earthfirst – Page 67 – Earth First!

Sri Lankans Protest Planned Deforestation 20th April

Director of Environment Conservation Trust (ECT) Sajeewa Chamikara says that the mass destruction of environment may take place if a forest reserve in Sri Lanka’s northeast Padaviya area is vested to Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority.

He said that 12,900 hectares (50 sq miles) of the 48,451 hectare Padaviya forest reserve are to be handed over to Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority to establish settlements.

The gazette notification in this regard has already been compiled and it is to be published soon, said the environmentalist.

According to him, this area situated to the west of the Padaviya reservoir is a catchment area of the reservoir with unique environmental features. The environmental destruction in this sensitive area may have severe backlash, he said.

Further, the area provides habitat to the elephants and many other vulnerable species, he said.

Sri Lanka President is expected to visit the Mahaweli settlement near this area today to hand over deeds to 3,000 farmer families in the Mahaweli L Zone in the northeast part of the island.

2000 March Against Taitung Miramar Resort 20th April

More than 2,000 people, including many dressed in traditional Aboriginal garb, marched through the streets of Taipei yesterday afternoon protesting the controversial Miramar Resort Village construction project on Taitung County’s Shanyuan Beach (杉原沙灘).

The parade, initiated by an alliance of more than 40 civic groups and Aboriginal tribes from across the nation, was held to protest the development project, which has been ruled invalid more than once by the Supreme Administrative Court, but still gained approval at a local environmental impact assessment meeting last year and is scheduled to go into operation this year.

The march was titled “Don’t say goodbye to the eastern coastline,” and the protesters expressed concern that the Miramar case would set an example for other development projects along the eastern coastline and cause irreversible damage to the environment.

The crowd in Taipei was joined by a group of people that had marched for 17 days from Taitung to Taipei.

At the head of the parade was an Amis bamboo raft with a banner that read “Return our domain to us,” carried by 20 men, to express their hope to live in harmony with nature.

The protesters said the hand-made raft represents the idea of taking “just enough” from nature instead of abusing and exhausting natural resources.

“Aborigines do not have a specific life philosophy, but they do feel strongly connected to the land,” Aboriginal folk singer Panai said. “Please feel our affection for the land. This is what residents in Taipei have lost.”

The parade marched through the streets of Taipei, singing an Aboriginal verse signifying waves and the ocean in response to the chanting of Aboriginal folk singer Nabu.

They shouted demands such as “tear down the Miramar, protect the eastern coastline,” “protect our homeland” and “we don’t want cement dumped on the beach.”

The protesters arrived at the Miramar Garden Taipei (美麗信花園酒店), a hotel owned by the same corporation as the Miramar Resort Village in Taitung, and the crowd waved silver grass, mimicking a ritual aimed at expelling evil spirits and purifying the heart.

Reaching Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office, the protesters held hands and performed an Amis harvest festival dance.

The leader of the walking group, Lai Ching-lung (賴進龍), born in the Malan Tribe of Taitung, walked the whole journey to Taipei barefoot.

He said the journey had been exhausting, but while walking through the many tribes along the way, he felt the significance of bringing their message of protecting traditions and the environment to the Presidential Office.

“I hate that the government is treating us like this. It is using inappropriate measures to take our land and ocean from us.” Lai said, adding: “The coast is where the Amis used to collect food and live. Now we are concerned that the ocean will be polluted and destroyed by development projects.”

Burma: Police Crack Down On ‘Unlawful’ Gas Pipeline Protestors 19th April

Hundreds of locals gathered in Arakan state’s Kyaukpyu township to protest against the Chinese-backed Shwe Gas Pipeline on 19 April 2013 (Htun Kyi)

At least three people were detained and questioned by local authorities in Arakan state on Friday, for their role in staging an unauthorised protest against the Chinese-backed Shwe Gas Pipeline in western Burma earlier this week.

On Thursday, over 400 locals in Arakan state’s Kyaukpyu township rallied against the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) – a major shareholder in the Shwe Gas Pipeline – demanding that the company take responsibility for the damages caused to their livelihoods and local environment.

