Wilderness Defence – Page 12

Nantes, France: Call for a Demo and Decentralized Solidarity Actions Against Repression of the Anti-airport Movement

8th May 2014 On February 22nd, 2014, more than 50,000 people gathered in Nantes for the biggest anti-airport demonstration ever.

8th May 2014 On February 22nd, 2014, more than 50,000 people gathered in Nantes for the biggest anti-airport demonstration ever. As it was declared illegal by the prefecture, it quickly faced stunning repression; hundreds of over-armed cops surrounded the demo while a huge anti-riot wall blocked the central street of the city (le cours des 50 otages). It was the first time in Nantes’ social struggles history that a demo couldn’t pass by there. Politicians and media talked about “lootings” and “devastations”, deploring the violence after a group of demonstrators attempted to walk the original route.

However, the Power and its accomplices failed to mention the extreme ferocity in the crackdown on this demonstration. On February 22nd, hundreds of people were hurt by police weapons. At least three of them lost an eye from rubber-bullet shots. A lot of people breathed tear gas, were shaken up from stun grenades, or wounded from dispersion grenades, or repulsed by water cannons.

A few weeks later, on March 31st, media exultantly declared a first “dragnet” following a special police force’s investigation. Nine comrades had their houses searched and were arrested in the early morning. Two of them were immediately released, as one of them was not even in Nantes on the day of the demonstration. Four others couldn’t prepare their defense since they were sent to the court through the immediate arraignment procedure. Sentences are as heavy as the records are empty: indeed, the only real evidence the prosecution had were the confessions of the accused. Three of them have been condemned to prison terms without remission. During this parody of a trial, judge Tchalian did not hesitate to double the prosecutor’s requisitions and put our comrade Enguerrand directly in prison. One year in prison without remission for some stones and smoke cans.

The purpose of the repression from police and the justice system that the anti-airport movement is now facing is only to terrorize those who revolt and start fighting against capitalism’s hold on our living spaces. It is to psychologically and physically touch a social movement, to mutilate and incarcerate some of us to reach all the others. The sentences and mutilations of the 22nd of February are not only an application of laws or peacekeeping techniques—they are deeply political. This real state terrorism expresses clearly what must be expected for those who resist.

Today, Enguerrand, Quentin, Damien, Emmanuel, Philippe, J. and G. are its victims. It could have been any one of us. According to the State and its so-called justice, taking part in a demonstration is sufficient to justify the loss of an eye or a prison term.

We shouldn’t step back as we are facing such violent repression. By doing so, we would only prove their case. The best support we can give to our wounded and incarcerated comrades is to keep on fighting. Our struggle has never been so powerful, and we have never been so close to realizing a future without concrete. More than ever, we must keep on fighting and not give anything up in the struggle against the airport and the world that produces it.

Against the assassin Power that mutilated and incarcerated, we have a weapon that it cannot take back. In a letter, on April 8th, Enguerrand stated: “The strength of activist solidarity cannot be defeated,” and indeed, we agree. Actions in support of those wounded and accused in the struggle have already been diverse and numerous, modeled on the diversity within the movement. Infinite are the potential actions. Organize a concert or a fundraiser to financially support the accused and their families. Call for a demonstration (“peacefully helmeted”? —a reference to the “Flashballes” song) to express revolt against police crimes. Cover the walls with painted slogans or posters to make sure that no one ignores what is happening…

Every initiative is welcome to bring reassurance to our comrades and remind the Power of our rage and determination. Against the conniving silence of the media spectacle, we can only rely on ourselves to make “justice” a meaningful word again. We strongly encourage every solidarity action against repression of the anti-airport movement, no matter whether it happens in Nantes or anywhere else, today or anytime.

No justice, no peace!
Solidarity with the wounded and the accused!
No to the airport and its world!

DEMONSTRATION Saturday, May 17th, 2014 at 3pm – Nantes prefecture

To write to the support committee for Enguerrand or to sign this call: soutien.enguerrand(at)riseup.net

Former ELF Member Pleads Guilty to Arsons; Snitches on Friends for Reduced Sentence

Tomorrow, May 5, 2014, Liam Mulholland will be sentenced for his involvement in a 2003 ELF arson.

