earthfirst – Page 299

Take Action Against Illegal Tree Felling in Liverpool!

Langtree McLean are currently cutting their way through trees at the former Garden Festival site in Liverpool, even though they don’t have planning permission yet and they don’t own the site yet! If they get their way, the site will be almost completely clear-felled!

They are destroying semi-mature trees, including oaks, from the original plantings for the Garden Festival in the early 1980s. The tree-felling is also devastating for the birdlife established on the site, as birds commence their breeding activities at this time of year.

At a meeting this Sunday 26th March, concerned people will be able to discuss resistance strategies. Meet 2pm at the Old Police Station on Lark Lane. Visit http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=337249&Y=387623&A=Y&Z=1 for directions.

National Grid feeling the pressure as time runs out on giant pipeline project (& video interviews)

National Grid’s pet pipeline is way behind schedule. They are in a panicked rush to get it built and avoid hefty fines, but a determined protest campaign and the rugged welsh landscape are ganging up on the ill-fated pipe.

National Grid will be penalised with hefty fines if they don’t complete the project on time, so they are pulling out the stops – doubling the number of diggers they use from 200 to 400 and working in 4 places at the same time.

Phase 1 of the project, from Milford Haven to Ffelindre, is 90% complete, but phase 2, from Ffelindre to Tirley in Gloucestershire, is far from.

“This is one of the biggest [projects] we have ever built,” says Kees Ezinga, head of operations for contractor Nacap Land & Marine Joint Venture. (National Grid have contracted them to do the actual building bit.)
“Last year, we managed to [lay] 100 km of pipe in two spreads. But we have four spreads to go and are bringing in extra equipment,” says Ezinga. “Starting in April, we only have four months to [finish] this job.”
Full article at…
http://enr.construction.com/news/transportation/archives/070226b.asp

Clearly its time to step up the protests and make it as hard as possible for them to work. A concerted effort now could push the project far beyond the deadline, costing National Grid some serious money and undermining the viability of the whole thing. Even if they do eventually get the thing built, it would be massively over-budget and, as happened with the road-building projects of the 90s, future destructive and carbon-intensive projects could be scrapped.

The protest camp in Brecon is under immediate threat of an eviction, just when National Grid are starting to panic. They need people to come and support them, even if you can only come for the day. Its in the Brecon Beacons National Park, in beautiful woodland. You can find the latest news, pictures, and the site contact phone number and directions here:
http://risingtide.org.uk/node/193

There are lots of events coming up around the pipeline.

On Saturday 24th March, there will be a Carnival against the Pipe, starting at 2pm in Trebanos, near Swansea.
Details:
http://www.fightthepipe.co.uk/?m=200703

There will be a bike tour of the pipe, starting at the Carnival and going all the way along the length to Gloucestershire. Have a look at…
http://risingtide.org.uk/bristol/bikethepipe
to see the route and read more about it. The bike tour will be stopping to spread the word about the dodgy pipeline in the communities that it passes through.

On 20th-21st of April, Bath Climate Camp, is targetting the offices of NACAP Joint Venture Land & Marine, who are the contractors building the pipe for National Grid…
They are inspired by the Climate Camp at Drax last September.
More info : http://risingtide.org.uk/node/199

http://risingtide.org.uk/bristol

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

With eviction at the camp looking imminent, campaigners appeal for people to join them in the fight against the pipe.

Video 76.1MB – video/mp4 76M

Video 138MB – video/x-ms-wmv 30M

Video also on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNzWVsO-3k4

Christiana callout for mass action

Callout for activists to come to Christiania to fight for the 24 year old Danish squatted village, on Saturday 31st March.

After 24 years as an alternative and progressive culture centre for the youth of Copenhagen Ungdomshuset was stormed and evicted by the police on March 1st.

Callout for activists to come to Christiania to fight for the 24 year old Danish squatted village, on Saturday 31st March.

