Capitalism / Globalisation – Page 3

Environmentalists Halt Leard Forest Clearance for the Winter

13th June Australia Whitehaven Coal yesterday announced it would halt its clearing of Leard State Forest until September following an injuncti

13th June Australia Whitehaven Coal yesterday announced it would halt its clearing of Leard State Forest until September following an injunction in the NSW Land and Environment Court by the Maules Creek Community Council.

The group, aided by the EDO, specifically appealed over the fact that many animals in the forest hibernate over winter and therefore were more likely to be killed by clearing during winter months.

The company voluntarily called a halt to clearing yesterday afternoon, just as the court’s decision on the injunction was due, until the results of a full hearing on the matter.

Maules Creek Community Council spokesperson, Phil Laird said, ‘We are pleased that Whitehaven has been forced to respond to our legitimate challenge in the court by today undertaking to stop clearing in Leard State Forest’.

The Maules Creek Community Council is arguing that Whitehaven is in breach of its development consent by winter/spring clearing of the forest. A breach of development consent contravenes the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.

‘This outcome today sends a strong message to coal mining companies across NSW and to the NSW government: if they will not enforce the law, then the community is prepared to step up and do it themselves’ Mr Laird said.

‘We appreciate the action taken by Whitehaven today and we will be preparing to vigorously pursue the full legal challenge,’ he added.

The new Maules Creek coalmine project involves a total clearing of 1664 hectares of forest, which currently provides habitat for threatened species including bats, koalas, forest owls, the Swift Parrot and the Regent Honeyeater.

The Nature Conservation Council of NSW has welcomed Whitehaven Coal’s decision to adhere to the conditions of its development consent.

‘This is a clear victory for community members who have been working tirelessly to protect this forest and the region’s water resources,’ campaigns director Kate Smolski said.

‘The decision to stop winter clearing does not end the fight to save Leard Forest, but it does at least give hibernating native animals a fighting chance to escape the bulldozers.

‘It is regrettable the NSW government did not enforce the conditions of its own consent for this atrocious mine, leaving Maules Creek Community Council little alternative but to take legal action.

‘State and federal laws have failed to protect this important natural area, demonstrating the need for deep reform to protect important natural places from coal mining.

‘Until that reform occurs, community groups will continue to seek remedy in the courts, and ordinary people will feel compelled to take direct action in the forest.

‘The Maules Creek mine will tear out the heart of Leard Forest, destroy one of the largest remnant areas of wildlife habitat in western NSW, threaten groundwater resources, and have a lasting negative impact on the local community of Maules Creek. This project should never have been approved.’

Greens NSW MP and environment spokesperson, Dr Mehreen Faruqi has also welcomed news.

‘This decision… proves community concerns were justified. It is clear that Whitehaven saw the writing on the wall and went for an undertaking before it was ordered to by the court,’ Dr Faruqi said.

‘Unfortunately, much clearing has already taken place.

‘I have seen with my own eyes just yesterday the section of the forest bulldozed by Whitehaven Coal, presumably in anticipation of a suspension.

‘It is outrageous that Whitehaven Coal was allowed to undertake winter clearing in the first place. This was completely unnecessary.

‘There needs to be an investigation into how these approvals were granted by the NSW government in the first place, as large tracts of endangered ecological communities have been cleared and cannot be replaced or offset.

‘I was also disturbed to see valuable public resources being used to benefit a mining company, with the government ordering police to set up roadblocks on public roads and search cars.

‘The government should be protecting the Leard Forest, not big coal.

‘In a democratic society, the public have the right to protest peacefully and I have been inspired by the activists standing up to protect our environment and our wildlife.

‘The Greens and many in the community are opposed to this massive coal mining project because of its destructive impacts on biodiversity, cultural heritage and its massive contribution to climate change: allowing clearing during the winter months further compounded these damaging impacts.

‘Congratulations to the grassroots community groups and the Environmental Defenders Office that brought forward this legal challenge. The Greens will continue campaigning to stop this coal mine completely’ she concluded.

