earthfirst – Page 212

Remember remember, action security in November… [update: Observer article withdrawn]

Remember to think about security when planning actions & campaigns, every month – there’s been a helpful reminder in a Sunday newspaper that our aims and the aims of the state are somewhat different!

Though the article can be taken to be a police unit safeguarding their ongoing budgets and employment – as has happened in the past with similar scare articles (from the police & the security services) – it’s also a handy reminder of the security issues we should think about to ensure that our campaigning remains effective. Check out the background dirt on the journos below…

Also, try out this selection of links:

Security, Privacy, & Anonymity for Autonomy…
ELF Press Office’s security page
Top 100 Network Security Tools

The original newspaper article:

Police warn of growing threat from eco-terrorists

Fear of deadly attack by lone maverick as officers alert major firms to danger of green extremism

Mark Townsend and Nick Denning,
The Observer, Sunday November 9 2008

Police have warned of the growing threat of eco-terrorism after revealing they are investigating a group which has supporters who believe that reducing the Earth’s population by four-fifths will help to protect the planet.

Officers from a specialist unit dedicated to tackling domestic terrorism are monitoring an eco-movement called Earth First! which has advocates who state that cutting the Earth’s population by 80 per cent will ease pressure on other species. Officers are concerned a ‘lone maverick’ eco-extremist may attempt a terrorist attack aimed at killing large numbers of Britons.

The National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit, which collates intelligence and advice to police forces, has revealed that eco-activists are researching a list of target companies which they believe are major polluters or are exacerbating the threat of climate change.

The unit is currently monitoring blogs and internet traffic connected to a network of UK climate camps and radical environmental movements under the umbrella of Earth First!, which has claimed responsibility for a series of criminal acts in recent months.

A senior source at the unit said it had growing evidence of a threat from eco-activists. ‘We have found statements that four-fifths of the human population has to die for other species in the world to survive.

‘There are a number of very dedicated individuals out there and they could be dangerous to other people.’

Earth First! says its mission is ‘about direct action to halt the destruction of the Earth’ and advocates ‘civil disobedience and monkeywrenching’, tactics that include sabotage and disruptive behaviour. The movement has links to US environmental extremists which have waged a campaign of violence in America, including the firebombing of a string of 4×4 car dealerships in California in 2003 and alleged arson attacks on other property.

The anti-extremist unit has already alerted a number of major companies which have been accused of being carbon polluters with advice on how they can withstand being targeted by eco-terrorists. Companies are thought to include airport operator BAA, an international mining conglomerate BHP Billiton and firms connected to UK coal-fired power stations.

‘They are doing research of possible targets, looking at shareholders and financiers. For example, they could research an airline and see how many of its aircraft are not environmentally friendly,’ said the NETCU source.

Although green extremists have yet to embark on an orchestrated campaign of violence in the UK, officers warn that they may be about to launch a campaign of intimidation and fear aimed at disrupting businesses. ‘For some people, if they can justify it in their minds, then it’s a noble cause even if it’s a criminal action. They haven’t started yet, but we believe they will come up with a strategy and tactics,’ said the source at the unit, who described the movement as well-funded and organised.

A spate of recent attacks, for which Earth First! supporters have claimed responsibility, has included vandalism of branches of seven German banks such as Deutsche Bank and Allianz AG. The actions were apparently because the banks hold shares in UK Coal, which plans to build new coal-fired power stations.

A statement on the Earth First! website explains the attacks by saying: ‘Exploitation of the environment and people by the state and industry go hand in hand. They cannot be separated and both must be attacked. Social war, not climate chaos.’

Another attack hit a quarry in Staffordshire which belongs to Bardon Aggregates, a company hat also owns a controversial quarry at Glensanda on the north-west coast of Scotland. The Scottish quarry is accused of spoiling the Highlands environment. The Earth First! website states: ‘We slashed tyres, stripped paint jobs, glued locks and trashed conveyor belts. All the earth movers were hit and many of the cement and aggregate trucks. This action cost us very little but should cost Bardon thousands.’

Among the network of groups under the Earth First! umbrella are various climate camps. Last August police found a stash of knives and weapons beside one such camp in Kent. Protesters, however, said they had nothing to do with the weapons and accused police of launching a ‘smear campaign’.

A spokesman for Derby Earth First! said the movement was strictly non-violent, if not always law-abiding. He said: ‘If someone does ecological damage we would perhaps break the law and protect the ecology, but the ecology also includes humans.

‘We’re all about communities. Capitalism is the problem and we want to return to a more sustainable time. But we are not about reducing the population, that is just scaremongering by the police.’

The rise of eco-extremism coincides with the fall of the animal rights activist movement. Police said the animal rights movement was in ‘disarray’ and that its ringleaders had either been prosecuted or were awaiting prosecution, adding that its ‘critical mass’ of hardcore extremists was sufficiently depleted to have halted its effectiveness. Last Thursday a prominent animal rights activist accused of planting petrol bombs at Oxford University was cleared of possessing an explosive substance with intent.

Reports on the Earth First! Journal website, which tells users how to send encrypted emails, reveals connections to the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) which has been linked to a series of violent attacks in the US. ELF was classified as the top domestic terrorism threat in the US by the FBI in March 2001.

The ELF was founded in 1992 in Brighton by members of the Earth First! movement who wanted to form a breakaway group that would use more extreme tactics.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/09/eco-terrorism-earth-first-elf

Dirt dug on article writers:

From: http://ianbone.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/the-guardian-eco-terrorism-and-the-armyexclusive/

THE GUARDIAN ECO-TERRORIST JOURNO IS ARMY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER……..EXCLUSIVE!