Mulholland pleaded guilty to setting fire to a house at Mystic Forest housing development in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on March 21, 2003. Spray painted on the garage of a neighboring house were the words “ELF – No Sprawl.”

In Michigan, the mandatory minimum for this kind of property destruction is five years in prison. However, the government has requested a reduced sentence because of Mulholland’s “cooperation” with the federal government.

From his plea agreement and the Government’s Sentencing Memorandum, it seems Mulholland handed the feds a lot of information. He claimed involvement in several more ELF and ALF actions, including arsons that destroyed two homes at another housing development in Michigan in June of 2003; using incendiary devices to destroy chicken delivery trucks in Bloomington, Indiana in May of 2002; an arson at a housing development in Bloomington, Indiana in June of 2002; and a failed attempt to set fire to a pumping station in Stanwood, Michigan, in September of 2003.

Mulholland also provided feds with the names of the other activists with whom he carried out these actions—as well as where and how they traveled, where and when they planned and discussed their actions, what they purchased for the actions, how they disposed of the purchased items, and how they carried out each action.

The government is requesting a sentence of 18 months for Mulholland—a reduction of 42 months from the state’s mandatory minimum—because his cooperation will aid the government in cracking down on the other ELF and ALF suspects: “The government has determined that the defendant’s cooperation to date amounts to substantial assistance in the investigation or prosecution of others.”

Photo captured from Local 4 Defenders.

The agreement also asserts that, because of his cooperation, all his charges related to the other admitted ELF and ALF arsons will be dismissed.

And it seems that Mulholland isn’t the only one snitching. The Sentencing Memorandum states that, though Mulholland often asserted that he was simply “along for the ride” during these actions, the feds have received contradictory information: “According to witnesses, it was the defendant who had the expertise to construct incendiary devices and did so for both the arson of the delivery trucks at Sim’s Poultry, as well as the attempted arson of the Ice Mountain pumping station.”

Stay tuned for more information after tomorrow’s sentencing hearing. If anyone has pictures of Liam Mulholland, or more information, please send them to collective [at] earthfirstjournal [dot] org, so that the word can be spread, and activists and activist groups can be on guard for the presence of this snitch.

For more information on snitches and informants, be sure to check out our online Informant Tracker.

Rabbit is an editor for the Earth First! Journal and Newswire. He can be reached at rabbit [at] earthfirstjournal [dot] org. If you appreciated reading this article, or want to support the informant tracking and prisoner support services, please consider subscribing or donating today.

Nearly a thousand environmental activists murdered since 2002

April 15, 2014 At least 908 people were murdered for taking a stand to defend the environment betwe

April 15, 2014 At least 908 people were murdered for taking a stand to defend the environment between 2002 and 2013, according to a new report today from Global Witness, which shows a dramatic uptick in the murder rate during the past four years. Notably, the report appears on the same day that another NGO, Survival International, released a video of a gunman terrorizing a Guarani indigenous community in Brazil, which has recently resettled on land taken from them by ranchers decades ago. According to the report, nearly half of the murders over the last decade occurred in Brazil—448 in all—and over two-thirds—661—involved land conflict.

"There can be few starker or more obvious symptoms of the global environmental crisis than a dramatic upturn in killings of ordinary people defending rights to their land or environment," said Oliver Courtney of Global Witness. "Yet this rapidly worsening problem is going largely unnoticed, and those responsible almost always get away with it. We hope our findings will act as the wake-up call that national governments and the international community clearly need."

But as grisly as the report is, it's likely a major underestimation of the issue. The report covers just 35 countries where violence against environmental activists remains an issue, but leaves out a number of major countries where environmental-related murders are likely occurring but with scant reporting.

"Because of the live, under-recognized nature of this problem, an exhaustive global analysis of the situation is not possible," reads the report. "For example, African countries such as Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Zimbabwe that are enduring resource-fueled unrest are highly likely to be affected, but information is almost impossible to gain without detailed field investigations."