Patagonia Dam CANCELED!

chao hidroaysen 13th June After an eight-year struggle, Chile’s grassroots and environmental movements have successfully won the rejection of five planned megadams on two Patagonian rivers!

It’s not every day we celebrate a victory as significant and hard-won as today’s triumph in the eight-year campaign to protect Chilean Patagonia from the destructive HidroAysén dam project!

This morning, Chile’s highest administrative authority – the Committee of Ministers – made a unanimous decision to overturn the environmental permits for the controversial five dam mega-project, which was planned on the Baker and Pascua rivers. This highly anticipated resolution effectively cancels the project, ruling that assessment of the project’s impacts was insufficient to grant project approval back in 2011.

The Committee, which consists of the Minister of Environment, Health, Economy, Energy and Mining, Agriculture, and Tourism, evaluated 35 appeals which were filed by the Patagonia Defense Council and local citizens in response to the project’s Environmental Impact Assessment after it was approved in May 2011. Though it has taken more than three years, with meetings and decisions being repeatedly delayed and eventually passed on to the new administration, today’s decision is a recognition of the technical and procedural flaws surrounding HidroAysén as well as the significant impacts the project would have had on one of Chile’s most iconic regions.

What began as a grassroots effort to protect the pristine Baker and Pascua rivers, and the communities and culture of Patagonia, has developed into a fully-fledged international campaign and galvanized a national environmental movement. Over the past four years Chileans have taken to the streets to demand a halt to HidroAysén and around the world an international community has rallied around this call. Today it is these voices that have won out, and together have set in motion a new path towards a bright future for Patagonia and the hope of a truly sustainable energy future for Chile.

Pascua River, Patagonia: Undammed!

To borrow some words from Patricio Rodrigo, Executive Secretary of the Patagonia Defense Council, “The government’s definitive rejection of the HidroAysén project is not only the greatest triumph of the environmental movement in Chile, but marks a turning point, where an empowered public demands to be heard and to participate in the decisions that affect their environment and lives.”

We are thrilled that the government is siding with the majority of Chileans and tens of thousands of people around the world to say no to HidroAysén! We commend President Bachelet for remaining loyal to her campaign promise that HidroAysén would not have her support. And we are looking to the future, with the hope that measures will be put in place to protect this unique region from future threats. (In fact, President Bachelet and the Minister of Environment recently formalized a bill that would create the Department of Biodiversity and Protected Areas (SBAP) with the aim to preserve critical ecosystems throughout Chile.)

Announcing the Launch of “After Prison” Zine & Website Project

11th June AfterPrisonZine.org “After Prison” is a zine and website project aimed at sharing the voices of former earth and animal

11th June AfterPrisonZine.org “After Prison” is a zine and website project aimed at sharing the voices of former earth and animal defense prisoners. This project hopes to help build an understanding of what life after prison can entail, so that individuals and communities can help create healthier environments for prisoners to return home to. It also provides an opportunity for former and current prisoners – whom often have restrictions on who they can communicate with – to connect with the experiences of others.

“It’s been 20 years since I first entered a federal prison. Fortunate for me, only six of those years were lost to that traumatizing experience, but the damage will last the rest of my life, and if I’m not careful, maybe the lives of my children too. When you’re in prison, it is difficult to say the least, to stay connected to your former “outside” world. However strong your connection might have been, those are not the type of people you are around now and it is not the world you are living in or that threatens your very own ability to live. Just as society forces us to disconnect from the violence caused by our way of life, prison forced us to disconnect from a lot of our deepest sense of self and stay there for years.”
– Rod Coronado, former earth & animal liberation prisoner, from his article, “What Your Heart Tells You Is Right.”

Many former prisoners face a raft of difficulties upon coming out of prison, such as housing & employment discrimination, dealing with trauma, and the stigma of being a felon, to name just a few. It is crucial that our communities can support our fellow activists through these often challenging times. But it is important to listen to the voices of those who have had these experiences, to learn what is appropriate support, and simply learn to listen.