According to one of the organisers, they had sought permission to protest three times before, but after being repeatedly refused they decided to go ahead with the rally anyway.

“The arrests have begun – the [police] are looking for [organisers] in Kyauktan, Ywarma and Pandeinse villages,” said Htun Kyi, adding that three people had already been interrogated and asked to seek bail guarantors.

The police reportedly took their personal details and pressed them on who helped them organise the protest and how they got the money to print out t-shirts and other campaign material.

“My family just informed me that police officials also showed up at my house and asked them to tell me to go to the police station when I get back and also to bring guarantors along,” said Htun Kyi, who was in Kyaukpyu as of this morning. “We are prepared – we are ready to accept any punishment.”

Hundreds of locals, wearing white t-shirts with red crosses over CNPC logos, gathered near the Chinese company’s office on Madaykyun island on Thursday and shouted out slogans against the controversial pipeline.

According to Htun Kyi, who is also a spokesperson of the Rakhine Social Network, said that local authorities had previously promised to help them negotiate with the company over their demands, but later done nothing.

Protestors are calling for compensation for confiscated land, new job opportunities, local infrastructure, including better roads, as well as a fair share of the electricity that will be generated from the project.

The protest was joined by hundreds of local residents, including fishermen who have lost their jobs because of the pipeline, as well as a number of civil society organisations.

The controversial Shwe Gas Pipeline, which is scheduled for completion in May, is a joint venture between the state-owned Chinese company and the military-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), as well as three other foreign firms.

The pipeline will connect western Burma’s Arakan state and China’s Yunnan province, slicing through many ethnic minority territories, including the conflict-torn Shan and Kachin states. Human rights groups have complained that the project has led to mass confiscations of local farmlands, forced labour, human rights abuses and increased militarisation across the country.

Earlier this month, a group of activists warned that the 800-kilometre pipeline is likely to fuel conflict in northern Shan state, where clashes between ethnic rebels and the Burmese army are ongoing.

“Running an over-ground gas pipeline in a location where an armed conflict taking place is absolutely unadvisable,” said Michael Oxlade, a consultant with Westminster International, a UK based firm that specialises in providing security services for global oil operations.

The Burmese government is estimated to earn USD$29 billion over the next 30 years from the dual pipeline, which will pump gas from the Bay of Bengal and oil from the Middle East to mainland China.

Brazilian Indians Occupy Congress in Land Protest 19th April

As Brazil marks its annual ‘Day of the Indian’ today, hundreds of Brazilian Indians of various tribes invaded and occupied part of the country’s Congress this week, to

As Brazil marks its annual ‘Day of the Indian’ today, hundreds of Brazilian Indians of various tribes invaded and occupied part of the country’s Congress this week, to protest at attempts to change the law regarding their land rights.

The Indians are outraged about a proposed constitutional amendment that would weaken their hold on their territories. They fear that ‘PEC 215’, by giving Congress power in the demarcation process, will cause further delays and obstacles to the recognition and protection of their ancestral land.

The Indians say they will not stop protesting until the planned amendment is scrapped.

Alongside Directive 303, amendment 215 is a result of pressure by Brazil’s powerful rural lobby group which includes many politicians who own ranches on indigenous land.

It could spell disaster for thousands of indigenous peoples who are waiting for the government to fulfil its legal duty to map out their lands.

Whilst Brazil’s sugar-cane industry booms, benefitting from plantations on indigenous land, the Guarani Indians of Mato Grosso do Sul suffer from malnutrition, violence, murder and one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Guarani spokesman Tonico Benites explains, ‘Guarani suicide is happening and increasing as a result of the delay in identifying and demarcating our ancestral land’.

Elsewhere in the country, indigenous peoples are fighting for their land to be protected from waves of invasions at the hands of loggers, ranchers, miners and settlers. The Awá Indiansin the north-eastern Amazon are now Earth’s most threatened tribe. The uncontacted Awá will not survive unless action is taken now to protect their forest.

Yesterday, the Yanomami association Hutukara organized a demonstration of about 400Yanomami in Ajarani, in the eastern part of their territory. This area has been occupied by cattle ranchers for decades. Despite a court order to leave, they have refused to do so.