Curioser and Curiouser……I’m checking for Nick Denning – co-author with Mark Townsend of yesterday’s hilarous Observer piece on eco -terrorism. He doesn’t appear to have any previous as a journalist. But what’s this?? A piece written by Townsend in Afghanistan in August 2007 where he’s embedded with the Royal Anglian Regiment in Sangin………and sharing a helicopter ride with NICK DENNING – COMMANDER OF 1 PLATOON A COMPANY in the Royal Anglian regiment!!! And less than a year later this Denning is providing intelligence to his mate on The Guardian on eco – terorism!!! Some explanations from The Guardian reqired on this one methinks! Watch this space…………

Also see http://ianbone.wordpress.com/2008/11/09/guardian-journalists-police-patsies-yet-again/
And http://ianbone.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/god-bone-youre-a-cunt-the-observer-replies/

Funny & informative.

—OR—

This ‘Nick Denning’ is clearly not the cricketer and Ian Bone’s suggestion that he is an army officer is unlikely. It is more likely to be the ND who worked at the BBC as a researcher and a bit of work on Google pulls up a number of requests that he has made for information.

For instance:

http://www.stewartbyfc.co.uk/fusionnews/archive.php?show=month&month=July&year=2004

The most likely explanation is that this is the person – that he is a researcher who wants to break into national journalism.

——

Schnews article & quotes from the journo

——

The Observer/Guardian blog on the subject if you want to post something there is http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2008/nov/10/activists-kingsnorth

——
Update:
The readers’ editor on … anonymous sources and claims of eco-terrorism

The Observer, Sunday November 23 2008

You might think The Observer’s concern for the environment arose only in the past 20 years as global warming became apparent, but it has actually been reading the signs since 1925. Waldorf Astor, then the paper’s forward-thinking owner, took a keen interest in all things environmental and urged his editor, JL Garvin, to appoint a correspondent to cover ecology and agriculture. Step forward Sir William Beach Thomas, who became, in effect, the first environment correspondent.

Much later, The Observer was to investigate and reveal the ‘greenhouse effect’ and to warn of its possible consequences. Thousands of words have been devoted to the subject ever since, winning a loyal audience, particularly among those who are active in the environment movement. So there was understandable dismay at a recent story which told of a ‘growing threat from eco-terrorists’.

Police were said to be investigating the eco-movement Earth First! which, they claimed, had supporters who believed that reducing the Earth’s population by four-fifths would help protect the planet. The National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit was concerned that a lone maverick might attempt a terrorist attack. It had also warned several companies they were being targeted as major polluters by the group and had offered them advice on how to withstand attack.

It’s perfectly legitimate to report police security concerns, but none of the statements were substantiated. No website links were offered, no names were mentioned, no companies identified and no police source would go on the record.

The article linked Earth First! to climate camps established last summer, including one at Kingsnorth power station, Kent, and at Heathrow.

While the paper had no intention of suggesting that every activist was a potential terrorist, several climate campers wrote to protest. ‘If a journalist is told by a single anonymous source that a movement of people has among it individuals who would take the lives of men, women and children in a terror attack, what standard of evidence does that journalist require? In this case: no evidence whatsoever. The claim itself was the story.’

We’ve been here before. Other newspapers reported on a predicted ‘summer of hate’ at climate camps that never materialised and the Press Complaints Commission found against the Evening Standard at climate campers were planning attacks at Heathrow.

Environmentalist Keith Metcalf explained that Earth First! supported direct action against property, but not against people. He believed that the debate around sustainable population size had been twisted to imply that environmentalists wished to kill people.

He also repeated the belief of several others that Nectu was briefing in this manner in order to make prosecutions easier and to boost its funding, which is at risk owing to the decline in animal rights campaigns. I can’t verify that or the fears about mass murder because, despite repeated requests, Nectu won’t respond. Accordingly, The Observer has decided to withdraw the story.

Activists in Dublin renamed the street where the Shell office is after Ken Saro Wiwa

Surprisingly, many streets in Dublin, capital of the Republic of Ireland, are still named after heroes of monarchy and colonialism.

Adelaide Road, which is home to the main entrance of Shell’s Irish head office as well as the government department which hands out licences for the exploitation of Irish gas and oil reserves, is named after Queen Adelaide, the unfortunate German princess who married the English King William IV (he already had a mistress and ten children).

At the weekend, opponents of Shell’s activities in Ireland and around the world took the decision to rename the street after Ken Saro-Wiwa. He was the leader, until his death, of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People and a fierce critic of Shell’s destruction of the Niger Delta and its people.

Ken Saro Wiwa and eight others were executed by hanging in Port Harcourt prison on November 10th 1995. The Nigerian government claimed he was guilty of conspiracy to murder, but executives from Shell privately admitted that they were behind the prosecution, trial and execution of Saro-Wiwa and the others.

You can see a short video of the changing of the signs here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBHp–u4QVk

and a few more pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24935400@N06/sets/72157608792269359/

rememberkensarowiwa@gmail.com
http://www.remembersarowiwa.com

Manchester Students remember Ken Saro-Wiwa in University Shell protest

Students from the University of Manchester held a memorial protest in remembrance of Nigerian human rights activists who were killed by the Nigerian military in 1995. The protest highlighted the new partnership to research biofuels between the University of Manchester and Shell.

