earthfirst – Page 315

Mobile phones, the stealth ID card, bug and tracking device in your pocket.

Earlier this month it emerged that the FBI had been remotely activating a mobile phone’s microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations. The surveillance technique, which “functioned whether the phone was powered on or off.” came to light as a result of a ruling by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan on the legality of the “roving bug”. It had been approved by U.S. Department of Justice officials for use against members of a New York organized crime family who were wary of conventional surveillance techniques such as tailing a suspect or wiretapping. Cell phones owned by two alleged mobsters, John Ardito and his attorney Peter Peluso, were used by the FBI to listen in on nearby conversations.

The news that the FBI had been remotely activating mobile phones as eaves dropping devices confirms what many activists have been saying for years.

“A cellular telephone can be turned into a microphone and transmitter for the purpose of listening to conversations in the vicinity of the phone. This is done by transmitting to the cell phone a maintenance command on the control channel. This command places the cellular telephone in the ‘diagnostic mode.’ When this is done, conversations in the immediate area of the telephone can be monitored over the voice channel.” – National Reconnaissance Organization newsletter,1997.

As long as I can remember there has been a kind of unspoken rule among activists about taking batteries out of mobile phones during meetings to prevent bugging – along with occasional arguments about it being paranoid. While it has long been know to be a theoretical possibility, the mafia court case confirms it is actually a practical technique and is being used.

It is not clear exactly how the FBI achieve their remote activation but it is known that it is possible to update the software on a mobile phone by sending an unnoticeable SMS message to a particular cell phone. Changes to the phones software than make it possible to spy on the user around the clock, as long as the phone has power. All SMS messages can be read and all calls and conversations can be listened to, including those taking place in the vacinity of the phone. It would also be possible to access and copy address books and other information stored on the phone.

It should be fairly obvious to anyone that simply ‘switching off’ a mobile phone could not prevent the software from reactivating the phone at will. Like most computers, the on/off switch on a mobile phone is simply a button that requests the software to do something, ie.. turn the phone on or off – or more acturately, switch the phone between standby and normal operations. Many have an alarm feature which can operate when the phone is apparently ‘switched off’.

Some of the vunerabilities of mobile phones may only be exploitable by the state or private interests with financial muscle to obtain access to the records of mobile phone networks. Others however are much easier to exploit and well within the capabilities of private investigators. One example is the ability to read mobile phone numbers from all phones in a room as those phone routinely poll and communicate with the nearest cell phone repeater.

And lets not forget the ability to track cell phones (again, potentially even when they are turned off). With the data retention laws requiring mobile phone networks to keep this data for a year or so, it is easy for the authorities (or private agencies with influence) to not only monitor somebodies movements but also cross reference that with other people and build up acturate pictures of networks of association.

As repression on dissent increases, it is vital that we are all aware of the information we provide our enemies and what steps we can take to limit the damage.

What advice might you consider?

Don’t take any mobile phone to a meeting and if you must, remove the battery.
Don’t take your personal mobile phone with you on actions.
Remove the battery if making journeys others should not know about.
Better yet, don’t take the phone or send it out on a walk in the park with a friend.
Don’t power up you ‘clean’ action phone in any building you don’t want assocaited with an action.
Never use ‘clean’ action phones to call comrades personal phone numbers.
Don’t call a ‘clean’ action phone from any ‘non clean’ phone.
Don’t continue to use the same set of action phones on future actions.
Only pay cash for phone credit and don’t not from places with CCTV (difficult).

Court rejects ASBOS for airport activists

On Friday, Loughborough Magistrates Court rejected calls from the Crown Prosecution Service to slap ASBOs on the 24 Plane Stupid activists who they described as â€œhighly organised extremistsâ€? that were arrested in connection with the shut down of Nottingham East Midlands short haul airport in September.

In an apparent move aimed to avoid having the case heard by a jury, the charge of public nuisance was dropped, as was the charge relating to an alleged breach of the aviation and security act.

Plane Stupid lawyer, Mike Schwarz, described the action to the court as a â€œclassic piece of civil disobedienceâ€? and reminded the court that â€œTony Blair himself has described climate change as the greatest threat facing mankind.â€?

Campaigner for Plane Stupid, Ellen Rickford, said, â€œThe same day that we learn the government is pushing ahead with its airport expansion proposals, they try to use ASBOs to stamp out peaceful protest. Well, it seems their plans for that were as doomed as the aviation industry.â€?

17 activists got one year conditional discharges (the minimum sentence available) and each was charged Â£70 in costs. The 5 charged with criminal damage in addition to aggravated trespass were given varying levels of community service.

One person was referred to Crown Court due to unresolved legal issues and another had his case adjourned until January 31st. One other activist was unable to attend court due to illness.

