earthfirst – Page 87

Indigenous Communities Rise Up in Mexico

For the second time in less than two years, an indigenous community in the southwestern Mexican state of Michoacan has erected barricades and seized control of security matters. Located in the Purepecha highlands of the Pacific coast state, the small community of Urapicho in the municipality of Paracho has been under the self-declared control of the people for about a month now.

The news was publicized this week with the posting of a video on YouTube that shows armed and masked men, some clothed in military-style camouflage clothing, attending a sand-bagged checkpoint, where motorists are searched. Two anonymous, masked spokespersons explain the reasons behind the uprising and the goals of their movement.

Residents say they have been under assault from criminal bands which have a strong foothold in the region. The Spanish-speaking spokesman mentions four people who were forcibly disappeared in 2009 and 2010, including a woman named Bautista. “We don’t know her whereabouts,” he says.

The Purepecha community is located between the towns of Paracho, long known for its locally produced guitars, and Cheran, a larger indigenous community that rose up in April 2011 and seized control of the local government. Still barricaded and under community guard, the Cheran rebellion broke out after locals grew frustrated by violence and government inaction in stopping the clear-cutting of the area’s remaining forests. Like Urapicho, numerous deaths and disappearances blamed on organized crime have been reported in Cheran.

The Urapicho uprising occurs amid escalating social conflicts that have political temperatures at the boiling point in Michoacan. In different parts of the state, multiple conflicts pit student, teacher and indigenous groups against the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)-led state government, as well as legislators from the PRI and allied Green Party against the center-left PRD, PT and MC parties.

On Sunday, October 14, tensions exploded when the Federal Police recovered buses that had been seized by protesting students from three rural teachers’ colleges. In the raid, scores of students were detained, buses burned and several officers injured.

In response, anywhere between 15,000 and 40,000 demonstrators, the estimates depending on the source, crowded the state capital of Morelia October 17 denouncing President Calderon and demanding the resignations of state Government Secretary Jesus Reyna Garcia and PRI Governor Fausto Vallejo, who was elected to office in a controversial November 2011 election.

Contingents representing the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE), the Purepecha Nation and other organizations participated in the mobilization. A large group of students encircled the state attorney general’s office, while a second group numbering in the hundreds blocked one of Morelia’s highway exits.

As the week ended, the CNTE vowed to continue protesting in Morelia until the remaining 8 students detained on October 14 were released. Outside the state capital, protesters reportedly occupied the town hall of Paracho and threatened to blockade access to other municipalities.

more ingo at http://fnsnews.nmsu.edu/2012/10/19/indigenous-communities-rise-up-in-mexico/

Under the watchful eye of engaged youth, Pangea and the PLA’s “City Concept” plan was halted by tribal council

Sacaton, AZ- At the October 17, 2012 Gila River Indian Community (GRIC) Tribal Council session, Pangea, LLC and the Pecos Landowners Association (PLA) attempted to rush forward their plans pertaining to the construction of a city and freeway within the reservation. Pangea sought the tribal council’s approval for a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which granted Pangea and its investors exclusive rights to develop over 5500 acres of tribal land on the reservation’s western end along the route of the proposed Loop 202 freeway, which GRIC voted against last February. The PLA attempted to pressure tribal council to approve the Pangea corporation’s initiative for yet another community vote on the Loop 202.

But to their surprise, Pangea and the PLA were confronted by young people wearing breathing masks and No Build 202 shirts who sought to hold both Pangea and the PLA accountable to last February’s Loop 202 vote. In that vote, GRIC voters voted in favor of the No Build option for the freeway. The Gila River youth, whose breathing masks symbolized the environmental toxins that freeways bring to the land and air, were at the tribal council meeting to demand that their elected officials uphold the No Build voice of the people.

“I can’t vote yet, but if I could, I would have voted No Build too. The people who want the freeway should think about what my generation will go through if all we have to inherit is freeway pollution”said 14 year old Lily Miles, of Komatke and Vah-ki, who was one of the twelve who wore medical breathing masks and No Build shirts in solidarity with the community’s No Build voice.

