Security forces move in to stop protesters ploughing fields near the copper mine at Letpadaung Mountain in northern Burma’s Sagaing division on April 25, 2013.
28th July 2013
A court in central Myanmar has sentenced an activist to a decade in prison for “threatening national security” after he led a protest against a controversial China-backed copper mine which led to clashes with authorities, according to a fellow campaigner.
Judge Kaythi Hlaing of the Shwebo city court handed Aung Soe, an activist with Myanmar’s People’s Support Network, the 10-year sentence on Monday after convicting him on eight charges linked to the violence on April 25, Moe Moe, also of the activist’s group, told RFA’s Myanmar Service.
The group had backed hundreds of farmers protesting the alleged seizure of their land by Wan Bao Company, which runs the copper mine near Mount Letpadaung in northern Burma’s Sagaing division.
The clashes broke out after security forces moved in to stop the farmers from plowing their fields on the contested land. At least ten protesting farmers were injured, some of them reportedly with gunshot wounds, while 15 policemen were also wounded.
Aung Soe “was sentenced under eight charges, including for threatening religious purity and national security, and for illegal assembly,” Moe Moe said Tuesday.
“He was sentenced at the Shwebo court by the judge, Daw Kaythi Hlaing,” he said, using an honorific title.
Two residents of Setae village, near the Letpadaung copper mine, named Soe Thu and Maung San, were also sentenced for “violating orders” and “inciting riots,” Moe Moe added.
He did not say how long the two villagers were sentenced to prison.
Moe Moe said that Aung Soe’s lawyer will appeal his conviction.
Suspended operations
An inquiry commission in Myanmar ruled in March that the copper mine should be allowed to continue despite widespread objections.
But nearly four months later, operations at the facility remain suspended with protesting villagers refusing to accept compensation offers.
Operations at the mine have been suspended since November, when a brutal crackdown on protests against the mine prompted the government to set up the commission to look into the project’s viability.
The commission recommended that the project should be allowed to move ahead despite conceding that it brought only “slight” benefits to the nation.
Since then, villagers who are mostly farmers have staged regular protest against the mine, complaining that the compensation was not enough and calling for a complete halt to the project.
Some 15 protesters—both local residents and activists from Yangon—are wanted by the authorities over demonstrations against the mine in recent months.
Villagers have said that they do not want pollution from the mine to destroy the area and that authorities have confiscated some 8,000 acres (3,000 hectares) of farmland from 26 villages to make way for the mine.
Reported by Yadanar Oo for RFA’s Myanmar Service.
27 July 2013 Yesterday morning a hoard of clowns descended on the government Directorate for Planning and Environmental Affairs to deliver a special anti-fracking message to the powers that be.
27 July 2013 Yesterday morning a hoard of clowns descended on the government Directorate for Planning and Environmental Affairs to deliver a special anti-fracking message to the powers that be.
At 8.30am yesterday morning, anti-fracking activists gathered for a clowning action at the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Affairs (DPEA) in Falkirk. Dressed in colourful clown costumes a group of 17 activists mocked the dangers of fracking with ridiculous play. Clowns burst in to the car park with music, banners and a fracking tower as bemused workers looked on. Games continued to the to town centre to raise awareness among the public.
A spokesperson for the actions said “we are here today to highlight the absurdity of going down yet another route of non-renewable energy that is a short term and dangerous solution to a long term energy/carbon problem with it's own set of potentially devastating environmental consequences.
“Despite mounting evidence of the dangers of fracking contaminating local water supplies releasing high carbon methane gas and risk of catastrophic explosions, the government is committed to giving fracking multi-nationals the green light, placing profit over local opposition and the potential for environmental destruction.
“We are here to show those making the decision about DART Energy’s application to frack in the Falkirk and other areas, that opposition to these irresponsible operations is mounting. We are here in support of local opposition to the plans and ongoing international opposition to fracking elsewhere.” (1)
The DPEA was targeted as clown investigations uncovered evidence that the decision on what happens next with the fracking plans in Scotland’s central belt will be taken there by government civil servants(2). This follows DART Energy’s appeal to the Scottish government when Falkirk and Stirling councils failed to make the decision due to resistance from local communities, and a lack of credible information on health and environmental concerns(3).
The action happened amid growing concerns over both the Westminster and Holyrood governments' current favouring of short sighted, lucrative non-renewable energy plans, despite their alleged commitments to cutting carbon and pursuing renewable energy resources. Last week George Osbourne announced tax breaks for fracking firms operating within the UK (of 50% more than other energy companies(4). This break was championed by Lynton Crosby, the Conservative Party Chief Strategist and the man responsible for promoting shale gas fracking in Australia. Crosby's PR firm “Crosby Textor” also represents the Australian Petroleum Exploration Association, of which DART is a subsidiary.
This action was organised by Reclaim the Fields and continuity factions of the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army. Anti-frackilicious!
NOTES
1. http://frack-off.org.uk/
2. http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/cgc/pnas2011.pdf
3. http://www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk/CaseDetails.aspx?id=qA355856
4. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jul/19/david-cameron-fracking-lynton-crosby
In the early hours of the morning, anti-fracking activists and community members in Balcombe, Sussex, UK, successfully halted the first day of explorations for a new shale gas development by famed (infamous, rather) fracking company Cuadrilla. Over 250 people united in a powerful, peaceful, joyful blockade—that eventually convinced the trucks containing the initial fracking equipment to abandon the site.