STUDENTS HANG MEMORIAL EFFIGY IN UNIVERSITY SHELL PROTEST

Monday 10th November 2008

Students from the University of Manchester held a memorial protest in remembrance of a Nigerian human rights activist who were killed by the Nigerian military in 1995. November 10th marked the 13th anniversary of the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists.[1]

Shell oil company will be taken to court this February 2009, charged with complicity in his murder. ( http://www.unpo.org/content/view/8792/236/)

The protest highlighted the new partnership between the University of Manchester and Shell. [2] (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/business/s/1068530_shell_and_manchester_universitys_biofuels_project)

The group held banners reading ‘Remember Ken Saro-Wiwa murdered on behalf of Shell on 13th of November 1995’ and ‘Shell operating at the University of Manchester’ outside the Manchester Interdisciplinary Biocentre. They also displayed an effigy of Ken Saro-Wiwa as a powerful reminder of the execution of the environmental and human rights activist.

Philosophy student Gabriel Hassan said, “Until Shell sort out their human rights record and stop devastating the environment with their oil projects they have no business being on campus. Ken Saro-Wiwa was a man who stood up to the ruin brought upon his people in Nigeria by Shell and for that Shell had him hung. This is the kind of the thing that the university was always going to turn a blind eye to though.”

The group asked if someone from the Institution could explain the ethical problems concerning the University’s partnership with Shell but were told to speak to the University’s press office. The press office suggested writing a letter to President and Vice-Chancellor Alan Gilbert. The group will deliver an open letter to the Vice-Chancellor asking for an explanation.

Security were called and removed the banners from the University building wall. Some students remained to flyer outside. Meanwhile another group retrieved the banner and displayed them high up on a lamppost on the other side of the building on Princess Street.

The student group held a discussion on the role of Shell in the Niger Delta and Rossport later that evening attended by around 100 people.

( http://www.corribsos.com/)

—————————————————————————
NOTES TO THE EDITOR

[1] Ken Saro-Wiwa was a leader in the protest against the devastation of the Ogoni people’s homeland in Nigeria caused by oil extraction projects run by Shell and Chevron. For more information about Ken Saro-Wiwa and the circumstances of his execution visit http://www.remembersarowiwa.com/

[2] Shell is one of 17 companies working with The Centre of Excellence in Biocatalysis, Biotransformations and Biocatalytic Manufacture (CoEBio3) based at The University of Manchester. See http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/archive/list/item/?id=3983&year=2008&month=09 and http://www.student-direct.co.uk/2008/10/shelling-out/ for more information.

Manchester Campaigns Collective
mcrcampaignscollective@gmail.com

Castor anti-nuclear blockade finally broken & other actions

Edited direct action highlights from http://www.castor.de/ticker/index_en.html –

Tuesday, November 11, 2008
20 hours later than planned, after many convincing, creative blockades, the CASTOR road transport reached the Gorleben interim storage depot at 00:39 am on Tuesday 11 November

Edited direct action highlights from http://www.castor.de/ticker/index_en.html –

Monday, November 10, 2008
10:33 pm The water cannons in Laase are to prevent people moving into the 50m no-go zone and onto the road.
10:16 pm Several hundred people are on the transport route in Laase. Police are using water cannons.
10:13 pm In Grippel the last activist was removed from the pyramid.
10:02 pm Colourful activity by 100 people in Laase to the left and right of the route.
10:01 pm Grippel: The last person is still chained to the pyramid and there are still 150 people present. The mood is good and there’s good music.
9:53 pm Only one tractor still standing in the way in Quickborn. It’s lost a wheel. Police are using heavy equipment. It’s estimated on location that it will take 30 minutes until the northern route (via Quickborn) is completely free.
9:40 pm In Grippel only one pyramid with one person chained on is left on the road. In Quickborn two tractors are left on the road that seem to be causing the police some problems.
7:44 pm Dear people, we’ve managed to make this the longest CASTOR transport ever. Super!!!!! Stay cool, we have plenty to celebrate.
6:07 pm Press release by the Lüchow-Dannenberg Farmers’ Emergency Association Against Nuclear Power. The chained-on demonstrators in Grippel demand negotiations. After 8 people chained themselves to two concrete blocks in Grippel on the CASTOR trucking route, the detachment of the protesters from the blocks is proving very difficult and time-consuming for the police. It’s estimated that the procedure could take several hours. The chained people, members of the Lüchow-Dannenberg Farmers’ Emergency Association Against Nuclear Power, want to negotiate with a representative of the Lower Saxony state government, say a state secretary.
5:45 pm In Grippel at the pyramid blockade police have detached the first person from the pyramid. The top of this pyramid was not sawn off.
5:33 pm In Grippel the top has been sawn off the pyramid pointing to Gartow. It didn’t provide the police with any clues. Nor can the pyramids be moved because the chained-on arms would be broken. A plan to lift them was given up.
Around 5:11 pm all Robin Wood activists at the waste compound were taken out of the trees by police.
4:13 pm From the Robin Wood rope bridge 300 metres from the storage compound are suspended not 2 but 6 activists.
4:08 pm Police have carried off all the sitters outside the waste compound. But the tractor is still there with two people chained to it.
4:02 pm The work on the concrete pyramids in Grippel is progressing poorly. A second demolition team is brought in. The people are as good as possible under the circumstances.
3:22 pm In the blockade at the waste compound three people have chained themselves to a tractor.
2:56 pm Grippel: The generator is working again and police are preparing to illuminate the action. 350 people still there.
2:53 pm Quickborn: Still 25 tractors on the road, 100 people, increased police presence. The climber is off the elevating truck but it took the police a long time. Two new activists suspended in trees.
2:50 pm Nothing moving at the reloading crane. The carrying people out of the blockade at the sorage compound is proceeding only slowly. The pyramids in Grippel with the people chained to them are still on the road.
2:41 pm The generator of the police in Grippel has broken down, leaving the drill stuck in the pyramid.
2:38 pm In Grippel police begin drilling open the concrete pyramids.
2:06 pm In Grippel police built a roof for the farmers chained to the concrete pyramid. Sit-down blockaders were not to stay there and were removed by police.
1:40 pm The climber on the elevating truck has chained himself on.
1:40 pm In Quickborn a climber has climbed from a tractor onto the elevating truck of the police. The police have been busy with this activist for a considerable time and now needs another crane to get him off the elevating truck.
11:20 am Police have made the 3rd call to vacate the area at the storage compound.
11:17 am In Grippel stand two concrete pyramids with four people chained to each. Currently there are 30 to 40 people there to support them. Visitors should bring coffee and cake and perhaps an umbrella.
11:11 am In Grippel members of a farmers resistance group have chained themselves to concrete pyramids.
11:10 am In Laase 150 people are moving in the direction of the dike.
11:06 am At the blockade of the storage compound police have made the second call to vacate the area.
7 am Now about 1,000 people sitting outside the waste storage compound in Gorleben.
Report in English on blockades on the tracks at Harlingen http://de.indymedia.org/2008/11/231949.shtml.
Claims of extreme police brutality in breaking up blockades under cover of darkness,
beating people with truncheons without warning and pursuing them up to 150 metres into woods at http://de.indymedia.org/2008/11/231982.shtml.
00:03 am: The three CASTOR occupiers were arrested.

