidarity with all those in active resistance against corporate power.

Licence to Spill – Liberate Tate create an oil spill at the Tate – inside & out

On the evening of the 28th of June at approx 7:15pm, Liberate Tate In protest over BP’s sponsorship of the arts performed a “Solemn” oil like spill at the Tate’s Summer party.

Dressed in black and veiled the performers carrying black buckets with BP logos spewed molasses over the entrance way as onlookers watched in amazement as the Portland stone floor was consumed by the black oil like mess.

Feathers were scattered and filled the air and in the same manner of approach the artists gracefully paced their escape.

Licence to Spill

“Apart from catastrophic spills like the Deepwater Horizon, there are a whole host of adverse impacts that are associated with the production of oil. On the local level, it often involves extreme forms of pollution for local communities, while regionally oil is frequently associated with greater militarization and conﬂict. Globally, carbon emissions, oil companies, and our collective dependence on the product they push, are taking us ever closer to the edge of climate catastrophe. “

To download Licence to Spill, a new release from Platform, visit http://www.carbonweb.org/showitem.asp?article=381&parent=39

Info : http://www.artnotoil.org.uk/

Watch the video of the action : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz-_2KLt1W0

—–

Another report, including what happened inside the ex-garden summer party:

Sipping Pimms and gobbling canapés many of the guests expressed confusion at whether these striking actions were ‘art’ or not. Despite inaccurate reporting in various media outlets, Liberate Tate would like to claim full responsibility for these acts of creative disobedience as art – art that refuses to pretend to do politics but is politics, art that makes transforming the world a beautiful adventure.

The Tate Summer Party had been planned to be in the museum gardens and involve speeches from BP executives. However, due to the rumours of disruption, Tate was forced to hold the entire event inside the museum and no speeches were made.

As the evening sun baked down on the stone courtyard of Tate Britain and members of the cultural and corporate elite made their way into the party, 13 figures dressed in black, their faces veiled, appeared from around the corner. In a mournful procession the art-activists approached the entrance carrying large barrels branded with the BP logo. Dozens of photographers and TV cameras swarmed and a moment of tense silence enveloped the area. Something was going to happen.

Then in a perfectly choreographed moment, the front phalanx poured hundreds of litres of the black liquid all over the entrance, whilst others threw feathers into the air which gently drifted down into the huge sticky black pools. The sombre figures walked calmly away, disappearing into the city, as the security redirected the guests to another entrance as the cleanup operation began.

Meanwhile, despite the heavy security at the door, two Liberate Tate art-activists managed to infiltrate the party wearing large floral bouffant dresses underneath which were concealed large sacks filled with the oily molasses. Calling themselves Toni Hayward and Bobbi Dudley, they began their performance in the crowded central gallery. At first drips began to fall from their handbags. “Oh, I seem to have a leak” whispered one of them to the lined up waiters dressed in brilliant white, who kindly provided napkins to stem the spill.

Soon the sacks under their dresses burst releasing tens of litres of ‘oil’ across the shiny parquet floor. As a crowd formed around them, the two donned BP branded ponchos and scrambled on all fours trying to clean up the mess using their high heel shoes to pour the slick back into their handbags, but to no avail. “Compared to the size of the gallery this is a tiny spill, a drop in the ocean,” they apologised to the viewers, “we’ll definitely have it cleaned up by, say, August”.

The polite crowd that had formed continued to watch appreciatively for another 20 minutes, amidst a sea of camera-phones. Many began debating among themselves whether this was art or not (“I think it is. I like it”), whether Tate had organised it, and what their personal aesthetic reactions to it were (“If I had seen this outside, I think I would have felt as I do seeing it… inside”). More than one invited artist openly described this to their fellow drinkers as the most sophisticated work in the room.

LIBERATE TATE

Liberate Tate, is a network dedicated to taking creative disobedience against the Tate until it drops its oil company funding. The 28 June art activist performances follow on from last month’s disruption of Tate Modern’s 10th Birthday celebrations by hanging dead fish and birds from dozens of giant black helium balloons.

The network was founded during a workshop in January 2010 on art and activism, commissioned by Tate. When Tate curators tried to censor the workshop from making interventions against Tate sponsors, the incensed participants decided to continue their work together beyond the workshop and set up Liberate Tate.

www.twitter.com/liberatetate

Images: www.immoklink.com/BP-Tate/index.html

www.youandifilms.com/2010/06/license-to-spill/

See also LIBERATE TATE COMMUNIQUE 1 http://bit.ly/9RFfxJ (MAY 2010)

Full Video Report http://www.youandifilms.com/2010/06/licence-to-spill-full-report/

Just Do It: Get Off Your Arse and Change the World

Documentary following the fortunes of environmental activists in 2009 launches innovative crowd-funding appeal

***

Documentary following the fortunes of environmental activists in 2009 launches innovative crowd-funding appeal

***

In early 2009, Emily James began filming the clandestine activities of several environmental direct action groups across the UK. Allowed unprecedented access, Emily documented a year of escalating action that began in spring with the now infamous G20 demonstrations in London. Always in the thick of it and with ever her trusty camera to hand she saddled up with The Climate Rush “Bike Rush” as they brought Westminster to a standstill, pitched up with The Climate Camp as they occupied Blackheath, masked up with The Great Climate Swoop as they stormed the fences at Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal power station, and then accompanied them all to wintry Copenhagen as they took their protest to the streets outside the UN COP 15 climate talks. And those are just the headlines!