Since the historic Loop 202 vote, many GRIC members, especially the youth, have felt their tribal leadership has not fully upheld the community’s No Build stance. This suspicion is heightened since GRIC Governor Mendoza allowed Pangea to consult with GRIC’s Office of General Counsel for their City Concept and freeway plans. In addition, Governor Mendoza presented the PLA initiative that calls for another Loop 202 vote at the September 26th GRIC Legislative Standing Committee (LSC).

If approved by the GRIC Tribal Council, the massive Pangea City Concept, the size of over 5000 football fields, would be the largest construction project in the history of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Gila River Indian Community. The GRIC No Build supporters who attended the Wednesday council session were compelled to raise their voices against Pangea and the PLA in the tribal council chambers without saying one word. Their breathing masks and No Build 202 shirts, stating “Biohazard 202” spoke to the looming desecration of Muhadag Do’ag (South Mountain) and to the negative impacts the proposed freeway would bring to the environment and overall community health.

“Our tribal leaders must be held accountable for where their allegiances lie,” said Renee Jackson of Vah-ki, who was one of the No Build supporters who wore breathing masks and Biohazard 202 shirts during the meeting. “Our representatives must be transparent in where they stand on the issue of the freeway”.

While council went to executive session to decide the merit of Pangea’s MOU and the PLA voting initiative, the twelve youth engaged pro-freeway Gila River landowners in the hallways outside council chambers. The youth shared their concerns regarding the environmental, health and cultural impacts the City Concept would bring to their future while council was in executive session and closed to the public. The mere presence of these twelve helped give a voice to the 720 GRIC members who voted for No Build, and their breathing masks showed the potential danger the freeway would bring.

“Today we showed where the youth stand and we showed that there are youth who care. Pangea and the PLA’s city concept is a danger to our future and both are biohazards to the land and to the mountain,” said Andrew Pedro, 18 years old, from Sacaton, who printed the Biohazard shirts. “People were asking me for more t-shirts, and I believe that this is the first of more visual demonstrations to come.”

“I felt like it was my responsibility to be here and get informed about what is happening around me and in my community because I will be inheriting this land too.” said Karma Miles, 11 years old, from Komatke and Vah-ki.

Despite the differences the youth had with fellow GRIC landowners, the youth presented themselves in a respectful matter, and even helped PLA elders by setting up chairs during executive session.

After nearly an hour in executive session, Tribal Council decided that eleven key points needed to be met before any MOU regarding Pangea’s land use plans could be approved. The eleven points center around public safety, budgeting, jurisdiction, and land management issues that were not addressed within the MOU submitted by Pangea. Council clearly declared that all points must be met before Pangea’s MOU could be brought back before the council. Additionally, the misleading Save the Mountain initiative was held to standard GRIC Community Council Secretary’s Office (CCSO) procedure regarding signatures verification. The PLA submitted their Pangea-backed initiative to the GRIC Community Council Secretary’s Office (CCSO) on September 27 with the backing of 1,527 landowner signatures. Tribal council declared that each signature must be verified first before council would consider the initiative. As with the per capita initiative, a previous people’s initiative in Gila River, the signatures could take the CCSO four to six months to verify, especially with reports of missing tribal enrollment numbers with the signatures submitted, as reported by Community Council Secretary Linda Andrews at the council meeting. The Save the Mountain initiative, which Pangea and PLA deemed” first ever Peoples Initiative through the People’s rights under the GRIC Tribal Constitution”, does not save the mountain because it calls for the rejected freeway to be constructed on tribal lands along the foothills of Muhadag Do’ag (South Mountain).

