Action Reports – Page 73

Treesit in California Against CalTrans Bypass

A coalition of environmental groups staged a protest Monday morning along Highway 101 to protest the construction of the highway bypass around Willits.

Dozens of protestors from Earth First! joined with a newly formed Willits group called Save our Little Lake Valley in an effort to stop the planned tree cutting along the bypass footprint. In addition to picket signs, a local woman is now living on a platform nestled in top of one of the trees slated for removal. Picketers on the ground vowed to support her tree sitting protest for as long as it takes.

“CalTrans did not cut today, it was definitely a victory,” says organizer Sarah Grusky of Save our Little Lake Valley. “We plan to hold vigils as often as possible to keep a lookout.”

CalTrans has been working for the past few weeks, placing markers along the project right of way preparing for the contractor to begin work. The first significant work scheduled for the contractor is to cut the trees along the bypass route to prevent migratory birds from nesting in them. Tree cutting is expected to start within two to three weeks according to CalTrans spokesman Phil Frisbie.

CalTrans awarded the $108 million construction project to the partnership of DeSilva Gates Construction and Flatiron West Incorporated late last year with the expectation most of the heavy construction work would not start until 2013 after the seasonal rains subsided.

A lawsuit filed by The Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Willits Environmental Center and the Environmental Protection Information Center in May 2012 is seeking to delay the project until a more thorough examination of alternatives is conducted. The California Farm Bureau joined the lawsuit in August 2012. In November a federal judge denied the groups’ request for an injunction aimed at stopping construction until the lawsuit issues were settled. The trial date is scheduled for June 7.

While the courts settle the overall legality of CalTrans bypass design, some area activists are concerned about the damage being done in the meantime. Protestors brought informational signs and held them up to wave at travelers along the east side of Highway 101 south of Walker Road aimed at stopping any construction through peaceful protest.

“Caltrans has not considered the many other viable and sensible solutions to Willlits’ traffic problems developed by the people,” said Warbler, a Little Lake Valley farmer occupying the tree. “This Bypass will not improve local traffic and will create no permanent jobs, but it will permanently scar the Little Lake Valley. The Army Corp of Engineers is mandated to choose the least harmful alternative and the Bypass as planned isn’t it.”

Warbler is 24-years-old and has been living and working in the Willits valley for the past four years. This is her first tree sit. She volunteered for this role when planning for the protests began last year. She received tree climbing instructions from Cascadia Forest Defenders who also helped her get settled into the tree located at the south end of the new planned bypass not far from the current Highway 101. She has tarps to protect herself from rain and two sleeping bags to keep warm.

When asked how long she planned to stay in the tree she said, “that depends on CalTrans and local authorities.”

Updates from the trees: Hastings Link Road protests

Day 47 (Jan 29): Decoy Pond Camp eviction continues

[Update, 10am, Tues 29 Jan: A concerted move is reportedly being made on all of the treehouses, with lots of climbing specialists in the trees.]

The eviction of the third camp (Decoy Pond Camp – see here for maps and directions) along the route of the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road (BHLR) continues today (Tues 29 Jan – the 47th day of continuous protests in the valley) with activists still locked-on up trees, after spending a night in cold & wet conditions, facing gusts of up to 44mph (which are no joke when you’re 50 foot up a tree!).

Of the two people arrested yesterday: one has been cautioned and released, and the other is appearing in court this morning.

—————————————

Update, 6.30pm Mon 28 Jan: Climbing team & bailiffs have now left Decoy Pond camp for the day, leaving security guards & fencing behind. Two arrests have been reported. No-one yet removed from the trees. Hot food and more tarpaulins needed this evening (Mon 28 Jan). Eviction to continue tomorrow (Tues 29 Jan).

Can you come tonight to climb into site and help defend the trees tomorrow? Transport from Brighton, Lewes, Bexhill & Hastings. Details 07766 335506
—————————————
The eviction of the third camp (Decoy Pond Camp – see here for maps and directions) along the route of the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road (BHLR) began around 8.40am this morning. As at t 12.30pm there were some 70+ security personnnel on the site, as well as a considerable number of activists lock-on up the trees – including at least one at the top of a fifty-foot tree. The first arrest was reported around 12.20pm.