After 24 years as an alternative and progressive culture centre for the youth of Copenhagen Ungdomshuset was stormed and evicted by the police on March 1st.

Ever since, thousands of people has been taken the streets all over the world to protest against the eviction and to demand a new place and a future for the cultural and political activities that took place at Jagtvej 69.

Ungdomshuset was not the only target of repression. Christiania is also fighting attempts of normalization. We are struggling against an attack on every single one of our free spaces.

This is why we call on all our friends and supporters for a huge united protest from Christiania Saturday the 31 of March at 2pm. For more information check www.ungeren.dk and www.jagtvej69.dk. For contact write to
ktownhc@care2.com

We invite everyone to come and fill the streets Copenhagen with people to show the politicians, that we will not accept them evicting and tearing down a liberated space without offering anything in return to the kids and
youngsters of the city. Nor will we accept the strangulation of Christiania.

All over Europe our free spaces are threatened and attacked by the governments. We will not accept this aggression on our lives and we will not accept the repression against the right to a diversity of cultures.

We demand free space for everyone who refuses to join the commercialized dullness of mainstream society.

We demand a youth house now and we demand a complete stop to the aggression against Christiania.

We will never surrender

The Protest will include grannys kids and bikes. there will be sleepingplaces for people from abroud.

pass this message on to all friends!

greetings from the old Youthhouse crew, the new youthhouse moovement in CPH and the defend christiania initiativ.

http://www.christiania.org/

Geneva Motor Show: all arrested before demo

Paris, 19 March 2007: For the occasion of the closure day of the Geneva Motor Show, some 10 activists from different organizations were planning to do a small demo at the inside of the Geneva motor show, deploying a banner to point out the hypocrite discourse of the car manufacturers.

As a preventive measure, Police Detectives of the Geneva Canton have taken the whole group of activists and the camera crews in their presence in custody, and kept them for more than 8 hours for questioning.
Jeroen Verhoeven, Coordinator of the 4x4network and participating in the action, has been hand-cuffed and taken away to the police station for questioning. The activists have been charged of being” the alleged authors of threats alarming the public”, even if the action did not take place!

In order to avoid any dissident voice at the motor show, the activists have been phone-tapped, hand-cuffed, strip searched, their DNA and fingerprints have been taken, and video material, laptops and mobile phones have been seized by the Geneva Police. The disproportionate character of the measures taken to prevent a non-violent action, gives reason to question the underlying motive of this intervention of the Geneva Police.

Jeroen Verhoeven strongly rejects the methods of the Swiss Police Detectives, who use anti-terrorist laws to intimidate and muzzle anti-4x4activists and says that: “Apparently pointing out the risks of climate change is equal to alarming the public and as such a criminal act under Swiss law”.
Only car manufacturers seem to have the right to “inform” the general public trough advertising for climate killing gas-guzzlers.

Because Climate Change is indeed a “threat which can alarm the general public”, the European groups united in the 4x4network will continue, despite the intimidations, to demand binding legislation for the emissions of newly sold cars, with a target of 120gC02/km by 2012.

Contact:
Jeroen Verhoeven +32.2 542 61 01 (mobile phone seized…)
http://www.4x4network.org/

Anti-Trident Protest at Atomic Weapons Establishment – 19th March

Almost thirty demonstrators braved the chilly early morning weather at the gates of the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston, Berkshire – Britain’s nuclear bomb factory – to protest against Parliament’s decision last Wednesday to renew Trident, and against the construction and development work that has been going on all the while at the site, even before any democratic decision has been made on the future of Britain’s nuclear warheads. Particularly noticeable is the work on the Orion laser, which is designed to circumvent the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and facilitate the development and testing of a new generation of nuclear warheads, in contravention of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The action was called by Block the Builders, fresh from their successful blockade of Parliament Square in London on Wednesday. Amongst those present on Monday were the University of Kent Student CND – making their debut at Aldermaston; the knitting grannies; and Jane from Bristol, who went to school locally and was celebrating her 85th birthday; and of course masses of police! The story was covered by the Newbury Weekly News, who were particularly intrigued by the knitting grannies:

http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article.aspx?articleID=3997

The next planned blockade and protest at Aldermaston has been called by Trident Ploughshares for Tuesday 10th April (just after Easter weekend). Please come along and bring your mates too, and help keep up the pressure!