Despite the steps that are legally required to approve a voter initiative, a Pangea representative pressured council to move forward and approve the pro-freeway initiative. GRIC member Joey Perez of Pangea attempted to have council set a much shorter time frame for approval, by citing the 14th amendment of the GRIC constitution, which declares council has 60 days to make a decision on any initiative bought forth to them. The Pangea corporation’s interpretation, as stated by Perez, was that the 60 days started on September 27, when the signatures were submitted, which would force council to possibly reconsider another Loop 202 vote by the end of the year. But Perez, Pangea and the PLA were soon confronted with standard GRIC procedures regarding initiatives: signatures must be verified before the initiative can be considered by the council.

The reason why the Pangea corporation and pro-build supporters disregard the No Build victory and are attempting to rush the tribal council to schedule another vote on the proposed freeway is because in 2013 federal land leasing regulations for tribal allotted lands become much more restrictive. Changes to Title 25 of the BIA’s Code of Federal Regulations will require 100 percent of landowner consents before the BIA will approve any new leases pertaining to the use of tribal allotted lands for businesses. This would make the Pangea City Concept, which is centered around the construction of the Loop 202, subject to heightened federal regulations.

The decision by Council to hold Pangea and the PLA transparent and accountable to the process was a long overdue first step in reversing its nine months of inaction regarding the No Build vote. Pangea and the PLA were expecting to walk out of the tribal council meeting with another Loop 202 vote scheduled, and their land development plans to be unopposed. But Pangea and the PLA left the October tribal council session in defeat when confronted with the gaping holes of their fraudulent campaign to bulldoze over 5500 acres for a Pangea city, and by the faces of the young people whose future health depends on the preservation and protection of Muhadag Do’ag, and their lands.

“It was a wonderful day, a small victory once again,” said Lori Thomas, of Gila River Alliance for a Clean Environment. “The youth who were present were awesome. It was good to see them engage in the issue. A small battle was won but the fight still rages on.”

For the youth who attended this round of the bigger fight to completely stop the Loop 202, it showed that their involvement will be crucial for the future of the community, and that a new form of expression is needed so that their voices can be heard by the Pangea corporation, the PLA, as well as by the GRIC tribal council and Governor Mendoza.

“We made an impact by representing all the No Build supporters who can’t be here, to go to these meetings and be heard,” said Ana Morago, 18 years old, of Stotonic. “We aren’t bused in, like the way Pangea brings in their people. And even though we didn’t speak, our actions and how we presented ourselves spoke louder”.

For more information regarding the struggle against the Loop 202, please contact us at: gricagainst202(at)gmail.com or at our Facebook page: Gila River Against the Loop 202

arson attack on company who put cctv in schools

last night fire erupted in the tranquillity of bristols well-to-do redland area, targeting a marked vehicle of Standfast Ltd.

last night fire erupted in the tranquillity of bristols well-to-do redland area, targeting a marked vehicle of Standfast Ltd. besides the usual functions that led us to attack a company invested in "security" (as always, securing the sanctity of private property in mass society) one of their many cctv contracts in bristol, bath, avon, somerset and gloucestershire is both state and private schools, where as you can read in the newspapers even the toilets are no escape from the cameras.
daily submission under impersonal institutions rarely comes naturally. after the nuclear family, the education system at all stages is instrumental in adapting the free child to the civilized world of workplaces, malls and (other) prisons that todays youth are destined for. constant surveillance has proven a most effective step in this domesticating process, kids learning to selfregulate under the assumption that they're permanently being watched, and this has been made to seem normal by reality tv, the saturation of control technology in the dead synthetic urban enviroment (supplied by the likes of Standfast Ltd.), and the atomised crowd of a generation filled with selfish fear of punishment or repremand.

but it is often still the young people who are least destroyed by this onslaught and who still find themselves impelled to refuse the system (like the riots last summer and scattered moments of revolt everyday since and before). this is just a reminder – WHEN YOU HIT A LENS IT WILL BREAK LIKE ANYTHING ELSE! so shouts to youth rebellion against society, the claimants of the recent attack on security vehicles in nottingham, and everyone else committed to the timeless crime of freedom!
strength for Gustavo Quiroga, held in immigration detention after the Delta squat eviction in Thessaloniki, and for the Gremlin Alley resisters in cardiff!
strength for the anarchists non-cooperating with the grand jury in the american northwest, and for the ones who fled from it!
strength for the street fighters held for the march29 battles in Barcelona, and Carolina whos accused of burning a Starbucks that inspiring day!

anarchy here, now and always — yours in war, counter-surveillance cores.

