Action Reports – Page 128

No GMO – Destroyed a transgenic maize field in Italy

From Italy to Cancun – Justice, Dignity, Independence
10 / 8 / 2010

This morning one hundred activists of the Association Ya Basta Italy entered in a illegal field of genetically modified maize in Vivaro (Pordenone province, northeastern Italy). The action started at noon. Activists destroyed two meters tall plants.

Back in April, the farmers and activists of Ya Basta Italy denounced the illegal planting of maize in Vivaro.

The field was placed under seizure, but the ruling still is taking too long for political debates within the government. From below, then came the immediate response concerning the life and the defense of biodiversity, which can not be cowardly dominated by capital and speculation.

In the public statement of Ya Basta activists declared themselves “indigenous communities” and join the fight for justice and dignity for all communities found in Cochabamba during the People’s Assembly in April.

Also, defending the right and desire to leave the hell of transgenic cultures which destroy the planet and poison the Mother Earth and the waters.

The climate changes, the soil dries, water is privatized: enough … to Cancun!

Video and photos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdGLyGveaCo
http://www.globalproject.info/it/in_movimento/No-Ogm-Distrutto-campo-di-mais-transgenico/5543

Climate Camp Cymru meetup point announced

*Climate Camp Cymru*
*13 – 17 August*

Opencast is trashing the south Wales landscape – it’s time to take action…

From midday on Friday 13th August you are invited to a convergence space in central Cardiff. The location of this space is Cardiff Quaker Meeting House, 43 Charles Street, Cardiff.

*Climate Camp Cymru*
*13 – 17 August*

Opencast is trashing the south Wales landscape – it’s time to take action…

From midday on Friday 13th August you are invited to a convergence space in central Cardiff. The location of this space is Cardiff Quaker Meeting House, 43 Charles Street, Cardiff.

From here people will be directed to a train station, where minibuses will be available to transport people to the the site. Experienced cyclists may wish to bring bikes and cycle to the site.
NB: you will need £4.50 each way for the train fare.

The location of the site will be announced at approximately 2pm on Friday 13th August.

At 2pm on 13th August people will be sentenced at Merthyr Crown Court for the lock-on to the railway line between Ffos-y-Fran and Aberthaw power station. It would be great if people could go to the court to support them. Transport will be arranged to the site after.

The convergence space in Cardiff will be open until 5pm. We encourage everyone who can to reach the site on Friday night, although the minibuses will be available throughout Saturday from the train station.

Please watch this space for more detail.

Things to bring:
Tent
Sleeping bag
Warm clothes and waterproofs
Plate, bowl, mug and cutlery
Loo roll

and a bike could be useful too

www.climatecampcymru.org
info@climatecampcymru.org
07040 909 147

Legal support phone contact during the camp will be 07587 220197

3 days of action for Beat the Boreholes in Rossport

Shell drilling stopped for an hour and a half

6.08.2010
Rossport Solidarity Campers go out before 7am and successfully prevent workers from accessing the drilling platforms.

Shell drilling stopped for an hour and a half

6.08.2010
Rossport Solidarity Campers go out before 7am and successfully prevent workers from accessing the drilling platforms.

9 Campers wadded and kayaked out to the platforms this morning and halted work for 1 and half hours. IRMS workers eventually secured the area by pushing people away and dragging their kayaks down the estuary. Kayaks were deflated by security and some people were dangerously forced to swim in high currents. There were no arrests.

We really need more people to come and take part in actions over the next two months. Please get in touch if you think you would be able to come down and help stop Shell.

http://www.rossportsolidaritycamp.org

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Shell drilling stopped for 5 hours – as Beat the Boreholes continues

05.08.2010
Yesterday morning 11 people from Rossport Solidarity Camp waded and kayaked out from the camp to again delay Shell’s survey work in Sruwaddacon Estuary. Overall drilling work was stopped for over 5 hours, with one person climbing up one of the legs of the drilling platforms. Several people also attached themselves to the 2 outer drilling poles which are under the platforms.

The campers went out before 7am to prevent workers getting access to the platform and held the platform for about 4 hours before being removed by IRMS security. Despite only 11 protesters being present, it took 50 IRMS to come before they could secure the area. After about 5 hours the drilling workers got on board and started preparing the drilling operation. Eventually they started drilling at around 1pm, despite the climber still being perched at the side of the platform. They drilled for approximately an hour before the climber came down and swam back to shore.

