Action Reports – Page 124

Season of the Climate Trials

RATCLIFFE ON TRIAL ‘SHOW OF SOLIDARITY’
9am, 22nd November
Outside Nottingham Crown Court

Next Monday 20 activists begin their long awaited trial. Accused of conspiring to shut down Ratcliffe on Soar power station, they don’t deny this was their intention. However they are pleading Not Guilty on the grounds that they planned to act to prevent loss of life and serious injury caused by climate change.

With the trial due to begin Monday morning, we are asking supporters from far and wide to congregate outside the Crown Court at 9am for a Show of Solidarity before the trial gets underway. You don’t need to bring anything but yourselves, and we will be inviting you to hold banners reading “I’d Stop Emissions Too”.

We ask for a calm presence that doesn’t disrupt the trial. But the more attendees the better. This is the culmination of an exhausting 18 month process for the defendants, who face a maximum sentence of three months in prison. A big show of support would make their day.

Get booking your travel, or organise a mini-bus with your local group. For more information, email info@ratcliffeontrial.org

See you next Monday,
Ratcliffe on Trial campaign support group

PS: Join the Facebook Event: http://on.fb.me/92y0Yx

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THE INSTANT INFO BOARD: PRINT IT OUT, STICK IT UP

A few of the Ratcliffe on Trial supporters have been hard at work over the last few days, putting together an “instant info board”. This 8-page document explains, briefly, the various different aspects of the trial, the context, the necessity defence and how to help. We’d love it if supporters around the country could print it out and stick it up in your local social centre, students union, workplace or anywhere else you can think of. Thanks!

Download it here:
http://ratcliffeontrial.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/ratcliffeontrial.pdf

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MANCHESTER AIRPORT ON TRIAL

In May 2010, seventeen people staged a protest/direct action at Manchester Airport, temporarily shutting it down. They did this to stop some of the 5 million tonnes of carbon emissions that the airport is responsible for annually and in opposition to plans to destroy local homes and biodiversity spots to expand the World Freight Centre.

Mission:

17 people are now facing two trials as a result of this action. 11 people will be tried for ‘obstruction of the highway’ in Dec 2010. The remaining 6 will face a trial in early 2011.

Please
-Email statements of support to manchesterairportontrial@gmail.com
-Like the Facebook page: http://on.fb.me/92b4jo
-www.manchesterairportontrial.org/

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Update:
On 25 November 2010, the Copenhagen District Court found Stine Gry Jonassen and Tannie Nyboe guilty in charges of being organisers and instigators of violence and vandalism. The incident took place on 16th of December at Bella Centre last year during the climate summit in Copenhagen. The two women were sentenced to four months of probation. One out of three judges disagreed with the verdict and thought the women were innocent of all charges.

Stine Gry and Tannie Nyboe both acted as spokespersons for the Global Network “Climate Justice Action” (CJA).

During the Cop15 last year, CJA organised several non-violent civil
disobedience protests, including the “Reclaim Power – Push for Climate Justice” rally on 16th of December. The two women were both the public faces of the movement and they are now found guilty in charges of being organisers and instigators of violence and riots. They are both deeply shocked by the outcome of the trial and are now considering an appeal.

More: http://www.climatecollective.org/post/151

CLIMATE DEFENCE IS NOT AN OFFENCE!

ZAD, the story so far…

4 November 2010

A community fights on against the invasion of the bulldozer empire….

And as the empire grows, the community must also grow, and look for those to join the fight….

4 November 2010

A community fights on against the invasion of the bulldozer empire….

And as the empire grows, the community must also grow, and look for those to join the fight….

For over 40 years, a storm cloud has been gathering, 25km north of the city of Nantes, France, over a rural area of farms, fields, houses, marshlands and forests. As an integral part of the massive expansion of the so-called “eco metropole” of the grand-ouest, the local government has been buying up an area of over 1860 hectares of land to make way for the construction of a so-called “high quality environmental” project a new airport, highway bypass and tgv train line. This zone is officially known as the “ZAD”, “Zone d’Amenegment Differè, and by us who resist as the “Zone A Defendre”.