Help us pay our fines! Donate via: www.planestupid.com

Santas Against Excessive Consumption hit London, 16.12.06

Santas Against Excessive Consumption (SAEC) went out to play for the second year running on Saturday December 16th 2006, dropping in on the Shell-sponsored Natural History Museum (NHM) on the way to the consumer hell that is Oxford Street.

At the NHM we wandered through the crowds holding our ‘Lappland is melting’ and ‘Reindeer can’t swim’ placards, explaining that excessive consumption was melting our ho-ho-home, and as such it was going to be tough to ensure a good supply of presents in the future. We had a bit of interaction with people waiting to skate on the British Airways-sponsored ice rink. Half the rink was closed because it was too wet and slushy – the ice had melted. The employee with the thankless task of trying to herd us out disagreed with me when I suggested that this was symbolic. His word? ‘Ironic.’

‘See you next year!’, promised the mouthiest Santa as we left, (since monthly visits are planned by SAEC’s friends London Rising Tide in 2007.) Then it was on to join reinforcements in Oxford Street, using the tube journey as a chance to thank the punters for taking public transport a well as smiling at bewildered nippers wondering if we could have any connection to the real thing. Taking up residence at Oxford Circus, some anti-corporate carols were given a good seeing to, and leaflets distributed. A festive foray into Niketown resulted in a swift but friendly expulsion, while a minstrel-like wander into the big Apple shop triggered a grumpier response. The plea to ‘Sing your own songs to eachother this Christmas!’ was interpreted as some sort of advertising by a competitor, and this as well as some live and direct carolling inside the shop led to the police being called. But we stood our ground when asked by the humbugging coppers to move away from the shop window, and soon enough they evaporated.

By that time we were pretty much Santa-d out, so decamped to a caff to fill up on caffeine and divest ourselves of the magic but by this time somewhat bedraggled beards and suits that made people smile at us and take our subversive leaflets. Take care until next year…

www.londonrisingtide.org.uk
www.artnotoil.org.uk/gallery/v/Shell
www.shelloiledwildlife.org.uk
07708 794665
london@risingtide.org.uk
—————————
Text of the Oxford Street leaflet:

LAPPLAND IS MELTING!

Today is the busiest shopping day of the year. Oxford Street is crammed with consumers all scrambling for the latest must-have item, the perfect present that will buy Christmas joy. Most of us find this part of Christmas incredibly stressful – thereâ€™s never enough time, tensions run high, and the obligation of gift exchange rules the season.

So why do we buy in to Christmas shopping madness? Maybe itâ€™s time to start figuring out why we so desperately need a 5-speed electric toothbrush in the first place, or why our children will be devastated if they donâ€™t get the latest McNikeSoft Godzilla Action Figure that tops The List. It might well boil down to the fact that we are each exposed to 3,500 adverts per day. (No really, try counting!)

Corporate advertising can actually be seen as the largest single psychological project undertaken by the human race. We are told from the day we are born that increasing our material wealth will make us happier people, and if we want to show someone that we love them, we must buy them something â€“ the more expensive, the more we love them.

Christmas consumption causes climate chaos!

The problem is, corporate consumer culture doesnâ€™t just breed stress â€“ it creates environmental catastrophe. If everyone in the world were to consume at the level we do in the West, we would need 5 extra planets. But itâ€™s not just about disappearing rainforests and mountains of rubbish. Our excessive consumption is also causing climate chaos, with disastrous effects like hurricanes, flooding and other freak weather patterns.

We know that climate change is directly caused by the burning of fossil fuels (oil, coal and natural gas) to power our offices, heat our homes, and fuel our cars & planes. But tackling climate change is not only about taking the bus and switching off lights. Every product that is produced, transported, bought, used and thrown away eats up energy that we donâ€™t have, and creates pollution that our climate canâ€™t handle. And if that product is made of plastic (and think how many are), then itâ€™s literally made of oil.

Us Santas arenâ€™t suggesting you donâ€™t give your loved ones presents this year. But why not make one or two of them, trade with friends, or buy locally. Think about the products youâ€™re buying â€“ what theyâ€™re made of, where they came from, how they got from there to hereâ€¦and whether theyâ€™re actually going to make someone any happier.

—————–
Text of NHM leaflet:

WHAT LIES BENEATH SHELLâ€™S WILD LIE?

Hello and Merry Christmas. We are Santas Against Excessive Consumption, and weâ€™ve dropped into the Natural History Museum on our way to Oxford Street, to sing a few carols and to remind museum-goers that excessive consumption of oil is causing Lappland â€“ our home! – to melt.

Why is this relevant to the NHM? Because Shell, the worldâ€™s third largest oil company, is also the new sponsor of the its Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition.