The drilling platforms are currently in a vital part of the SAC; close to bird feeding and nesting sites. At this time the estuary is also used as a migration route for Atlantic Salmon which are an Annex 1 species (the most protected EU category). They are very vulnerable to suffocation by suspended solids in the water clogging their gills and today we saw evidence of sediment spewing into the estuary from the boreholes. Movement of the platforms will also release suspended solids; endangering the supposedly protected salmon. This directly contravenes the purpose of the SAC which Minister Gormley seems to conveniently forget when it comes to facilitating big business here in Mayo but likes to remind us at other times such as on 2nd August in relation to restricting leisure activities to protect SAC’s, the Minister said;
“Along with other EU States, Ireland has designated certain areas for nature protection and, in those areas, that must be our priority. Many people, indeed, find recreation in the enjoyment of undisturbed nature,” he concluded .
Indeed Gormley, that is what the people of Erris have been saying for 10 years; its time to protect this SAC from Shell!

John Gormley’s recent press release:
http://www.environ.ie/en/Heritage/NationalParksandWildl…n.htm

rossportsolidaritycamp@gmail.com
http://www.rossportsolidaritycamp.org, www.shelltosea.com

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Shell disrupted – Beat the Boreholes continues

9.8.2010
Yesterday at about 2.30pm Shell began to lower “Jack – 1” – one of two survey barges currently in Sruth Fhada Chonn estuary SAC (Special Area of Protection) – in order to tug it to another part of the estuary.

The Rossport Solidarity Camp was ready and willing to claim free passage of the public estuary and in the process upset the operation. Over a dozen Shell security boats and two Garda RIBS couldn’t keep the 6 kaykers out, with two of them reaching the moving barge after an hour and a half of chase.

Shell’s jack-up barges are damaging Sruth Fhada Chonn estuary SAC (Special Area of Conservation) by drilling survey boreholes for the proposed Onshore Corrib Gas Pipeline tunnel – the latest route offered by Shell as a means to hook up the refinery to the well. At each new location the barges massive legs are lowered into the estuary crushing life beneath the sand. Estuary water is being used to lubricate the work, and and outfall pipe is discharging it back in to the supposedly protected waters.

The Gardaí seemed happy to let IRMS do as they pleased on the water, with kayakers being unlawfully rammed, grabbed, towed against their will – all on a public waterway. At one stage an IRMS boat stole one kayak from under its owner, capsizing him into the water. The Gardaí issued many Section 8 warning under the public order act (to the kaykers) but no arrests were made, despite one kayaker making it onto the moving rig.

Beat the boreholes continues, now both rigs are in the upper estuary – on the sand at low tide and accessible by walking.

rossportsolidaritycamp@gmail.com
www.rossportsolidaritycamp.org, www.shelltosea.com

Trashing, dashing, bashing, mashing: the new EF! Action Update

So what have you been up to the last few months? Just hanging around?
Maybe you’ve been part of human wheel-clamping aeroplanes, climbing up scaffolding tripods inconveniently placed in the road, smashing machines at open-cast mines, playing nuked-dead in the street, kayaking against borehole drill rigs in Ireland, burning mobile phone masts, resisting Tesco, camping against trashing of woodland, with some success at Titnore (& other protest camp updates), or getting in on BP’s act, spilling oil in public places.

Or have you been on holiday, taking part in indigenous blockades against logging, dams and mining, spilunking against high speed trains, slashing tuna cages, blockading Monsanto HQ, trashing GM fields, and more?

Maybe you’re in need of a break. But if you’re not, and are just champing at the bit, the return of AUntie MIffy’s problem page might help, addressing what to do if there’s no local group near you. There’s an article about the beginnings of EF! in this country, looking forwards to the next 20 years, to help inspire. If you need support to get things going where you live, do get in touch. And if all that’s not enough, here’s a quotation, from Paul Watson, the Sea Shepherd captain:

“Future generations will not have the chance and those that came before us did not have the vision nor the knowledge. It is up to us — you and I.”

Print version
Other issues and extra info

Anti-Coal Protest raft sails down River Seven

On Sunday 31st residents from the Huntington Lane Camp took their message onto the river Seven and sailed it downstream. The six person raft complete with a big “No New Coal” banner and UK Coal digger figurehead sailed down the River Seven and past EON’s Buildwas B coal fired power station which is where the coal from Huntington Lane will eventually end up. It then sailed further downstream and under the famous Iron Bridge where it was meet with cheers from a crowd of locals and tourists who had gathered on the bridge.

There was also a team on land who were raising awareness of the camp by talking to the people on the riverside and bridge about what they were doing and why they where doing it. Generally most people were supportive and positive about the campaign. The event also had a fair bit of local media overage with the Shropshire Star and Midlands Today both covering it.

