Wilderness Defence – Page 116

Saving Iceland Blockades Hellisheidi Power Station

26.07.2007
Saving Iceland blockaded two roads to Hellisheidi Power Station in Iceland at 7am this morning.

The activists locked on to different vehicles and one climbed a crane on the worksite and unfurled a gigantic banner: “STOP PRODUCING ENERGY FOR WEAPONS”

26.07.2007
Saving Iceland blockaded two roads to Hellisheidi Power Station in Iceland at 7am this morning.

The activists locked on to different vehicles and one climbed a crane on the worksite and unfurled a gigantic banner: “STOP PRODUCING ENERGY FOR WEAPONS”
Reports have just come in saying that 8 have been arrested but that the climber in the crane is still free.

For more info please see:
http://www.savingiceland.org/hengill
http://www.savingiceland.org/node/857
http://www.savingiceland.org/node/858
http://www.savingiceland.org/vopnaveita

Tara’s Last Stand?

violence on tara
7 arrests
court case today
urgent help needed

www.indymedia.ie click on ´watch revolt footage here`

faeryarmy@yahoo.co.uk

Tara’s Last Stand?

violence on tara
7 arrests
court case today
urgent help needed

www.indymedia.ie click on ´watch revolt footage here`

faeryarmy@yahoo.co.uk

Tara’s Last Stand?

An open letter to all who are interested in the defence of the earth and the standing-up to power.
Please forward, copy, or circulate.

Place: Tara Valley, Hill of Tara, County Meath, Republic of Ireland
Time: NOW

History: Tara Hill and Valley are part of an ancient temple complex of earthworks, henges, raths (forts), and souterrains (underground tomb chambers). Many of the works pre-date the pyramids. Tara was used as the crowning place of the old high kings of Ireland. It is still in use for ceremonies today, and is particularly associated with Samhain (Hallowe’en).

Threat: The Irish government have sanctioned a route through the Tara valley of the M3 motorway. This road will be tolled, is the least-favourable of the five options available according to principles of road-building and economic sense, will ’save’ fifteen minutes of time to the M50 bottleneck (British M25 equivalent) during the morning rush hour to Dublin, and is being sited on a stretch of road that is not even that busy. A gigantic complex of shopping malls is planned at an interchange, due to be sited 1000 yards from the Hill of Tara. Many ancient monuments have already been destroyed. Many more new and unusual findings DUG UP DURING THE EXCAVATION OF THE LAND FOR THE ROAD have been either recorded by record’ (ie made a note of in a book and destroyed) or are being stored in warehouses. Such ancient artefacts dug up include human bones from old graves.

Actions to date: Around ten to twelve regular people have taken it in shifts for the past year in keeping an unbroken vigil fire and camp burning on Tara Hill. These people have held up the progress of the road by direct action, including digger-diving thus far.

Current Situation: The European Parliament (EU) has told the Irish Government that the work they are doing is illegal and to cease immediately. Just after this was announced in the press, many more diggers and machines were sent, on Wednesday July 18th, to a monument on the site known as ‘Soldier’s Hill’ for the road company to establish a compound. Having recruited many more drivers, and turned them into nominal security guards for the day, the company deployed its staff to aggressively remove all protestors from site. Seven protestors were arrested for not following a policeman‘s orders and public order offences. Three were bailed at 500 Euros, with the condition they cease to go to the sites to protest. A further four refused those bail conditions and were remanded on a week’s custody at Clover Hill prison, Dublin, until a court case pending Wednesday July 25th. Internet footage of the high levels of violence utilised by the road company’s men surprised even the long-term campaigners at Rossport, used to dealing with such intimidation.

The Last Stand: A court case is pending in the EU court, but the road company, aiming to save on much lost time and money has started a big push, and has now reached the part of the route where a gigantic WOODHENGE was unearthed during the excavation. This site is currently being ‘recorded by record’ by state-appointed archaeologists. Their work is SAID to need another two to three weeks to complete. The EU court case is due mid-to-late August The Henge is looking like the site of the last stand. The company has drafted in round-the-clock security. The Irish Police has said it will arrest anyone found on site, even if they are merely mounting a peaceful protest. The road company and the Irish Government have continued destroying monuments, even before the ‘recording by record’ process has finished. There are currently around ten to twenty protestors on site.

A Plea: If anyone out there has it in their heart, time, space, trip, whatever to come and lend a hand, the following three general areas would love to be catered for:

1. DIRECT ACTION: anyone with any experience of, enjoyment in doing and a continued desire to do locking-on, tree-house building, ropeway-slinging and so on are instructed to make their way to the site as soon as possible. This plea is especially directed to those who are part of the victorious Nine Ladies camp in Derbyshire, who may be at a loose end and may want to get involved in this action. It may only last a month, one way or the other. Although Irish police has said it will arrest anyone on site, there is still the possibility of digger-diving and road-blocking, provided the numbers are increased.