As we noted at the time of the eviction of “Base Camp”: This is only the end of the beginning for the protests against the Bexhill Hastings Link Road (BHLR)!
If you can’t make it down to the Valley this week then please sign the Pledge / like us on Facebook / follow us on Twitter (@combe_haven) / send a donation (use the PayPal buttons on this site or send a cheque) and stay posted for news on Phase 2!

—————————————

Press Information Note
Combe Haven Defenders [1]
28 January 2013

EVICTION OF 3RD HASTINGS ANTI-ROAD CAMP BEGINS
Campaigners peacefully resisting £100m project in tunnels and trees

28 January, 9.45am: The eviction of the third [2] anti-road camp along the route of the proposed Bexhill-Hastings Link Road (BHLR) has begun this morning, Monday 28 January. Campaigners are currently peacefully resisting the eviction of the Camp, which is located just west of Upper Wilting Farm in Crowhurst (TN38 8EG), locked-on up trees and down tunnels [3].

The peaceful protests against the Road– which have been running since 14 December, with 19 arrests – have seized national attention over the past month [4].

Yesterday, directors and senior campaigners from six major environmental and transport NGOs, including the RSPB, Greenpeace and the Campaign to Protect Rural England, visited the Camp, condemning the £100m Road project [5], one of over forty “zombie roads” that were declared dead years ago but have now been resuscitated as part of as part of Britain’s largest road-building programme in 25 years [6, 7].

Andy Atkins, Executive Director, Friends of the Earth, said “’This road shouldn’’t have been approved. It will lead to more pollution, damage the environment and do little to boost the local economy. Reviving discredited road schemes like this won’t solve our economic and transport problems, it will simply shift traffic elsewhere. Transport policy must change direction. We need cleaner cars and safe, efficient and affordable alternatives.’” [5]

Adrian Hopkins of the Combe Haven Defenders said: “Resistance has been growing to this awful scheme as each day passes and more people become inspired by the action so far taken to protect the beautiful Combe Haven valley. This is only the beginning of a sustained campaign of peaceful resistance to this environmentally disastrous white-elephant project.”

NOTES
[1] www.combehavendefenders.org.uk
[2] The first camp was established on 21 December. Two other camps along the route, ‘Three Oaks’ and ‘Adams Farm’, have already been evicted, on 14 Jan and 16-17 Jan respectively, resulting in seven arrests that will all go to court later this week.
[3] For maps and directions see http://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/camp-groundrules-directions/
[4] See http://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/recent-media-coverage/
[5] See http://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/2013/01/27/green-and-conservation-groups-ceos-visit-camp-condemn-link-road-plans/
[6] See ‘Controversial ‘zombie roads’ scheme to be resuscitated’, Guardian, 10 October 2012, http://tinyurl.com/zombieroads
[7] http://bettertransport.org.uk/media/26-Oct-roads-report

URGENT APPEAL – Defend Combe Haven, Resist the Eviction!

Camp Decoy, the last of three camps standing in the way of the proposed Bexhill – Hastings Link Road (BHLR), faces eviction next Monday (28 Jan). If you have ever thought you might come and take a stand against this horrifying scheme, now’s the time.

We need to do absolutely everything we can to peacefully resist this eviction. We have been truly humbled over the last few weeks by the level of support from the local community, and from well-wishers far and wide. But now we need people, lots of people, to stand together and say: “Enough is enough, it’s time to protect the countryside”.

See here for maps and directions from the nearest train station (Crowhurst).

Combe Haven is the first of 190 sites at risk of new road development. If we allow this one, the others will follow and precious habitats all over the country will be lost forever.

Here’s how you can help resist the eviction of Camp Decoy:

1. Share this far and wide. Facebook, Twitter, Email. Phone your friends. Phone your local radio station! Tell everyone at work, at school, at college, and down the pub.

2.Donate! Use the donate button on the Combe Haven Defenders web-site, or send them a cheque. Every little helps: just £6 buys enough rope to secure a platform; £12 buys a lock to secure someone to it.

3.Most importantly – Come to Combe Haven and help to peacefully defend Camp Decoy!

