Hundreds of protesters in Thessaloniki have been in involved another battle with riot police over plans for a gold mine in northern Greece’s Halkidiki peninsula.One policeman and three protesters were hurt, while 21 protesters have been detained. Clashes between protests and local residents on one side and police and mine workers on the other side have become a regular occourance since March when plans for the mine were approved. A multimillion-dollar gold mining project in a nearby area was cancelled a decade ago after similar protests.
Below is a translation of a recent report about the situation from Indymedia Athens:
In the mountains of Halkidiki is a huge disaster at the expense of Mother Nature. The Greek state has sold the rights to exploit the gold beneath the primordial forests of dark in the company Eldorado-Greek Gold. That is why the company has already started the despicable work: intensive deforestation of 4,000 hectares of forest and mineral processing plant construction between villages Olympiad, Stan, Mary and Great Ierissos. The state and the company with the work will take away the life of the forest itself but also by the thousands of animals that live in it, clean groundwater and soil will be contaminated by toxic substances such as cyanide. In simple words, a whole living world would exterminated for the profit of multinational corporations and government leaders, leaving behind contaminated land and death.
Residents not complacent to the disaster, from passages such as the Olympics and the Great Panagia for decades have been struggling against mining. This year saw the final authorization from the government and the project has now started. From March there have been on going conflicts with residents and defenders of the forest on one side and the police and workers of the company on the other.
This dominant behavior of culture over nature is a result of the authoritarian mentality of anthropocentrism, arbitrary belief that man is greater than the natural element surrounds him. This concept is the result of the alienation of man from the natural world. With the mediation of the process of civilization, the building of cities, states and power relations people ignore the earth-animal-nature, which is directly tied to the existence and development of the natural world.
Habitats are threatened today directly from the mines not only in Halkidiki but other parts of northern Greece such as Kilkis and Alexandroupolis. But let's not fool ourselves, the technocracy and capitalism in today's world are expressed through a global system of striking any part of the world over sea or land. But especially in countries of the so-called third world, plunder of nature and poor people is unthinkable. Giant multinational corporations with the help of state and international organizations extorting indigenous populations by any means (war, food crises, financial measures) to accept investments and work with them in exchange for a meager salary and a short and miserable life. With modern engines cut forests, disembowel the earth, pollute the air, water and soil. This hunt for "treasure" whether minerals such as gold or energy (oil, gas, coal) is totally deadlocked and destructive. The so-called progress of civilization and the ideology of development only serve the temporary existence of the world's authoritarian system that dissolves cultures but tens of thousands of years, primeval forests, animal communities and ecosystems that promises dystopia.
The destruction of the natural world not only in Greece but also at the global level does not leave us time tolerances of this situation. Needs as living creatures to deny us the system dominates and fight for its destruction. To redefine our relationship with the natural world and to resist that prevents us from living in harmony with it. The state, the industrial system and mazopoiisi cities need to be destroyed to flourish in the debris an indomitable life for people, animals and nature.
AGAINST THE RAPE OF THE NATURAL WORLD ANYPOCHORITOS STRUGGLE FOR LIBERATION AND FOR TOTAL ANARCHY
Protesters from the the Lock the Gate Alliance have taken part in a banner drop on Brisbane’s Kangaroo Point cliffs with seven giant banners with anti-CSG messages were attached to the cliff face.
Lock the Gate spokesman Innes Larkin said the banners were a demonstration of the depth of community opposition to CSG mining in southeast Queensland.
‘‘If the government and miners think rural communities will just take this lying down, they’re wrong,’’ Mr Larkin said. ‘‘People in the bush are angry and they are prepared to make a stand to protect where they live, their soil and their water.’’ Lock the Gate have been running a week of protests across the state, which began with a march and concert at Murwillumbah in northern NSW last Sunday.
On July 17, Brazil’s Office of the Solicitor-General (AGU) issued Decree 303/2012, which dramatically scales back indigenous rights that are guaranteed by the country’s constitution. The law contains a provision that would permit the construction of “strategic” infrastructure projects such as roads, hydroelectric dams and mines in indigenous territory without consulting the affected peoples and communities.
In addition, the law allows military occupation of indigenous land at any time, prohibits any future designation of indigenous lands EVER, and otherwise infringes on indigenous people’s control of their own territory.
