Author: earthfirst

The Dark Side of Brazil: Police teargas Indians at anti-World Cup protest

Hundreds of Brazilian Indians are protesting against the World Cup 30th May.

Hundreds of Brazilian Indians are protesting against the World Cup 30th May. Hundreds of Brazilian Indians are protesting against the World Cup this week, marching in the streets of Brasília and around the capital’s Mané Garrincha football stadium, calling for their lands and lives to be protected.

Yesterday Indians brandishing bows and arrows and carrying signs reading ‘FIFA NO. DEMARCATION YES!’ were teargassed by police. Watch a video clip here.

There is mounting anger at the government’s failure to recognize and protect their lands, vital for their survival, while spending millions of dollars on hosting the World Cup.

The protestors who are from several tribes have forced FIFA to close the stadium, and to cancel its trophy display.

A delegation of 18 indigenous protestors met the Minister of Justice yesterday. Indigenous leader Sonia Guajajara, national coordinator of the Association of Indigenous Peoples (APIB), said, ‘We are here to show that without our land, we are chained up. We are imprisoned. We are here to demand our rights.’

The Guarani tribe, Brazil’s largest, suffers extremely high malnutrition and suicide rates as their land has been stolen to make way for vast sugar cane plantations. Their leaders are frequently targeted and killed by gunmen acting for the landowners.

They are calling for their land to be demarcated as a matter of urgency before more lives are lost, and for the cancellation of a series of draft bills which, if passed into law, would drastically weaken their, and other tribes’, control over their lands. Those in the Amazon are calling for a halt to the many hydro-electric dams being built on their land.

Earlier this year, Nixiwaka Yawanawá, an Amazon Indian from western Brazil, greeted the World Cup trophy on its arrival in London with a T-shirt reading ‘BRAZIL: STOP DESTROYING INDIANS’.

Brazil is home to more uncontacted tribes than anywhere else in the world. They are the country’s most vulnerable people and face extinction if their lands are not protected. Survival is calling on Brazil to protect their land and remove all invaders, as has recently been achieved with the Awá, Earth’s most threatened tribe.

In the run up to the FIFA World Cup, Survival is highlighting ‘The dark side of Brazil’. Click here to find out more about the situation of Brazilian Indians and the government’s attacks on their rights to their land.

Rathlin Blitzkrieg About to Hit East Yorkshire

West Newton, Well Site29th May 2014 Rathlin Energy caught activists napping today when lorries arrived at Crawberry Hill site in East Yorkshire.

West Newton, Well Site29th May 2014 Rathlin Energy caught activists napping today when lorries arrived at Crawberry Hill site in East Yorkshire. The police had allowed Rathlin to ignore (no right turn) traffic signs to gain access without the knowledge of the activists waiting further down the road.
Activists aired their concerns about radio active hazard signs attached to lorries arriving to remove waste water at the West Newton site near Aldborough. The surface water had overflowed the man made ditches made specifically for the purpose due to heavy overnight rain. It seems this presents no present threat but fears are that when drilling begins again and the radioactive elements are brought to the surface any further overflow would contaminate the surrounding area. Residents of the USA and Canada have previously reported ‘dead zones’ of once thriving ecological areas. contaminated by fracking and radioactive chemicals, after overflowing into ponds and lakes.
Activists were also worried about ‘drill tips’ and accessories used in the drilling processes. These are according to the activists, tipped with depleted Uranium, to cut through the toughest rock. Although it cannot be confirmed that these practises are taking place in the East Riding area, the technique and equipment, have been available for quite some time.
The Environment Agency has already given permits to Rathlin to extract waste, including radioactive waste. Unconfirmed reports suggest Dermot Nesbit (Rathlin Energy director) had used his influence as an Ex Northern Ireland, Environment Minister to secure the permits, from the Environment Agency, the same department (within Northern Ireland) of which he was once chief.
Hull and East Yorkshire anti frack.

Reoccupation of the Hambach Forest in Germany

26.04.2014

Struggle against megalomaniac energy provider RWE and the biggest human-made hole of europe.

26.04.2014

Struggle against megalomaniac energy provider RWE and the biggest human-made hole of europe.