CATCH THE COMBE HAVEN BUS!

Decoy Wood is the last remaining piece of woodland in the way of the BHLR. Wait a week or two and it may be gone. If live in England, Wales or Scotland and you can get 20 people from your community to come, we will provide you with your very own Combe Haven Bus, for free!

These buses will bring people to Camp Decoy on Saturday, and on Sunday we hope to provide training in tree-climbing, locking-on, and a legal briefing.

We need everyone, whether it’s for peaceful resistance, legal observation or general support. Whether you are willing to risk arrest or not – there’s a job for you!

The bus will return to your community after a few days of action, depending on the situation on the ground.

For more information about the Combe Haven Bus, please phone or text 07766 335506

Activists Disrupt Arch Coal Corporate HQ In St. Louis

22nd Jan. CREVE COEUR, MO — Seven protesters affiliated with the RAMPS campaign (Radical Action for Mountain Peoples’ Survival), MORE (Missourians Organizi

22nd Jan. CREVE COEUR, MO — Seven protesters affiliated with the RAMPS campaign (Radical Action for Mountain Peoples’ Survival), MORE (Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment) and Mountain Justice are locked down to a 500-pound small potted tree in Arch Coal’s third-floor headquarters while a larger group is in the lobby performing a song and dance. Additionally, a helium balloon banner with the message “John Eaves Your Coal Company Kills”, directed at the Arch Coal CEO was released in the Arch Coal headquarters.

“We’re here to halt Arch’s operations for as long as we can. These coal corporations do not answer to communities, they only consume them. We’re here to resist their unchecked power,” explained Margaret Fetzer, one of the protestors.

Arch Coal, the second largest coal company in the U.S., operates strip mines in Appalachia and in other U.S. coal basins. Strip mining is an acutely destructive and toxic method of mining coal, and resource extraction disproportionately impacts marginalized communities.

“From the Battle of Blair Mountain to the current fight with the Patriot pensions, the people of central Appalachia have been fighting against the coal companies for the past 125 years. The struggle continues today as we take action to hold Arch Coal and other coal companies accountable for the damage that they do to people and communities in Appalachia and around the world. Coal mining disproportionately impacts indigenous peoples, and we stand in solidarity with disenfranchised people everywhere,” Dustin Steele of Mingo County, W.Va. said. Steele was one of the people locked in Arch’s office.

Mingo County is representative of the public health crisis faced by communities overburdened by strip mining. A recent study of life expectancies placed Mingo County in the bottom 1 percent out of 3,147 counties nationwide.(1)

Arch’s strip mines not only poison communities, but also seek to erase the legacy of resistance to the coal companies in Appalachia. Arch’s Adkins Fork Surface Mine is threatening to blast away Blair Mountain—the site of the second largest uprising in U.S. history and a milestone in the long-standing struggle between Appalachians and the coal companies.(2)

The devastation of Arch’s strip mines plague regions beyond Appalachia. Arch’s operation in the Powder River Basin is the “single largest coal mining complex in the world.(3)” Producing 15 percent of the U.S. coal supply, Arch is a major culprit of the climate crisis.

NASA scientist James Hansen describes the burning of coal as a leading cause global climate change.(4) The Midwest region faces serious public health impacts from climate change due to “increased heat wave intensity and frequency, degraded air quality, and reduced water quality(5),” according to recently published data from the National Climate Assessment.

Armed indigenous community forces Petroamazonas to abandon oil project in Ecuador

An indigenous community in the Ecuadorian Amazon has won a reprieve after building up an arsenal of spears, blowpipes, machetes and guns to fend off an expected intrusion by the army and a state-run oil company.

The residents of Sani Isla expressed relief that a confrontation with Petroamazonas did not take place on Tuesday as anticipated, but said the firm is still trying to secure exploration rights in their area of pristine rainforest.

“We have won a victory in our community. We’re united,” said the community president, Leonardo Tapuy. “But the government and the oil company won’t leave us alone. “

The Kichwa tribe on Sani Isla, had said they were ready to fight to the death to protect their territory, which covers 70,000 hectares. More than a quarter of their land is in Yasuni national park, the most biodiverse place on earth.