(USA) Croatan Earth First! Locks Down North Carolina DENR For Complicity In Fracking

Seven members of Croatan Earth First! and participants from our Piedmont Direct Action Camp locked together today, barricading the front of North Carolina’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) building in downtown Raleigh. Providing physical, active resistance against fracking in North Carolina, CEF! has chosen DENR for an action as they are responsible for helping legalize fracking, and will be responsible for regulating it. They have also hired a corrupt Mining and Energy Commission board, which includes people with vested interests in hydraulic fracturing occuring. We are letting them know that this farce won’t stand! No compromise in defense of Mother Earth!

In addition, a sizeable demonstration is being held around the lock down, with several large banners, signs, literature, etc. Police actively cleared the site, and have closed off the road, labeling the entire block a crime scene. Press was being prevented from approaching the site. In negotiation made with the police, press was allowed inside to do interviews and take photos if the blockaders agreed to unlock later. The protesters decided to unlock as a tactical decision to walk away without arrests and save our legal funds for future events.

Press Release

Croatan Earth First! Locks Down NC DENR For Complicity In Fracking

Raleigh, NC – This morning multiple people locked themselves to the front of the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources headquarters at 217 W. Jones St. in protest of the state’s continued path towards the legalization of hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) for natural gas. Environmentalists across the state have organized and campaigned against hydrofracking legislation for over a year, which resulted in a veto of SB 820 this past summer by Beverly Perdue. The legislature overrode the veto shortly after during a controversial vote in which a mistaken ballot was cast for legalization, and the voter was refused a recast.

“All legal channels of protest have been exhausted,” says Earth First!er Emily Smith at the rally outside the action. “We’ve learned that the legislature and regulators will not protect the water we drink and air we breathe. It’s time for the public to take other types of action to stop hydrofracking. “ This past Spring NC DENR released a report that grossly underestimated the possible environmental risks of fracking. Since then, they have been working with the newly formed Mining and Energy Commission which includes several members that are closely linked to oil & gas: Ray Covington, a partner at NC Oil & Gas, who profits financially from an increase in leased lands for fracking; Chairman Jim Womack, a Lee County Commissioner and an oil industry supporter who claimed at a DENR public meeting that you were more likely to be hit by a meteor than have water contaminated by fracking; and Charles Holbrook a former employee of Chevron Oil.

“Having people who support and benefit from oil and gas extraction on a regulatory commission is like a fox guarding the henhouse.” The EPA recently released a study that confirmed contamination of the water aquifer in Pavillion, Wyoming with fracking fluids, but DENR has done nothing to modify their report. “We’re not going to let industry destroy North Carolina like they have Pennsylvania,” says Smith referring to the numerous spills that have occurred in the highly fracked Marcellus Shale—including 4,700 gallons of hydrochloric acid spilled this year in Bradford County and a 30-foot methane geyser which erupted in Tioga county, PA. A blowout at one of Chesapeake Energy’s rigs in Wyoming this year burned escaping methane for several days and more than 70 residents had to be evacuated. “Fracking is not only contaminating our land and water irreversibly, but it’s spewing massive amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.”

More clashes with riot police in Greece over gold mine

Hundreds of protesters in Thessaloniki have been in involved another battle with riot police over plans for a gold mine in northern Greece’s Halkidiki peninsula. One policeman and three protesters were hurt, while 21 protesters have been detained. Clashes between protests and local residents on one side and police and mine workers on the other side have become a regular occourance since March when plans for the mine were approved. A multimillion-dollar gold mining project in a nearby area was cancelled a decade ago after similar protests.