The camp has now been stopping work at Huntington Lane almost six months, if you want to help then donations of food, tools and water are always appreciated as are new faces at the camp

West Midlands Climate Action
http://wmclimateaction.wordpress.com/
http://wmclimateaction.wordpress.com/2010/08/01/protest-raft-river-seven/

Waders tie down Shell testing rig in Mayo, Republic of Ireland

30.07.2010
10 people from the Rossport solidarity camp delayed Shell’s survey work for the dangerous and experimental Corrib gas pipeline yesterday. The campaigners waded out to one of the rigs drilling boreholes in the Sruwaddacon estuary the rig at high tide, fixed rope around the legs of the rig, and occupied the space underneath it to prevent the being moved to a new site. Work was delayed for around two hours.

Shell’s security guards IRMS cut the ropes around the rig, but did not try to remove the protesters so the occupation of the area under the rig continued until the Gardai arrived. Six of the waders were arrested and taken to Belmullet police station. Three others returned to the water in kayaks to make a further attempt to stop the rig but were blocked by security in speedboats – one kayaker was also arrested. All those arrested were later released without charge.

Shell is currently drilling survey boreholes to gather information to support its plan to put the gas pipeline through a tunnel running up the estuary. Campaigners from the local community and the solidarity camp have been obstructing the testing in a series of protests and actions on water and on land.

‘Beat the Boreholes’ campaign is up and running, inviting groups to the camp to take on an action against one of the estimated 80 boreholes. To get involved in the campaign, call or email the camp. The ‘Beat the Boreholes’ guide will be published soon.

Yesterday’s action coincided with Rossport Solidarity Camp member Niall Harnett’s 100th day in prison. Niall was sentenced to five months in prison on a trumped-up charge of assaulting a police officer, after making himself a thorn in Shell’s side with his work on the campaign over several years.

rossportsolidaritycamp@gmail.com
http://www.rossportsolidaritycamp.org

Protesters attack Russian town hall to save forest

2010-07-29
A band of 100 masked people staged a violent environmental protest in a quiet Moscow suburb, hurling Molotov cocktails and fireworks at city hall while objecting to plans for clearing a local forest for highway construction, Russian police said.

The centuries-old oak forest in Khimki has been a focus of controversy for years, as authorities plan to cut down much of the woods to make way for a major highway along the increasingly jammed route from Moscow to Sheremetyevo International Airport. In 2008, a local journalist who reported on the issue was brutally beaten and left crippled and brain-damaged.

Late Wednesday about 90 unidentified people attacked Khimki city hall, Moscow regional police said.

Russian television broadcast amateur video footage showing masked attackers throwing fireworks and bottles at the building, on which they had spray-painted “Save Russian forests” and “No to Khimki forest clearing.” Khimki officials said the attackers also threw Molotov cocktails.

City hall security officers stayed inside the building, and called police after the assailants had left, Khimki police chief Viktor Tanasiychuk said.

“Naturally, police squads did not find anyone at the scene when they arrived,” he said. Police said the attackers then left on a suburban train to Moscow.

No one was arrested at the scene, but police later detained nine environmentalists who have lived in the forest to stop loggers from clearing the trees. The activists denied any involvement in Wednesday’s attack, and a police spokesman confirmed they were not suspected in the attack. The spokesman said the activists instead are suspected of disturbing public order and resisting police, but he did not elaborate.

The head of the country’s Union of Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations, Andrey Morgulyov, accused police of detaining the activists to derail their plans to meet Thursday with the Russian deputy natural resources minister and to attend a session Friday of the Public Chamber on the Khimki forest.

Environmental protesters have become increasingly vocal in Russia in the recent years.

Thousands of people took to Moscow’s streets after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed an order this year to reopen a paper mill on Lake Baikal, the world’s oldest and deepest lake now believed to be under serious threat from industrial pollution and development. The lake holds an estimated 1,500 unique species of plants and animals.

Bruised over Teghut: Environmental pressure group defiant after protest breakup, Armenia

29.07.10
Police used force on Wednesday to break up a protest in Yerevan near a commercial bank that intends to loan a controversial mining project in northern Armenia. Activists were at VTB bank to protest its financing of Armenian Copper Programme’s (ACP) development of a mine in Teghut.

The activists demanded that VTB should stop the funding of the “anti-ecological and illegal Teghut project”, publicize the Bank’s environmental criteria [for loan programs] and the names of those who have developed these criteria. The protesters further called for an end to what they call a contemptuous attitude towards society, for honoring the principles of transparency and accountability and also demanded that clear answers be given to letters of environmental and human rights organizations.

The Government made the decision on developing the copper and molybdenum mine in Teghut in November 2007, giving ACP a license for 25 years. This is the first case when the government allows mining amid a forest site. The Teghut mine – in the lush province of Lori – is the second largest in Armenia, after the copper and molybdenum mine in Kajaran in southern Armenia. Experts estimate that the mine in Teghut contains more than 1.6 million tons of copper and 100,000 tons of molybdenum.