Petroamazonas had earlier told them it would begin prospecting on their land on 15 January, backed by public security forces.

Before the expected confrontation,the shaman, Patricio Jipa said people were making blowpipes and spears, trying to borrow guns and preparing to use sticks stones and any other weapons they could lay their hands on.

“Our intention was not to hurt or kill anyone, but to stop them from entering our land,” he said.

It is unclear why Petroamazonas hesitated. The company has yet to respond to the Guardian’s request for a comment.

Locals speculated that it was due to a reaffirmation of opposition to the oil company at a marathon community meeting on Sunday.

“They’ve heard that we are united against the exploration so they have backed off,” said Fredy Gualinga, manager of the Sani Lodge. “We’re happy they haven’t come. Life is going on as normal.”

The relief may not last for long given the huge fossil fuel resources that are thought to lie below the forest.

“It was a close thing, but we’re not out of the water. The oil company has not given up. They will continue to hound us and to try to divide the community. But at least we have a few days respite,” said Mari Muench, a British woman who is married to the village shaman.

The elected leaders of Sani Isla have pledged to resist offers from Petroamazonas for the duration of their term.

“This policy will remain in place during our period in office. We’re committed to that and we will do what we can to make it more permanent,” said Abdon Grefa, the speaker of the community.

The battle has now moved to the judicial system and the court of public opinion. Their appeal for an injunction went before a judge on Wednesday and they are calling on supporters to help them build a long-term economic alternative to fossil fuels.

“We hope people will write protest letters to Petroamazonas, come and visit our lodge, promote Sani, donate money to our school and projects, volunteer as teachers or provide funds to students to travel overseas so they can learn what we need to survive in the future,” said the community secretary, Klider Gualinga.

18 Jan: Unevicted! Third Road Protest Camp Still in Place

PLEASE NOTE: We’re currently experiencing problems with our (outgoing) text messaging.

PLEASE NOTE: We’re currently experiencing problems with our (outgoing) text messaging. Until further notice, please direct all texts and calls to 07926 423 033, and check your email (assuming you’ve signed-up to our email list), this web-site and the Facebook page to keep up to speed on what’s happening.

VIDEO: https://www.indymedia.org.uk/media/2013/01//505637.3gp

The third of three protest camps (“Decoy Pond”) against the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road (BHLR) remains unevicted today (Friday 18 Jan). Supporters and visitors are welcome! See maps above and below for location and directions.

Two campaigners occupying trees at the now-evicted “Base Camp” were arrested yesterday (Thursday 18 January), bringing the total number of arrests since the peaceful protests began on 14 December to nineteen.

Please note: “Decoy Pond” camp is a bit trickier to get to than the (now evicted) main camp was. In particular, at present you need to be fairly steady on your feet to navigate the rough and icy terrain.

Press release Combe Haven Defenders [1]
Friday 18 January
Contact 07926 423 033

UNEVICTED! THIRD ROAD PROTEST CAMP STILL IN PLACE, AS LOCAL GRANDMOTHERS MOBILISE TO SUPPORT PROTESTS
Campaigners still in trees as total number of arrests reaches nineteen

Friday 18 January, Crowhurst: The third of three protest camps (“Decoy Pond”) against the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road (BHLR) remains unevicted today (18 Jan), as local grandmothers mobilise to show their opposition to the Road and support for the peaceful protests.

Following their successful “Grannie Tree” action – photos from which appeared in the Daily Telegraph among other places [2] – local grandmothers are organising a second “Grannies Photoshoot” against the Road this Saturday (19 Jan), meeting at 12.45pm by the Recreation Ground near The Plough pub in Crowhurst (TN33 9AW) [2].

Two campaigners occupying trees at the now-evicted “Base Camp” were arrested yesterday, bringing the total number of arrests since the peaceful protests began on 14 December to nineteen.

Like the two camps that have already been evicted this week, “Decoy Pond” is located on the proposed route of the BHLR (see footnote [3] for maps and location).