Since the announcement of the plans, local residents and farmers have organised their resistance through petitions, demonstrations and a tractor occupation in the centre of Nantes. In spring and autumn ’09, the area was in a state of military guard, as 150 military cops were sent out to protect machines involved in the early works of core drilling and soil sampling. This is not a normal course of action; rather it was the response of the local government to acts of sabotage that occurred earlier on during the works.

In September ’09, after a climate camp in the ZAD, a call was made to occupy the abandoned houses and threatened areas of the ZAD, with support of local people in resistance to the airport. This call has been answered, and already there are some 13 occupied areas on the ZAD, including empty farmhouses, caravans on abandoned land, forests and collective gardens. On July 15th 2010, authorities delivered papers to 5 occupied areas, warning the occupiers that they should vacate these places by the 30th July or face legal proceedings and evictions. Earlier that day, an agreement was signed by 5 unimportant bureaucrats to finance the construction of the airport. On 29th July 2010, about 40 people occupied the council offices in Nantes. The next day, it was made public that the multinational construction company Vinci had been awarded the contract to build the airport. Already the first works have begun on the Barreau Routier, a highway bypass being built to serve the airport. In August 2010 the city of Nantes made public their search for a security company to be on constant guard on the construction sites and areas around the ZAD.

But we won’t be moved so easily. Busily growing food to support us over the next years, looking for further areas to occupy and building defences within the ZAD, we are digging our heels in even deeper and preparing for the fight.

If you would like to join, or even come and visit, we are always open. There are many houses, fields, trees, caravans that are to be occupied and defended when the time comes. If you have your own project to contribute, like setting up a new space, garden, action ideas, or any other useful resources or talents, even better. We are encouraging people to try and be as self sufficient as possible within this space, as well as wanting to be inspired to become part of this ever growing struggle against the machine of progress. Or if you can’t come and visit us, maybe you feel the wish to visit some sites or offices of Vinci in your area……

Wish list / ideas of stuff to bring…. bicycles and trailers, tarps, tools, building and barricading materials, climbing materials, computer and technical skills, wheelbarrows, rope of all kinds, books, vans/trucks, media resources, ideas, inspiration, fighting energy, donkeys, dragons and dentists…..

map/directions to the zad
email – zad@riseup.net
to sign up to our list, please email zad-occupation@lists.aktivix.org
Website coming soon

+ An update
This week (yesterday the 2nd of November) they started the drilling for testing soil where the highway is supposed to be build. Lets stop it!

Sinixt Nation Establishes a Protection Camp on Their Ancestral Land

The Sinixt Nation, declared extinct by the Canadian government more than 50 years ago, has set up a protection camp on their ancestral land, halting all commercial logging in the area known to the Sinixt Nation as “Slhu7kin”.

On October 26th 2010, the Sinixt Nation asserted their sovereignty by initiating the Sinixt Slhu7kin (Perry Ridge) Protection Camp on their ancestral lands. The Sinixt, by declaration, have established the “Sinixt Slhu7kin – Perry Ridge Wilderness Preserve to protect the rich bio-diversity on Perry Ridge and the collective domestic watershed interests of the Perry Ridge community.”

Sinixt Nation members, local residents, and supporters are gathered at the beginning of the Perry Ridge Forest Service road near the town of Slocan, BC. The camp has halted all commercial logging in the area.

After a complete refusal to consult with the Sinixt Nation, BC Timber Sales via BC Ministry of Forests and Range sold the logging rights to 4 controversial cut-blocks on Perry Ridge to Sunshine Logging LTD of Kaslo, BC. Sunshine Logging purchased the 2 year contract for approximately $330,000 after BC Timber Sales dropped the auction bidding price because no companies wanted to touch the highly contentious contract with a ten foot pole.