Below is a translation of a recent report about the situation from Indymedia Athens:

In the mountains of Halkidiki is a huge disaster at the expense of Mother Nature. The Greek state has sold the rights to exploit the gold beneath the primordial forests of dark in the company Eldorado-Greek Gold. That is why the company has already started the despicable work: intensive deforestation of 4,000 hectares of forest and mineral processing plant construction between villages Olympiad, Stan, Mary and Great Ierissos. The state and the company with the work will take away the life of the forest itself but also by the thousands of animals that live in it, clean groundwater and soil will be contaminated by toxic substances such as cyanide. In simple words, a whole living world would exterminated for the profit of multinational corporations and government leaders, leaving behind contaminated land and death.

Residents not complacent to the disaster, from passages such as the Olympics and the Great Panagia for decades have been struggling against mining. This year saw the final authorization from the government and the project has now started. From March there have been on going conflicts with residents and defenders of the forest on one side and the police and workers of the company on the other.

This dominant behavior of culture over nature is a result of the authoritarian mentality of anthropocentrism, arbitrary belief that man is greater than the natural element surrounds him. This concept is the result of the alienation of man from the natural world. With the mediation of the process of civilization, the building of cities, states and power relations people ignore the earth-animal-nature, which is directly tied to the existence and development of the natural world.

Habitats are threatened today directly from the mines not only in Halkidiki but other parts of northern Greece such as Kilkis and Alexandroupolis. But let's not fool ourselves, the technocracy and capitalism in today's world are expressed through a global system of striking any part of the world over sea or land. But especially in countries of the so-called third world, plunder of nature and poor people is unthinkable. Giant multinational corporations with the help of state and international organizations extorting indigenous populations by any means (war, food crises, financial measures) to accept investments and work with them in exchange for a meager salary and a short and miserable life. With modern engines cut forests, disembowel the earth, pollute the air, water and soil. This hunt for "treasure" whether minerals such as gold or energy (oil, gas, coal) is totally deadlocked and destructive. The so-called progress of civilization and the ideology of development only serve the temporary existence of the world's authoritarian system that dissolves cultures but tens of thousands of years, primeval forests, animal communities and ecosystems that promises dystopia.

The destruction of the natural world not only in Greece but also at the global level does not leave us time tolerances of this situation. Needs as living creatures to deny us the system dominates and fight for its destruction. To redefine our relationship with the natural world and to resist that prevents us from living in harmony with it. The state, the industrial system and mazopoiisi cities need to be destroyed to flourish in the debris an indomitable life for people, animals and nature.

AGAINST THE RAPE OF THE NATURAL WORLD
ANYPOCHORITOS STRUGGLE FOR LIBERATION AND FOR TOTAL ANARCHY

Coal Seam Gas Banner Drop in Australia

Protesters from the the Lock the Gate Alliance have taken part in a banner drop on Brisbane’s Kangaroo Point cliffs with seven giant banners with anti-CSG messages were attached to the cliff face.

Lock the Gate spokesman Innes Larkin said the banners were a demonstration of the depth of community opposition to CSG mining in southeast Queensland.

‘‘If the government and miners think rural communities will just take this lying down, they’re wrong,’’ Mr Larkin said. ‘‘People in the bush are angry and they are prepared to make a stand to protect where they live, their soil and their water.’’ Lock the Gate have been running a week of protests across the state, which began with a march and concert at Murwillumbah in northern NSW last Sunday.

La ZAD- Largest Protest Zone in Europe Being Evicted

Europes largest protest zone is going through multiple evictions – all through much media silence! Over the past four days La ZAD, an anti-airport protest zone, composing of over 20 occupied sites has been putting up the barricades, opposing and protesting against the harassment and the evictions by a troop of police over a 1000 strong.