===

Sunday, November 09, 2008
11:52 pm Brutal dispersal with gas at one of the Tollendorf blockades. First Aiders and lawyers are not being allowed through.
11:39 pm Three people are sitting on the first CASTOR casket.
11:16 pm The people taken by police out of the demo in Tollendorf were taken behind police barricades into a cordon. The mood is relaxed. In the cordon the clowns are dancing. One can approach up to 50 metres outside the cordon.
10:21 pm In Dumsdorf 30 people are in a sit-down blockade.
22:11 pm The Robin Wood activists were removed from the Oldendorf Bridge, they were not injured.
9:40 pm Robin Wood has two actions. The first is at Oldendorf Bridge. Police threaten to cut down the two activists there. The other is in Wendisch Evern , where parallel to the track a large banner was hung.
9:19 pm 500 people sitting down at rail km 188.
9:04 pm 50 clowns on the track in Grünhagen.
8:57 pm Two activists are hanging from the Oldendorf Bridge, a third has just been led off by police.
8:52 pm Tractors are parked in Quickborn so that a car can still get through, but no CASTOR trucks.
8:12 pm Police have removed two people chained to the track near Eichdorf and are taking them to the prisoner collection point.
6:54 pm Around 6:15 pm route B126 in Metzingen at the snack stand was not passable. There was fire on the road.
6:18 pm The two activists in Lüneburg are still hanging in traverses next to the track. But police high rescue specialists are getting ready to remove them.
6:17 pm 60-70 people on the Oldendorf Bridge. In Metzingen tires are burning on the federal road. There is no more getting through there on federal route 216.
6:03 pm The blockade in Gedelitz at the Free Republic of Wendland managed to force the Hamburg police unit with its heavy gear such as water cannon to retreat all the way through the village.
5:33 pm At the dwarves party of WiderSetzen are 400 people. The mood is good and no dispersal is in sight.
5:27 pm Between Eichdorf and Nahrendorf 25 people are sitting on the rails. No police present. And at rail km 202 (i.e. further west) 70 people are on the tracks.
5:22 pm In Harlingen between rail kms 187 and 188 a giant party is going on with several hundred dwarves.
5:15 pm “Widersetzen” is back on the rails in Harlingen with about 150 people, this time at rail km 188.1.
4:53 pm 50 people at a chain-on action by two people at km 198.2 in Eichdorf.
4:30 pm There is a sit-down blockade between Oldendorf a.d. Göhrde and Eichdorf with more than 100 people.
4:22 pm There are again two blockades in Harlingen. A new one is at rail km 188.5.
4:15 pm The blockade at Harlingen at km 187.8 has been completely dispersed.
4:13 pm Clarification: The damage to rails at Grünhagen is in County Lüchow-Dannenberg, NOT in Grünhagen on the ICE express route Uelzen – Lüneburg.
3:12 pm Near Tollendorf at Km 188 about 100 people have made it on to the track.