The peaceful protests against the road– which have now been running for over a month – have seized national attention over the past week [4]. Tree-felling work for the road started on 14 December 2012 and represents the first significant work on the highly-controversial 3 mile £100m road, one of over forty “zombie roads” that were declared dead years ago but have now been resuscitated as part of as part of Britain’s largest road-building programme in 25 years [5, 6].

Gabriel Carlyle, a spokesperson for the Combe Haven Defenders: “Despite the freezing temperatures – and the massive resources deployed against them by East Sussex County Council – campaigners are still occupying the trees along the route of the BHLR. The last month of protests are only the beginning of a sustained campaign of peaceful resistance to this environmentally disastrous £100m white-elephant project.”

Contact 07926 423 033

NOTES
[1] www.combehavendefenders.org.uk
[2] https://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/sat-19-jan-grannies-photoshoot-2/
[3] Nearby postcode TN33 9AY. See maps above.
[4] http://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/recent-media-coverage/
[5] See ‘Controversial ‘zombie roads’ scheme to be resuscitated’, Guardian, 10 October 2012, http://tinyurl.com/zombieroads
[6] http://bettertransport.org.uk/media/26-Oct-roads-report

17 Jan: Protest camp eviction enters second day!

[Update, 5pm, Thursday 17 January: "Base camp" finally evicted this morning. "Decoy Pond" camp still unevicted and accessible.]

The second day of the eviction of the anti-road protest camps in Crowhurst (“Base Camp” and “Decoy Pond” camp – see maps below) has begun this morning, with activists still locked-on up trees and down tunnels.

Please protest, support and publicise!

As at 9.33am: access to the “Decoy Pond” camp is still possible; “Base Camp” is now surrounded by fencing, but activists are on the periphery and a legal observer is still on site inside the cordon. Five people were arrested yesterday (Wednesday 16 January), of whom 4 have now (9.33am, Thursday 17 Jan) been released.

Please note: This is only the end of the beginning for the protests against the Bexhill Hastings Link Road (BHLR)! We urgently need to replenish our finances following the last month of protests, so please consider giving a donation, using the “donate” button on our web-site and Facebook page, if you are able.

Press release Combe Haven Defenders [1]
Thursday 17 January
Contact 07926 423 033

ROAD PROTEST EVICTION ENTERS SECOND DAY AS LAWYERS SEEK 1066 INJUNCTION
Campaigners in trees and tunnels as total number of arrests reaches seventeen

Thursday 17 January, Crowhurst: The eviction of two protest camps against the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road (BHLR) enters its second day today, as lawyers seek a halt to preparations for the Road on the grounds that Combe Haven (where the camps are situated) may be the site of the Battle of Hastings.

Five campaigners were arrested during the first day of the eviction yesterday, Wednesday 16 January. Other campaigners are still locked-on up trees and down tunnels at the two camps.

The camps, which have been in place since 21 December, are located on the proposed route of the BHLR close to Adam’s Farm, Crowhurst [2]. The peaceful protests against the road– which have now been running for a month, with 17 arrests – have seized national attention over the past week [3].

Tree-felling work for the road started on 14 December 2012 and represents the first significant work on the highly-controversial 3 mile £100m road, one of over forty “zombie roads” that were declared dead years ago but have now been resuscitated as part of as part of Britain’s largest road-building programme in 25 years [4, 5].

In an interesting parallel development, Bexhill-based anti-road group BLINKRR yesterday publicised legal moves seeking an injunction to halt the road based on evidence that Crowhurst is the true site of the Battle of Hastings [6].

Contact 07926 423 033

NOTES
[1] www.combehavendefenders.org.uk
[2] Nearby postcode TN33 9AY. For map see http://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/camp-groundrules-directions/
[3] http://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/recent-media-coverage/
[4] See ‘Controversial ‘zombie roads’ scheme to be resuscitated’, Guardian, 10 October 2012, http://tinyurl.com/zombieroads
[5] http://bettertransport.org.uk/media/26-Oct-roads-report
[6] http://www.blinkrr.org/downloads/ESCC-15.1.13.pdf. For more info contact BLINKRR on 07989 781199

‘Idle No More’ protest in London UK as movement vows to target tar sands

This morning, British and Canadian supporters joined Clayton Thomas-Muller, from the Mathais Colomb Cree First Nation in Manitoba, to present a petition in support of the Idle No More movement to the Canadian government at its High Commission in London. A group of around 20 gathered on the steps of Canada House in Trafalgar Square. Clayton from the Canadian Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign opened with a traditional song and spoke, followed by Melissa Adams from the Nisga First Nation in British Columbia, Jess Worth from the UK Tar Sands Network and James Atherton from Lush Cosmetics.