Since April 2012, activists in Germany have occupied the Hambach forest to prevent the expansion of Europe’s largest open-cast coal mine. The mine expansion project would mean the clearcutting of the forest and the eviction of thousands of local residents. On March 27, 2014, the forest occupation was evicted by police and today, on April 26, 2014 a new occupation arose. There are platforms and walkways up in the trees and a big demonstration is taking place close by. After a couple of days of strong repressions and the constant attempt by the „authorities“ to criminalize the sruggle the reoccupation is successful. For more information and a current ticker visit our English blog (hambachforest.blogsport.de).

A recent interview with an activist can be found via the following link

Love&Solidarity

Hambacher Forest
hambachforest.blogsport.de

Daring dawn blockade of Britain’s Nuclear weapons factory

19.5.2014

19.5.2014

This morning at 7.20am a group of peace campaigners began blockading the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) site at Burghfield, near Reading. The protesters, acting as part of ActionAWE [1] campaign of non-violent direct action, are trying to disrupt construction of a new nuclear warhead factory on the site.

The new development at AWE Burghfield is being built at a cost to the tax payer of almost £2 billion, despite the fact that parliament has yet to vote on replacing the current generation of nuclear warheads that the site would build.

The protesters were locked together using handcuffs inside 'lock-on' devices – made from drainpipes, and vegetable oil drums filled with concrete in order to block the gate to the construction site to prevent further work on the site.

Amy Clark, 19, a Peace Studies Student at Bradford University said “Public money is already being spent in its millions toward the renewal of trident. The final decision on renewal must be made by 2016 so it's time to act now to stop it.”

Phil Wood, 20, a Politics Student also at Bradford University added “To be spending millions of pounds and planning to spend billions more on nuclear weapons while cutting back on essential public services that people rely on is unforgivable”

Catherine Bann, 40, mother of two from Todmorden, said: "The money we would spend renewing Trident could pay for all A & E hospital departments in the country for the next 40 years! It's a huge waste of public money to be investing in nuclear weapons, and people like us must make a stand now, so that future generations do not have to bear the cost.”

Matt Fawcett, 39, from Yorkshire CND said: "This 'do as we say, not as we do' policy of telling other countries they can't develop nuclear weapons while we spend billions developing new weapons of our own, not only undermines attempts to limit the spread of nuclear weapons but also discredits Britain on the world stage. Polls show 87% of the British public are against spending on new nukes at a time of such drastic cuts, yet the construction goes on at Burghfield without any parliamentary debate"

For further details contact:

Sarah 07737 596 808
Nina 07812 104 279

Notes to editors
The UK has an armed nuclear submarine on patrol and ready to fire at all times, with the ability to wipe out cities almost anywhere on earth within 15 minutes[2]. The UK has a stockpile of around 225 nuclear warheads[3], each with eight times the explosive power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 [4] that killed an estimated 140,000 to 200,000 people. Running the Trident nuclear weapons system currently costs £2 billion a year[5], and has not seen any of the cutbacks facing other government spending and public services. The government will vote in 2016 to decide whether to invest in the UK’s Trident nuclear weapon system for another 30 years.

Operated by a consortium of Jacobs Engineering Group, Lockheed Martin and Serco, AWE Burghfield plays an integral part in the final assembly and maintenance of nuclear warheads for use in the Trident system[6]. In 2011 Peter Luff, the then Minister for Defence Equipment, announced £2 billion of spending for redevelopment of the Burghfield and Aldermaston weapons factories[7]. The total spending on Weapons of Mass Destruction in the UK will soar to over £100 Billion should the government take the decision to renew Trident in 2016 [8].

Action AWE (Atomic Weapons Eradication) is a grassroots campaign of nonviolent action dedicated to halting nuclear weapons production at the Atomic Weapons Establishment factories at Aldermaston and Burghfield.

[1] http://www.actionawe.org/

[2] http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/peace/trident-the-uks-nuclear-weapons-system

[3]Stockholm International Peace Research Institute:
www.sipri.org/research/armaments/nuclear-forces‎

[4] http://www.cnduk.org/information/briefings UK warheads are thought to have a yield of 80-100kt.