‘Just Do It’ follows the triumphs, traumas and clandestine activities of civil disobedient environment activists as they take on the combined forces of global capitalism, run away climate change and the pesky Metropolitan Police. Having gathered over 250 hours of material, she and her team are now embarking on the challenging task of turning this footage into a feature length film, which will inspire people to take action on climate change. Check out the trailer here: http://just-do-it.org.uk/.

Set for release in 2011, the Just Do it model can be thought of as the ultimate in independent film production. Unlike a TV funded documentary, our innovative crowd-funding model allows us to work completely free from external interference, be it editorial or stylistic. This means that we can focus entirely on making a film that does justice to the exciting footage we have captured. Our production model gives us complete control. This is bottom up filmmaking, not the usual top-down, and it is driven by passion and creative vision, rather than by desire for ratings or commercial imperative.

“It’s precisely the kind of film that wouldn’t get made within the existing profit and ratings-driven funding structures,” explains Just Do It director, Emily James, “Crowd-funding through donation enables us, as creative artists, to be supported by our audience in a more direct way, without the involvement of cultural gatekeepers. This is another nail in the coffin for traditional media.“

‘Just Do It’ aims to tell an important story frequently obscured by the agenda of the corporate media. If you too think this is a story which should be told, then please donate here: http://just-do-it.org.uk/fund-this-film – whether it’s a tenner or a grand, it will be gratefully received.

Shell due to start work next week & report from Rossport Solidarity Camp

June 25, 2010
Things are getting very busy here – after a peaceful June Gathering the camp is once more set to become a focal point for resisting Shell pipeline work. Shell are due in the estuary any day now to drill 80 boreholes – pipeline survey work that should take all summer. Yesterday we shut down the Shell office in Belmullet. Today Maura Harrington was jailed for non payment of fines. Niall and Pat are still in jail. Generally it seems that lots of people are wising up to the oil industry in the wake of the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico….

Roof Occupation Protest at Shell’s Belmullet Offices
Campaigners hung a banner reading “Energy shouldn’t cost the earth” from the roof of Shell offices in Belmullet on Thursday morning at 8am. This protest connected the environmental disaster suffered by the fishing community & people of Louisiana with the threat faced by the fishing community and people of Erris. In particular the protest was in solidarity with Pat O’Donnell who has been jailed for his courageous defense of the seas and his livelihood.
The protest blocked the entrance to the offices preventing Shell workers from entering that day!
Press Release and photos here: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/97054

Foreshore License Granted – Borehole Drilling Imminent
Yesterday Shell circulated a letter giving notice that the borehole drilling would commence “in the coming days”.
Recently Shell got the sign-off from “Green” Minister John Gormley on plans to bore 80 bore-holes in Sruwaddacon bay. Once again the community and camp will be opposing the Shell work both on land and at sea. Water-action training is ongoing. It will be a summer long job if they get started, so support up here would be great whenever possible. Now would be a good time to come.

There have already been contractors around doing initial surveys for the contract to construct the 5km tunnel under the estuary – one candidate company is called ICOP from Italy. Pressure on them would be no harm.

Here is their website: http://www.icop.it/tool/home.php
And address:
I.CO.P. S.p.A.
via Silvio Pellico 2
33031 Basiliano UD,
Italy

And contacts: info@icop.it, tunnelcom@icop.it, fondazioni@icop.it, amministrazione@icop.it, personale@icop.it, acquisti@icop.it, tecnici@icop.it

T. +39 0432-838611
F. +39 0432-838681

Please write to Pat & Niall – political prisoners
As a lot of you are aware Pat O’Donnell and Niall Harnett are currently in Castlerea Prison for convictions arising from protests against the Corrib Gas project. You can read more on Pat’s jailing here: http://www.shelltosea.com/content/shell-corrib-gas-who-…llies or more on Niall’s jailing here: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/96547

Please also ‘Like’ the ‘Support Shell to Sea prisoners of conscience’ page on Facebook (if you’re on it): http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Support-Shell-to-Sea-prisoners-of-conscience/112831115416555?ref=ts and Pat’s page at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Pat-ODonnell/313999028104?ref=ts