Largest Protest Zone in Europe Being Evicted

La ZAD (La Zone A Défendre)

Europes largest protest zone is going through multiple evictions (because there are numerous sites) – all through much media silence! Over the past four days La ZAD, an anti-airport protest zone, composing of over 20 occupied sites has been putting up the barricades, opposing and protesting against the harassment and the evictions by a troop of police over a 1000 strong. La ZAD is in the area of Notre Dame de Lande, just north of the city of Nantes, in the north-west of France.

Video of one of the earlier Police mobilisations:

Resistance aux expulsions from Résistances nddl on Vimeo.

Sit down protest in Bel Air: http://zebuzzeo.blogspot.fr/2012/10/a-notre-dames-des-landes-l-etat-ps.html

Good series of pictures of barricades and resistance: https://picasaweb.google.com/113382718807039752437/Expulsions#slideshow/5799932948346626882

Good info in English: http://en.squat.net/tag/zad/

Tear gas has been used against the barricades and the military have been mobilised to support the evictions.

Below are summaries and translations of their FLASH INFO / UPDATES (please excuse the bad english).

THEIR MESSAGE: And most importantly: there is plenty of places occupied (land and three houses with eviction deadline until October 27), and the the occupant-es are always on site, with lots of other people coming to defend the area, and full of messages and actions of solidarity everywhere! It is not their police pressure which make our protests impotent acts of resistance will continue until the project will not be removed.

October 16th

[Places evicted : la Bellich’, Bel Air, la Gaité, les Planchettes, le Tertre, le Pré Failli, la Pré Faillite et St Jean du Tertre.]

11h18 : // in his speech, the prefect declared that the operation is finished for today, that all went fine, without arrestations and that the military occupation will continue for several days to secure the destruction of the houses

13h15 : charge et tirs de lacrymo vers le Sabot ; arrivée de nombreux fourgons de CRS // Tear gas beeing shot around the Sabot, arrival of numerous riot cop cars

15:10 : les gens dans le Sabot se font gazer, dépanneuse et tractopelle en vue, 3 camions de CRS et 10 de gendarmes se dirigent vers le Sabot // people at the Sabot getting teargased, breakdown lorry and diggers been seen, 3 cop vans of riot cops and 10 military vans heading towards Sabot

15h20 : // barricade burning at the Sabot. It’s seems to getting hot for them

15h40 : // following a exterieur information, the Military are being mobilized for more 48h to prevent new occupations

18h15 : // a digger is arriving at the way to the Sabot to enter in the garden by the side, 40 people are still at the Sabot

October 17th

[Places evicted: les Planchettes, le Tertre.]

8h20 : // a convoy with a rubbish truck, digger and a road semi-trailer are arriving at the Planchettes, under a big escort, big spots lighting on the Planchettes

10:05 : // there is the proposition to meet up in the Sabot to discuss, bring water and food, 10 cop vans seen driving to the north direction Fosse noires/ Planchettes, medias saying that the destruction of the houses started 🙁 , there is demo in Paris in front of the ministery of environment

11h12 : // there are 30 cop vans in the region around the Tertre where they actually destroy the house :(, there are positioned at the end of the Chemin de sueze and at Chênes de Perrières, the destruction of the Planchettes got confirmed by the medias :(, at the Sabot it seems quiet but the helicopter is turning over the Phare Ouest

12h20 : la destruction de Planchettes dans les medias 🙁 sadness and rage…

14h48 : // there are cops arriving in front of the Phare Ouest vers the Chêvrerie
14h58 : // the cops stopped to go forward, people are behind the barricades
15h17 : // people juste got charged by cops vers the Planchettes

15h45 : // some 20 cop vans are in front of the Sabot, the cops came out running

15h50 : // callout for support at Phare Ouest, the cops taking off the tree blocking the road

16h15 : // the convoy which cut the tree is leaving, another one seems to arriving quickly from direction Ardillières

18h55 : // the cops broke down the barricade of the Sabot, they entered but they don’t charge yet

19h11 : pigs got charged by the people south of Sabot, defending their home, brave friends of us, keep on rocking against this terroristes…

20h04 : // the militarys start back shooting teargas

20h22 : // It seems the fuckers are winning some terrain on the field on the south, there are also hiding behind the chickens, fucking lame

MESSAGE TO THE PORCS : if you hurt the chickens, we’ll call the animal protection !!!