—

Sunday, November 09, 2008 at 15:02:08 (CET)

PEOPLE HURT NEAR TOLLENDORF: A blockade- action near Tollendorf faced strong repression by the police. Hundreds of people met in Tollendorf today at 7.30 to continue to the tracks, where the Castor-transport is supposed to go through later in the afternoon. We walked in a huge queue along the forest-path, leaving behind us minor tree-blokades for the police-vans. After walking about a 1km,there was a road in front of us .There, a lot of police was standing already, about 20 metres apart. There was no other choice than try to get running thourough the lines. Lots of people in front of us made it, but we saw some people getting caught or being pushed back by the cops. The more we waited, the harder it was to get through, because more police-vans were arriving all the time. So, the cat and mouse -game started. I saw a police reaching to a person in front of me and I ran across. There was nothing to be done for the people who couldnt get across. Some of them tried other routes. So, we continued towards the tracks, that were really close to us already. But, the police was there waiting for us wearing full riot-gear and having watertanks in the backround. We got settled to the tracks as fast as we could, blockaders spread the huge plastic-material to cover themselves, and we began digging the stones off the side of the tracks to get better resistance positions… And after announcing three times the illegality of our action, the cops attacked. They used violent force and started hitting people with batons. Many got some severe pain from pepper-sprays, which was being done straight into individuals’ faces. Water tanks were being used constantly. We got back to the tracks a few times until it was impossible to stay, due to the serious police-violence. So hundreds of people retreated and got scattered in the forest; some ready to look for other ways to get to tracks, some heading back to their camps to gain more power for the other blockades of today. We havent given up. The resistance continues! (Taken from http://de.indymedia.org/2008/11/231840.shtml.)

—

12:50 pm The rail between Lüneburg and Dannenberg has been bent up at km 190.4 (nerar Grünhagen). Track workers are at the location and estimate that the repair could take quite some time.
12:15 pm The storage compound is blockaded. Sheeting was erected as roofs. About 250 people there. Also tractors. Mood is good. A culture programme is being organised. It is still easy to get through.
INJURIES FROM POLICE HORSE, BATONS, PEPPER SPRAY:
10:51H: The horse procession has started, 25 horses and 25 cyclists taking part. Many police present. Mood is good.
10:49h: The news conference of the blockaders of Berg will be at 1.30 pm in the Kulturhaus Mikado in Karlsruhe. At the assembly and vigil in Govelin one person was injured when kicked by a police horse. The injured man suffered a cranial bruise and a torso injury. He is being taken to hospital. Several people were injured by police batons or pepper spray.

—

Sunday, November 09, 2008 at 08:43:20 (CET)

08:26 H: The Robin Wood people hanging in trees outside the waste compound are well. The Red Cross is keeping them supplied with hot drinks. Everything is peaceful. The Robin Wood activists suspended themselves yesterday evening while people gathered to sit down outside the compound to block it. 500 people have arrived in Tollendorf. It reported that the two men and a woman who had chained themselves to the railway track have been arrested by federal police. Before that they were medically examined. Police had protected them against the cold with foil. The woman was the last to be cut from the concrete block after almost 11 ½ hours chained to it. A police spokesman quoted a doctor as saying her condition is problem-free. Four other demonstrators who were also at the blockade point at midday were first carried away by police and later let go.

—

REPAIRS NEEDED: 00:53 am Before the CASTOR train can move on, the rails and the track bed have to be restored. It’s not known at this point how long that will take.
ALL THREE CUT FREE: 00:25 am The last of the three protesters who had chained themselves to a concrete block under the rail tracks at Berg has been cut free.
00:06 am A video of the blockade of the Gorleben storage compound is viewable at http://www.graswurzel.tv/index.php?mov_id=43&PHPSESSID=b83e29fde90c2638c12cd3d9b382bf4f
00:04 am CASTOR train still stopped at Berg because one person remains chained to a concrete block under the rails.
00:03 am Still 600 people squatting outside the storage compound, surrounded by many tractors.

===

Saturday, November 10, 2008

THE LAST FEW HOURS OF SATURDAY as reported on the German Day X newswire:
11:34 Four Robin Wood activists suspended over the road between Gorleben and the storage compound about 7 metres from the ground.
10:29 pm Blockade of the interim storage compound continues. 500 people and 12 tractors there. Good mood. Lots of police but holding back.
9:57 pm After nine hours no end in sight to blockade of the CASTOR train at Wörth near the French border. Federal police at 9:30 pm, almost nine hours after the blockade began, managed to release the second of the three chained-on people from the massive concrete block, said to be as big as one cubic metre. The train with 11 CASTOR caskets was due in Wörth at 1:40 pm. It’s been stuck in Lauterbourg across the border in France since 1.15 pm. The NDR broadcaster has a picture of the blockaders at
9:44 pm Signalling cables of the railways were set on fire in the morning at Hofgeismar, near Kassel. Police suspect a connection with the CASTOR transport. In Wiesbaden-Schierstein tires were set on fire near cable cabinets. Train services were cancelled until the afternoon.
8:51 pm Still 500 people and 12 tractors blockading the storage compound.
6:43 pm Police have cut the first of three chained protesters from the concrete block in Berg.
5:56 pm 500 people at the sit-down blockade of the storage compound, more coming.
5:55 pm A female protester handcuffed to a tree by police in Karlsruhe was released by court order. The court ruled there was no reason to hold her. She and two other people had demonstrated at midday in Karlsruhe-Mühlburg on a track near the railway line against atomic power. The CASTOR train was due to pass there in the evening. +++++++ 5:52 pm 60 activists, including clowns of the Clowns Army, are with the chained-on people in Berg for support.
5:50 pm The two men and a woman chained to the railway track at Berg had face masks put on them at 4:47 pm

—

Saturday, November 08, 2008 at 16:39:55 (CET)

German Rail reports delays in train traffic in north Germany caused by arson attacks on railway installations in Brandenburg and damage done to signalling equipment. Repairs would take until the late afternoon.