In fact, reports of hundreds of additional killings in countries like Ethiopia, Myanmar, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe were left out due to lack of rigorous information.

Even without these countries included, the number of environmental activists killed nearly approaches the number of journalists murdered during the same period—913—an issue that gets much more press. Environmental activists most at risk are people fighting specific industries.

"Many of those facing threats are ordinary people opposing land grabs, mining operations and the industrial timber trade, often forced from their homes and severely threatened by environmental devastation," reads the report. "Indigenous communities are particularly hard hit. In many cases, their land rights are not recognized by law or in practice, leaving them open to exploitation by powerful economic interests who brand them as 'anti-development'."

As if to highlight these points, Survival International released a video today that the groups says shows a gunman firing at the Pyelito Kuê community of Guarani indigenous people. The incident injured one woman, according to the group. The Guarani have been campaigning for decades to have land returned to them that has been taken by ranchers.

"This video gives a brief glimpse of what the Guarani endure month after month—harassment, intimidation, and sometimes murder, just for trying to live in peace on tiny fractions of the ancestral land that was once stolen from them," the director of Survival International, Stephen Corry, said. "Is it too much to expect the Brazilian authorities, given the billions they're spending on the World Cup, to sort this problem out once and for all, rather than let the Indians' misery continue?"

According to the report, two major drivers of repeated violence against environmental activists are a lack of attention to the issue and widespread impunity for perpetrators. In fact, Global Witness found that only ten people have been convicted for the 908 murders documented in the report, meaning a conviction rate of just 1.1 percent to date.

"Environmental human rights defenders work to ensure that we live in an environment that enables us to enjoy our basic rights, including rights to life and health," John Knox, UN Independent Expert on Human Rights and the Environment said. "The international community must do more to protect them from the violence and harassment they face as a result."

Rebels raid mining firm in Southern Philippines and torch heavy equipment

April 5 2014 New People’s Army rebels on Saturday raided a mining firm in the southern Philippine province of Agusan del Norte, reports said.

Reports said the rebels swooped down on Philippine Alstron Mining Company on the village of Tamamarkay in Tubay town and overpowered the security guards without firing a single shot before they torched several trucks and other heavy equipment.

The rebels also seized at least 6 shot guns and short firearms from the company’s security arsenal. There were no reports of casualties.

The raid came following threats made by the NPA on mining firms operating in the southern Philippines.

Just last month, rebel forces attacked a police base and government troops in Davao del Sur’s Matanao as punishment for their “reign of terror” against indigenous tribes and other communities opposing mining operations in the province.

Dencio Madrigal, a spokesman for the NPA-Valentine Palamine Command, said the deadly attacks were a punishment for police and military units protecting Glencore Xstrata. He accused the mining firm of exploiting nearly 100,000 hectares of ancestral lands of indigenous Lumad Blaans tribes, and peasants in the region.

Jorge Madlos, a regional rebel spokesman, also warned mining firms and fruit plantations in the region, saying military operations in Mindanao have escalated and have become more extensive with the aim to thwart the ever growing and widespread people’s protest against destructive mining operations and plantations.

Madlos said among their targets are Russell Mines and Minerals, Apex Mining Corp. and Philco in southern Mindanao; Dolefil, Del Monte and Sumifru plantations in northern Mindanao; TVI Resource Development Philippines in western Mindanao whose operations inside the ancestral domain of indigenous Subanen and Moro tribes are being opposed by villagers.

NPA and Moro rebels had previously attacked TVI Resources in Zamboanga province.

“If one recalls, more than 400 families were forced to evacuate their ancestral lands because of TVI and the ruthless military operations that ensued to protect it in Buug, Zamboanga del Sur. In order to defend the people’s human rights and general wellbeing, the NPA launched tactical offensives against TVI as well as against units of the AFP-PNP-CAFGU protecting it, such as the ambush on February 2012 that hit elements of the army intelligence group operating on the behest of TVI and the imposition of the local government to allow TVI mining operations on Subanen ancestral lands is one of the bases the NPA raided on April 9, 2012 the PNP station in Tigbao, Zamboanga del Sur,” Madlos said.