More details:
http://www.tridentploughshares.org/events.php3#1477
http://www.blockthebuilders.org.uk/index.php

Whitechapel Knees Up against Starbucks

Starbucks, everyone’s favourite nipple-less mermaid merchants, have decided to move into the east end with a new store in Whitechapel. It’s an area with a vibrant community of local cafés and small coffee shops, as well as being an area local to many Space Hijacker agents. As you can probably guess, we are less than pleased about our new neighbour…

We are worried about an oncoming blanding of local culture, as other multinational chains follow Starbucks into the area and attempt to gentrify it with their bland corporate décor, homogenous facades and tasteless products. In defence of our area, and to show off the lovely culture we have, we are putting on a tea party outside the new Starbucks!

We will be setting up a stall and giving out free fair trade teas, home made sandwiches, and all manner of other goodies to our neighbours, in an attempt to show what the area will be missing if Starbucks and their ilk are allowed to settle in.

Bring along tea, biscuits, home-made cakes, jams, and scones to share. Bring your dining room furniture out into the street, bring bunting, music and of course bring friends.

1pm
Sat 24th March
Outside the new Starbucks
Whitechapel High St
London

Opposite Altab Ali Park
Tube – Aldgate east or Whitechapel
Bus – 25, 205, 106 or 254

http://www.spacehijackers.org

Friday 8th June 2007 – International Day of Direct Action against Climate Change and the G8

Direct Action for Climate Justice – Resistance is Self Defense!

We all know the terrifying statistics: a million species extinct by 2050, 19 of the 20 hottest years on record since 1980, Greenland and Antarctica melting, droughts, floods, famines ? the G8 have had over 30 years to address climate change and only succeeded in providing trillions in subsidies to the very industries that are destroying our planet and our future. And while the G8 continues to line their pockets, island states disappear and hundreds of thousands die as a result of the freak weather conditions caused by their irrational and uncontrollable obsession with never ending economic growth.

Direct Action for Climate Justice – Resistance is Self Defense!

We have a ten-year window to act. As the megalomaniac G8 leaders meet in Germany, masked behind a barrier of fences and soldiers, intent on leading us further towards catastrophic and irreversible climate chaos, we must shout, scream and roar ‘no more’. Now is the time to take direct action and shut them down, them and their climate criminal industry friends!

The 8th of June International Day of Action Against Climate Change and the G8 has been called by the International Rising Tide Network. This is a call for autonomous, decentralized actions appropriate for your town, city, or local area. Use this international day of action to support local struggles against oil refineries, gas pipelines, strip mines and coal-fired power plants. Disrupt the financial backers of the fossil fuel industry. Organise workshops to spread sustainable post-petroleum living skills. Find a weak point in the infrastructure of resource exploitation and throw a literal or symbolic wrench in the works. It’s time to visit your local polluters and give ’em hell!

We already know of actions planned across the UK, North America, Germany, Canada and Australia and that’s just the start! By 8th June actions will be planned around the world. Pass this call out on to all environmental justice, climate action, radical sustainability and related movements in all the G8 countries and the Global South.

Rising Tide will create a collection of outreach and agit-prop materials (including this call out in five different languages) that can be used by groups around the world to organise locally. These materials will be downloadable from www.risingtide.org.uk and http://risingtidenorthamerica.org.