21h35 : // the Manitou ’ some destruction machine ) is heading in the direction of Phare Ouest, the Sabot still keeps resisiting !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we love you…….

22h07 : // 10 riot cop vans part vers les Ardillières, around the Sabot, they gas a lot, lot, lot..BUT THE SABOT IS STILL RESISTING !!! fuck you cops, fuck you ayrault, you dont get your airport !!

22h06 : // the working machine left with the convoi. We got confirmed that the cries we heard are not at all cries of fear but of rage and determination!

23h00 : // cops came back to the entry of the Sabot, they get stoned and leave…

October 18th

[Places evicted: la Pointe, la cabane collective de la forêt de Rohanne.]

9:05 : // the cops go into the Saulce, riot cops come closer to the barricade of the Sabot

9h12 : // cops continue to detstroy the barricade of the Saulce. 3 cop vans going towards the chemin de suez from the Saulce barricade

[The rest done with internet translate]

9h37 : it is reported to the police that there are people in the tree-tops of la Saulce. Cloud of tear gas.

10h25 : beginning of the expulsion of the great forest (Foret Rohanne) they are destroying the house collective. people in the trees/ cabins.

10h32 : they empty the house of the collective forest. They have a team of climbing.

11h22 : WE CALL ON ALL AND ALL TO MANIFEST THEIR SOLIDARITY WITH WHAT HAPPENS HERE AND SPREAD THE NEWS MOST WIDELY AVAILABLE Locally: 19h call to rally outside the prefecture of Nantes tonight / at 18.30 in front of the town hall of Rennes Friday evening.

12h00 : Rohanne in the forest: the excavator working and almost finished destroying the communal house, the person in the tree where the climbers are mounted refuses to go down, it is covered by a rubber bullets.

12h14 : From the online press, the prefecture announced the evacuation of the place called Point and Heath Rohanne, and mentions three arrests. To be confirmed.

13h10 : there are still many people in the trees in the forest. The cops are not climbing. There would be three arrested allegedly released. We hear again the helicopter.

16h01 : the GIGN has left the forest, they could not evict people still in the trees.

17h 34 : Lande de Rohanne: since this morning, destroying the collective hut surrounded by a handful of Gendarmes Mobiles. Some people in trees, others ground support. 4 people were descended from the trees GIPN. The remains of the hut were taken by a marabout. 17h cops to head further north to a second cabin floor, releasing those who were on their way, but regardless of at least 3 comrades still in the trees.

20h08 : We have information that a person is detained in police custody in La Chapelle sur Erdre from 4:20 p.m. for refusing to give his name. She was arrested on the road near Ardillères.

23h23 : The person arrested was released this morning, she has a meeting for January 22 at St Nazaire 14h (It is not the person arrested at 16.20, who is still in GAV.)

We learn that 500 people gathered at Nantes tonight in solidarity with the Zad. People's will!

19th October

8h53 : Nothing to report except a few patrols running on the Zad, Filter and roadblocks at certain points, this morning. The cops have massively left the area last night. We remain vigilant but it could be that it is the end of the first "wave" of operation here. It may resume in the coming days, and last …

10h30 : the operation is perhaps not finished for this phase … they expelled L'Isolette, and currently runs around the Fosses Noires.

10h35 : evacuation of the pile of rubble that became Le Tertre.

10h40 : Eviction of Coin en Cours underway, thirty people are around.

14h12 : We hope that our friends in the forest are doing well. The area is expelled and destroyed. Thank you Le Coin, we will miss you!

Received by mail: For tonight rally outside the prefecture of Nantes in 19h! It is proposed that we find in red and black! It brings songs, then bring your vocal cords! Song for all print here: http://www.deljehier.levillage.org/ … Otherwise, it also offers a meeting point for you to carpool morbihannais … Visit the Rond-Point du Petit Molac Questembert at 17:30. Will print some of the world! El pueblo unido, Lalalalalala …….