Could you join the campaign opposing this sponsorship, write to the Museum or lend images to our â€˜Shellâ€™s Wild Lieâ€™ counter-exhibition?

Despite attempts to â€˜greenwashâ€™ its reputation via blanket advertising and cultural sponsorship, Shell is still heavily implicated in producing ever-greater quantities of the oil and gas that are destabilising our climate to such an alarming degree. Climate change is set to wipe out millions of plant and animal species and to devastate the poorest regions of the planet. Shellâ€™s activities also result in oil spills which are major causes of death and destruction for many varieties of life. Its planned refinery and pipeline project in Country Mayo, Ireland, threatens a pristine ecosysystem, not to mention the homes and livelihoods of the inhabitants. Lastly, Shell is currently constructing a massive development at Sakhalin Island in Russia which is threatening the survival of the Western Pacific Grey Whale. For all these reasons, Shell should not be sponsoring the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. We call on the Natural History Museum to end its sponsorship deal with Shell.

Tell NHM boss Michael Dixon directly what you think of Shell (not to mention BP, which is a Museum partner):
(020) 7942 5000; m.dixon@nhm.ac.uk, ccâ€™ing to feedback@nhm.ac.uk & us.

â€¦and get more involved in the Art Not Oil campaign/exhibition via London Rising Tide, taking creative direct action on the root causes of climate chaos

london@risingtide.org.uk
http://www.londonrisingtide.org.uk

Cambridge March for Consumerism

On Saturday December 16 a group of people in Cambridge held a March for Consumerism. They set off outside the Grafton Centre shopping mall carrying placards with slogans such as “Spend”, “Buy more stuff”, and “Climate change is someone else’s problem”.

The protesters received many quizzical glances and even struck up a few conversations with people walking down Burleigh Street and Fitzroy Street. A police officer stopped to talk to the protesters but seemed to be happy for them to continue their march as long as they didn’t go in the mall. The protesters also gave out a leaflet which pointed out the links between unnecessary consumerism, the exploitation of workers, and environmental problems such as climate change.

Websites listed on the leaflet were:
Exploitation of workers: www.nosweat.org.uk
Climate change: www.stopclimatechaos.org
Consumerism: www.enough.org.uk

http://www.cambridgeaction.net

Shell education in Barnsley

On Saturday 16th December potential customers at a Shell petrol station in Barnsley were given information about the activities of Shell in Mayo and encouraged to boycott the company.

A group from Rhythms of Resistance North moved in on the petrol station mid-afternoon. The entrance and exit were blocked, banners hung and leaflets given to motorists and pedestrians with information about the Mayo pipeline. Many people received the information sympathetically. One motorist returned from the nearest alternative source of petrol, two miles away, so people could be diverted to it.

Several car drivers however were very confrontational, driving into sambistas and in one case forcing a player on to their car bonnet before braking to cause her to fall off.
The first police to arrive read out various threats, which couldnâ€™t be heard above the drum beats. Eventually reinforcements arrived, adding to the chaos with a number of vehicles of their own. For a while they held up the traffic so their photographers could get a better view.

When it came to the point of inevitable arrest for continuing the blockade the sambistas decided it would be more productive to move to the pavement and continue drawing peopleâ€™s attention so they could be given more information. A fair proportion of car drivers chose not to enter the station even when the entrance was unblocked.

http://www.corribsos.com/

FARMER PULLS OUT OF GM CROP TRIAL (updated)

15 December 2006
A Farmer who had agreed to genetically modified potatoes being grown on his land has pulled out of the scheme after receiving threats.

The crops were to be planted in Borrowash by BASF Plant Science, which was granted permission for the project by the Government earlier this year.

15 December 2006
A Farmer who had agreed to genetically modified potatoes being grown on his land has pulled out of the scheme after receiving threats.

The crops were to be planted in Borrowash by BASF Plant Science, which was granted permission for the project by the Government earlier this year.

But yesterday, it was revealed the farmer with whom the company had agreed a deal was not willing to go ahead.

BASF is also planning a GM trial in Cambridgeshire.

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, condemned the people who had targeted the farmer.

He said: “This gentleman has had some threats made against him and his family and so decided he didn’t want to participate.

“It is up to the company to decide whether it will look for an alternative site.

“We think it is outrageous this man has been threatened in this way.”

The potatoes would have been chemically altered to contain a gene from a variety of wild potato that would have made them resistant to the late blight disease.

Late blight, which sparked the Irish potato famine, affects between five and 10 per cent of UK potato crops each year.

BASF Plant Science had planned to start the trial in Derbyshire next March or April. It would have lasted several years.

The company did not reveal the location of the trial to try to protect the farmer from opponents of the scheme, who claim GM crops pose a threat to the environment when seeds spread in the wild.