This is community power at its best. Campaigners in Balcombe, just like those in frontline communities around the world (in the U.S., Indonesia, Argentina and elsewhere) had been calling attention to the dangers of fracking for over a year. This week, when Cuadrilla’s license for exploration and development was approved, activists quickly mobilized to organize a Great Gas Gala, inviting people in Sussex and neighboring areas to converge on Balcombe and oppose Cuadrilla’s efforts.
Yesterday’s protests are set in the context of a recent announcement by the UK government proposing a 50 percent tax cut for companies involved in shale gas extraction, the most generous tax regime for fracking in the whole world. The proposal is very much in line with the dreaded “dash for gas” that Chancellor George Osborne announced at last year’s unveiling of the budget.
It is in opposition to these efforts that groups like Frack Off, No Dash for Gas and many of our partners and allies around the country, are mobilizing public awareness and opposition, in a genuine effort to shift the power in our energy systems and put our communities and their people back in charge. The Global Power Shift UK team will be working in the upcoming months on helping build that large, inclusive movement—one that represents community interests, leverages our diversity and builds on our shared vision of a people-powered future that solves the climate crisis once and for all.
The fight in Balcombe is not over yet. Yesterday’s exploratory fracking attempt was the closest to London to date, where a lot of the finance for these operations comes from and where the tangled webs of power and influence are carefully threaded between consenting politicians and short-term profit oriented fossil fuel corporate executives. Impunity for them and their climate-wrecking efforts? No longer. Real resistance is brewing in their backyard.
26 July 2013 Gerry Bourke – a farmer from Aughoose in County Mayo – is insisting he has no case to answer after being hit with a criminal damage and trespass charge in
26 July 2013 Gerry Bourke – a farmer from Aughoose in County Mayo – is insisting he has no case to answer after being hit with a criminal damage and trespass charge in relation an incident at Shell Ireland’s tunnelling site in the village.
Gardaí confirmed to TheJournal.ie that a man was questioned in relation to an incident at the site in Aughoose on 22 June last by officers at Belmullet Station. The 48-year-old was arrested and questioned for around six hours yesterday, before being released.
Bourke – who is a supporter of the ‘Shell to Sea’ campaign – says he was engaging in a peaceful protest with several others on the date in question, and that he “couldn’t guess” as to why he was being charged with criminal damage. He told TheJournal.ie:
I was protesting at the site… I will keep protesting what’s going on as long as there’s life in my body.
He said the Shell to Sea campaign would continue in order to draw attention to the “unfairness” of what was happening in Mayo, adding:
Ownership of oil and gas should belong to the people. You cannot have a situation whereby people don’t own natural resources. There has to be a fair deal done for the country.
Gerry Bourke is due to appear in court in Belmullet on 11 September.
A spokesperson for Shell said that some damage had been caused at the site on the date in question, but declined to comment further as the case is now before the courts.
The Corrib Gas Project – which involves the extraction of natural gas from the northwest coast of the country – has been the subject of long-running opposition from ‘Shell to Sea’. Most recently, the group erected a series of signs close to a location where drilling was taking place, warning locals of the danger posed by ‘sink holes’.
26 July 2013 Fracking company Cuadrilla Resources are trying to start drilling in Balcombe, West Sussex and the community is trying to stop them.
26 July 2013 Fracking company Cuadrilla Resources are trying to start drilling in Balcombe, West Sussex and the community is trying to stop them. Over 250 people stopped 15 trucks bring on equipment yesterday. See Fracking In Balcombe: A Community Says No for background to issues involved. Scroll down for photos.
Update (3:30pm): Camp outside site still going strong. People streaming in but more needed. Come down and stay the night if you can!
Update (2:30pm): Meeting at camp decided they weren’t going to be intimidated by police thuggery.
Update (1:50pm): Arrests allegedly under Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1992 – Sec. 241. Apparently the frackers were being “beset and intimidated” by the community! The people of Balcombe would say it was the was the other way round!
Update (1:30pm): Police have to escort tanker past incensed community. Cuadrilla are not welcome!
Update (1:10pm): Arrested Sussex residents allegedly being taken to Crawley police station.
Update (12:55pm): Cuadrilla and Police Trying Break Blockade With Heavy Machinary
Update (12:50pm): 10 Community Defenders Arrested!
Update (12:40pm): People are being arrested for protecting Sussex from fracking!
Update (12:30pm): Police trying to break community blockade in Balcombe. Children crying! More people needed!
Update (11:30am): Camp is growing and atmosphere is great. Come on down if you can!
Update (9:45am): Increase in police numbers at site. More people here would be useful.
Update (9:00am): Community blockade of site going strong. Camp up and running. Come on down!
Cuadrilla Tanker With Escort; Not Welcome In Balcombe
Cuadrilla Machinery Trying To Smash Up Blockade
Residents Arrested For Defending Sussex From Fracking
Community Blockade Of Fracking Site Entrance
Police Trying To Break Community Blockade For Cuadrilla
Camp Is Growing Outside Fracking Site
Local Residents Block Entrance To Cuadrilla’s Fracking Site
Camp Up And Running; People Tired But Happy
29 July 2013 Over 100 anti-fracking activists have taken over the entrance to an injection well site in Ohio. The action comes at the end of the weekend-long Don’t Frack Ohio event, which was full of trainings and activities.
28 July 2013 
28 July 2013 
28 July 2013 