NPA rebels also intercepted a group of army soldiers who were using a borrowed truck from TVI and disarmed them in Diplahan town in Zamboanga Sibugay province two years ago. The rebels also burned the truck before releasing the soldiers.

“In view of these events, the NDFP in Mindanao calls upon the Lumad and Moro peoples, peasants and workers, religious and other sectors to further strengthen their unity and their courage to oppose the interests of imperialist mines and plantations, which are exceedingly damaging to Mindanao, to its people and to the environment. We call upon the units of the NPA in Mindanao to be ever more daring in their defense of people’s interests against the greed and rapacity of the local ruling classes and their imperialist master,” Madlos said.

TVI Resource Development Philippines has repeatedly denied all accusations against them. It recently ended its gold mining operation in Mount Canatuan in Zamboanga del Norte’s Siocon town after several years of operations and now has a gold-silver project in the town of Bayog in Zamboanga del Sur province and a nickel plant in Agusan del Norte province. (Mindanao Examiner)

lock-on-tastic continues/eviction court case news & more at Barton Moss (4-12 March 2014)

11.3.14

4th March – another lock-on delayed trucks significantly – 4 hours!

The Manchester Evening News – sensationalist parroter of police and fracking PR – conducted a survey that found that 73% of Mancunians opposed fracking.

6th March – two hour lock-on and book shields deployed to protect against TAU (riot police) aggression.

9th March – 1,200 march against fracking in Manchester city centre.

10th March – eviction court case brought by Peel Holdings: judge considered two days of evidence over the weekend, and decided against the camp. He'd previously said Peel couldn't evict part of the camp from a strip of agricultural land that Peel lease out to a tenant farmer. On Monday he decided it wasn't agricultural enough! Camp taking appeal to High Court.

11th March – another lock-on!

BREAKING THE FRAME

A GATHERING ON THE POLITICS OF TECHNOLOGY

2nd – 5th May 2014

Unstone Grange, Derbyshire

YOU NEED TO BOOK -SEE BELOW

Organised by Luddites 200, Corporate Watch, and Scientists for Global Responsibility

A GATHERING ON THE POLITICS OF TECHNOLOGY

2nd – 5th May 2014

Unstone Grange, Derbyshire

YOU NEED TO BOOK -SEE BELOW

Organised by Luddites 200, Corporate Watch, and Scientists for Global Responsibility

Technology can bring some benefits for ordinary people, but its development is almost entirely conmtrolled by corporate, military and technocratic elites, so it usually serves their interests and reinforces their power.

The politics of food, energy, work, gender, peace, economics, health, etc are all shaped by choices about technology made by those elites. The whole way our society develops is massively influenced by technology, yet ordinary people never have a proper say in it. We're always left reacting to the technocrats' latest plan, whether it's drones, internet surveillance, GM food, fracking, designer babies or nuclear power.

We think all these issues are linked. So it's time for a more joined up and more proactive approach, one which addresses the root causes of problems and is not limited by the dogma that technology equals progress.

We want to create a new politics of technology based on bringing together the insights of different movements and learning from each other.
We want a human-scale technology that serves real human needs, not corporate bottom lines.
We want democratic control of technology.

An world facing environmental meltdown and massive inequality -both caused byb 200 years ofn industrial capitalism- needs better solutions than more dangerous techno-fixes such as climate engineering.

Whether you're a technology politics campaigner, trade unionist, environmentalist. altech developer, artist or just plain concerned, BREAKING THE FRAME IS NOT TO BE MISSED.

YOU NEED TO BOOK

www.breakingtheframe.org.uk

email: luddites200@yahoo.co.uk

(020) 7426 0005

Accommodation is either in the conference centre OR camping (which is cheaper). The concessionary rate for camping is £36, which includes all meals for 4 days (it's a bank holiday weekend).

BUT if £36 is more than you can manage, we're committed to making sure nobody is left out for lack of money. So get in touch now. Rich people can make extra donations, of course!