2. MAGIC ACTION: as part of a psychological warfare front, music, dance, song, partying and all the rest of it are very welcome at this time. This is not only a call for Direct Action people. The festival of Lughnasa (Lammas or Harvest Festival) starts on Wednesday August 1st and it is intended to hold ceremony, play games, sing, recite poetry, and have a party in the woods, from then and throughout the weekend of July 3rd to 5th, and on and on. Even if you can only make it over for a few days, do come for the party anyway!

3. PRACTICAL ACTION: All manner of kitchen workers, camp-cleaners, fire-tenders- you-name-it-ers, whatever it takes to maintain a decent camp. There are always things to do, and there are not really enough there yet to make the stand that is required.

THE NUMBERS GAME:

Experienced Direct Action protestors reckon that a good stand could be made at the Henge if there are AT LEAST ONE HUNDRED PEOPLE THERE. If there are TWO HUNDRED, then the position is that much stronger, while THREE HUNDRED would, it is reckoned, tip the balance against the road company.

In order for the road to be stopped, AS MANY AS POSSIBLE are pleaded with to help in any way they can, to come to Tara AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Otherwise, it may be too late.

Thank you for your time.

We Hope to See you on the Hill

yours, in love of the land,

THE FIANNA FAERY (Soldiers of Faery)
TARA BRIGADE
HILL OF TARA

Saving Iceland Blockades Rio Tinto-Alcan Smelter in Hafnarfjordur

Saving Iceland
Press Release (in Icelandic below)
July 24th, 2007

LANDSVIRKJUN INVOLVED IN COAL & NUCLEAR POWERED RIO TINTO-ALCAN SMELTER IN AFRICA

Saving Iceland
Press Release (in Icelandic below)
July 24th, 2007

LANDSVIRKJUN INVOLVED IN COAL & NUCLEAR POWERED RIO TINTO-ALCAN SMELTER IN AFRICA

HAFNARFJORDUR – Saving Iceland has closed access to RioTinto’s Straumsvik smelter in South-West Iceland. About 20 protestors have locked their arms in metal tubes and climbed onto cranes on the smelter site. Saving Iceland opposes plans for a new RioTinto-Alcan smelter in Keilisnes or Thorlakshöfn, expansion of the existing smelter, and a new coal and nuclear powered smelter in South Africa.

“Protests against Alcan have been successful. Of course the people of Hafnafjordur have stopped the expansion of Straumsvik and recently, in Kashipur, Northeast India, Alcan had to give up it’s participation in a bauxite mine because of protests against their human rights violations and environmental devestation. Alcan has been accused of cultural genocide in Kashipur, because mining and dams have already displaced 150.000 mainly tribal people there . Norsk Hydro left the project when police tortured and opened fire on protestors, and then Alcan moved in,” says Saving Iceland’s Snorri Páll Jónsson Úlfhildarson.

“This case and similar cases, and Alcan’s involvement in arms production, shows how ruthless they are. The takeover by RioTinto is rather unlikely to make Alcan into a responsible corporate citizen.”

“RioTinto-Alcan haven’t blown off their interest in a new smelter in Iceland. Hafnafjordur is still being named by Alcan despite the referendum , and a new smelter might be built in Thorlakshöfn or Keilisnes. Saving Iceland rejects this, and we express our solidarity with the people in South Africa opposing RioTinto-Alcan’s coal- and nuclear powered smelter plans there. Landsvirkjun has also gotten involved in this , so it is very important that people in Iceland reject these neo-colonial developments that destroy the environment and communities. ” says Úlfhildarson.

Documentation of Alcan’s links to the arms industry, the South-African deal with Landsvirkjun, and some of the history of Rio Tinto is attached to this press release.

More information:
http://www.savingiceland.org
Snorri Páll Jónsson Úlfhildarson

ALCAN’S LINKS TO THE ARMS INDUSTRY
RioTinto-Alcan’s aluminium alloys are sold for a whole range of military purposes. Alcan is the main supplier for European Aerospace and Defense and Space, producer of military helicopters, military satellites, the Eurofighter Tycoon, Mirage F1, EF18 Hornet and other jets . EADS is the world’s leading producer of missiles . Deals made between the EADS and Alcan are presented as between Airbus and Alcan, to cloud the military involvement ; it is common for all aluminium companies to hide their ‘defense’ products under the title ‘aerospace’. But at the same time, military products need to be marketed, so images of fighter jets are displayed on Alcan Aerospace’s website .

EADS claims to sell to countries that “guarantee a responsible approach to high-tech military air systems. It draws on decades of expertise in military aviation.” But can you trust a company that is sick enough to add video fragments from Nazi Germany, glorifying first world war and Nazi airplanes , on the same webpage as this quote?

RIO TINTO-ALCAN: ALUMINIUM TO IRAQ
Alcan further supplies Boeing a “variety of high performance aluminum-products” . Boeing produces the Apache and Chinook military helicopters used in Iraq and less known products that brighten your day, such as the the ‘Small Diameter Bomb’ and the ‘Joint Direct Attack Munition.’ Then there are Alcan’s associations with Dassault ., a French arms manufacturer, which produces a range of aluminium fighter-jets . Alcan has also been promoting itself to Naval services .