From the very outset environmentalists in Armenia carefully monitored the government’s decision to develop the mine, constantly voicing concerns about possible irreparable loss to the environment (damage to the eco system, disappearance of some of the rare species of flora and fauna, threats to public health because of tailings, etc.). ACP officials, meanwhile, argue that the mining industry will create new jobs for the local population and will considerably improve the social conditions in the province and generally will contribute to the country’s economic growth. Despite the perceived benefits, however, ACP seemed to be experiencing difficulties in finding a financial partner for the Teghut mine operation.

Russian-owned VTB has decided this year to provide ACP with a promised sum of about $300 million. So far only a small part of the loan has been provided, and the provision of the basic sum has been delayed because of the financial crisis.

At first, the activists demanded to see VTB management, but when nobody approached them, they sat on the bank steps, hindering customers and employees from entering. The demonstrators demanded that the bank customers should not use the services of a bank that promotes “the destruction of Armenia”.

Police arrived to disperse the protesters. In the ensuing scuffle, chairman of the Green Party of Armenia Armen Dovlatyan was among those who suffered minor scrapes.

The activists also turned to the Ombudsman’s office, whose representative heard them and said: “We will decide what to do” – and then left.

Ecologist Karine Danielyan, who in the end also joined the demonstrators, says that the economic profit from the operation of the mine will never be near enough to offset the environmental damages caused by it. According to her, it will take years to compensate for the forests now being destroyed.

“And forests not only in the territory of the mine operation will be destroyed, but also upper forests, because water will descend into that cavity and the upper forests will dry out,” says Danielyan, adding that the local water resources also get contaminated and the biodiversity of the forest is vanishing.

Urban development in Mexico attacked by elves

On the night of July 27 we made a bonfire with property belonging to destroyers of the Earth.

In the Dinamos woods in the Magdalena Contreras section of Mexico City, there is an urban expansion project that is still in the early stages of construction. It involves the creation of deep wells that would take water from the river with the goal of urban expansion and anthropocentric progress.

For that reason vegan elves are responsible for the following sabotages:
-We blocked the wells with stones, bricks, blocks and rubble, preventing the river water from flowing through its pipes.
-We graffitied the machines and the construction material with slogans such as ‘Stop urban expansion’, ‘No more civilization of wild environments’ and ‘Frente de Liberación de la Tierra’
-We burned three machines using incendiary devices, including: two bulldozers and a small machine that removes rubble; the smallest device was placed in the first one at the pedals, in the second one the window was shattered with rocks and the device was put in the cabin and in the third machine the device was placed on the cables.

We fled into the night without a trace. The damage was in the thousands of pesos. We want to make it clear that what we did was in defense of the earth, which is destroyed every day by ego-centrism and authoritarianism, but for every wild or semi-wild environment destroyed, hundreds of their machines and properties will be destroyed and left unusable. Let this serve as a lesson to the exploiters of the earth!

This action dedicated to the animal liberation warrior in the United States, Walter Bond, recently jailed for three fires against animal exploitation companies. Dedicated as well in support of Leo in Italy, and to Adrian and Abraham.

Frente de Liberación de la Tierra /Earth Liberation Front

Beat the Boreholes continues!!

27.7.10
The community campaign against Shell’s work in the estuary is going strong with regular actions happening. Last week locals viewed the borehole-drilling rigs during a walk on the strands of the estuary at low tide. Shell moved the rigs yesterday but were slowed down by kayaker action.

Security around the rigs has been massive – 6-10 security boats including a constant daylight-hours watch on the shore near the solidarity camp, plus two so-called ‘safety boats’.

Members of the local community walked close to the drilling barges at low tide and showed their opposition to Shell’s destruction of Sruwaddacon estuary. The estuary is not only a Special Area of Conservation and Special Protected Area – it has been an integral part of life in the community for generations. Despite this, Minister John Gormley has given the go-ahead for Shell to damage it.
John Gormley minister@environ.ie

Last week 8 community supporters from the Rossport Solidarity Camp took their kayaks for a spin out on the water – and were met by a dozen security boats while having a closer look at the barges.

Yesterday signs that Shell were preparing to move the rigs to a new position led to a spontaneous action by a small group of kayakers from the camp. Although they were prevented from getting near the rig by the massive security presence, work seemed to stop while the kayaks were in the water.

Both rigs have now been moved a few miles upriver towards Aghoos, and are positioned opposite the house of Rossport 5 member Willy Corduff – a move some people are viewing as provocative.

Come to support and be part of community resistance. Beat the Boreholes is up and running, sign up for your borehole or find out how you can help – get in touch with Rossport Solidarity Camp!

Beat the Borehole guide coming soon.

For more info www.rossportsolidaritycamp.org

Beat the boreholes land division – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KULXgsqD18w
Beat the boreholes water division – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsuLn6iiWuw