This isn’t the first time people have taken a stand to protect the area known as Slhu7kin to the Sinixt. In 1997 local residents, the Perry Ridge Water Users Association, and Sinixt members took both legal and direct action and successfully halted road building on the ridge. Over 300 people blocked the road demanding protection for the area.

Known as the Arrow Lakes Indian Band under the Indian Act, Canada officially declared the Sinixt extinct in 1956. This left Sinixt members living on the Colville Reservation (in the USA) or scattered among other nations in BC without recognition.

Many Sinixt returned to the Northern part of their territory to protect their ancestral burial sites in Vallican, BC in the late 1980’s when a BC Ministry of Transportation road development project desecrated their burial sites, removed bones and artifacts and placed them in museums. After a tremendous amount of effort from the Sinixt and supporters, remains of their ancestors were returned to them and were reburied at the site. The Sinixt to this day continue to live peacefully and re-occupy their land in Vallican making it the longest re-occupation in Canadian history.

Sinixt territory spans from the headwaters of the Columbia River north of Nakusp, to Kaslo in the West, Revelstoke in the East, and down into what is now known as Washington State. Over 80% of the territory lies on the “Canadian side” of the 49th parallel.

In BC alone, 15 dams were built on Sinixt Territory. In 1954, Kaiser Aluminum proposed a dam on Arrow Lake. The Keenleyside Dam flooded 140 Sinixt cultural sites. The Cominco smelter at Trail built a dam on the Kootenay River near the ancient Sinixt village of kp’itl’els. The zinc and lead smelter has since dumped over 13 million tonnes of toxic slag, including mercury, into the Columbia River.

“A visitor to the Columbia Basin will be unlikely to see any indication that there was ever a native culture that thrived for so long in this region. Most of the Sinixt traditional villages and burial grounds were flooded with the damming of the Arrow Lakes. We know of only one monument to the Sinixt. In the town of Edgewood, there is a totem pole that was erected in the late 1960’s. It was commissioned by B.C. Hydro as a commemorative to an extinct race.”

But the fact of the matter is that the Sinixt never had totem poles and they aren’t extinct.
What You Can Do

The Sinixt Nation and their supporters are encouraging people to help out any way they can.

Financial donations can be made payable to the Sinixt Nation Society. Mail well concealed cash, money orders and cheques to: The Sinixt Nation Society, RRI G-I6 C-2, Winlaw, BC VOG 2JO.

Contact the Sinixt Nation:

Marilyn James (Official Appointed Spokesperson)
Bob Campbell (Headman)
Phone: 250 226 6726
Fax: 886 685 7376

For more information and background, visit: http://sinixtnation.org, http://www.firstnations.eu/invasion/sinixt.htm, http://sinixt.kics.bc.ca, http://www.aaanativearts.com/colville-tribe/lake-indians.htm

More photos and updates can be found on the Sinixt Nation’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sinixt-Nation/255421804460

Note sure how to say “Sinixt”? Want to know why the government says they don’t exist? Listen to the one-hour radio documentary: Keeping the Lakes Way: The Past and Future of the Sinixt

Update from Coal Action Scotland & THWAC

30th October 2011
Hello all,

Here’s a brief update of what’s been going on with Coal Action Scotland and what’s coming up. There’s a week to go before the Autumn Gathering and lots has been happening!

1. New THWAC! short film
2. THWAC Gathering 6th-10th November
3. Coal Action Scotland October Newsletter
4. Action Roundup
5. Recent News

*1. New THWAC! short film*

30th October 2011
Hello all,

Here’s a brief update of what’s been going on with Coal Action Scotland and what’s coming up. There’s a week to go before the Autumn Gathering and lots has been happening!