The zine, featuring interviews and writings from former earth & animal defense prisoners such as Rod Coronado, Jordan Halliday, Josh Harper & Jeff Luers, is being launched today on June 11, the International Day of Solidarity with Marie Mason, Eric McDavid & all Eco-prisoners. We hope that it contributes to further discussion around supporting those currently in prison, as well as when they are released.

The zine can be read online, and downloaded from the website: afterprisonzine.org.

All former and current movement prisoners can request a hardcopy of the zine for free. Please get in touch if you, or a prisoner you are supporting, would like a copy.

This is an ongoing project. In the long term, we are hoping that the website set up for this zine will become a place where other former prisoners will be interested in contributing their stories. As the website receives more contributions, further updated editions of the zine will be produced.

afterprisonzine@gmail.com

4 Arsons against Bristol’s cellular transmission infrastructure over 24 Hours

Around Bristol between June 9th-10th, we left 7 mobile phone antennae in flames. Daily continuation of capitalist society is dependent on uninterrupted flows (of goods, people, data, and energy) and the communications grid is no exception. The limited uses most of us can make from these flows only mask the way they are mainly used to oversee and impose the dominant order, and increase its' reach and control. You need only look to how the values of connectivity, speed, and mobility that are embodied in a mobile phone (for example) facilitate a relentless consumer culture and the requirement to be available and flexible at all times: as much for the benefit of the boss and the advertiser as for your family or friends. This is fully consistent with the modern restructuring and decentralisation of the gigantic productive system which this society subjects us to. Hindering all this was our objective.

2 antennae went up simultaneously, in Hambrook and outside Ram Hill business park in Coalpit Heath, both owned by O2. This is also not the first time O2 have been singled out for damage acts because of the contracts they hold in the migrant detention industry, with cops, and tagging for the probation service. Some hours later a 3rd O2 antenna went up in Coombe Dingle, at the same time as a 4th fire was lit after gaining access to transmission units connected to the huge BT telecommunication tower in Lockleaze. Signals that will have been affected are those of O2, T-Mobile, Orange and Vodaphone. These corporations variously are connected to the field of military equipment and armament, use prison labour, and are famous for readily collaborating with electronic policing by the secret services (now that widespread data-surveillance is well known) while not even stopping at financing Oxford university with its' extensive animal experimentation labs. This has already led to their interests being attacked in Berlin (T-Mobile's parent company*), Paris (Orange*), and Banbury (Vodaphone*).

For all above reasons it is always good to harm these corporations, structurally and economically, and then there is the issue of the antennae themselves radiating who knows how much harmfulness to nearby species. There were the publicised cases in Bristol even some years ago of a woman in Shirehampton who complained of the affects of an antenna put up on her high rise flatblock and later died from a brain tumor, while an antenna nicknamed The Tower of Doom was withdrawn from Staple Hill after cancer rates soared. Evidence has mounted up that prolonged use of mobile phones damages the immune system, decreases fertility, and causes brain tumors and cancers: especially in the young. We should mention that the antenna we burned in Coombe Dingle is one of three on the grounds of a university sports pitch also marketed for schools, as are many others. Additionally, twisted lab technicians claim to have deduced from experimentation on other mammals (built on torture like so much scientific research) that exposure while still in the womb "significantly damages brain function, structure and behaviour and suggested that these exposures could contribute to children's behavioural disorders".

These products were and still are pushed on us as harmless, although nearly every study that claims this was funded by the industry itself, when we had no idea of the long term affects, similarly to the marketing of asbestos or smoking before they began to show their deadly toll (to use only 2 better known examples among thousands). These days even researchers at Bristol university concede the dangers of cellular use. What a surprise….the permanently wired environment turns out to be toxic, while companies make a killing in profits and the government receives billions in taxes and licensing. For most people prolonged contact with mobile phones or wireless networks in general seems unavoidable, for work or to avoid social marginalisation, in the street, on public transport, or at home: we are soaking in one more accumulative barrage in a poisonous, anti-human and anti-life civilisation that grows by the day.

