Verdict Handed Down for Six Sea Shepherd Volunteers on Faroe Islands

9.9.14

Volunteers from Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s pilot whale defense campaign Operation GrindStop 2014 appeared before a court in the Faroe Islands on Monday following their recent arrest in conjunction with trying to prevent the murder of pilot whales. These volunteer crewmembers – many of whom are European citizens – have been found guilty of defending the whales, while Denmark has acted in blatant defiance of European Union regulations by defending the slaughter of whales. Sea Shepherd has issued a statement pertaining to the verdicts and supporter and actor Martin Sheen is speaking out.

The six members of Sea Shepherd’s onshore team were among a total of 14 volunteers arrested on August 30 on the Faroese island of Sandoy for attempting to protect 33 pilot whales from the brutal mass slaughter known as “grindadrap” or the “grind.” The onshore crewmembers entered the water, banging poles, in an attempt to lead the pilot whales back out to sea and out of danger, but as the pod was driven in quickly from close to shore, there was little time to prevent the slaughter. The Royal Danish Navy arrested Sea Shepherd’s offshore crew and seized three of their small boats – the Loki, the Mike Galesi, and the B.S. Sheen (sponsored by actor Charlie Sheen). Despite being an anti-whaling EU member nation, Denmark acted in collaboration with the whalers, enabling 33 whales to be killed.

The onshore crewmembers face small fines as well as possible deportation from the Faroes by Denmark. The court date for the eight members of the offshore crew has been scheduled for September 25, and Sea Shepherd’s three small boats will be held “as evidence” until that time.

Direct actions against open cast mines in germany 2014 – mobilisation for a big blockade/action simultaneous to the COPs in Paris in 2015

On the 1st of August this year several actions took place against brown coal mining in the rhineland in germany.

One of the biggest open cast mines of europe are located in the midwest of germany. Near to Cologne RWE, the biggest energy provider of germany runs three open cast mines with an area of 160 km². With an emission of ca. 100 million CO2 per year RWE is the biggest emittent of CO2 in whole Europe. Enough Profit for the highly indepted enterprise, the loss of natural resources for millions of people of the global south

The local consequences of the brown-coal-minig are desastrous. Highly fertile soil gets digged away. Tens of thousands of people get resettled. Important ecosystems like the hambach forest get cut down. To prevent the mines from flooding the groundwater gets pumped down. The negative effects for the agriculture and wetlands can be located even in the netherlands which are ca. 60 km away. The grit and fine dust which are produced by the biggest diggers of the world, which work 24/7 includes even radioactive particles.

There was Resistance against the gigantic project for the whole time of RWEs economic activity since the beginning of 1900. Sometimes bigger sometimes smaller the resistance moreover collapses because of the power RWE develops with lobbyism, corruption and the undercutting of administrations, courts and local social communities.

For about 4 years a constantly growing grassrootsmovement tries to power up the resistance against the power generation of coal on a local and nationwide scale. With constant crystallisation points like the hambach forest occupation and a house project in the area, with climate camps and helping to empower the local resistance movement with supporting citizen initiatives.

Embedded in the climate camp this year a powerful action day took place.

The coal train which transports the coal from the hambach open cast mine to the power plant was blocked two times. On the the first blockade chained themselves to the rails of the coal train which transports the coal of the mine called hambach to the power plant and the second time two people roped down from a bridge above the rails.

Nearly at the same time about 80 people moved the other big mine Garzweiler to block the infrastructure. 2 Diggers were blocked 3 times with lock-on-actions and squattings.From 8 o'clock in the morning to 10 in the evening the drivers of the diggers and the other personal in the mine had no calm minute.

It seems that more and more people want to take responsibility for themselves to protect ecosystems and natural resources and begin to stop the worst effects of climate change with direct actions against fossil infrastructure.