15h43 : difficult time to live without news of our friends in places management, we are still trying to get out, but our communication is difficult KLAXON!

(France) Communique from the ZAD

We live here, we’ll stay here!

After two days of resistance and solidarity, only seven houses and one plot were evicted at the ZAD, a threatened area meant to make place to an airport in Notre-Dame-des-Landes. Everywhere police forces met determinated opponents, inhabitants refusing to leave their houses, their roofs. Demonstrations. direct actions took place around several locations, roads we barricaded, activists keeping joining the ZAD area, etc…

Since hours, opponents are defending several plots, the Far West, the Sabot, a cultivable land back in use since May 2011. Right now, the Sabot in drowned under a cloud of tear gas, with a drumming samba band. Outside the ZAD, many solidarity actions took place, such a demonstration in front of the main state building in Nantes tonight.

Contrary to what was announced by the highest state representative of the region tuesday morning, the area is far from being empty. Around 20 houses remain occupied, this is even not including house owners, renters and farmers still living in the area. The pressure and acts from the police, such as the destruction by fire from one wood hut, without checking if it was still occupied, won’t silent dissent.

Without trying to compete with the military arsenal deployed by a state to protect its projects of “public utility”, acts of resistance will go on as long as the project isn’t abandoned.

Not only here, but from Atenco to Val de Susa, to Chéfresne, everywhere people are struggling. We’ll refuse to conform to what is forced on us!

Coming on the agenda :

– Saturday October 20th, midday, meeting point at la Pointe (le Temple de Bretagne): gathering with opponents to the airport project.

– in the coming months, demonstration to re-occupy the ZAD, date to be announced on the ZAD website.

More Information: http://zad.nadir.org

Video: Canadian Minister and Shell embarrassed over tar sands at climate conference

Watch the Canadian Environment Minister and Shell's UK Chairman having their London conference speeches hijacked by our anti-tar sands stage invaders.

Watch the Canadian Environment Minister and Shell's UK Chairman having their London conference speeches hijacked by our anti-tar sands stage invaders. See conference delegates laughing as the minister is called "an agent from a rogue petro-state", and Shell's speech referred to as "world-class greenwash".

Ongoing Protests Over Brazil’s Anti-Indigenous Decree

On July 17, Brazil’s Office of the Solicitor-General (AGU) issued Decree 303/2012, which dramatically scales back indigenous rights that are guaranteed by the country’s constitution. The law contains a provision that would permit the construction of “strategic” infrastructure projects such as roads, hydroelectric dams and mines in indigenous territory without consulting the affected peoples and communities.

In addition, the law allows military occupation of indigenous land at any time, prohibits any future designation of indigenous lands EVER, and otherwise infringes on indigenous people’s control of their own territory.

The law has sparked large protests across Brazil. According to Intercontinental Cry:

“On August 10, more than 50 indigenous leaders occupied the headquarters of the AGU to demand the revocation of Decree 303; On August 20, sixteen different Indigenous Nations in the State Mato Grosso came together to show their outrage against the Decree and the recent gutting of the FUNAI, Brazil’s Buerau of Indian Affairs; and on September 4, the Guajajara shut down BR-316, a federal highway that connects the cities of Belém in the state of Pará, and Maceió in Alagoas. …

“Most recently, on September 24, about 500 Pankararu marched against the “anti-indian” decree; and on September 28, the Tembé set fire to illegal logging machinery and trucks within their territory in the municipality of Nova Esperança do Piriá, Pará, Maranhão border. As well, on October 2, the Guajajara headed out again–this time with the Awa–to occupy the Carajás Railway[pt] which links the municipalities of Mineirinho and Auzilândia in the northern state of Maranhão. The railway is owned by mining giant Vale.

“The APIB says that many more mobilizations are on the way in the south, northeast and north of the country.”