—

Saturday, November 08, 2008 at 16:11:42 (CET)

TRAIN STILL STOPPED: The three activists locked to a concrete block are still stopping the CASTOR train from continuing its journey. Police have not yet succeeded to cut the demonstrators out. They’re working with electric hammer drills to try to break open the concrete. The train is still stopped in the French border station Lauterbourg, about four kilometres from the concrete block.

87 Ashley Road Eviction Happening NOW!! and Kebele’s 13th Birthday Party 28th November – invite

November 12, 2008
The inhabitants of 87 Ashley Road woke up this morning to a garden full of cops and bailliffs here to evict them from the house that is a home to around 15 people, and make them homeless.

Bristol squat rooftop occupation November 12, 2008
The inhabitants of 87 Ashley Road woke up this morning to a garden full of cops and bailliffs here to evict them from the house that is a home to around 15 people, and make them homeless.

As I arrived on the scene(around 10.30 am), Ashley Rd was cordoned off both sides of the house, and there was also police presence behind the house. The bailiffs were already in the building at this point, and all inhabitants had left, apart from 2 that managed to get onto the roof. They even called a helicopter in to ‘check that there were 2 people on the roof’ (I thought that’s what eyes were for!) As I was leaving to come and write this (12.30pm), 3 more heads popped up over the roof! Hopefully, by the time i’m back, that roof will see a number more occupying it. A bailiff apparently told one squatter, that there are plans to turn the building into offices – so not social housing for those in need at all!!

If you would like to come and support, or just know more about what is going on, please come along to 87 Ashley Rd. We won’t leave quietly while they’re making people homeless and turning our community into a business park!!

—-

23:36 – 5 people still on roof

not much else to say, except they seem to be in good spirits, have plenty of people giving them support on the ground . we have our own mobile incident support unit on the scene. no police at the moment, but security with a couple of dogs inside the house.

be good if people could be their as early as they can tomorrow morning.

============

On Friday 28h of November Kebele Sound brings you:

The Destroyers – 15 strong Eastern European Folk Riot (http://www.thedestroyers.co.uk)

The Glitzy BagHags – Kitchen sink skiffle (http://www.myspace.com/glitzybaghags)

Circus of Invention – Jellybean Punk-Hop (http://www.myspace.com/circusofinvention)

DJs: Natty Bearface – Jungle/Dubstep
Black Rainbow – Global/Bass
B.O.C. – ska

plus late Anarcoustic Lounge with: Clayton Blizzard, Cosmo, Anarco Folko, and Bones at the Bottom of the Barrel

@ The Trinity Centre, 9pm-3am

Tickets £7 Available in advance for Kebele Infoshop, Saturdays 11am till 2pm

All proceeds to Kebele. Need some background?

For 13 years Kebele has provided a wide range of services, events and activities, and a place for people to meet, share ideas and organise for a better world. From squatted beginnings and resisted eviction to housing co-op, through to community co-op and volunteer-run anarchist social centre, it’s a long story with plenty of ups and downs along the way.

Most recently, there’s been revolutionary reorganising and renovations and we’re not finished yet…! There’s so much to learn from collectively organising and sustaining a street level community project without leaders or profit motives.

Our principles of equality, inclusion, shared responsibility, co-operation, solidarity, not for profit, and direct action remain at the heart of this autonomous space and we hope Kebele continues to help keep Bristol’s thriving counter culture alive and kicking.

Part of a wider, expanding network of social centres, Kebele aims to be a reflection of the world we want to see in our everyday actions and organising; a living, working example of what we’re told is unrealistic and impossible…

Do you have ideas for Kebele events or activities?
There’s lots of ways to get stuck in! Drop in and say hello!
For more info and a calendar of events see http://www.kebelecoop.org
Contact Kebele on 0117 9399469 or kebelesocialcentre@riseup.net
Kebele is at 14 Robertson Road, Easton. BS5 6JY.
http://www.kebelecoop.org

Climate Change Activists Occupy EONs Coventry Headquarters

Monday November 10th saw a noisy, 45 minutes long, office occupation and an attempted banner drop at EONs headquarters in Coventry in protest against plans to build Kingsnorth coal fired power station. Four activists were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass.

On the afternoon of November 10th, climate change activists’ occupied EONs Coventry headquarters in protest against plans to renew Kingsnorth coal fired power station. Activists’ entered the building at around 2.30pm and conducted a noise protest for around 45 minutes, causing work to be severely disrupted. There was a direct confrontation with EON management when they attended the scene of the protest. A separate team simultaneously attempted to scale the outside of the building and drop a banner from the roof reading ‘no new coal’. Unfortunately, one activist fell during the climb and broke his ankle, leading to the banner drop being aborted. Four activists were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass. Two were released without charge, and two have been bailed without charge until late November.

EON was specifically targeted because their plan to build Kingsnorth severely undermines efforts to fight climate change. According to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in order to avoid average global temperature rises of more than 2 degrees Celsius since 2000, the limit of what the planet can tolerate before feedback cycles make climate change cataclysmic (ref1), global CO2 emissions need to start to fall before 2015 (ref 2). In order to achieve this we need a massive reduction in energy consumption, a move to renewable energy sources and micro-generation of energy. In this climate building a coal fired power station, burning the dirtiest form of energy available, is suicidal.

EON have been attempting to greenwash their plans to build Kingsnorth, claiming that the addition of Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS) technology will make the power plant more environmentally friendly.