Some residents of Borrowash were concerned about the crops trial. Jackie Flint, of Cole Lane, said: “There were many people who were worried about it going ahead around here, so I think it will be seen as good news that it’s been stopped.”

No-one from BASF Plant Science, a plant biotechnology company based in London, was available for comment last night.
————-
BASF is expect to confirm another trial site within two weeks, but could not say if it would be in Derbyshire.

Dine’ Establish Blockade Near Proposed Power Plant Site

December 14th 2006

Lucy A. Willie, right, stands at the proposed Desert Rock Power Plant site outside of Burnham on Wednesday where she and several friends and family stayed overnight to stop a contractor for Desert Rock Energy Company from doing preliminary work.

December 14th 2006

Please send far and wide!!!!

URGENT Support is requested from Dine Elders and Youth!

Sithe Global & DPA are proposing to build the Desert Rock power plant, a 1,500 MW Coal Fired plant in the Four Corners area on the Navajo Reservation. This is an area already polluted by 2 other major coal power plants. Local Navajo residence and community members oppose this project for many harmful reasons!! This Desert Rock power plant is still in the environmental review process and has NOT yet been permitted.

However, Desert Rock company trucks have began moving onto the backyard of Alice Gilmore, an elderly navajo woman, and her family on wednesday to begin drilling efforts. Desert Rock officials and police have not shown any documents or permits to the local residents stating their purpose or permission to be there. Dine supporters and community members have joined Alice and her family to blockade the road. They are elderly women and youth, and they have been camped out on the road over night since Tuesday! Desert Rock trucks have repeatedly rushed them and have almost run-over people a number of times as they attempt to get by. Desert Rock power company is violating the lease rights of the local Navajo residences and is harassing elderly Navajo women and youth! This is an urgent time and support is needed!!!

Please read on to find out how you can help! and Please pass this onto others! (press release and additional article)

What they need:
– More People Support
– Fire wood
– $$
– Attention!

how You can Help!

– More People! More people are needed to sit in support! All are welcome!
directions to the area are below:
The site is between Gallup, NM and Shiprock, NM (northeastern, NM). Take the road between Gallup and Shiprock, the 491. at the Mustang Service Station (one of the only service stations between the two), turn East on road #5 towards Burnham Chapter. From Burnham Chapter turn North onto gravel road #5082. About 10-12 miles up the road turn West until you see the encampment. There will be markers (balloons) out on the roads. (if you begin to see a dragline, you’ve gone too far)

– Fire wood! it is cold outside and many of the resisters are elderly women. if you can get firewood to the site it is very very much needed! the directions to the site are above.

– $ Money! Resisters are in need of money for gas and food, and also for bail money if necessary. Please send donations to local resident and supporter:
Elouise Brown
1015 Glade Lane 34
Farmington, NM 87401
Elouise can also be reached at: thebrownmachine@hotmail.com

– ATTENTION! the more media and observers are present the least likely Desert Rock is likely to run people over or harass them. contact the media, tell them what is going on. Contact Navajo Authorities, tell them you are extremely concerned. Be a legal observer. Spread this Alert!

###

Contact the Following Authorities! Tell them you have heard about Desert Rock’s harassment of Navajo elders and youth. Tell them you are extremely concerned! If enough people contact these offices they will know that the world is watching.

Shiprock Police Department
phone: (505) 368-1350
fax: (505) 368-1293

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley’s Office
P.O. Box 9000 Window Rock, Arizona, 86515
phone #: (928) 871- 6352

also: George Hardeen, Navajo Nation Communications Director Office of the President
Office #: 928-871-7000
Cell #: 928-380-7688
e-mail: georgehardeen@opvp.org

Bureau of Indian Affairs (Gallup Office) they are conducting the Environmental Impact Statement.
Harrilene Yazzi, NEPA Coordinator Bureau of Indian Affairs, Navajo Regional Office
P.0. Box 1060 Gallup, New Mexico 87305
Phone: 505-863-8314
Fax: 505-863-8324

Be a Legal Observer – get to the site and help record/witness what is happening

Send this Action Alert Far and Wide!

Thank you for your support!!!

Enei Begaye
Executive Director
Black Mesa Water Coalition
408 E. Route 66, Suite #1
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
Office #: (928) 213-9760
PRESS RELEASE
Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Contacts:
Sarah Jane White, DoodÃ¡ Desert Rock Committee (505) 860-6166
Dailan J. Long , DinÃ© CARE, DoodÃ¡ Desert Rock Committee (505) 801-0713
Elouise Brown, DoodÃ¡ Desert Rock Committee (505) 974-6159
Lori Goodman, DinÃ© CARE (970) 759-1908

BURNHAM, SANOSTEE & NENANEZAH RESIDENTS BLOCKADE DESERT ROCK PROJECT

Burnham, NM –Burnham, Sanostee & Nenanezah Elders and citizens are braving the cold to protect the land from the encroaching DinÃ© Power Authority (DPA) and Sithe Global LLC at the proposed Desert Rock site. Navajo residents confronted the DinÃ© Power Authority/Sithe Global on Tuesday afternoon after learning of water drilling that had been occurring without the knowledge and notification of local residents.