A recurring feature of the estrangement that technologies such as mobile phones actually cultivate between individuals, is how many addicted to their constant use now prefer to text message or to "tweet" to avoid the prospect of real life contact, and how many only feel safe communicating from behind a device. It is now completely standard for people to spend the majority of their waking hours interfacing with one screen or another. Up and coming inventions such as Google Glass attempt to make this enclosure near total (although also dependent in part on uninterrupted transmission infrastructure). As a society that lives through highly complex technologies, we no longer fully inhabit our bodies and environment but instead some part of the techno-hive: and it is no longer only nerds and the young who practically call this virtual reality their home. As the sphere dominated by information technology expands, what is considered socially of importance in our actual lives shrinks to what can be conveyed and received by the device, and so narrowing human emotion and experience. Or think about the obsessive urge to treat modern life as something less to be lived than to be documented in each detail for passive consumption on the "social" networks, as another example of colonisation by capitalism and its' technology.

Planning and carrying out your existence digitally also allows the possibilities of unprecedented surveillance, and it hinders active rebellion or even questioning of the dominant order by flagging up "abnormalities" in what you often voluntarily share with your friends or "Friends." At the same time, concerted exploitation of the base populations around the world and ecological pillage to the point of collapse continues to fatten the same rich parasites' pockets, and technological immersion helps people neither relate nor care. On the contrary millions now hunger for their part in the way of life that is killing everything.

With an anarchist perspective in search of free and fulfilling existence, we fight to do away with all technologies born from the toxification and slavery of mines, factories, and industrial infrastructures, and for our daily communication to be as unmediated as possible. Taking down these few nodes was not enough for us, it is not a case of simply abandoning the uses of a particular device alone, but it is erasing the whole social system which first trapped us in its' "necessity" which is the challenge. We found antennae an easy way to start: it is simply a matter of burning tires between the exposed cables and away you go. In North Lanarkshire, Scottish villagers even felled one. By reflecting on radical and anti-industrial history in Britain (such as the Swing and Luddite insurrections), as well as contemporary anarchist guerrilla praxis, we can see the advantage of low-tech, cheap, and easily reproducible tactics to wreck machinery that encloses and impoverishes us, on an even more intimate level presently than ever before. These ubiquitous (and highly expensive) structures are spread around every town or city and further industrialising the countryside, where they are sometimes painted green in the attempt to camouflage them: and disgustingly even have bird and bat nesting boxes mounted on some. Their guardians cannot always be watching them all so it is up to our ingenuity to remain a step ahead and stretch their forces thin. This and every network has its' weak points, in these cracks in the architecture of control that afford us leverage: a destructive capacity we are appropriating. As the promises of hyper-technified modern culture continue to show their shallowness, rebels will carry on acting against the noxious installations and the way of life they feed.

"….Resistance against the Technological-Industrial Machine lives only through the path of liberation from every power and order, runs towards an event horizon where nothing has been written yet." -letter from Gianluca Iacovacci, from C.R. San Michele prison

Our attack is not separate from overall anarchist subversion by all means, which naturally includes solidarity with our prisoners in enemy hands. A wild greeting from Bristol to Adriano Antonacci, no less than to his friend and comrade Gianluca (FAI/IRF Subversive Anti-Civilisation individuality) whose brave lone acts in Rome he is also accused of. Hello to the new anarchist and anti-colonial groups in Hong Kong and Australia, and solidarity to the Paris ten accused of sabotaging prison profiteers.

Our attack came at a time when the networks are already set to be overloaded by the World Cup hysteria, to show our complicity with the insurgent fighters in Brazil as they answer massive dispossession and militarised slum clearances for the opulence of the games with street battles and arson. Because it should be remembered that the enthralling spectacle, that is staged to make the rich yet more money and to distract us from our daily humiliations, is based on the State and Capital's violence against resisters, the indigenous, and the poorest in Brazilian society.