Photos of the action day:

Lock-on-action and climbing action (with other photos of the hambach forest occupation)

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/hambacherforst/with/14797606761/

Blockade of diggers:

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/100963658@N02/sets/72157645681194248/

Mobilisation for a big infrastructure blockade simultaneously to the COP21

According to the next COP-meeting in Paris 2015 we want to invite people from all over europe to think about what to do. As we don't want to have such a big depression after the COPs 2009 in Copenhagen again there is a tendency to organise a big blockade of infrastructure of fossil fuel energy production simultaneously somewhere centrally located in Europe. If you have ideas and want to distribute them you can come to Cologne/Germany from the 3rd to the 5th of octobre. There will be accomodation and board.

English callout for the action plenary:

http://ekib.blogsport.eu/2014/08/23/invitation-action-plenary-meeting-3-5-oct-2014-in-cologne/

Earth First!

An activist from ausgeco2hlt

Unfortunately the websites are not in english or the english blogs are not well operated

www.ausgeco2hlt.de

www.hambacherforst.blogsport.de / http://hambachforest.blogsport.de/

http://ekib.blogsport.eu/

www.klimacamp-im-rheinland.de

Round-up of fracking protests, after Reclaim the Power

18.8.14

Cuadrilla office occupation

On Monday 18^th at 12:00am a group of eleven activists from the Reclaim the Power camp near Blackpool occupied fracking company Cuadrilla’s northern headquarters.

Several members of the group have since secured themselves in place in the foyer of the building using plastic “arm tubes”. Two activists each insert an arm into opposite ends of the same pipe, “locking on” to each other’s hands in various ways. They intend to remain in the office until they are removed by police.

Cuadrilla PR company PPS occupied by campaigners in Manchester – “Taking the PPS!”

Anti-fracking activists from Reclaim the Power staged a protest outside the Charlotte Street, Manchester, offices of Political Planning Services (PPS), the controversial PR firm currently representing Cuadrilla. The offices had been closed in apparent anticipation of a potential protest.

Six protesters dressed in toxic hazard suits talked to to passers-by and office workers who share the PPS building about the environmental dangers of fracking, fuel poverty, and the government’s recent report, showing that a reliance on fossil fuels would lead to a rise in domestic fuel bills over the next four decades, in contrast to a focus on sustainable energy, which would lead to lower bills.

Salford banner drop

Anti-fracking campaigners from Salford have hung a banner from a bridge at Salford Media City as part of a day of action by Reclaim the Power. The banner states that 884,000 gallons of radioactive fracking water has been dumped into the Manchester Ship Canal.

Bank die-in

A group of activists have just staged a "die-in" at the Blackpool branch of HSBC, the bank providing its services to Cuadrilla. Our activists staging the "die-in" are wearing T-shirts with their very own HSBC acronym – 'Helping Shaft Blackpool's Community!'

Reclaim the Power activists take action against councillors and haulage company in order to highlight disruption from fracking to local communities and the environment

At 7:50 this morning a group of anti-fracking campaigners from the Reclaim the Power camp in Blackpool visited the homes of local councillors with vested interests in supporting fracking in Lancashire.

Fracking haulage company blockaded

At 8:00 a separate group of activists set up a blockade of the Total Environmental Technology premises outside of Hull in East Yorkshire. The activists, including Yorkshire locals, glued the doors closed in order to shut down the site. A haulage company used by Cuadrilla and the fracking industry, Total Environmental Technology lorries are currently being used to remove waste and used fracking chemicals – “frack fluids” – from live sites.

Rathlin Energy fracking site blockaded at Crawberry Hill – Security Guards use extreme and brutal force against protestors

This morning, a group of campaigners have occupied and shut down a new fracking site at Crawberry Hill, East Yorkshire. Three protestors are locked and and two are superglued onto the outside gate. Security guards have used brutal and disproportionate force, in one case, pulling an older woman with so much force that they grabbed her shirt and exposed her body and pouring water over protestors. The protest follows a number of safety breaches committed by Rathlin Energy at nearby West Newton drilling site. A number of local residents are on site, showing their support for the protest.

Live stream

IGas HQ occupied by protesters

15 Campaigners from Balcombe, Barton Moss and across the country have blockaded both entrances to the iGas headquarters, 7 Down Street, Westminster, London, W1J 7AJ. Police have arrived at the site alongside security, but look unlikely to act soon.