The Idle No More movement has seen mass protests, road and rail blockades and uprisings across Canada in recent weeks, and continues to grow. Inspirational Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence remains on hunger strike after more than a month, determined to keep fasting until she is able to meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Governor General David Johnston. She wants to discuss the ways in which First Nations’ treaties are being undermined by a series of Bills pushed through by the Canadian government, which aim to make it easier for industries, such as those operating in the controversial tar sands, to extract natural resources from Indigenous lands. On Friday, Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation whose health and traditional livelihoods are being devastated by pollution from the tar sands industry upstream, vowed to blockade the main highway to the tar sands if their demands for a reassertion of Indigenous rights over those of industry are not met.

Today’s solidarity protest in London involved handing in a petition to Prime Minister Harper signed by Oxford residents at a protest in Oxford last Saturday. The petition called on the Harper government to ‘stop putting the interests of the tar sands industry and other environmentally destructive companies above the rights of its First Nations’, to uphold the Treaties originally signed by First Nations and the British Crown, and to set aside any legislation that undermines them.

The protest then visited Buckingham Palace, to acknowledge the historical colonial relationship between Britain and Canada. As Clayton said: “2013 is the 250th anniversary of the Royal Proclamation which helped set the boundaries of Canada and established the legal relationship with Indigenous communities. We felt that it would be very symbolic to take a banner to the Queen Victoria statue, given she was the signatory to the treaties in Canada which the Harper government continues to undermine.”

Clayton continued: “The complete gutting of all environmental approval, regulatory and enforcement mechanisms in Canada, through the passing of a series of Bills by the Harper government, mean that the reassertion of Aboriginal & Treaty rights are the last best hope to protect both First Nations’ & Canadians’ water, air and soil from being poisoned forever by big oil and mining corporations. We have a responsibility to stand up and fight against this threat, not just for us but for all those across the earth who are feeling the effects of climate change and water insecurity.”

Jess Worth, from the UK Tar Sands Network, said: “We are standing in solidarity today with Indigenous peoples in Canada who are seeing their right to a healthy life in a clean environment on their traditional territories auctioned off to the highest corporate bidder. As the Canadian tar sands industry seeks to squeeze every last drop of ever-more-polluting oil out of a planet that can no longer take it, we all have an interest in the success of the Idle No More movement which seeks to uphold First Nations’ rights and protect Mother Earth.”

James Atherton, from Lush Cosmetics, said: “It is greatly important to support and encourage movements like Idle No More, which acknowledge human rights and environmental issues as interlinked. For too long, the voices of Indigenous people around the world have been suppressed by colonial, domineering mindsets that live on in political and industrial systems. The Idle No More movement calls for change which is well overdue, and we support the revolution that is needed to create this positive change.”

For more information, see:
www.no-tar-sands.org
www.idlenomore.ca
www.ienearth.org/what-we-do/tar-sands
www.climaterevolution.org.uk

The petition text in full:

To:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, c/o the Canadian High Commission, 38 Grosvenor Street, London W1K 4AA

We request that the Government of Canada stops putting the interests of the tar sands industry and other environmentally destructive companies above the rights of its First Nations. The government is currently putting through eight Bills that violate existing treaties and will have the effect of undermining and destroying First Nations’ rights, traditions and territories. In particular, Bill C-45 will have significant implications for the ability of First Nations to control what happens on their traditional territories. This Bill is a massive, complex document and needs proper review and consultation with the people that it will directly affect. This has not happened.

This has provoked a country-wide grassroots uprising, Idle No More, which we support.

We request that the Government of Canada upholds all treaties signed between First Nations and the Crown, and immediately sets aside any legislation that could undermine these treaties. We further request that the principles of free, prior and informed consent, as recognised in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, are adopted by the government of Canada when dealing with all issues that impact First Nations.