â€œI have said â€˜Noâ€™ over and over again and you keep coming over!â€? Nenanezah elder Alice Gilmore exclaimed to Sithe/DPA employees at the confrontation. For Gilmore, the issue is despicable and uncalled for since she gave no consent to allow DPA/Sithe into her grazing area. Members of the DoodÃ¡ Desert Rock committee gathered to support her opposition and asked Sithe/DPA to disclose Drilling permits that allowed drilling activity to occur, to no avail. The residents refused to leave after the Navajo Nation Police attempted to give access to DPA/Sithe Global, claiming that permits for the Desert Rock project are not for public disclosure. The Burnham residents barricaded the roads to disallow traffic into the Desert Rock site and have remained in place since the Tuesday incident occurred.

Members of DinÃ© CARE/DoodÃ¡ Desert Rock Committee met this morning at the Shiprock Courthouse to get answers about drilling permits yet the Lieutenant Dempsey denied access to Gilmore and other concerned residents to view the permits. Residents are asking for: 1.) A copy of the categorical exclusion that is allowing the drilling activities to commence. 2.) Copies of the Clean Water Act Sections 401, 402 and 404, that would prove compliance with regulatory requirements have been met. There are major disturbance taking place and according to the Clean Air Act, these permits are a pre-requisite for drilling activity.

The proposed area is home to extended families, but arbitrarily drawn political boundaries by the Navajo Nation and company representatives have the families separated into the three chapters: Burnham, Sanostee, and Nenahnezad. The boundary defining Burnham and Nenahnezad has been moved south for benefit of DPA/Sithe as recently as two years ago.

â€œThe local residents are not protesters but are resisters. Who would be happy if a well is being dug in their backyard especially when it is done in secrecy? So, how can those residents be considered protesters when they are simply standing up for their rights to have clean air, water, and environment.â€? Stated, Elouise Brown of Sanostee.

Burnham, Sanostee and Nenanezah residents are not waiting for remedy; many have set up camp at the proposed site and are refusing to move until they get the needed documents. â€œWeâ€™re fed up with them,â€? states Sarah J. White, President of the DoodÃ¡ Desert Rock Committee, â€œthe grandmas and the grandpas are being walked over by these monsters and theyâ€™re being denied information. Weâ€™re standing our ground now.â€? This incident follows accusations made against Sithe/DPA about environmental injustices, EPAâ€™s proposed issuance of prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) permit Air Quality Permit for Desert Rock Energy Facility and the creation of Navajo Nation Energy Policies without public input.
###

Lori Goodman
Dine’ CARE
10 A Town Plaza, PMB 138
Durango, CO 81301
PH: (970) 259-0199
FAX: (970) 259-2300
Cell: (970) 759-1908
kiyaani@frontier.net
dinecare.org

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

Navajo traditional elders blockade power plant site

By Brenda Norrell
U.N. OBSERVER & International Report

BURNHAM, NEW MEXICO, USA â€“ Elderly Navajo women and their children formed a blockade, built a fire and camped at the site of a proposed power plant on tribal land in northwest New Mexico. The blockade of traditional Navajos halted site work in a region that is already toxic with air and water pollution from power plants, oil and gas wells and
scattered radioactive tailings from the Cold War.

Facing the threat of arrest by tribal police at the blockade, Navajo elderly, including one medicine man, said they are willing to go to jail to protect their land and way of life.

Most of the elderly are already ill from living in an area where power plants have released 100 tons of coal combustion waste that is blowing in the wind. One of the Navajo elderly resisters is in a wheelchair and another has severe asthma.

For the second night on Wednesday night, Dec. 13, Navajo resisters camped in the cold at the site.

â€œI have said â€˜Noâ€™ over and over again and you keep coming over!â€? said Nenanezah elder Alice Gilmore, who holds the grazing permit for the area of the proposed Desert Rock Power Plant. The Navajo Nation and Sithe Global LLC plan to build the power plant, which would be the third power plant in the Farmington/Bloomfield area.

Confronting Sithe and Navajo DPA employees, Gilmore was adamant that she has not given permission for the power plant on her land. Navajo elders from Burnham, Sanostee and Nenanezah chapter, all taking a bold action to fight the tribal government and corporate aggression, joined Gilmore at the blockade.

â€œWeâ€™re fed up with them,â€? said Sarah J. White, president of the DoodÃ¡ Desert Rock Committee. â€œThe grandmas and the grandpas are being walked over by these monsters and theyâ€™re being denied information. Weâ€™re standing our ground now.â€?