Letters to Pat and Niall greatly appreciated –
Pat O Donnell / Niall Harnett,
Castlerea Prison,
Harristown,
Castlerea,
Co Roscommon,

Rossport Solidarity Camp Wishlist
You might have something lying around that you don’t want or need anymore.
At the moment we could use:

* Wheelie bins, plastic barrels, pallets (will probably find locally)
* Working Rechargeable Power tools
* Boats and outboard motors of any size or make: Power boats, sail boats, rigid sea kayaks would be especially useful as they can’t be punctured or sunk too easily
* Bandsaw
* PV panels, inverters, batteries
* Trailer that a Ford Transit could tow. Something like a horse trailer and fairly weather proof would be ideal to transport bikes.
http://www.shelltosea.com
rossportsolidaritycamp at gmail dot com

—

Annual Rossport Gathering report

Supporters from around the world joined in the annual gathering over the past weekend at the Rossport Solidarity Camp at Broadhaven Bay, County Mayo in support of the Shell to Sea campaign. A large contingent of cyclists travelled from Britain via Merthyr Tydfil in Wales where another campaign is focussed to stop an ugly open-cast coal mine which is destroying the environment, polluting air and water and endangering the community.

The gathering at Rossport has been held every year since before the jailing of the Rossport 5 in 2005 – local residents who refused, for reasons of health, safety and clean environment, to allow Shell / Statoil to lay an experimental high-pressure raw gas pipeline through their properties. The Irish government had, in an unprecedented move, provided the multi-nationals with compulsory purchase orders. The five were given indefinite prison sentences but were released after 3 months following massive public outcry. A later hearing vindicated them when the original pipeline route was rejected because of dangerous proximity to dwellings.

A new route is now being put forward, but is still considered unacceptable by Shell to Sea who believe that the only safe way to bring the gas ashore is by refining it at sea and bringing it in at low pressure. The dangers have been well highlighted by disasters worldwide including the Piper Alpha explosion, the pipeline explosion at Carlsbad, New Mexico (August 2000 when a family of 12 living over 200 metres away were completely wiped out), the outrageous death and destruction in Nigeria and now the BP oil disaster.

The Merthyr to Mayo cycle rally called at Castlerea prison to support fisherman Pat O’Donnell and fellow Shell to Sea supporter Niall Harnett who are both now serving jail terms for obstructing police who had been brought in the ensure Shell employees were not hampered in their work – the Irish government takes care of big business without regard for the livelihoods of the local community and the health of their environment !

The whole project was pushed ahead without consulting the local people – the refinery, 9 km inland (selected because it was state-owned forestry land) now approaching completion and the seaward pipeline layed. But still no legally permitted nor locally agreed inland route ! And not likely to be ! Local campaigners have had their lives totally disrupted for more than 10 years now with this nonsense and are utterly committed to the point of putting their lives on the line, literally.

Mining applications ‘frozen’ after protest in Philippines

24 June 2010
Six hundred indigenous people and farmers took to the streets on Palawan Island in the Philippines on June 7, to protest against plans to mine nickel on their land.

The demonstrators called upon the provincial government to prevent the companies Macro Asia and Ipilian Nickel Mining Corporation (INC) from mining in the UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, which is their home. They also expressed their anger at news that Canadian mining company MBMI has been granted initial approval to mine.

As a result of negotiations with protesters, the provincial government agreed that its endorsements of both Macro Asia and INC’s plans required further investigation. The companies’ applications have been ‘frozen’ until all issues are clarified.

The protestors called their demonstration a ‘Karaban’ rally; Karaban is the indigenous Palawan’s word for the bamboo quiver that contains darts for their blowpipes. It is a symbol of their identity, and signifies, they say, that they are willing to take ‘whatever action is necessary’ to stop the mining companies entering their traditional territories

Indigenous spokesperson for ALDAW (Ancestral Land/Domain Watch) Artiso Mandawa, said, ‘Mining is not development, it creates conflict among people, and it destroys our culture by bringing foreign values to our community. Some of my people still have limited contact with the outside and are not even registered in the national and provincial census. They are the first inhabitants to arrive on this island and yet, for the government, they appear not to exist.’

Maman Tuwa, an elder of the isolated Palawan tribe from Mt Gantong, fears that mining will destroy his community. ‘If our mountains are deforested, how are we going to survive? What are we going to plant if the soil of the uplands will be washed down to the lowlands? How are we going to feed our children? We’ll surely die’.

Survival’s director Stephen Corry said, ‘We welcome the decision to freeze the mining applications on the land of the Palawan tribal people, and we urge the Philippine government to ensure that no mining takes place on their land without their genuine free, prior and informed consent. We also call upon President-elect Benigno Aquino III, to revoke the 1995 Mining Act which has been so disastrous for the indigenous peoples of the Philippines.’