[5]  http://fullfact.org/factchecks/cost_trident_nuclear_deterrent-28864

[6] www.awe.co.uk/aboutus/the_company_eb1b2.html

[7]  http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm111122/text/111122w0002.htm#111122114002933

[8]  http://www.cnduk.org/information/briefings/trident-briefings
Tags:Aldermaston, Bradford, Disarmament Activism, Nuclear, Nuclear weapon, Warfare and Conflict, Weapons, Yorkshire Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

More Arrests of Anti Fracking Activists in East Yorkshire

24th May Following on from the arrests of two local residents last week, a further arrest has been made of an activist playing music in Beverley (near Hull.) A flotilla of Police, from the Humberside division, armed with tazers and dogs, swooped into Beverley, town centre, as the

24th May Following on from the arrests of two local residents last week, a further arrest has been made of an activist playing music in Beverley (near Hull.) A flotilla of Police, from the Humberside division, armed with tazers and dogs, swooped into Beverley, town centre, as the busker and anti fracking activist known as Daznez was playing and singing music in Beverley town centre. Local people who were watching and listening to the musician remarked at the heavy handedness of the arrest as at least six police personnel and their dogs took the musician into custody. The musician has been taken to Clough Road, Police Station in Hull but has not yet been charged with an offence.
Last week two residents of the Beverley area, were arrested whilst meditating, at an earmarked Frack site, at the Rathlin Energy, Crawberry Hill, drilling site. Husband and Wife, John and Valerie Majer, were charged with causing intimidation and annoyance contrary to section 241 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act.
Rathlin Energy has said it has no plans to frack in the area, although two permits have been granted to them for work to be carried out.
There have previously been charges of corruption, abuse of power and privledge, placed upon Rathlin Energy by activists. This follows after, ex Northern Ireland Environment Minister Dermot Nesbitt, who is now a director of Rathlin Energy succeeded in obtaining the permits from the very same government agency, who were once accountable to him, to drill and extract waste, including the extraction of radioactive waste, at the Crawberry Hill site and another, nearby site at West Newton near Aldborough. (Updates to follow.)
East Yorkshire Anti Frack

Switzerland: Update From Anarchist Prisoner Marco Camenisch

marco-camenisch-220th May 2014. Since the 15th or the 16th of May, Marco Camenisch has been held in solitar

marco-camenisch-220th May 2014. Since the 15th or the 16th of May, Marco Camenisch has been held in solitary confinement for five days in the prison of Lenzburg, Switzerland, because he refused to give a urine sample.

On the 23rd of May 2014 he will be transferred to the Bostadel penal institution. Whether his transfer was ordered because he once again refused to give a urine sample or it was planned beforehand, is (still) not clear to us.

Marco’s incarceration is expected to end on May 8th of the year 2018. His early release from prison (“conditional release”) has been rejected because of “chronic propensity towards violence” and “delinquency-promoting ideology”, among other things.

Marco Camenisch

Strafanstalt Bostadel
Postfach 38, CH-6313 Menzingen, Schweiz/Switzerland

Tel. +41 41 757 1919, Fax +41 41 757 1900

More info on Marco Mamenisch

Enbridge Pipeline Road Blocked by Protesters in Burlington

index

20th May 2014. A group of protesters has blockaded the road to an exposed section of Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline early this morning in Burlington, Ont.

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20th May 2014. A group of protesters has blockaded the road to an exposed section of Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline early this morning in Burlington, Ont.

The protesters say they plan to continue the blockade for at least 12 hours.

A news release says the 12-hour stay represents 12,000 “anomalies Enbridge has reported to exist on the line.”

 

“Enbridge calls these developments integrity digs,” said Danielle Boissineau, one of the protesters, “but to anyone watching the Line 9 issue, it’s clear Enbridge has no integrity. This work on the line is just a Band-Aid, a flimsy patch over the most outrageous flaws in the Line 9 plan.

“Line 9 has a lot of similarities to Line 6B that erupted in the Kalamazoo River. The risk is just not worth it,” she said.

From July to December of last year, there were 308 maintenance digs along Line 9 — and the vast majority were for cracks in the line. In July alone, Enbridge filed 105 maintenance notices for digs on the line, according to documents filed with the National Energy Board.

The group says its members include residents of Burlington who don’t want the pipeline running through their city.

“Line 9 has nearly 13,000 structural weaknesses along its length” said Brian Sutherland, a Burlington resident. “And yet Enbridge is only doing a few hundred integrity digs.”

There were about 20 protesters at the site early Tuesday. As of 8:15 a.m., no police had arrived.

Last June, a group of protesters shut down construction at an Enbridge pump station in rural Hamilton.

About 80 people interrupted construction at the North Westover site.

In March, the NEB approved a request from Enbridge to reverse the flow and increase the capacity of the controversial Line 9 pipeline that has been running between southern Ontario and Montreal for years.