1. New THWAC! short film
2. THWAC Gathering 6th-10th November
3. Coal Action Scotland October Newsletter
4. Action Roundup
5. Recent News

*1. New THWAC! short film*

A short film about the Happendon Wood Action Camp and fighting Scottish Coal in the Douglas Valley, and publicising the gathering next week can be watched here: http://politube.org/show/3075 and http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=2206

*2. THWAC Gathering 6th-10th November*

The Happendon Wood Action Camp (THWAC) was occupied on 12th September 2010 to resist the destruction of the Douglas Valley by Scottish Coal and SRG Estates.

Join us for our five day autumn gathering in the woods!

As part of what they’re calling their “forward strategy”, Scottish Coal have begun the process of closing the circle of open cast mines around the communities of the Douglas Valley by announcing three new open cast applications.

For too long now Scottish Coal, (with the help of rich landowners and corrupt councillors) have been shitting all over the Douglas Valley, causing ill health to the local communities in the area and contributing to climate change. This has got to stop.

The eviction at Mainshill was not an end but just a beginning. We’re back to finish what we started. If Scottish Coal want to obliterate what’s left of the Scottish countryside, we will obliterate them.

We’re calling for affinity groups to come to the site with energy and ideas for action to destroy Scottish Coal’s plans.

There will also be the usual skillsharing, including action workshops, information-sharing and opportunities to get involved in the campaign and day-to-day life on camp.

**WHAT TO BRING:**

* warm clothes, boots and waterproofs, a tent, sleeping bag and mat
* tools for building work and action materials if you can
* Most importantly bring yourself and friends.

FOOD:
There’ll be communal vegan food for a donation, so come prepared to help with chopping veg.

GETTING THERE:
>The camp is near junction 12 of the M74, which runs from Carlisle to Glasgow. The nearest train stations are Lanark and Hamilton and there are frequent direct buses to near the site. Email us or call the sit phone if you need a lift from the train station.

MORE INFO AND CONTACT:
Email: contact [at] coalactionscotland.org.uk
Site phone: 07806926040
Post: Happendon Wood Action Camp
Wolfcrooks Road
South Lanarkshire
ML11 9PA

Check out the brochure of coal targets in Scotland plus Digger Diving for Beginners here <http://coalaction.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Oct-10-first-three-pages.pdf

back page:
http://coalaction.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Oct-10-back-page.pdf

*4. Action Round-up*

Borehole Drilling Machine sabotaged in solidarity with The Happendon Wood Action Camp <“>http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=2185>

“Nae Coal at Hunterston”: Action against Ayrshire Power and Peel
Holdings <“>http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=2166>

Beginnings of a new wave of direct action in the Douglas Valley against Scottish Coal <“>http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=2197>

Scottish Coal given a slap on the wrist for environmental damage in Ayrshire < Author earthfirstPosted on October 30, 2010Categories Climate Chaos, Scotland (Central & Southern), Squatting / Free Spaces / Protest Sites, Wilderness Defence

Kayford Mountain, USA – dozens march onto “reclaimed” site and plant trees

KAYFORD MTN., W.Va.–Forty-four people risked arrest yesterday on Kayford Mountain by trespassing on a Patriot Coal Company “reclamation” site to plant trees. “The coal companies sure as hell aren’t going to do anything about it – someone’s got to,” said Junior Walk, 20, of the Coal River Valley.

“The coal industry does not attempt to return the landscape to its previous biodiversity – leaving it up to the citizens to reclaim it themselves. Fixing the ruined landscape will provide long term jobs for those put out of work by the abolition of mountaintop removal” said John Johnson, a forester and environmentalist.

…

People in the front of the march included Ken Hechler, Larry Gibson and two Colombian union coal miners, National President of Sintramienergetica Raul Sosa and Jose Brito of the SintraCarbon union. The Colombian Network Against Transnational Large-Scale Mining sent letter of support to Appalachian Rising. The two Colombians joined the march to the mine’s edge as part of a solidarity tour that included a meeting with the Matewan local UMWA and people working to save Blair Mountain. Free trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA) hurt workers, communities and environments both here and in Colombia.