The world is watching you.

Indigenous protests sweep Canada

17 January 2013

Idle no more protesters marching in Victoria, BC, December 21, 2012.

Native people across Canada have blockaded roads, bridges and railway lines as part of the grass-roots indigenous movement Idle No More.

From British Columbia, where dozens of protesters demonstrated outside hearings for a proposed oil pipeline, to Ontario, where border crossings to the USA were blocked, the scale of the protests strongly suggest that the movement is showing little sign of dying down.

The Idle No More movement began in November 2012, when four women from the province of Saskatchewan held a ‘teach-in’ about the likely effects of Bill C-45, a large and complex bill proposed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which would seriously weaken many environmental regulations.

On 4 December, a group of chiefs from the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), Canada’s principal indigenous organization, were prevented from entering the Parliament buildings to lobby MPs over the bill. News of the snub, using the Idle No More hashtag, quickly spread across the country.

Another important element of the protests has been a hunger strike by Theresa Spence, chief of the Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario. This Cree community, despite being the location of De Beers’s Victor diamond mine, is riven by social problems, including poor housing and chronically inadequate education provision.

Chief Spence declared that her hunger strike would continue until the Prime Minister and the Governor General (the Queen’s representative in Canada), agreed to meet her to discuss Aboriginal rights.

On January 11 a delegation of First Nations leaders, under the aegis of the AFN, held a meeting with Mr Harper and various other ministers. The Governor General, however, did not attend. The meeting was inconclusive, with the Aboriginal Affairs Minister reporting that ‘it would be followed by high-level dialogue between the Prime Minister and Shawn Atleo’, leader of the AFN.

As described by the native writer Lisa Charleyboy, the objectives of Idle No More are ‘to build indigenous sovereignty, to repair the relationship between indigenous peoples of Canada (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit), the crown, and the government of Canada from a grassroots framework, and to protect the environment for all Canadians to enjoy for generations to come.’

Idle No More has called for a World Day of Action on January 28th.

Six People Arrested Inside Enbridge Hearings

Vancouver, BC / Coast Salish Territories – This morning (15th Jan), six people directly intervened in the Enbridge pipeline joint Environmental Assessment and Energy Board hearings and put climate change on the agenda. The group managed to make their way past police undetected and into the secured 4th floor of Vancouver’s Sheraton Wall Center. Once inside they revealed shirts emblazoned with messages like “Stop the Pipelines” and proceeded to use police tape to cordon off the hearing area as a “climate crime scene.”

“Climate change is killing thousands of people every year, primarily in developing countries and Indigenous communities that are the least responsible for creating this problem. Despite this fact, the Joint Review Panel has instructed those participating in the hearings not to talk about climate change. This is a shockingly irresponsible move considering Canada’s tar sands contain twice the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by global oil use in our entire history. New fossil fuel pipelines are an irresponsible step in the wrong direction.” said Sean Devlin.

The impacts of climate change have been drawing global attention recently, between Hurricane Sandy, unprecedented deadly typhoons in the Philippines and previously unimaginable temperature records in Australia. In this urgent context the JRP has designated climate change and the carbon emissions of Canada’s tar sands “outside of the panel’s mandate,” a move that officially discourages interveners from raising these critical issues during their oral statements.

“Enbridge and the federal government are using their position of authority within this process to coerce members of the public into silence on these issues. The majority of First Nations and settler communities in the province oppose fossil fuel pipelines. We respect those who are voicing their opposition to the pipelines inside the hearings, but the hearing process is meaningless, especially since Harper has changed the law, giving his cabinet final say on pipeline projects,” said Fiona De Balasi Brown.

Today marks the second day of the Joint Review Panel hearings in Vancouver and the second day that the members of the public have crossed police lines to make their opposition heard. On Monday more than a thousand protesters peacefully forced their way past police onto the Sheraton property drumming so loudly the noise could be heard inside the hearings. Public outrage has been emboldened by a decision to exclude the public from the hearings in Vancouver, a move the BC Civil Liberties Association criticized yesterday as “potentially unlawful.”