RIO TINTO-ALCAN: PLANS FOR AFRICA
RioTinto-Alcan has signed a letter of intent with the Govt. of Cameroon to expand the existing Alucam smelter with 150.000 Mtpy, and build a new 150.000 Mtpy smelter. The Lom Pangar Dam, to be constructed by the government, would power this . Alcan have a large number of projects planned Africa – their “greenfield project pipeline” includes Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea, Madagascar and South Africa. ‘Greenfield’ means that untouched nature will be destroyed for the mines, infrastructure, smelters, and dams that would power them.

APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA, ESKOM AND LANDSVIRKJUN
Alcan was active in apartheid South Africa between 1949-1986 . Now they want to come back and develop a new smelter in the near zero-tax ‘Coega Development Zone’ near Port Elizabeth, powered by coal and nuclear delivered by Eskom, one of the worlds largest electricity companies. “Thirty percent of the poor communities of South Africa don’t have electricity, and now that will be going straight to Alcan,” says Lerato Maregele, a S-African activist visiting Iceland .
Elkom is a ‘sister-company’ of Iceland’s Landsvirkjun . Landsvirkun want to be part of this deal and more generally branch out to Africa.
Landsvirkjun can be expected to try and sell their expertise to Eskom’s various hydroprojects in Mozambiqu, Uganda and Congo. They will try to be part of damming the Congo river, a project twice the size of China’s Three Gorges, that will have a devastating effect on the central African rainforest.

RIO TINTO’S ABYSMAL RECORD
While we can conclude that Alcan itself heavily supplies the arms industry and is invading Africa as it invades Iceland, it is now part of Rio Tinto, the world’s largest private mining company, “long criticized for gross human rights violations dating back to its support of apartheid in Southern Africa.”
We will name some of the many cases. Rio Tinto has been know to subject it’s own workers to poisoning in mines, having security guards shooting locals on the spot looking for small amounts of gold in one of it’s mines and having union-members spied upon or fired in its Brazilian gold mines.

Rio Tinto has been involved with mercenary scandals. The Papua New Guinean (PNG) Government, in joint venture with Rio Tinto, hired private mercenary companies Sandline International, a London-based private military company, composed primarily of former British and South African special forces soldiers, which had been involved in the civil wars in Angola and Sierra Leone and were now payed to fight the population of Bougainville, an island near PNG. The mine had been closed by the people of the island because of the disastrous ecological effects .
Citizens of Bougainville have filed a class action lawsuit in the United States against Rio Tinto arising from the environmental damage caused by the mine and war crimes occurring during the civil war years. In August 2006, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected Rio Tinto’s effort to dismiss the claim.

S. Das & F. Padel, “Double Death – Aluminium’s Links with Genocide”, Economic and Political Weekly, Dec. 2005, also available at http://www.savingiceland.org/doubledeath
Chandra Siddan, “Blood and Bauxite”, Montreal Mirror, Nov 20-26, 2003, Vol. 19 No. 23.
“Smelter Expansion on Landfill?”, Iceland Review, June 20th 2007.
RUV News, 26-02-2007, http://ruv.is/heim/frettir/frett/store64/item145391/. Note that RUV has Alcoa and Alcan confused.
EADS website, http://www.eads.com/1024/en/businet/defence/mas/combat_aircraft/combat_aircraft.html
EADS promotion film, “A Brief Glance at EADS”, http://www.eads.com/xml/content/OF00000000400004/1/10/41434101.mov
AFX News, June 13, 2007, http://www.abcmoney.co.uk/news/13200786914.htm
Alcan Press Release, “Company To Provide Critical Aluminum Materials For Full Range Of Aircraft Including A380”, June 13, 2007, http://www.decisionplus.com/fr/fintools/stock_news.asp?Market=TSE&Symbol=AL&NewsID=20070613/021501
http://www.alcanaerospace.com/Aerospace/aerospace.nsf/html/FWFGHOME?Open&LG=1, dd. 22-7-2007.
EADS promotion film, “90 years of aircraft history in Augsburg”, http://www.eads.com/1024/en/businet/defence/mas/mas.html and http://www.eads.com/xml/content/OF00000000400004/0/64/41488640.asx
US Geological Survey, “Minerals Yearbook 2005,” September 2006, p. 5.2.
Boeing Website Image Gallery of Small Diameter Bomb: http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/gallery/images/missiles/sdb/sdb.html
Boeing Image Gallery: http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/gallery/images/missiles/sdb/sdb.html
Alcan Press Release, “Alcan Contributes to Success of Eighth Ariane 5 ECA Launch,” Dec 13th, 2006.
http://www.dassault-aviation.com/
“Pacific 2004, International Naval and Maritime Exposition for the Southern Pacific,” Aerospace Maritime and Defence Conference, http://www.ideea.com/pacific2004/embassy/smithbriefing.pdf
US Geological Survey, “Minerals Yearbook 2005,” September 2006, p. 5.5.
Alcan Press Release, “Alcan to Explore Development of Bauxite Mine and Alumina Refinery in Madagascar,” September 11th 2006.
Alcan’t website, http://www.alcant.co.za/history.html
Grapevine, Issue 10, July 13, 2007. Interview also available at http://www.savingiceland.org/node/870
RUV News, 26-02-2007, http://ruv.is/heim/frettir/frett/store64/item145391/. Note that RUV has Alcoa and Alcan confused.
International Rivers Network & EarthLife Africa, “Eskom’s Expanding Empire
The Social and Ecological Footprint of Africa’s Largest Power Utility,” June 2003, http://www.irn.org/programs/safrica/index.php?id=030601eskomfactsheet.html
Asia-Pacific Human Rights Network, “Rio Tinto’s Record and the Global Compact,” July 13th 2001, http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=623.
SBS Australia’s television program Dateline in a report on Rio Tinto, August 2000.
Wikipedia Germany (22-7-2007), http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandline-Affäre
Contract between PNG Government and Sandline: http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/PNG/htmls/Sandline.html.
Sarei v Rio Tinto, 456 F.3d 1069 (9th Cir. 2006), USA.