Leaders in their unions have been assassinated by paramilitaries, and the union says Alabama-based Drummond Co. is behind them. The tour is the result of work by Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, and possibly others.

Don’t miss the video from the day!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 25, 2010

Hundreds rally on Kayford Mountain; dozens march onto “reclaimed” site and plant trees

Contact:
Charles Suggs or Josh Graupera: 304.854.1937

NOTE: Information, Photographs, & Video will be updated on www.climategroundzero.org. Banners: Reclamation Fail; Over 500 Mountains Destroyed, Reclamation Jobs Now; EPA, We’re Doing Your Job

The standard reclamation practiced by mining companies is inadequate, which involves regrading high walls into gentle, highly-compacted slopes and seeding the rocky soil with grass. Some companies plant trees but rarely return to tend them–most trees don’t survive long. The extremely diverse mixed mesophytic forests of Central Appalachia, which rely upon the micro-climates created by the area’s folded land, cannot regrow on reclaimed surface mines. Native plants like ginseng require the steep north-facing slopes of Appalachia that retain moisture, and will never grow on the gentle slopes of a reclaimed strip mine.

The coal industry defends mountaintop removal by touting the flat land of reclaimed mine sites as prime for development. According to a recent report by the Natural Resoures Defense Council, however, “only about four percent of mountains in Kentucky and West Virginia, where the vast majority of this mining is occurring, had any post-mining economic activity.”

The day’s rally began in the Stanley Heir’s Park, a small island of green surrounded by 12,000 acres of mountaintop removal, much of which is in some state of reclamation.

“I am a 6th generation West Virginian from Mercer County and I’m a granddaughter and great granddaughter of coal miners. And they’d be mad about mountaintop removal,” Wendy Johnston said. “The battle of Blair Mountain lives on in my and my fathers’ spirit.”

The rally and action comes on the heels of the EPA’s recommendation to veto the Spruce No. 1 mine’s permit and Appalachia Rising, the largest national gathering of people in opposition to mountaintop removal coal mining to date. Appalachia Rising culminated with a march to the White House of over 2,000 people and 114 arrests for non-violent civil disobedience at the White House, PNC Bank, Department of Interior and Army Corps of Engineers.

Ken Hechler, a long-serving West Virginia statesman said at the rally, “I may be 96 but there’s a fire in my belly. I’m here to help save these beautiful mountains of West Virginia and put people back to work doing useful things.” Ken Hechler has been a vocal opponent of mountaintop removal since the early 1970’s.

Huntington Lane Eviction Call Out!

Site A Eviction Shock!
Wednesday 13th October, 2010

Site A at Huntington Lane has now been evicted and the camp members are putting out an urgent call out for people to get themselves down to help defend the main protest camp, which is expecting eviction any minute.

Site A Eviction Shock!
Wednesday 13th October, 2010

At around 8:30am today police officers and members of the National Eviction Team arrived on Site A to find the tree houses sadly unoccupied. The tree houses have now been removed and branches lopped off the trees so they can’t go back up.

Protesters have been threatened with arrest should they trespass upon Site A. An eviction notice is yet to be served but this chain of events would appear to suggest its imminent arrival. We would encourage any concerned individuals to pay a visit to camp whether it be to stay on, help out with defences, leave a donation or lend their moral support.

Site A is the southern most part of the site (see below marked as ‘site 2′) and the area where the mines infrastructure is to be built and the mining is to begin.

The southern most part of the site (called site 2 in this image) has been evicted

The infrastructure process has now begun and is expected to be completed relatively quickly and the commencement of mining operations is set to follow.

Please call 07503 583419 for info or to get involved.

Shell Garage closed near Elephant

26.9.10

Protestors in solidarity with Rossport layed siege to a Shell garage near Elephant and Castle in south London yesterday evening at 17:00.

26.9.10

Protestors in solidarity with Rossport layed siege to a Shell garage near Elephant and Castle in south London yesterday evening at 17:00.