Police Attack 20,000 French Citizens Protesting Against Airport Notre-Dame-Des-Landes

February 22, 2014

The event attended by ten’s of thousands of French citizens against the airport Notre-Dame-des-Landes escalated Saturday afternoon in the city center of Nantes when Police Blockaded the progression of the march and attacked with charges to the people protesting. Many citizens were wounded by tear gas and rubber bullets. Participants responded with fired projectiles – bottles, cans, steel balls, flares – towards the police who charged repeatedly.

About 20,000 people demonstrated in the city center of Nantes to protest against the construction of the new airport of Our Lady of Landes.Des violent clashes took place at the end of the event between violent groups and CRS | Franck Dubray

“This is tens of thousands,” assured Julien Durand, spokesman for the ACIPA, the main opposition group to the airport project, while refusing to give a precise figure.

According to him, the participation is equivalent to the previous rallies, such as in November 2012 which according to the organizers had expected 40,000 people (13,000 according to police).

In the late afternoon, the city center of Nantes showed scenes of devastation. People took out frustration from being ignored for years and beaten down when they speak out by ransacking a police station, an agency of Vinci (dealer airport project) group, but also broke several storefronts, any agency of Nantes transport or agency Nouvelles Frontières. At least two construction equipment vehicles and a barricade were also burned.

Objects were thrown at the SNCF catenary to block the movement of trains one source said. As for police, they made use of a large amount of tear gas, stun grenades and water cannons.

Protesters moved away blinded by tear gas while several hundred others continued to face the police, referring new projectiles bottles, or even own grenades forces.

“No matter what tell the prefecture, for all of you it is a great success,” provided at the end of the event Julien Durand.

via @Le Télégramme

“An unnecessary and expensive project”
The demonstration had started in a friendly atmosphere. “No thank you Ayraultport”, “No to Ayrault pork”, “Ayrault also emerges Vinci”, “Ni or airport metropolis, the city is ours” we heard in the procession.

“The mobilization is great here. We are here to show our determination to abandon this useless and expensive at this time of shortage project,” said AFP Eva Joly MEP EELV.

Given the anti-capitalist component of the event and clashes that have marked previous events, the prefecture on Friday adopted a modification of the route so that it avoids the downtown core.

The event is organized two months after the publication of prefectural ordinances authorizing the start of pre-construction of the airport. Appeals were filed against these orders but do not have suspensive effect. However, work has still not started.

via @youranonnews

The inauguration of the future Grand Ouest Airport, originally scheduled for 2017, is now considered only “2019 or 2020″ by supporters of the transfer. According to an Ifop poll published Saturday, a majority of French (56%) are opposed to the future airport, 24% being positive and 20% were undecided.

This survey was conducted on behalf of Acting for the environment, Attac and ACIPA, the leading association of opponents to the project. The project of public utility in 2008, is justified by its supporters, PS as the UMP, including the risk of saturation of the current airport Nantes Atlantique.

One of several damaged buildings. via Franck Dubray

STEPHANE MAHE / REUTERS

Sources
http://t.co/RS8wSS9yRB” target=”_blank”>FranceTVinfo
Lemonde
7sur7

Two-year long Moroccan Occupation of Silver Mine

An activist with the Berber flag. Protesters have occupied a hilltop above a silver mine for more than two years.

A Jan. 23 profile in the New York Times put a rare spotlight on the ongoing occupation camp established by Berber villagers at Mount Alebban, 5,000 feet high in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, to protest the operations of the Imiter Mettalurgic Mining Company—whose principal owner is the North African nation’s King Mohammed VI.

The occupation was first launched in 1996, but broken up by the authorities. It was revived in the summer of 2011, after students from the local village of Imider, who were used to getting seasonal jobs at the mine, were turned down. That led the villagers—even those with jobs at the complex—to again establish a permanent encampment blocking access to the site of Africa’s most productive silver mine.

A key grievance is the mine’s use of local water sources, which is making agriculture in the arid region increasingly untenable. Protesters closed a pipe valve, cutting off the water supply to the mine. Since then, the mine’s output has plummeted—40% in 2012 and a further 30% in 2013. But Imider farmers say their long-drying wells are starting to replenish, and their shriveled orchards are again starting to bear fruit.