S.I. Activist Imprisoned by the Icelandic State

Saving Iceland
24 July 2007

The Icelandic government and ALCOA have gained their first political prisoner with their repression of protest against the heavy industry policy.

Saving Iceland
24 July 2007

The Icelandic government and ALCOA have gained their first political prisoner with their repression of protest against the heavy industry policy.

A twenty three year old British Saving Iceland activist who was arrested today on the action against Rio Tinto-Alcan, has been imprisoned for eight days.

Apparently the activist was told by the Icelandic police that she was to pay a 100.000 kronur (£840) fine for her involvement in protests against ALCOA in the east of Iceland in the summer of 2006, or face prison. She chose the latter.

At this time we do not know where she will be held.

Other foreign protesters have their passports held at ransom by the police for fines based on accusations for obstructing the police, but no actual charges.

Here at Saving Iceland we seem to remember that passports are the property of the States that they are issued in.

Thus, not for the first time, the Icelandic police may actually be breaching international law by blackmailing foreign citizens who are exercising their democratic right to protest against the corrupt heavy industry policy that the Icelandic government continues to maintain.

In March this year the Left-Green party in Iceland called in parliament for an independent investigation into the conduct of the Icelandic police against Saving Iceland protesters in the the years of 2005 and 2006.

It is high time that the autocratic and frequently violent methods of the Icelandic police against peaceful protesters come under serious scrutiny.

http://www.savingiceland.org/node/887

Iceland actions – Scotland & Iceland

Saving Iceland Blockades Century Smelter at Grundartangi
19.07.2007

News of Saving Iceland’s latest action as part of the Summer of Resistance to the aluminium industry in Iceland.

Saving Iceland Blockades Century Smelter at Grundartangi
19.07.2007

News of Saving Iceland’s latest action as part of the Summer of Resistance to the aluminium industry in Iceland.

GRUNDARTANGI – Saving Iceland has this afternoon closed the single supply road from Highway 1 to the Century/Nordural smelter on Hvalfjordur and the steel factory Elkem – Icelandic Alloys. Saving Iceland opposes the planned new Century smelter at Helguvik and the expansion of the Icelandic Alloys factory. Activists have used lock-ons (metal arm tubes) to form a human blockade on the road and have occupied a construction site crane.

Century Aluminum, a part of the recently formed Russian-Swiss RUSAL/Glencore/SUAL conglomorate, want to build a second smelter in Iceland in Helguvik with a projected capacity of at least 250.000 metric tons per annum. The planned site is designed to accommodate further expansion. Grundartangi has this year been extended to 260.000 mtpa.

Currently, an environmental impact assessment (1) is under review for the Helguvik smelter, produced by the construction consultants HRV (Honnun/Rafhonnun/VST).

“It is absurd that an engineering company with a vested interest in the smelter construction could be considered to produce an objective impact assessment. The document makes absurd claims, such as that pollution is really not a problem because Helguvik is such a windy place that the pollution will just blow away,” says Saving Iceland’s Snorri Páll Jónsson Úlfhildarson.”

“This smelter will demand new geothermal power plants at Seltún, Sandfell, Austurengjar and Trölladyngju. In addition to the Hengill area which has already been seriously damaged by Reykjavik Energy. The impact assessment does not take these into account, nor the impact of the huge amount of
power lines and pylons required. The plants will ruin the natural and scenic value of the whole peninsula. Also, the recquired capacity, 400 MW, exceeds the natural capactity of the geothermal spots, and they will cool down in three to four decades (2). And Century admits it wants the site to expand further in the next decades. So it is obvious that this smelter will not just ruin Reykjanes but also need
additional hydropower.”

The impact procedure seems to be completely irrelevant anyway, since the company has completed an equity offering worth $360 million to be deployed for partly financing the construction of the Helguvik smelter project (3). This indicates that Century already has high level assurances that the project is to continue no matter what.

This completely contradicts the claims the new government of
Iceland, and particularly it’s environment minister Þórunn
Sveinbjarnardóttir, is opposed to new smelter projects.