The protestors, members of the ‘petrosiege crew’ climbed on to the roof of the garage to force its closure on a busy saturday evening as part of ongoing solidarity actions over the oil refinery and local people’s struggle in County Mayo in the north west of Ireland (Rossport)

Exact location:

Shell Walworth South

The Passion for Freedom knows no borders

26.9.10

London, Friday 24 September: around 2pm. a number of anarchists and sympathizers from various parts of the metropolis converged on the shopping centre in the middle of the busy intersection Elephant and Castle, chosen because of the thousands of people from Latin American countries living in the area.

After dropping banners over the main entrance in solidarity with the Mapuche hunger strikers and the 14 anarchists arrested in Chile, they dispersed into and around the shopping centre and local market giving out hundreds of leaflets in English and Spanish.

Unnoticed by the State and private security who were too intent on defending the bosses’ wares, the banners stayed in place for hours in full view of hundreds of bus passengers from almost every country on the planet on their way to and from their places of exploitation.

Today’s outing, chosen to coincide with the international solidarity date for our Chilean comrades, rather than being a fait accompli is a call to action everywhere, without delay.

Appalachia Rising: end mountaintop removal mining!

22.9.10

Appalachia Rising is a mass mobilization in Washington, DC, September 25-27, 2010, calling for an end to the devastating practice of mountaintop removal mining.

22.9.10

Appalachia Rising is a mass mobilization in Washington, DC, September 25-27, 2010, calling for an end to the devastating practice of mountaintop removal mining.

Mountaintop removal has already destroyed over 500 of the world’s oldest mountains and more than 2,000 miles of streams, and has contaminated our nation’s waters. Together, we will bring Appalachia’s cry to our nation’s capital: We must end mountaintop removal and transform the economies of Appalachia away from destructive mining practices and toward clean-energy jobs and a sustainable and healthy future.

The weekend includes two full days of strategizing workshops, learning, featured speaker panels and discussions, cultural events, and entertainment. On Monday, September 27, we will march, rally, and support individuals taking part in dignified non-violent civil disobedience against mountaintop removal mining.

Join thousands of Appalachian and national leaders, policymakers, coalfield residents and miners, concerned citizens, activists, mountain groups, environmental justice organizations, and Americans from coast to coast for this momentous movement-building summit, gathering, and call to action. Hear the voices of those most impacted by mountaintop removal coal mining, and let your voice be heard in this movement to offer America hope for a better future.

Shell to Sea campaigners target Shell executives in Ireland

The folks in suits finally got a taste of the conflict they’ve been orchestrating in Co. Mayo, Ireland for the past decade.

The folks in suits finally got a taste of the conflict they’ve been orchestrating in Co. Mayo, Ireland for the past decade. Representatives from Shell and their team of expert witnesses who are presenting the planning application for the Corrib Gas onshore pipeline to the Irish planning board were prevented from leaving the oral hearing Thursday night by protesters from the Rossport Solidarity Camp.

Thursday was a long day for Shell’s expert witnesses, bosses, and executives. The planning board’s oral hearing into the Corrib Gas pipeline has been ongoing in Co. Mayo for the past four weeks, and local residents have been questioning Shell experts on details surrounding the proposed onshore pipeline.

At 10pm, exhausted and with long journeys ahead of them Shell delegates exited the front doors of the hotel to discover that protesters had boarded their bus, holding placards and banners with messages reading “Energy shouldn’t cost the earth”and “Shell: destroying the world, one community at a time.”

At one stage when four high up Shell people tried to leave in a car, two protesters met them at the road and blocked their car with a banner reading “Shell’s lies cost lives.” The annoyed driver attempted to drive through the banner and in the process ran over one person’s foot. No serious injury was sustained and the driver refused to make any apologies for his actions.

After delaying the Shell suits for over an hour, one member of the protest explained that “it was so satisfying to finally see these people at the top, who are never held accountable suddenly be confronted with their own responsibility for this project and the devastation it has caused to the community”