IGas were responsible for exploratory drilling at Barton Moss. The drilling saw over 6 months of local protests.

Protest

Swansea University Bay Campus shut down by residents and students campaigning against Fracking research

Today at 6am, as part of the Reclaim the Power camp, concerned residents from Swansea, students and graduates, dressed as mad scientists, shut down construction of Swansea University’s Bay Campus.

There are two protestors locked on, one up a tripod and a number of the group are inside the site and have dropped a banner which says ‘No Fracking’. Outside the site the banner reads ‘Dim Ffracio’. The protesters were angered by tens of millions of public money being funnelled into research on fracking via Swansea University’s new Energy Safety Research Institute.

Fracking protesters occupy DEFRA

Campaigners from the Reclaim the Power camp at Blackpool are this morning occupying the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in London, following the release of a government report released last week containing 63 redactions on the potential impacts of shale gas exploration on rural communities. The Metropolitan Police are already onsite at DEFRA.

At 8am three activists superglued themselves to the doors of DEFRA’s main entrance and deployed reinforced arm tubes to prevent access. Two activists each insert an arm into opposite ends of the same pipe, “locking on” to each other’s hands in various ways. Another activist climbed the building and unfurled a banner reading: ‘WHAT’S TO HIDE DEFRA? – DON’T FRACK WITH OUR FUTURE’. Some of the activists wore black tape across their mouths, highlighting the vital information which blacked out in the report.

Families' Radioactive response to fracking

At 6.45am this morning, a number of families and their children placed 88 ‘atoms’ of Radium around Lytham as a temporary art installation to highlight concerns about negative impacts of fracking on public health and the environment from radioactive discharge.

Radium is just one of the radioactive materials released from the earth when it is fractured in the fracking process. The “atoms” will be placed around Lytham and each one will have a message attached with the website www.frack-off.org.uk guiding the public to all the latest research. The atoms are made entirely from biodegradable materials.

Frackstons are out in Preston, offering once in a frack-time deals on home sales & insurance

Video

More photos from round the country

Grow Heathrow eviction resistance

15/8/14

WE DID IT, TOGETHER WE RESISTED AN EVICTION TODAY!

THANK YOU

everyone who helped resist the eviction at Grow Heathrow, the chefs, live band, bike powered smoothie makers, seed sowers, climbers, people locked on, Jonathan Goldberg for photos, organisers and more…

BUT….

Unfortunately this is not the end…

The Bailiffs may return any day without warning…

to try and evict Grow Heathrow once more… we will need to come together again for this…

Email us your phone number if you want to be part of the phone tree or join the mailing list on the website: http://www.transitionheathrow.com info@transitionheathrow.com

Come down and visit, stay and help the site run

Anti-fracking protestors join occupation of Cuadrilla site

14 August 2014

At midday today, protestors from Reclaim the Power set up camp at Preston New Road, at fracking company Cuadrilla’s proposed drilling site. Approximately 1000 attendees will stay for six days, to take direct action and share skills and knowledge. They do so in support of the local community’s fight against Cuadrilla’s plans to drill for shale gas in Lancashire.[1]

Last year, the Reclaim the Power camp shut down Cuadrilla’s operations in Balcombe, Sussex for a week. The company later announced that they would not frack the site, and the Balcombe community has set up an initiative to supply their area with renewable energy.[2]

In 2011, Blackpool experienced earthquakes caused by fracking. Hannah Jones from Reclaim the Power said:

“Blackpool is where the fracking industry started in the UK, and this is where it has to stop. Besides the damage it can cause to water and air locally, fracked gas can be as bad for the climate as coal. We need energy that’s sustainable, democratic, and affordable, instead of corporate controlled fossil fuels.”

Since August 7^th, a group of Lancashire grandmothers, mothers, and children have been occupying a field on Preston New Road – one of Cuadrilla’s proposed drill sites. Local residents handed in a record-breaking 14,000 objections to a council consultation on Cuadrilla’s plans.[3] When asked why the local women are occupying the field, Tina Louise from Lancashire said,

“The shale gas industry and Cuadrilla in particular have not acted honestly in their dealings with our community and are not to be trusted with the health and well-being of our children. We do not want them here and so are gathering to make sure we are heard and we are calling others to help us amplify this. As air and water do not recognize county boundaries, the defence is for everybody in the UK.”