Line 9 originally shuttled oil from Sarnia, Ont., to Montreal, but was reversed in the late 1990s in response to market conditions to pump imported crude westward. Enbridge now wants to flow oil back eastwards to service refineries in Ontario and Quebec.

It plans to move 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day through the line, a rise from the current 240,000 barrels, with no increase in pressure.

Opponents argue the Line 9 plan puts communities at risk, threatens water supplies and could endanger vulnerable species in ecologically sensitive areas.

Breaking: Blockade Launched Against Enbridge Line 9 Pipeline

Photo: CBC20th May 2014. A group of area residents have blockaded the access road to an exposed section of Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline, beginning at 7am this morning.

Photo: CBC20th May 2014. A group of area residents have blockaded the access road to an exposed section of Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline, beginning at 7am this morning. They say they will stay for at least twelve hours, one hour for every thousand anomalies Enbridge has reported to exist on the line. These community members turned away Enbridge employees who were scheduled to do work on Line 9 in preparation for it to carry toxic diluted bitumen from the Alberta Tar Sands. This particular work site is adjacent to the Bronte creek, a major waterway flowing to Lake Ontario, the water source for more than ten million people.

“Enbridge calls these developments integrity digs,” said Danielle Boissineau, one of the blockaders, “but to anyone watching the Line 9 issue, it’s clear Enbridge has no integrity. This work on the line is just a band-aid, a flimsy patch over the most outrageous flaws in the Line 9 plan.” [Danielle notes that a record of just some of Enbridge’s false or misleading statements is available on the Enbridge Lies facebook page

“Line 9 has nearly 13,000 structural weaknesses along its length” said Brian Sutherland, a Burlington resident. “And yet Enbridge is only doing a few hundred integrity digs. Enbridge has been denying the problems with the pipe for years, and they still refuse to do the hydrostatic testing requested by the province. Are we really supposed to trust Enbridge when they tell us that this time they’ll do it right?”

 

Many of the blockaders point to the disastrous spill from Enbridge’s line 6b into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan in 2010, where millions of litres of oil spilled and have so far proven impossible to clean up. But many of them emphasize that their opposition to Line 9 goes beyond safety concerns.

“This is not about pipelines versus rail; it’s about the Tar Sands,” said Danielle Boissineau. “It’s the dirtiest oil in the world: it’s not worth the destruction it takes to produce, it’s not worth the risk to our watersheds to transport, and we definitely can’t afford the carbon in our atmosphere when it’s burned. At every step of the process, the Tar Sands outsources the risks onto our communities and poisons waterways like the Athabasca River and the Bronte creek while companies like Enbridge get rich.”

Call for Solidarity Actions Against Oil Trains

oil trains 19th May 2014. Maine Earth First!/350 Maine call for Solidarity Actions Surrounding Superior Court Hearing in Fracked Bakken Crude Oil Train Case

oil trains 19th May 2014. Maine Earth First!/350 Maine call for Solidarity Actions Surrounding Superior Court Hearing in Fracked Bakken Crude Oil Train Case

On May 22nd two of three people who blockaded railroad tracks in Auburn last August, Doug Bowen and Jessie Dowling of Maine Earth First!, will have a hearing at the Androscoggin County Superior Court.

Last August, members of 350Maine and Maine Earth First! conducted a sit-in on the Pan Am railroad tracks in the center of Auburn to call attention to the ongoing dangers posed by the transportation of Bakken crude oil by rail.

This was 7 weeks after a trainload of the same oil exploded in Lac Megantic, killing 47. Doug Bowen and Jessie Dowling will face charges for this direct action and will present evidence for a competing harms defense – that committing a smaller harm was meant to prevent a larger one.

There have been at least 6 other major train derailments involving Bakken crude oil since Lac-Megantic. This train blockade was one of two blockades Maine Earth First! And 350 Maine took part in last summer.

Trains running through Maine carry crude from the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota, where it is “fracked” or extracted by blasting a high pressure toxic cocktail deep into the ground to release oil from shale rock, polluting air and water in surrounding communities.

With hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” technology, oil that has long been impossible to extract is now the source of an explosive oil boom in the Midwest. Without enough pipelines to transport the Midwest crude to distant refineries, there has been a surge in the use of trains. Inspections of tracks are infrequent due to lack of resources to oversee them and a lack of concern for local communities by giant corporations/government.