White said Navajos at the barricade need everything in the way of food, firewood and supplies.

â€œWe need everything from A to Z,â€? White said.

The blockade was formed just 10 days after Navajo Nation elected leaders gathered with representatives from 14 countries and formulated a global ban on uranium mining on Native lands. The power plant blockade also comes as Navajo Nation leaders are fighting in the
federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to protect San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Ariz., from the desecration of snowmaking from recycled wastewater for tourism. The mountain is sacred to 13 area Indian tribes.

However, both Navajo President Joe Shirley, Jr., and the Navajo Nation Council support the construction of the Desert Rock Power Plant and accompanying coalmine, which Navajos say would add more pollution to the air, land and water, already saturated with disease-causing toxins.

The Navajo Nation tribal government has attempted to censor the voices of Navajos speaking out against the Desert Rock power plant in New Mexico and the use of aquifer water for coal mining by Peabody Coal on the western side of the Navajo Nation in Arizona.

The proposed site of the new Desert Rock power plant is in the Four Corners Region, targeted since the 1970s as a national sacrifice area for energy production.

It is also the sacred region of Dinetah, the place of origin of Navajos. However, the air is so polluted in the region of Dinetah near Bloomfield that persons with asthma and respiratory diseases find it difficult to breathe.

Further, Navajos say while they struggle with respiratory diseases, cancer and the death of their loved ones in this region, many Navajos must also haul water and live without electricity, since the power plants on Navajo land primarily provide electricity for non-Indians.

The Navajo blockade comes as Oâ€™odham in Sonora, Mexico, challenge a secret plan by the government of Mexico, with the knowledge of the US EPA, to create a hazardous waste dump near the sacred site of Quitovac where Oâ€™odham hold ceremonies. The Navajo blockade coincides with an action by Pima on Gila River tribal land in Arizona to halt expansion
of a hazardous dumpsite.

At the same time, Yaqui in Sonora, Mexico, gathered to prohibit the use of banned pesticides in agricultural fields, now resulting in cancer and deaths.

At the proposed new Desert Rock power plant site in New Mexico, Navajo residents confronted the DinÃ© Power Authority/Sithe Global on Dec. 12, after discovering that water drilling was carried out without the knowledge and notification of local Navajo residents.

Members of the DoodÃ¡ Desert Rock committee gathered to support Gilmoreâ€™s opposition and asked Sithe/DPA to disclose drilling permits that allowed drilling activity to occur. However, no permits were provided.

The residents refused to leave after the Navajo Nation Police attempted to give access to DPA/Sithe Global, claiming that permits for the Desert Rock project are not for public disclosure. The Burnham residents barricaded the roads to disallow traffic into the Desert Rock site and Navajos remained at the blockade.

Members of DinÃ© CARE/DoodÃ¡ Desert Rock Committee met Dec. 13, at the Shiprock tribal courthouse to get answers about drilling permits. Navajo residents said a tribal police lieutenant denied Gilmore and other residents access to view the permits.

Navajo residents are asking for a copy of the categorical exclusion, which would allow the drilling activities to commence, and copies of the Clean Water Act Sections 401, 402 and 404, that would prove compliance with regulatory requirements have been met.

â€œThere are major disturbance taking place and according to the Clean Air Act, these permits are a pre-requisite for drilling activity,â€? Navajo residents said in a public statement.

Further, Navajos say tribal boundary lines were redrawn to accommodate the power plant corporation.

Navajo residents said the boundary defining Burnham and Nenahnezad was moved to the south for the benefit of DPA/Sithe within the past two years.

Elouise Brown of Sanostee said, â€œThe local residents are not protesters but are resisters. Who would be happy if a well is being dug in their backyard especially when it is done in secrecy? So, how can those residents be considered protesters when they are simply standing up for their rights to have clean air, water, and environment.â€?

Burnham, Sanostee and Nenanezah residents are not waiting for remedy; many have set up camp at the proposed site and are refusing to move until they get the needed documents.

Navajos said this incident follows accusations made against Sithe/DPA about environmental injustices, EPAâ€™s proposed issuance of prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) permit Air Quality Permit for Desert Rock Energy Facility and the creation of Navajo Nation Energy Policies without public input.

For more information on the Navajo blockade:
Lori Goodman
Dine’ CARE
PH: (970) 259-0199
FAX: (970) 259-2300
kiyaani@frontier.net
dinecare.org

how to make lock-ons (lessons from Faslane 365)

The basic principle of a lock-on is to lock yourself onto something so that you cannot be easily physically removed. That something can be another person or something fixed. The best way is with a climbing carabina and a chain or rope around your wrist. The important thing is to make it very difficult for the police or whoever to cut your lock-on off. Thats where the fun part comes in, covering that lock-on to make it very difficult to get to, thus delaying the authorities and making your blockade as successful as possible. They will possibly have access to specialist equipment.