Icelandic Alloys wants to expand its facility for producing
ferrosilicon for the steel industry. It is in fact one of Iceland’s largest contributors to greenhouse gases and other pollutants (4).

“Expansion of Icelandic Alloys and Century considerably contribute to Iceland’s greenhouse emissions. If there are no further expansions of heavy industry beyond Grundartangi and ALCOA Fjardaal, Iceland will emit 38% more greenhouse gases than in 1990. If other expansion plans continue, levels would rise to an incredible 63% above 1990 levels. (5). That is completely irresponsible.

This shows that all the talk about ‘green energy’ from hydro and geothermal is, in reality, a lie. Icelanders have to rise up against these foreign corporations,” says Úlfhildarson.

More information:
http://www.savingiceland.org

Notes and references:
1. Environmental Impact Assesment, HRV, may 2007, http://www.hrv.is/media/files/Frummatsskýrsla_2007-05-02_low%20res.pdf
2. Landvernd, Letter to national planning agency, 28th June 2007, http://www.landvernd.is/myndir/Umsogn_Helguvik.pdf
3. Credit Suisse, June 12th 2007, http://www.newratings.com/
analyst_news/article_1548857.html
4. Icelandic Ministry of the Environment, March 2006, http://
unfccc.int/resource/docs/natc/islnc4.pdf
5. Idem.

=================================
Icelandic Embassy Targeted by Activists

On the morning of 20th July, the Icelandic embassy on Queen St, Edinburgh was targeted by members of Saving Iceland(1). Paint was thrown on the building, the lock was glued and a message was affixed to the exterior reading “The Whole World is Watching”. “Iceland Bleeds” was also painted on the steps. The action served as response to recent acts of police brutality against Saving Iceland activists in Reykjavik who continue to oppose the assault on the Icelandic wilderness by heavy industry.

Icelandic Police attacked a non-violent Reclaim the Streets protest in the centre of Reykjavik, on July 14th. Video evidence(2) shows Icelandic police violently throwing protesters to the ground while others were punched and kicked. Five peaceful protesters were held in police cells, one with a broken rib after the police attack. The Reclaim the Streets demonstration was part of a continuing action camp held near Reykjavik this summer, involving activists from across the globe, including Scotland.

The recent expansion of large-scale aluminium production in Iceland has involved a barely democratic process and a comprehensive devastation of vast natural areas on a scale unprecedented in Europe today.

The Saving Iceland activists responsible for the action against the Icelandic Embassy state:
“We are sending a clear message to the Icelandic government that the destruction of unique ecosystems has environmental implications for us all. The repression of those who are opposing these destructive mega–projects is unacceptable. In the context of the current climate crisis we must all take responsibility for the destruction of our planet by criminal corporations such as Alcoa. The whole world is watching”.

The action in Edinburgh was an expression of solidarity with the activists and Icelandic people who are attempting to stand up to the unjust rule of the aluminium industry over democracy. Saving Iceland activists state: “We will not stop until the corporate invasion of the Icelandic wilderness has ceased. The world is not dying, it is being murdered. And those who are doing it need to be held accountable.”

(1) Saving Iceland is an Icelandic based direct action group opposed to continued expansion of heavy industry in Iceland. It involves participants from all over the world in collective resistance to the Icelandic state’s “Masterplan” which includes the damming of every major glacial river in Iceland by 2020 solely for the purpose of aluminum smelting. Saving Iceland has organised three summers of international protest to halt this vast destruction. It will not cease it’s opposition until all aluminum production leaves Iceland. For more info visit www.savingiceland.org

(2) Video documentation of the police violence on Saturday 14th in Reykjavik can be found at the following link. Note the use of pressure points applied for an extended period to the man on the ground and the accompanying and prolonged screaming: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NenbTc0cQs4&mode=user&search

=====================================

The Clown Army and Saving Iceland invade Reykjavik Energy building
20.07.2007

Clowns redecorate Reykjavik Energy O.R.s interior with banner. Strawberries were offered by the corporate scum, but the clowns were not swayed from their action.

Today 25 protestors from Saving Iceland went into Orkuveitu Reykjavíkur (Reykjavik Energy, O.R.) and hung up a banner inside stating: ‘Vopnaveita Reykjavíkur?’ (‘Reykjavik Arms-dealers?’). The banner was not hung outside as planned earlier because of weather conditions. Protestors stayed in the building from 15.15 until 16.00 hrs.

Páll Erland speaking on behalf of O.R. states that they offered strawberries to protestors and welcomed Saving Iceland to put up the banner. While Erland might be happy to discuss strawberries with their visitors, they certainly did not give permission to hang up a banner indicating that they sell energy to companies known to be involved in arms production and serious human rights violations (as documented in our earlier press release). Saving Iceland has now contacted O.R., requesting they put up the banner and discuss publicly with us the ethics of selling energy to corporate criminals such as Century-RUSAL and Alcan-RioTinto.