Let's not forget Marie Mason and Eric McDavid: both are still behind bars after State repression and entrapment which followed an early string of Earth Liberation Front strikes in the USA. Years later the earth liberation struggle is not defeated either in spirit or in practice. The fight goes on with fur farms raided and emptied across North America, and our incendiary-minded sisters or brothers prowling the besieged Turkish forests, the streets of the Costa Rican metropolis, or the techno-industrial developments in Switzerland (on the last note: a quick reminder that the continuing legal threats against the released anarchists Silvia, Costas and Billy, and also the latest vindictive treatment of Marco Camenisch around his prison transfer, have not gone unnoticed by the international fire-starters).

Down with the society based on dominating earth and all its' creatures. Live Wires, FAI/ELF
(14th contribution to the international Phoenix Project, one more part of a war that will never be contained by a legal code)

* http://en.contrainfo.espiv.net/2013/01/08/berlin-incendiary-attack-on-deutsche-telekom-vehicle-in-friedrichshain/
* http://nantes.indymedia.org/articles/28902
* http://www.directaction.info/news_mar12b_06.htm

Caltrans Case Against Tree Sitter Dismissed

10th June Long-standing trespass charges against Mark Herbert, aka “Falcon,” who perched in an old oak tree in April, 2013, above the hill west of Highway 101 that Caltrans is now

10th June Long-standing trespass charges against Mark Herbert, aka “Falcon,” who perched in an old oak tree in April, 2013, above the hill west of Highway 101 that Caltrans is now excavating for soil to construct the much-protested Willits Bypass, where he observed and reported on developments, were dismissed entirely on May 29th by Judge Ann Moorman in Ukiah Superior Court. Falcon was charged with trespass 602K, “entering any lands, whether unenclosed or enclosed by fence, 1) for the purpose of injuring any property or property rights or with the intention of interfering with a lawful business…”

The District Attorney told the court that no one had subpoenaed the CHP officer from the Special Weapons and Tactics unit who supervised the arrest of Herbert, the witness who was supposed to testify. Unlike other tree sitters, including Warbler, the young woman whose original tree sit sparked the Bypass protests, Herbert was not extracted by force, but agreed to come down when requested to do so.

Herbert’s attorney, Ed Denson, said “Judge Moorman indicated the case was almost a year old and she dismissed it. The CHP investigation was very perfunctory and it should have been clear to the investigating officer that Herbert had committed no crime. The evidence shows that no intention on Herbert’s part to interfere with any lawful business or occupation. “

Denson elaborated: “Herbert’s case differed from that of all the other tree sitters, but the CHP failed to note that. Their report said his tree was north of 101, but the videos clearly show it was on a hill well south of 101 out of the construction area. No one from Caltrans or the CHP had even come to his site to ask him to come down until the day he was arrested by a team of 24 officers. He then voluntarily descended from the tree. It was clear that his purpose in doing the tree sit was to be a witness to the events occurring across the highway during the CHP blockade of the media preventing reporting on the extraction of the sitters. Herbert was a spokesperson for the effort to save the valley while the others were prevented from contact with the public. Had the CHP thought things through, the taxpayers could have saved thousands of dollars.”

The D.A. had almost a year to prepare and still was not ready to prosecute the case. A rally to support Herbert and fellow activist Will Parrish was held on the courthouse steps at noon. Parrish, who writes for the Anderson Valley Advertiser, stopped work on the Caltrans Bypass for more than eleven days last June and July by occupying a wick drain tower on the north end of the project, leading finally to his arrest and the arrests of several other activists trying to supply him with food and water denied him by CHP officers on site.

Parrish’s hearing on restitution demanded by Caltrans in the amount of $150,000 has been postponed to July 17. Assistant District Attorney Sequiera said the case has become confusing and he is insisting now that Caltrans supply their own lawyer to appear in court on the case, which will also be over a year old by the time of the hearing.