Simple steel lock-on tubes are great but can be cut into in 20 minutes with a specialist drill head. The yellow pipes with a 2 cm thick wall are also great because the plastic actually melts around the drill head making them very hard to get into.

To make an oil drum lock-on you simply need an oil drum and some piping – preferably steel – which is just wide enough to fit your arm in and no more, cut so that it is as long as the barrel is wide. Drill a hole in the middle of this pipe section so that a metal rod can be inserted, this is what you actually lock on to. Cut holes on either side of the barrel so that this pipe can fit in in such a way that two people can lock-on on either side. Then simply fill this barrel with concreate and all sorts of hell like scraps of metal (lengths of thick steal wire will hold it together), megamorphic rock (very solid rock), quartz and the odd diamond if you want to bling it up, lengths of shredded polyprop is also very good at stopping the break-up of concreate from the wrath of a jack hammer. If you wanna be real hardcore putting in canisters of camping gas or lighter filler make the cops quite reluctant to cut into them (or even just saying you have, they wont take the risk), this is of course pretty dangerous. It will take the most skilled cutting crew in the country at least a couple of hours to cut you out of there. Two people locked on is better than one because with one person they may just try to lift it out of there with a fork lift truck, two bodies makes this far less likely.

The â€œBaby barrelâ€? lock on is much more portible, fitting into a normal ruck-sack this one is for the blockader on the go. Its just a steel lock on tube inserted into a small barrel lengthways, its a similar idea as the oil barrel lock on with the concrete mass surrounding where you are locked on to the other person inside the tube. It is a little easier to cut into but its portability and ease of construction makes this the one to have this christmas.

Portability is often an important factor. Being able to stash and camoflage your lock-on will help here but always have a plan B if it gets found. The police will eventually be able to cut you out, no material is unbreakable but the longer you can hold your blockade the more you will have achieved out of your eventual arrest. Happy blockading.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it… (report from activist security gathering)

ID cards, injunctions, CCTV with voice activated alerts, national license plate monitoring, face recognition, directional microphones, network profiling, DNA databases, keylogging, phone taping, bugging and tracking, these are just some of the tools of repression being used against those battling to save the world from total domination and destruction.

This message will self destruct in 10 seconds…. 9.. 8.. 6.. 5.. 4.. 3.. 2..

One might think that this is some cloak and dagger spy thriller, or orwellian distopia – but todays world is one of overt and covert surveillance and repression. The likes of you and me are the target and this is no paranoid delussion – they really are out to get us.

This was the stark reality presented at a top secret conference on activist security that took place this month. Meeting in a quite location somewhere near the coast, dozens of campaigners from around the country came together to learn about the technology and techniques being used by the authorities and private agencies as they attempt to gathering information and disrupt and destroy campaigns.

The aim of the gathering however was not to make everyone paranoid and feel helpless in the face of the technological assaults on our privacy, but rather to equipe people with the awareness and knowledge to enable them to take steps to reduce the risk to themselves and those they associate with.

The two day conference involved a wide variety of workshops, some discussion-based, some practical or computer-based. Lessons learned by those attending included the importance of ‘need to know’, the now proven fact that switching off a mobile phone is not enough to prevent it being remotely activated as a bug or tracking device. Also discussed was how to spot and loss a tail, how to trap and expose infiltrators, issues of security for campaign groups and their offices such as maintaining a secure contacts database. Computer based skills covered included encryption of stored data and electronic communication, and ways to use the internet for research etc without leaving a trace.

Mush of the information presented during the workshops came from the document ‘Practical Security Advice for Campaigns and Activists’ and this, along with the experiences and ideas contributed by the participants of the gathering are apparently going to be put together as a printed booklet for distrubution next year. Additionally there are plans for a ‘walls have ears’ style poster outlining basic precautions which can be displace in meeting spaces and social centres etc to remind people of the need to consider security.

info@activistsecurity.org
http://www.activistsecurity.org/

21 Arrests as British Nuclear Weapon Sites Disrupted

11.12.2006

1st report: This morning the Trident submarine base at Faslane and the atomic weapons factory at Aldermaston have both been the focus of disruption as activists blockaded entrance gates.

11.12.2006

1st report: This morning the Trident submarine base at Faslane and the atomic weapons factory at Aldermaston have both been the focus of disruption as activists blockaded entrance gates.

At Faslane the North gate was blockaded by activists from the Trident Ploughshares campaign. The gateway was blocked around 7 a.m. by a group of cyclists who formed a cordon and then locked on to each other using chains and padlocks. Shortly afterwards another group on foot blockaded the gateway by lying in the road, joined to each other through tubing of plastic and other materials. Police, using specialised cutting teams, removed these blockages and made 14 arrests.