Hutukara’s vice-president Maurício Ye’kuana said, ‘The presence of the ranchers in the region has caused huge harm to the indigenous people and to the environment, such as deforestation and burning of the forest. We want an end to this.’

Meanwhile Munduruku Indians have been protesting for months against the proposal to build a series of hydro-electric dams along the Tapajós, a large tributary of the Amazon.

Last month the military and police launched ‘Operation Tapajós’ in an attempt to stamp out the Indians’ protests against the arrival of technical teams surveying the area for the first dam, São Luis do Tapajós.

On 16 April a federal judge ordered that this operation be suspended, and that the Indians and other affected communities be consulted before technical studies are carried out. The judge also ruled that an environmental impact assessment should be carried out on the cumulative impact of all the dams planned for the Tapajós.

ALF Destroys 200 Fur Traps in Ontario 19th April

“As of March 2013 we have removed and destroyed approximately 200 fur traps in Ontario. The traps were snares and Conibears intended to murder beaver, rabbits and other innocents. Tragically we were too late for two rabbits and one raccoon, whose bodies and internal organs had already been eaten into by snares. We will be forever haunted by our memories of their bodies, we will forever continue removing traps and we encourage others to get in the bush and help smash the fur industry. Look for tell tale signs of traps and trap lines; flagging tape tied to branches, repeated tracks entering the bush, and poles or sticks protruding from bodies of water especially near beaver lodges, where trapping is frequent. Join the burgeoning ranks of trap saboteurs!

ALF”

For whom the bell tolls: Scottish Coal go into Liquidation

“In light of Scottish Coal’s poor trading and financial position, we have had to cease trading with immediate effect,”
-Blair Nimmo, joint provisional liquidator and head of restructuring at KPMG in Scotland.

Scottish Coal, the UK’s biggest coal producer, has announced today that they are entering administration. Due to recent “significant cash flow pressures” they have laid-off 600 workers and stopped all production at their six open cast sites.

New open cast sites are unlikely to happen, and this is something to be happy about. However, 600 people have lost their jobs, and they won’t be the moneymen at the top, but the workers with little safety net. They have also had their last week of wages stolen, as this won’t be paid. For those living next to existing or unrestored sites this means scars on the landscape that are unlikely to be fixed any time soon. It’s time to get angry, and take back the land and wages that Scottish Coal bosses have stolen.

The Amazon is not for sale – crashing an oil sale, Canada

18.4.13

Indigenous allies crashed a private meeting in Calgary that was organized by the government of Ecuador to promote its upcoming 11th Round of oil concessions. The oil auction, announced last November, includes vast swathes of territory traditionally used by 5 Indigenous nationalities in the Amazon region. At the meeting, the allies delivered a declaration on behalf of the affected Indigenous Peoples that they do not consent to oil drilling on their lands. The meeting was attended by Ecuadorean government officials, Canadian investors and oil-company executives.

Riot Police Attack Villagers During Mining Conflict 17th April

In the small village of Buzhe, in Guizhou Province, around 600 villagers were beaten and dispersed with teargas by about 300 riot police on April 11. The villagers had come to assist a young couple being abused by police during a mining-related dispute.

Alongside agriculture, coal mining is the main source of income in this mountainous village, but it is causing serious damage to the environment.

A resident called Mr. Han said that six or seven people were quite seriously injured during the clash, including an 80-year-old woman, and four people were sent to hospital to receive treatment for damage to their eyes from the gas.

Local authorities and the mining company made a resettlement agreement with the villagers nine years ago, but have not provided adequate compensation for the environmental damage to the area, according to Mr. Han.

“Landslides, ground subsidence, a large section of the mine is cracking and sinking, this can be seen everywhere,” he said. “Some of the sinkholes are almost 10 meters deep, and span more than 10 square meters.”

“No water can be stored in the ground, and over 300 Chinese acres of farmland can’t be cultivated anymore,” Mr. Han added.

“There are more than 200 households in the village, but only 26 were relocated last year.”