However, it is unclear whether Kingsnorth is even due to be fitted with CCS, as EON have made no guarantee that if a bid for government funding to fit the technology fails, they will finance it themselves (ref 3).
Even if Kingsnorth is fitted with CCS, the efficiency of this process is dubious in that CCS itself uses up to 40% of the energy produced by the power station, depending on the method (ref 4). Additionally, only 20% of the station would be fitted with CCS, meaning the other 80% would be emitting CO2 as normal. Therefore, Kingsnorth would still produce almost twice as much CO2 as a gas power plant generating the equivalent amount of electricity (ref 5), and of course massively more CO2 than from renewable sources.

The government is due to make a decision on whether to approve plans to build Kingsnorth in the near future, which would be the first new coal fired power station to be built in the UK for over 30 years (ref 6). If approved, EON will face resistance not only at the Kingsnorth site, but also around the country as demonstrated by last Monday’s action.

(ref 1) ‘Too late to avoid global warming,’ say scientists The Independant, 19th September 2007, http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/too-late-to-avoid-global-warming-say-scientists-402800.html

(ref 2) ‘Too late to avoid global warming,’ say scientists The Independant , 19th September 2007, http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/too-late-to-avoid-global-warming-say-scientists-402800.html

(ref 3) Greenpeace Press Release, ‘Whitehall emails reveal government climate policy being dictated by German utility giant’, 31 January 2008, http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/media/press-releases/government-climate-policy-dictated-by-german-utility-giant-20080131 viewed 17/3/08

(ref 4) Fred Pearce “cleaning up coal” New Scientist 29/03/2008

(ref 5)World Development Movement “Kingsnorth Your Questions Answered”

(ref 6) Greenpeace UK shuts down coal fired power station Greenpeace International News 8/10/2007 http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/kingsnorth-coal-plant-protest071008

French police arrest anarchists for train sabotage + web link for more info

11th November 2008
French police raided alleged anarchist cells in three cities on Tuesday and arrested at least 10 suspects following a series of sabotage attacks on the country’s high-speed rail network.

Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said police intelligence officers had been investigating an “ultra-left anarchist movement” for several months and had acted following the weekend’s disruption of train services.

“We found that this ultra-left movement has links in five European countries and in other non-European countries,” she said, alleging that the French gang has contacts in Belgium, Germany, Italy and Greece.

None of those arrested works for the SNCF state rail network, she added.

A source close to the investigation told AFP anti-terrorist officers were examining “possible links between the suspects and the German hard-left, which has claimed responsibility for actions agains trains carrying nuclear waste”.

President Nicolas Sarkozy congratulated police on the arrests and welcomed “the rapid and promising progress made in the context of the inquiry.”

Thousands of passengers and more than 160 train services were delayed Saturday after a gang jammed steel rods across overhead power cables on three high-speed lines between Paris and London, Brussels and the French regions.

The attack halted trains and damaged several sections of 25,000-volt power lines, but no one was hurt.

In a separate incident on Sunday in the southwest of the country, another high-speed train rammed a pair of concrete blocks placed on a line. There were no injuries and it is not yet clear whether the incident was related.

Alliot-Marie said 10 suspects were being held, but an interior ministry official said more than 20 had initially been detained in raids conducted in Paris, the central town of Tarnac and the northern city of Rouen.

Following Saturday’s incident, which followed at least one similar incident involving the use of rods designed to reinforce concrete and a series of other acts of vandalism, officials spoke of a “concerted campaign” of sabotage.

Experts from the SNCF state rail company told reporters that the sophistication of the attacks showed the saboteurs were technically very competent, since neutralising the power lines required expert knowledge.

The TGV high-speed rail network has been the target of several extremist campaigns over recent years by criminals seeking to blackmail SNCF, Basque separatist guerrillas and militant trade unionists.

Saturday’s attacks were among the best planned, taking out trains on lines north, east and south of the capital at almost the same moment and plunging the national network into chaos.

In addition to national services, Eurostar trains to Brussels and London and Thalys journeys to the Netherlands and northern Europe were halted.

Despite the most intense protests by anti-nuclear campaigners for several years, a French shipment of radioactive waste arrived in Germany early on Tuesday after a 20-hour delay.

Eleven lorries carrying 123 tonnes of nuclear waste arrived at the Gorleben dump in northern Germany just after midnight (2200 GMT), police said.

For most of the journey from western France the waste travelled by train and was halted for half a day at the German border by three activists who had jammed their arms into a concrete block under the track.

Once in Germany, around 16,000 baton-wielding police were deployed as around 15,000 demonstrators rallied along the route to try to hinder progress using tactics such as setting barricades on fire on the tracks.

The train eventually arrived at its final destination on Monday, more than 14 and a half hours late and the cargo was then transferred to lorries for the final 20 kilometres (12 miles) trip to Gorleben.

Along the final leg some 1,000 activists had to be removed one-by-one by riot police before the lorries could pass. Tractors had been parked across the road and activists chained themselves to tall cement pyramids.

For updated info and background articles, see http://tarnac9.wordpress.com/about/

Anti-incinerator protest staged

The SCAI who are trying to stop an incinerator being built in south Oxfordshire have held a protest outside County Hall. The site at Sutton Courtenay near Didcot is one of two being considered by Oxfordshire County Council.

One of the campaigners, Callum MacKenzie, said they did not want to see an incinerator built anywhere in the Oxfordshire area.

The protesters also handed over a petition against the plans. “We are opposed to incineration, not just in Sutton Courtenay, but in Oxfordshire,” said Mr MacKenzie.