Santiago, Chile: Pack of Anarchic Nihilist Shock Strikes Again

8th June On Tuesday, June 3rd, we organized ourselves in complicity with the night to install 3 incendiary devices in 3 different buses of 3 distinct routes of the Transantiago citizen service; o

8th June On Tuesday, June 3rd, we organized ourselves in complicity with the night to install 3 incendiary devices in 3 different buses of 3 distinct routes of the Transantiago citizen service; our goal was to burn down these transporting machines of postmodern slaves.

We vindicate the action as pack so that the political and combative sense which motivates us is not distorted, thus avoiding the mediatic speculations of Power and vigilant entities; and without going into tedious justifications, we make it clear that:

We are at war with civilization, its societies, its defenders and pseudo-critics, we are comrades and defenders of nature, the earth and all animals that suffer the sinister advance of the domesticating capitalist globalization.

Freedom for Sol, Adriano, Gianluca, Alfredo Cospito, Nicola Gai, Hans Niemeyer, Hermes González, Alfonso Alvial, and all prisoners at war around this rotten world; with Sebastián Oversluij, Mauricio Morales, Alexandros Grigoropoulos, and many more, in our memory and heart…

For human/nonhuman animal and earth liberation.

Pack of Anarchic Nihilist Shock

Original text

Sabotage on the High Speed Railway Track Bologna-Milan

4th June From the local media we learn that in the night between 19^th and 20^th May, copper and fibre optic cables were cut along the high speed rail track in Bologna, and two cockpits were

4th June From the local media we learn that in the night between 19^th and 20^th May, copper and fibre optic cables were cut along the high speed rail track in Bologna, and two cockpits were set on fire. In the area graffiti NO TAV were left.

From the press we learn that over 40 high speed trains were delayed up to 30 minutes, and consequently also a dozen local trains were delayed.

Rathlin Blitzkrieg About to Hit East Yorkshire

29th May 2014 Rathlin Energy caught activists napping today when lorries arrived at Crawberry Hill site in East Yorkshire.

29th May 2014 Rathlin Energy caught activists napping today when lorries arrived at Crawberry Hill site in East Yorkshire. The police had allowed Rathlin to ignore (no right turn) traffic signs to gain access without the knowledge of the activists waiting further down the road.
Activists aired their concerns about radio active hazard signs attached to lorries arriving to remove waste water at the West Newton site near Aldborough. The surface water had overflowed the man made ditches made specifically for the purpose due to heavy overnight rain. It seems this presents no present threat but fears are that when drilling begins again and the radioactive elements are brought to the surface any further overflow would contaminate the surrounding area. Residents of the USA and Canada have previously reported ‘dead zones’ of once thriving ecological areas. contaminated by fracking and radioactive chemicals, after overflowing into ponds and lakes.
Activists were also worried about ‘drill tips’ and accessories used in the drilling processes. These are according to the activists, tipped with depleted Uranium, to cut through the toughest rock. Although it cannot be confirmed that these practises are taking place in the East Riding area, the technique and equipment, have been available for quite some time.
The Environment Agency has already given permits to Rathlin to extract waste, including radioactive waste. Unconfirmed reports suggest Dermot Nesbit (Rathlin Energy director) had used his influence as an Ex Northern Ireland, Environment Minister to secure the permits, from the Environment Agency, the same department (within Northern Ireland) of which he was once chief.
Hull and East Yorkshire anti frack.

More Arrests of Anti Fracking Activists in East Yorkshire

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

Switzerland: Update From Anarchist Prisoner Marco Camenisch

20th May 2014. Since the 15th or the 16th of May, Marco Camenisch has been held in solitar

20th May 2014. Since the 15th or the 16th of May, Marco Camenisch has been held in solitary confinement for five days in the prison of Lenzburg, Switzerland, because he refused to give a urine sample.

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

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

Marco Camenisch

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

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

More info on Marco Mamenisch