As a last resort, the villagers built shacks in front of the mine to block the entrance in protest, and prevent mining activities.

On April 11, police came to the shacks and took away an old man living in one of them. They then bashed up the furniture inside, and set fire to his place. A couple in their thirties rushed over to try and put out the fire, but were handcuffed and taken into a work shed, where they were apparently beaten by nine police officers.

As soon as locals heard about this incident, around 600 villagers quickly surrounded the work shed.

“Villagers had pieces of wood and fought with the police. They managed to free the couple in the end,” Mr. Han said, although they were still wearing handcuffs.

Soon after, about 300 riot police arrived at the scene, and began attacking the villagers, using teargas to disperse the crowd.

The next day, a large crowd came to protest outside the town hall, which was heavily guarded by riot police. Mr. Han said they would continue to protest as the lives of around 1,000 villagers are at stake.

Two Lifelong Oklahomans Halt Construction of Keystone XL Work Site 16th April

BRYAN COUNTY, OK – Tuesday, April 16, 2013, 8:00AM – Two lifelong Oklahomans have effectively halted construction on an active work site for TransCanada’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline in Bennington, Oklahoma.

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Eric Whelan, 26, who grew up in McLoud, Okla., has ascended 40 feet into the air in an aerial blockade that began at dawn this morning.

Gwen Ingram of Luther, Okla., 56, has locked herself to heavy machinery and shut down the construction site.

Today’s event marks the fourth act of civil disobedience by Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance and comes in the wake of the disastrous tar sands pipeline spill in Mayflower, Arkansas. For the last three weeks, over 300,000 gallons of tar sands diluted bitumen have spil –>led into a residential neighborhood and local waterways.

“Keystone XL sounded like a bad idea from the beginning,” explained Whelan. “The Mayflower spill proves that we shouldn’t be trusting these multi-national corporations, like Exxon or TransCanada, because every spill further exposes their criminal incompetence. Now, TransCanada wants to build a toxic pipeline through the center of the country.

“I’m taking action to prevent a tragedy like that from happening in Oklahoma.”

The tar sands’ corrosive nature makes pipelines more prone to leaks than transporting crude oil, as evidenced by the Exxon’s Pegasus pipeline burst in Mayflower, Ark.

When spills inevitably do occur, the heavier diluted bitumen sinks in water and into the water table. Keystone XL’s proposed route cuts through the heartland of North America, crossing the Arbuckle Simpson and Edwards Trinity Aquifer in Oklahoma.

“The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would carry the dirtiest fuel on the planet from Canada to America’s Gulf Coast’s refineries and ports, and then overseas for export,” said Gwen Ingram, before locking herself to TransCanada’s heavy machinery.

“I simply won’t allow this pipeline to cross our precious rivers; the North and South Canadian, The Red River, The Cimmaron and threaten our drinking water.”

UPDATE 9:00 AM – Eric is holding strong on a tower 40 feet off the ground in the middle of the Keystone XL construction site

UPDATE 11:15 AM- Firefighters have extracted Gwen Ingram from the construction machinery. Gwen held strong in her nonviolent civil disobedience act for several hours.

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Halkidiki Gold Mine Protesters Lift Roadblocks 16th April

Road transport in the broader region of Mount Athos, Halkidiki, was largely restored on Monday after residents of Ierissos lifted roadblocks they had set up last week to protest the detention of two fellow villagers in connection with an arson attack in February on the offices of a gold-mining company.

Despite lifting the blockades, the residents pledged to continue their opposition to the venture by Hellas Gold in nearby Skouries which they claim will damage the environment and impoverish locals.

Two local men who have denied any part in a brutal arson attack on Hellas Gold’s premises in February, where assailants tied up security guards and doused them with petrol, were remanded in custody on Monday.

The men, aged 33 and 44, submitted depositions on Sunday in which they denied any part in the raid.

The 33-year-old said that a woolen hat found near the scene with his DNA had been lost on another day when he was cutting wood in the forest. The 44-year-old was linked to the attack via a shotgun found in his house. He said he used the gun to hunt in Skouries forest.