At the same time a group from Faslane Peace Camp blocked the road at the entrance to the South gate of the base, using lock-on tubes and barrels filled with concrete. It took two hours to clear the roadway. There were 7 arrests.

The Faslane protests are part of the Faslane 365 campaign which so far has led to over 350 arrests.

2nd report: Faslane Nuclear base successfully blockaded for over 2 hours

Garry | 13.12.2006 19:01 | Faslane | Anti-militarism | Scotland
Monday the 11th of December saw one of the most successful blockades of the Faslane nuclear submarine base since the start of the Faslane 365 campaign. The blockade was a joint effort between a group of Trident Ploughshares and the crew from Faslane Peace camp.

Monday the 11th of December saw one of the most successful blockades of the Faslane nuclear submarine base since the start of the Faslane 365 campaign. The blockade was a joint effort between a group of Trident Ploughshares and the crew from Faslane Peace camp. One of the roads to the base was completely blockaded for 2 hours and 10 minutes. In a day that saw 20 people being arrested and the running total rising above 365 people, 3 of the blockaders have actually been summoned to court on charges of breach of the peace.

At approximately 6:30 am a group of people from the peace camp assembled by the road leading to the base just by the south gate. After waiting for one of the patrolling police vans to drive past, they pulled part of the fence of the peace camp out into the middle of the road creating a temporary boundary between themselves and the police who were not much more than 100 metres away. Behind this fence they had hidden 2 large oil barrel lock-ons which were rolled out onto the road, 3 people locked onto them in a line then 3 others joined them with 2 tough steel lock-on tubes, and another â€œbabyâ€? oil-drum lock on creating a daisy chain of six people with 5 pretty hardcore lock-ons.

It took the police about 20 seconds to arrive on the scene by which point they had successfully blockaded the main road between Helensburgh and the base. The police called for back up and for the cutting teams and within minutes there were between 30 and 40 police on the scene. They immediately got to work cutting into the lock-ons and were as usual very concerned not to let anybody see what sort of cutting equipment they were using to the extent that they erected large visual barriers to conceal their work. Peace campers did however manage to get footage of their equipment from our birds eye observers in the trees. They had 3 separate cutting units at work on us yet it still took them 130 minutes to clear the road. 7 people were arrested at this incident 6 for blockading and one for possessing a rope and harness.

As this blockade was happening a second group blockaded the entrance to the base at the north gate. The group of Trident Ploughshares blockaded the round-about by chaining their bicycles together and locking themselves to them with D-locks around their necks. Others were arrested for simply cycling around the roundabout slowly. This blockade was successful in shutting down the road for half an hour. Both blockades together ensured that the work of the base was severely disrupted for the whole morning.

Of the 20 people arrested all have been released but 3 of the releases were under condition that they will appear in court on the 20th of December. These are the first of the 360 odd people that have been arrested to be formally charged with breach of the peace and gives an opportunity for the first time since the launch of Faslane 365 to actually bring the legality of the Trident system into question in court. Particularly important since the announcement by Blair that Trident is to be replaced despite being illegal under international law.

We are now witnessing an escalation of the campaign against the spectre of nuclear war. Expect to see much more civil society resistance throughout next year as the Faslane 365 campaign comes to a climax.

www.faslane365.org
www.tridentploughshares.org
www.cnduk.org
www.peacenews.info/
www.faslane.co.nr/

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Seven people have been arrested during an action which blocked two gates at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston this morning.

The Aldermaston bomb factory, where preparations are being made for a new generation of nuclear weapons for the UK, has also been blockaded this morning by the Block the Builders campaign. The “Home Office” gate of the site was closed, causing a tailback of worker traffic as far as the A4.

The protest at Aldermaston was part of an ongoing campaign against the Â£5.3 billion development at Aldermaston which will not only provide information for the British nuclear programme but also for the US programme under the sharing of information under the Mutual Defence Agreement. The facilities include a new laser system which will help scientists create conditions similar to that inside a nuclear bomb to allow more accurate modelling. This allows Britain and the US to circumvent the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty which bans the actual testing of nuclear weapons.

http://www.blockthebuilders.org.uk/
http://www.cnduk.org/pages/altwhitepaper.pdf

A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said: “Our government, far from honestly moving towards disarmament, is planning to tie us to weapons of mass destruction for the next 50 years. We must do what we can to put a spoke in the wheel of this ongoing crime. Trident, present or future, is an instrument for bullying and mindless, unrestrained violence. It belongs to a mindset of threat, hatred and fear and is the very opposite of what we need at this critical stage in the history of the human race.”

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