NATO Defeated by EarthFirst! in the Netherlands

For two years GroenFront! – Dutch & Belgian EarthFirst! – have been fighting with the local community in Schinveld, in the southeast of the country, to preserve a forest that would be destroyed for the sake of the NATO airforce base across the German border. A direct action camp was evicted in January, and 15 acres were destroyed, but 35 acres saved. GroenFront! was preparing to reoccupy the woods awating the final outcome of a legal battle between the local council and national government, but now to great surprise, the protestors have been vindicated and the forests are definitely saved from NATO’s bloody claws. On July 18th the Dutch highest administrative court ruled that the logging of Schiveld forest is illegal. This means the ministry of defence cannot continue the logging of the forest as requested by NATO, it also means the logging of the first six hectares in January 2006 was illegal. The forest would need to be destroyed to allow AWACS radar planes to lift off with more fuel in order to fly directly to Afghanistan and Iraq.

For almost 30 years local protestors in Schinveld have fought against NATO, first to stop the reopening of the base, then to reduce the nuisance caused by the outdated AWACS radar planes, and, since the eviction of the action camp and the logging in 2006, radicalised by GroenFront!’s forest camp, to close down the base.

When NATO wanted 20 hectares of the forest cut and it looked as if the local council would be overruled by the ministries of defence (owner of the forest) and infrastructure, they contacted GroenFront! and started a campaign where Schinveld was highlighted in the New York Times.

GroenFront! and the local community protest group Stop Awacs started a series of smaller actions. After thethe spring of 2005, the number of actions increased when the minister of infrastructure gave out a logging permit on August 3rd 2005, after a Nimby-legislation procedure (not in my back yard).
The local council and Stop Awacs tried to stop the logging until the final ruling (the one that came today) would have been made, but the court decided against that on the 2nd of December 2005. On Sunday December 4th 2005, GroenFront! occupied the forest and started an intensive international campaign.

The camp was evicted on January 9th 2006, the afternoon before about 2000 locals walked their demo in support of the activist into the forest, in spite of a restriction order, and cheered at the international group of more than 100 activist occupying the trees at that moment. Before the police could start evicting the trees, they had to remove several hundred locals who stayed in the woods after the demonstration, trying to avoid police blockades and committing other forms of civil disobedience as the mayor used emergency legislation against his own people.

Mayo shell site blockaded, later occupied, jailings & solidarity demo

13.07.2007

Local Protesters Blockade Shell Construction site in Mayo

A number of Shell to Sea campaigners have established a non-violent blockade of the road leading to the proposed gas refinery site at Bellanaboy. Two protestors are locked on to an immobilized vehicle, preventing access to the site.

13.07.2007

Local Protesters Blockade Shell Construction site in Mayo

“It is vital for the preservation of Erris and the protection of its people that all work on this destructive and exploitative project be stopped immediately. Despite a contemptible strategy by the authorities that either ignores or maliciously persecutes those opposing the project, residents remain resolute in their opposition.” says John Monaghan

This action comes in the wake of the conviction of three local residents on a charge of assault, a charge they vigorously deny. The judges’ verdict has been met with surprise and chagrin from the community.

Today Shell to Sea supporters are clearly demonstrating that they will not be deterred by Gardai violence or false imprisonment

for timeline etc go to http://www.indymedia.ie/article/83416

Occupation of refinery site

Breaking news – 10pm

100 people have just occupied the proposed refinery site in Ballinaboy!

People jumped the main front gates of the refinery site and just walked on. Over 100 people occupied the site. The atmosphere was very relaxed and peaceful.

People chatted to the security staff and challenged them as to why they feel the necessity to work for Shell.

People stayed on site for roughly half an hour. They had a walk around, and a good look around. People walked right to the top of the site and back down again.

There were no Gardai there for the duration of the occupation.

People have just left the site together as a block and are going on to have a bonfire together and with the fishermen that have just been released from prison.

This follows a day of all out action by the people in Erris. Two people had locked on this morning to a vehicle. This blocade, supported by road blocades done by people on another road prevented the trucks from working for the vast majority of the day. The two men that ‘locked on’ have both been charged with numerous public order and road traffic offences. They are due to appear in the District Court in Castlebar on Wednesday.

Shell to Sea campaigners jailed for police assault

A text message and short phone call last night revealed that three Shell to Sea protestors have been jailed on assault charges against the Garda.

The text message from one at the Rossport Solidarity Camp said the three men were found guilty of assaults on the police.

One man received three months, another one month and the last is facing four months in prison.

A forth man is also facing the same charges.

An appeal is set for today to see if they can over turn the charges, but as the message I received last night said it did not look good.

For further updates keep your eye on here or on: http://indymedia.ie/mayo

Solidarity with Jailed anti-Shell Protesters- Picket at Department of Justice, Dublin

No Justice in Rossport- the Gardaí work for Shell

Supporters of the campaign to have Shell site their refinery offshore and for the Irish govt to secure Irish natural resources for the people showed their solidarity with the three Erris fisherment who have been wrongly jailed. A large group of about forty protesters handed in a short letter (signed by them all) to the minister expressing outrage at the treatment of the three men.