“We are not talking of what we can get out of this as a result of it coming here. We are talking about it not coming here full stop.”

latest from Gorleben nuke transport protests (& they’ve not even really started!)

November 08, 2008
CASTOR-BLOCKADE WITH CONCRETE BLOCK NEAR WÖRTH: A group of young people at about 12.45 pm Saturday made the railway line unpassable for the Castor train shortly after it crossed into Germany, 500 metres north of Berg station. Three men and women fastened their arms in the massive block placed under the track sleepers. The train has been stopped for now.

November 06, 2008
BLOCKADES HAVE BEGUN: The railway line used to take nuclear waste into the Wendland was symbolically blockaded at three overpasses on Thursday by abseilers. Police seized and held a prominent French woman climber in “preventive detention”, a law that has been ruled invalid by the highest court. The environment organisation Robin Wood suspended three abseilers from three bridges between Lüneburg and Wendisch Evern, saying they would stay there until the waste train came or police removed them. The French activist is used to being under permanent police surveillance because of her frequent spectacular climbing actions. On Thursday evening dozens of supporters demonstrated for her release outside the Lüneburg police directorate.

====

November 05, 2008
TRAIN STOPPED BY PROTEST: Three high school pupils stopped a train bringing the special trucks for the Castor transport to Gorleben for half an hour near Hitzacker on Monday by sitting on the rails. They had to be carried away by police. About 100 demonstrators were near the track. Police were reported to be confused at first until they asked for reinforcements, which took half an hour to arrive. The three were encircled by police and had their IDs taken down. Pictures at http://de.indymedia.org/2008/11/231196.shtml

—

GREENPEACE ACTIVISTS OCCUPY DUMP TOWER: 40 Greenpeace activists occupied a winding tower of the Asse II nuclear dump near Wolfenbüttel on Wednesday morning (pictures at http://de.indymedia.org/2008/11/231338.shtml), attaching a banner that said nuclear waste must be removed from the former potash mine, which is heavily taking water. The action is to last several days. Police have not demanded that the protesters leave the tower and so far everything has been peaceful. From January the mine, which was considered a model for Gorleben, is to be controlled by a different government authority, the Federal Agency for Radiation Protection. Background on Asse II at http://sydney.indymedia.org.au/story/nuclear-worries-increase-german-waste-dump-mine-floods and http://sydney.indymedia.org.au/story/german-nuclear-dump-was-illegal-start.

—

ATTACKS ON POWER COMPANY’S VEHICLES: The «Hamburger Morgenpost» newspaper has published text purporting to claim responsibility for attacks on vehicles of the Vattenfall power company connected with the Castor transport. Windows of a car were damaged and both front tyres stabbed. Police say they have no claims of responsibility for two other attacks. In one case a vehicle loaded with four gas bottles was set on fire, causing an explosion that injured no one. But the pressure wave was said to have caused tens of thousands of euros worth of damage. Five vehicles were totally destroyed and a nearby building damaged. Police were able to stop another arson attack on a Vattenfall vehicle when a witness called them after seeing the attempt. Police assume all attacks were carried out by the same group of people.

—

POLICE IN GÖTTINGEN ROUGHED UP TWO ANTI-NUCLEAR ACTIVISTS who had hung a banner about the coming Castor transport over the entrance to the local railway station. One had his wrists painfully twisted, the other was clapped in handcuffs immediately. Police went to the home of one of them searching for the banner. The activists comment that it’s interesting to see how nervous police can get about a banner and how they fear public scrutiny. Pictures at http://de.indymedia.org/2008/11/231320.shtml.

====
Latest action news & other less direct action-focussed info at http://www.castor.de/ticker/index_en.html

Councillor John Lines’ Homeless Village in Birmingham + update

5.11.2008
A protest camp named after Councillor John Lines who’s responsible for the city’s housing, was established last Thursday on derelict land owned by Birmingham City Council. Cllr. Lines has denied there is a homeless problem in Birmingham and also denies there is money available to build new ‘social housing’. The occupied land has been unused for around seven years whilst there are over 30,000 people in the city waiting for housing.

The protest is against the Council holding on to land that could be sold at a ‘friendly’ price to Housing associations thereby allowing Housing Associations to draw up to £100m of grants to provide ‘social housing’. “At a cost of £50,000 per unit, the £100m could provide around 2,000 homes” said one of the protesters. They claim the Council’s approach is speculative – by holding onto unused land and buildings with a view to selling them off to the highest commercial bidder.

‘The John Lines’ Homeless Village’ consists of tents, a fire, cooking facilities and is located on the Pershore Road in Balsall Heath. Originally the camp was intended to last a week, but now protesters are trying to stay there as long as they can. Up until now the Council have made no plans to meet or talk with the protesters. They have been served with a notice to quit by Birmingham City Council and are due in court this Friday.

A group of around 30 people from different parts of the city regularly sleep over at the camp, some of whom are on waiting lists for social housing and some homeless people have also joined the camp. The protesters have also attended and disrupted a council meeting yesterday where according to the local press, they threatened to occupy the roof of the home of Councillor Lines, and Lines in return has ‘threatened to set his dogs on them’.

Protesters at the camp are keen on meeting visitors who want to express some solidarity. They are also in need of food, blankets and donations.

——

Update:

The council was granted the eviction order at Birmingham County Court on Friday to evict the campaigners who are on land off Pershore Road in Birmingham.