In addition to protection of local waters, villagers are demanding that 75% of the jobs at the mine be allocated to their municipality. But more general demands for Berber cultural rights and dignity also animate the protest, with the Berber flag flying above the encampment.

A 2011 constitutional reform, the fruit of a protest movement inspired by those across the Arab world, granted greater cultural rights to the Berbers who (by language) constitute nearly half Morocco’s population. But the Berbers remain disproportionately affected by poverty and marginalization. The area around Mount Alebban is among the poorest zones of Morocco.

The Imider protesters say they are willing to talk, but neither the government nor the mining company have come to the table, apparently opting for a strategy of waiting the movement out. (Ethical Consumer, Jan. 28; Yabiladi, Jan. 27; Reuters, Feb. 20, 2012)

Earth First! Direct Action Manual Is Ready for Print

Earth First! Direct Action Manual. To support this publication, preorder your copy or donate today.

After several years in development, the Earth First! Direct Action Manual is ready to go to press. A group of frontline activists has assembled over 300 pages of diagrams, descriptions of techniques and a comprehensive overview of the role direct action plays in our campaigns in defense of the Earth.

We are now in a three-week fundraising campaign to ensure that this critical book gets out to people who can use it. You can preorder your copy and get some extra thank you gifts for your early endorsement by donating today. More importantly, though, we have offered a chance for you to help us spread this knowledge. Every donation over $50 gives you the chance to send a free copy of the manual to a campaign of your choice. The more you give, the more manuals we can put in the mail.

The manual will be printed in the coming month with longtime Earth First! partner, The Gloo Factory. This community-minded, union print shop has supplied Earth First! and its affiliates with stickers and merchandise for decades and remains committed to using a high standard for recycled and reclaimed material, as well as supportive worker conditions.

The manual was first printed nearly two decades ago and has been out of print since its initial dissemination. Though many of the considerations for civil disobedience and intervention have remained tried and true, new elements have altered the ways we put these tactics into action. The Earth First! Direct Action Manual will continue the role of safe and effective actions in stopping the destruction of the planet.

Support this effort today!

Romanian Villagers and Priests Occupy Chevron Fracking Site in Protest

9/2/14

Romanian police clashed with villagers on Wednesday as they tried in vain to force them off a field they have occupied for a third day to prevent U.S. energy giant Chevron from drilling for shale gas.

9/2/14

Hundreds of protesters blocked access to the site at Silistea in eastern Romania where Chevron plans to drill an exploration well, lying down in the mud and holding hands to form a human chain.

Some 250 anti-riot police engaged in an hours-long stand-off with the protesters, with skirmishes as they physically tried to force them off, but the demonstrators pushed their way back onto the field.

The group of protesters, some of whom have been sleeping at the site since Monday, had grown to about 500 on Wednesday, preventing Chevron bulldozers and excavators from accessing the site.

Orthodox priests also joined the protest.

Many of the villagers in the rural region arrived on horse carts, some brought their children who held up signs reading: “Stop Chevron!”, while an elderly woman leaned on her cane beside them.

They are afraid of the environmental and health impact of the highly controversial method used for shale gas drilling, called hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’.

The technique consists of pumping water and chemicals at high pressure into deep rock formations to free oil and gas.

Environmentalists say fracking may contaminate ground water and even cause small earthquakes.

Chevron has permits to explore for shale gas in three villages in this part of eastern Romania as well as on Romania’s Black Sea coast.

“Chevron is committed to building constructive and positive relationships with the communities where we operate and will continue our dialogue with the public, local communities and authorities on its projects,” the company said in a statement to AFP.

“Our priority is to conduct … activities in a safe and environmentally responsible manner consistent with the permits under which we operate,” it added.

Also Wednesday, more than 2,000 people staged a protest in the capital Bucharest, shouting “no to shale gas”.

Romania’s ruling centre-left coalition has been defending shale gas exploration after fighting it when it was in the opposition.