[1] Press pack with more detailed camp information available. [2] http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/apr/17/balcombe-fracking-energy-community-renewables [3]http://www.foe.co.uk/news/14000-people-call-frack-free-lancashire

How to get to the camp

Programme (including march on Sunday, day of action on Monday)

Week of Action against the NATO Summit in Newport

The world's leading warmongers will meet this summer in Wales. A week of action is planned to oppose and stop them, from August 30th to September the 5th.

Two organisations are planning actions against the summit, inclusing mass demonstrations and days of action on different aspects of militarism. This promises to be a massive focal point for the movement against miliarism this summer. Details of can be found here:

https://network23.org/stopnatocymru/

http://www.nonatonewport.org/

Please get involved and spread the word! Help raise our profile by linking to stopNATOCymru on blogs etc., and more importantly, come along to the events and show your support.

Reclaim the Power to come to North West England anti-fracking site

Reclaim the Power, the action camp that shut down Cuadrilla’s operations in Balcombe for a week last year, will take place near Blackpool between 14 – 20 August. The precise location of the camp will be revealed on the starting day. An estimated 1000 participants from across the UK and local residents will take part in 6 days of direct action, training, and workshops as they join the dots between social, climate and economic justice.

More info in press release. Programme

Action Days in the Rhineland Coalfield

Action Days in the Rhineland Coalfield

Lots of things were happening in the Rhineland Coalfield today: Early in the morning, four activists locked themselves to coal train tracks. Two more activists abseiled themselves from a bridge. These two blockades stopped the coal transportation between the open-cast mine Hambach and the power plants. Further north, at the edge of the Garzweiler mine, a group of 80 people took a seat in front of the buckets of the digging machine, some of them locked themselves together. Another group ventured further down into the mine and climbed on the wheels the digging machine, accompanied by a Samba band and rebel clowns. And last but not least, about 20 activists were blockading the gate to the mininig area for six hours. It seems that more and more people are willing to take direct action against the polluting industry to stop climate change!

The Rhineland Coalfied is situated in the Western part of Germany, close to the Dutch bordier. There are three huge open-cast lignite mines, and right next to it, some of Europe's dirtiest coal-fired power plants, which emit about 100 million tons of CO2 per year.

Lots of the activists had their base on the climate action camp, that is taking this week on a piece of land that is scheduled to be digged away soon for the lignite mine.

View images of the action days on www.klimacamp-im-rheinland.de

anti-fracking news from the frontlines, Britain

There are currently three community blockades / protest camps – West Newton, Crawberry HIll (both in Yorkshire), and Upton (Cheshire).

For other news, upcoming events and info, see http://frack-off.org.uk

Twelve Hour Blockade Against Rare Earth Metal Exploration, Canada

The 23rd July we stopped the Canadian corporation Tasman Metals’ test drillings for rare earth elements (REE) in Norra Kärr, Sweden. We heard they probably had been securing the place with CCTV-cameras so we decided to drive as fast as possible right into the enemy claimed forest, straight through any alarm system. Then we ran a few kilometers until we found the drilling rig. Using bike-locks we chained our bodies to the nasty machine. We alerted some media with a press release. Then some cops came with people from the corporation in a few hours. They gathered 20 something cops but Tasman decided not to intervene even though we were breaking the law. They didn’t want the extra fuzz from brutal cop-violence. So we could stay at the beautiful site with the ugly machine the whole day talking to journalists and drinking coffee with excited supporters.

We know rare earth mining has been apocalyptic in desert biomes due to all the toxic waste. This mine would be right next to Swedens biggest drinking water reserve, the beautiful lake Vättern. It’s got bright clear water and supports 260 000 people with clean water at the moment, more cities want to plug in! Tasman Metals is hiding its ugly plans to make investors gamble with human and non-human health and we will not allow that!

In solidarity with all people fighting patriarchy and the white mans colonial worldview!

More pictures on the campaign website.