The Gardaí complained that the presence of such as a large group of people at the entrance of the building had health and safety implications, and tried to order those present to move, but it was poined out the health and safety implications of Shell’s scheme for Mayo were a much greater threat to us all.

Garda reinforcements arrived and tried to intimidate the protesters, who included some Sinn Féin and Green Party members (as well as members of smaller groups and none), but no one paid any attention to them, since they are widely recognised as simply being used as merceneries for Shell now, their authority is slipping away.

Aboriginal Elders Occupy Barrick Gold’s Australian Head Office

July 13th, 2007
Wiradjuri Elders Neville “Chappy” Williams (third from left) and Ron Gardner (back to camera in wheelchair) in tense negotiations with Barrick’s Steve Robinson (fourth from left) while other Barrick staff and protestors look on. Barrick Gold office foyer, Perth Western Australia 11 July 2007.

(Spanish version available at: http://barrick.live.radicaldesigns.org/article.php?id=165)

Elders and supporters of the Wiradjuri Aboriginal Nation have occupied the Australian head office of the world’s largest gold mining company, Barrick Gold.

Around 35 people peacefully occupied Barrick Gold’s Australian headquarters in Perth, Western Australia on Wednesday in a bid to force the company to meet Wiradjuri protocols relating to people with bloodlines to Lake Cowal in Central New South Wales where Barrick is operating a gold mine.

Elders Neville ‘Chappy’ Williams and Ron Gardner sought from Barrick:

* copy of the Cowal Gold Project Ancillary Deed between Barrick Australia Limited and the so-called ‘Wiradjuri Condobolin Native Title Claim Group’
* a response to an eviction notice delivered to Barrick
* a meeting with Barrick senior management, and
* any legal papers the company has that are the property of the Wiradjuri Elders.

Barrick’s response was to call the police and to ask the protesters to leave the premises saying they were ‘trespassing on private property’. After a sit-in lasting around an hour and being threatened with arrest, the Elders and supporters agreed to leave on the condition that Barrick agree to respond to the Elders’ verbal and written demands in writing.

“We’re fed up with Barrick’s lack of courtesy to Wiradjuri Elders so we’ve been forced to take this kind of action. We’ve been trying to get a copy of the ancillary deed and other documents like a full inventory of artefacts collected at Lake Cowal for a long time now,” Mr Williams said.

“All the Wiradjuri with ties to Lake Cowal have a right to see the deed and the inventory, not just the five sell-outs who have signed away our ancient cultural heritage. We’ve gone through the correct channels, through Freedom of Information, letters to Barrick and a request I made personally to Barrick Chairman, Peter Munk in Canada on only 2 May at their AGM. They keep saying the deed is ‘commercial-in-confidence’. So what have they got to hide? They should be open with all of us Wiradjuri people, but they keep on acting in secret and putting a lot of spin on their publicity about the mine and its so-called ‘benefits’. Their Perth public relations officer was extremely rude to us and showed us no respect at all.”

“Barrick has not gone through the appropriate protocol, nor have they spoken to the right Wiradjuri people about Lake Cowal,” Ron Gardner said. A nine-year veteran of the campaign to stop the gold mine in the Wiradjuri Nation’s heartland, Gardner has strong feelings about the mine. Until recently ill health has kept him away from the lake.

“I was shocked and emotionally upset to the point of tears when I saw the mine infrastructure on our sacred place,” he said.

“There are burials out there and it’s a massacre site. There are thousands of artefacts and scarred trees in the area that are testament to our People’s long and continuing occupation of the region, yet Barrick won’t release an inventory of all the artifacts they have collected or tell us what has happened to the scarred trees that have been removed to make way for the mine.

“The mine has split the Wiradjuri community. You don’t know who you can talk to or trust any more. Barrick continues to deal with just a small group over the $9.2 million deal they made. They’ve set up the Wiradjuri Condobolin Corporation (WCC) but you have to join to become a member. As Chappy says, “We know who we are. You’re born into Wiradjuri. You don’t need a membership application”.

“The WCC is not benefiting the majority of Wiradjuri people. Most of us still have the same problems, poor health, housing in need of maintenance and upgrade and lack of education and job prospects.

“Barrick are wrecking the ecology out there at Lake Cowal. The company is drawing up to 3650 megalitres of water a year out the groundwater and Lachlan River near the lake and we’re still in the worst drought in recorded history.”

“They are using cyanide to leach gold from the ore. This inevitably leaches into the soil and can make its way into the water system. Despite what the company says in its PR spin, gold mining is just not safe. One teaspoon of 2% cyanide can kill a human and a lot of cyanide spills have occurred around the world. They are digging up a massive mount of earth out there and will leave a pit 1 kilometre long, 825 metres wide and 325 metres deep. It will be there forever, never to be filled in, a legacy for future generations.”

“They’ve cut down thousands of old trees that take hundreds of years to grow and provide habitat for lots of native species. Yes, they’ve replanted some vegetation but thousands of trees have died because they weren’t watered in the continuing drought”, Mr Gardner said.

“So we’re not going to stop our protests against Barrick until we get some justice,” Mr Williams said.