Maine EF!er being arrested after blockade

There have been many train derailments through-out the continent over the last year and a half other than Lac Megantic, including a 106-car-long oil train in Casselton, North Dakota which caused seven oil cars to explode and also caused an evacuation of 2,400 people, A CN freight train carrying crude oil in New Brunswick in January,

A 120-car Norfolk Southern train carrying heavy Canadian crude oil which derailed and spilled in western Pennsylvania also in January, and a CSX train that exploded in Lynchburg, Virginia carrying Bakken Crude Oil on May first, only to name a few.

In January the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued a Safety Alert concluding Bakken crude is more flammable than heavier oils. Hence the term “bomb trains.”

We are asking individuals and groups to take part in a day of action to bring attention to fracked oil, fracking in general (if you can tie in into your campaigns), unsafe trains carrying fossil fuels (Bakken Crude or otherwise), and/or any other connections you can make in your community.

Possible targets: Irving Oil, a corporation that receives oil from the Bakken Crude fields, and the corporation that was supposed to be the recipient of the oil that exploded in Lac Macgantic Corporations involved in fracking in the North Dakota Bakken Shale: http://www.ugcenter.com/operators/Bakken/all Central Maine and Quebec Railroad if you are in Maine (or join us at the courthouse!) Places in your community where trains are rolling through with crude oil or other dangerous extreme energy substances.

Here is an example in Montana: http://earthfirstjournal.org/newswire/2014/04/13/seven-arrests-in-montana-coal-train-protest/

Ports that are an end point of dangerous trains. Here is one example in Washington: http://earthfirstjournal.org/newswire/2014/02/15/crude-oil-terminal-planned-in-nw-portland/

Please keep us updated on any solidarity actions you take!

For more information, interviews, or to tell us about your action contact Christine: blackbean@riseup.net, or 207.505.5114

Paramilitaries Shoot at Tribe Over “Forest Reserves” in Philippines

Tigwahanon Village in San Fernando, Bukidnon, Mindanao17th May 2014. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned, and demands an investigation into the actions of the secur

Tigwahanon Village in San Fernando, Bukidnon, Mindanao17th May 2014. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned, and demands an investigation into the actions of the security guards and their employer landlord for shooting at, and holding at gunpoint, indigenous people who were to occupy their ancestral land in Quezon, Bukidnon.

In their mission report, titled: “‘Pakighiusa’: Solidarity Mission to Members of TINDOGA in Support of Their Struggle for Land and Life,” prepared by Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, Northern Mindanao Sub-Region, it noted that the armed security guards indiscriminately shot at Manobo-Pulangihons tribes on April 23 purposely to drive them away from their land.

The indigenous tribe, composed of 530 families are from four clans, are led by Datu Santiano “Andong” Agdahan. They had already been recognized as the rightful owners of the 623 hectares of land as part of their ancestral domain. Datu Agdahan also heads the TINDOGA (Tribal Indigenous Oppressed Group Association).

On April 23, in support of their claim, the tribes were accompanied by officials from the national and local government agencies, notably the National Commission for the Indigenous People (NCIP), the municipal government, and the police.

But at around 1pm, armed security guards, reportedly working for Mr. Pablo “Poling” Lorenzo III, who claims to be the owner of Rancho Montalvan, were deployed, and allegedly indiscriminately shot at the group. They also held “12 individuals at gun point,” five of whom were women, and three were minors.

The armed men deliberately concealed their identities by not wearing their uniforms. Most of them wore black long sleeves; their faces are either covered with balaclavas or shirts.

The AHRC is of the opinion that the use of force and intimidation, by shooting at the indigenous people and holding them at gunpoint; was done purposely to frighten and intimidate this group of indigenous people claiming their right to occupy their ancestral land.

It is reported that even though the NCIP has already declared the 623 hectares are the ancestral domain of the Manobo-Pulangihons, “only 70 hectares were allotted for use of the claimants. The rest were classified as forest reserves. Interestingly, what is supposed to be forest reserves are mostly planted with “sugarcane and pineapple.”

The AHRC urges the government to hold accountable Ma. Shirlene D. Sario the provincial officer of the NCIP, for allegedly failing to fulfil the obligations required from her to ensure the indigenous people are properly install in their land.

The AHRC also expresses its disappointment at the lack of concern, notably by the local government officials in Quezon, Bukidnon, to failing to address the urgent needs of their own constituents.

The mission report indicated that “no government official from Quezon town to the Provincial government even visited the Manobo-Pulangihons.”