Direct action and civil disobedience are the rational response in this time of crisis. Support the 8th of June International Day of Direct Action against Climate Change and the G8! Tell us about planned actions for climate justice being planned in your community. Contact us – info@risingtide.org.uk and contact@risingtidenorthamerica.org

In June 2007 the G8 will understand the meaning of rebellion, revolt and revolution. Their recipe for catastrophe will be met with our worldwide resistance!

York Vikings go berserk over Trident

19.03.2007
A twelve strong group from York, dressed as Vikings, have successfully blockaded both entrances to the Faslane nuclear submarine base. The coordinated action completely closed the base for half an hour this morning. Four men and eight women were arrested in the peaceful protest.

One of the protesters, Richard Lane, said “The Vikings slaughtered tens of thousands of people but they did so over half a millennium. Trident could do the same in a minute.” Dave Taylor of York Green Party said “Whatever happened to the ethical foreign policy that New Labour once promised?” “There is nothing ethical about spending billions of pounds on weapons that the human race cannot afford to use,” he added.

The base is subject to a year long campaign rejecting nuclear weapons and, in particular, the renewal of Trident. This has attracted a lot of international support. So far, nearly 600 people from all over the world have been arrested in as many actions and blockades.

4 anti-military activists from Spain poured gallons of red paint over themselves at Faslane

A group of 15 Spanish activists from five different areas of Spain, all belonging to the Spanish Consciencious Objection Movement, arrived at Faslane for the week-end. With banners, song and dance they protested at the UK’s possession and deployment of nuclear weapons.

Last Thursday march 18th the British passed the updating of their nuclear arsenal, including the nuclear submarines nucleares with Trident missiles with more destructive power (12 nuclear heads) than the bombs
thrown over Hirosima and Nagasaki. The cost of this programe goes up to 30.000 millions of euros. These are real mass destruction weapons

In view of this, antimilitarist activists of diferent parts of the Spanish State have travelled to the military base where this submarines are located in Faslane (Scotland), to carry out an action of blockade.
This antimilitarist action is within the framework of a campaign that is taking place since last october. Up to now there have been 579 people from all ovr the world arreested in several actions of blockade. Also,
in front of the military base, there is a peace camp (Faslane Peace Camp) to demand the disarmament of the base and the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. This Peace Camp has been operating for 25 years.

AA-MOC has been working for years to build a world without wars where Armies and weapons -particulary if they are nuclear- have no place, a world where the huge military expenses (almost 18.000 millions of euros
in the Spanish State this year) are devoted to cover social necessities.

Today AA-MOC has bockaded the North gate of the Military Base of Faslane in Scotland. To do so, two women and two men from Salamanca, Madrid, Zaragoza and Alicante -supported by other activists of the State- have
poured red paint over themselves. The red colour symbolizes the suffering and the bloodshed that these weapons of mass destruction can cause. The paint has impeded the immediate detention of the activists.
Finally they have been arrested and moved to diferent police stations. They were released ten hours later without charges.

Telephone for interviews: (34) 609.469.599 ó (34) 696.343.586
To dowmload photos: http://www.box.net/shared/1d8sqy8gcy
Video: http://www.box.net/shared/m1om1e29pc
Further info (spanish): www.insumissia.org

http://www.faslane365.org

Camp Titnore needs your help!

Camp Titnore near Worthing in Sussex could do with some committed campaigners to come and lend a hand. Coming up to a year in residence (May 28) the camp could do with some new blood. Be part of group aiming to stop Tescos and other scum-bags trash one of the last remaining ancient woodlands on the Sussex coastal plain.

We could do with some new camp members down Titnore way. This is a very well defended site, but veteran anti-road campaigners as well as new blood would be really welcome. With summer round the corner this is a beautiful part of the country and the camp benefits from a well organised support group in the nearby estate, Worthing and Brighton. The forest eco-system, plus lake is threatened by 850 homes, a new Tescos and attached business units. An eviction order has been in place since November, but as development plans are stalled, an actual attempted eviction could be months further down the line.

http://www.protectourwoodland.co.uk