“They’ve made their position very clear and looks like they won’t budge. But we’re not alone. We have many rock solid supporters here in Australia like Kungarakan/Gurindji Elder Speedy McGuinness from the Northern Territory, who is fighting his own battle against new uranium mines on Aboriginal land there.

“We have great support from the students who sat in at Barrick’s Perth head office and our Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal friends across Australia and the world in the Coalition to Protect Lake Cowal. We’ve also got a great international coalition going with First Nations peoples where Barrick is damaging and destroying Aboriginal lands in Africa and North and South America. We’ll never give up the fight until the mine is stopped and our land is returned to us,” he said.

This is an ongoing story. Barrick faxed a letter to the Elders yesterday afternoon Perth time in response to their demands. The Elders have referred it to their legal counsel for advice.

http://www.savelakecowal.org/intro.html
Contact: Neville ‘Chappy’ Williams +61 416 316 774
Ron Gardner +61 414 098 536

Saving Iceland Summer of Resistance Kicks off in Reykjavik

12.07.2007
A day of action in Reykjavik kick starts Saving Iceland’s Summer of Resistance to heavy industry and the aluminium industry’s corporate invasion of Europe’s largest wilderness.

Following on from Saving Iceland’s international conference: ‘The Global Consequences of Heavy Industry’ where speakers and delegates from five continents gathered to unite struggles against the aluminium industry, was a day of public actions.

The International Summer of Dissent begins!

Firstly at Kringlan Shopping Mall:

Over 50 people from 5 different continents started the day at Kringlan Shopping Mall, Reykjavik, to protest against the consumer culture that demands new aluminium factories. Reverend Billy, from the Church of Stop Shopping, and his new deciple Reverend Snorri, lead a flock of devoted and extremely noisy earth lovers (also known as Saving Iceland activists) through the consumerist hell that is a the shopping mall.

“The foreign corporations who want to dam Icelands great rivers, and put polluting smelters on our shores – they want us to keep shopping.”

“The Aluminium industry makes most of its money from warplanes, tanks and missiles (30%, actually.) They propose the complete damming of Icelands wilderness rivers, this isnald’s famouse beauty buried under industrial reservoirs. Let us stop the war machine and the ruin of Iceland’s wilderness. The same corporations that keep us shopping, make war around the world. Isn’t a shopping mall like a ‘human’ dam? We re stopped, hypnotized, put in debt. Our energy is taken from us. Save the country and save ourselves…”

…Then a march down Laugavegur (Reykjavik’s busiest street)…

… for a rally at Alþingi

On the lawn outside the Alþingi, the Icelandic Parlaiment, people gathered together to speak out against the aluminium industry. People from Trinidad, who are winning a fight against Alcoa, from South Africa, who are fighting a nuclear powered Alcan plant, from the East of Iceland, who have been devastated by the recent Alcoa Reydarfjdur factory and Karahnjukar dams, from Brasil, who is fighting the damming of the Amazon for aluminium factory energy, and many more gave inspiring speeches and lead energy filled songs against the aluminium industry.

…and finally at the Prime Minister’s Office
Street theatre activists then set up an aluminium smelter, installed some tomb stones and handed out dirty Icelandic water (Iceland prides itself on its pure water, yet it is polluting and destroying its water for the sake of heavy industry dams).

activist video footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJF7uK4cCOM
RUV coverage (Iceland’s state TV): http://dagskra.ruv.is/streaming/sjonvarpid/?file=4338360/5

For updates and details of upcoming actions see: http://www.savingiceland.org/
For more videos of Saving Iceland actions and the recent conference see: http://www.youtube.com/user/octoplasm

Cabinet refuses consultation with Herefordshire public: ‘Hereford Eight Arrested’

July 12 2007 – Herefordshire Council Cabinet refused this afternoon to guarantee that they would consult with the public or even allow full council to debate the future of the Dinedor Serpent.

Cabinet member Cllr. June French told reporters and protesters that it would not be an agenda item today, but that it would be discussed at an unspecified future date. She could not guarantee that it would be debated by the full council or allowed a vote. Cllr. French announced an internal inquiry into how the council had handled the publicity around the Serpent.

8 protesters subsequently refused to leave the Council building until Cabinet members guaranteed a full public consultation. When this guarantee was not forthcoming, the prostestors, including an elderly people, refused to leave. They were peacefully escorted from the premises by the police.

Update 10:15pm: The protesters were arrested on charges of ‘aggressive trespass’. They have just been released on bail having spent several hours in police cells in Worcester and are expected back in Hereford shortly. They will have to report back on July 26th and face either a caution or be taken to court.

“All the Council had to do today was guarantee a proper public debate, and then this would not have happened”, said a campaign spokesperson. “What do they have to hide? Those arrested are the Hereford suffragettes – all because Herefordshire Council won’t be open and democratic in it’s procedures.”

Calls continue to grow for Herefordshire Council to pause construction to allow a full public consultation and for all elected councillors to have a say in the final decision and not just the Cabinet.

Background info & other campaign news at http://www.rotherwasribbon.com/

For court case updates, see July 2007 archive.