The law has sparked large protests across Brazil. According to Intercontinental Cry:
“On August 10, more than 50 indigenous leaders occupied the headquarters of the AGU to demand the revocation of Decree 303; On August 20, sixteen different Indigenous Nations in the State Mato Grosso came together to show their outrage against the Decree and the recent gutting of the FUNAI, Brazil’s Buerau of Indian Affairs; and on September 4, the Guajajara shut down BR-316, a federal highway that connects the cities of Belém in the state of Pará, and Maceió in Alagoas. …
“Most recently, on September 24, about 500 Pankararu marched against the “anti-indian” decree; and on September 28, the Tembé set fire to illegal logging machinery and trucks within their territory in the municipality of Nova Esperança do Piriá, Pará, Maranhão border. As well, on October 2, the Guajajara headed out again–this time with the Awa–to occupy the Carajás Railway[pt] which links the municipalities of Mineirinho and Auzilândia in the northern state of Maranhão. The railway is owned by mining giant Vale.
“The APIB says that many more mobilizations are on the way in the south, northeast and north of the country.”
WINNSBORO, TEXAS – MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012 – Following a weekend of nonviolent civil disobedience training in North Texas by Tar Sands Blockade, many dozens of protesters and supporters are rallying today at the site of the largest and longest tree sit in Texas history to stage the largest walk-on site protest and civil disobedience in the history of Keystone XL pipeline construction. Several individuals are defending the tree sitters and the trees by locking themselves to construction equipment being used in proximity to the forest blockade. Solidarity actions are also taking place in Washington DC, Boston, Austin and New York City.
Altogether more than 50 blockaders are risking arrest to stop Keystone XL construction and bring attention to TransCanada’s repression of journalists attempting to cover the blockaders’ side of the story. They are joined by dozens of supporters who are rallying on public property with colorful banners and signs alongside the easement’s closest highway crossing. A massive media team is in tow to document the day of action and any possible police repression.
As the Winnsboro tree blockade enters its fourth week, the blockaders are resupplying their friends in the trees with fresh food, water, and cameras to further document their protest despite the threat of a newly-expanded Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) by TransCanada and egregious criminal overcharges by local law enforcement. Due to the SLAPP suits’ outrageous claims, the tree sitters have by-and-large felt too threatened to safely reveal their identities, despite their protest being nonviolent. That the defiant walk-on protest is the largest yet attempted in the history of protests surrounding Keystone XL construction sends a clear signal that the blockaders will not be deterred by SLAPP suits and other legal threats to limit their civil liberties.
“Three weeks is a long time to be sitting in a tree. The training I got this weekend has me ready to rise up and join the sitters in defending Texas homes from the toxic tar sands,” shared Glenn Hobbit, 28. “They’re saying we might get sued or worse, but stopping this pipeline is too important.”
Last week, the multinational corporation opened a civil suit in which it named 19 individual defendants, 3 organizations, and 6 anonymous tree sitters for a total of 28 defendants seeking an injunction, declaratory relief, and damages. All the named defendants are former arrestees of Tar Sands Blockade actions with the exception of media spokesperson Ron Seifert, who has yet been arrested in connection with a protest, and area landowner Eleanor Fairchild, who acted independently with activist and actor Daryl Hannah. Hannah was not named in the suit.
Tar Sands Blockade is a coalition of Texas and Oklahoma landowners and climate justice organizers using peaceful and sustained civil disobedience to stop the construction of TransCanada’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
“In reality, Tar Sands Blockade is not trespassing on TransCanada’s property. Many of TransCanada’s easement contracts were brokered through fraud and intimidation, and their entire legal foundation is being challenged in the courts for those reasons,” explained Ron Seifert, Tar Sands Blockade spokesperson. “If anything TransCanada is trespassing on the property of landowners who never wanted anything to do with their dangerous tar sands pipeline.”
UPDATE 8:15AM – Supporters rally nearby to stop the pipeline.
UPDATE 8:20PM– A beautiful morning in what remains of our East Texas forest. TransCanada has clear-cut outside of their designated pathway and around the west side of the tree blockade leaving a muddy path of destruction in their wake.
UPDATE 8:35PM– Over 50 blockaders march through the woods toward the tree blockade
UPDATE 9:00AM – One blockader arrested after sitting down in the path of Keystone XL and refusing to leave.
UPDATE 9:06AM- Three blockaders have been arrested. We outnumber TransCanada’s police 3 to 1. Two blockaders have locked down to excavator equipment protecting the tree blockade.
UPDATE 9:20AM- Livestreamer @uneditedcamera (Lorenzo) has been detained and handcuffed, but they’re STILL STREAMING! Police are trying to flank groups of protestors. Watch the stream live NOW!
UPDATE 9:45AM- Small group of ground blockaders break through police line and enter tree blockade!
UPDATE 10:00AM- 4 arrests so far. Freelance journalist/livestreamer Lorenzo Serna has been released. The rally at the easement near the highway is going strong with chanting, singing and lots of colorful banners. TransCanada is barking orders at the police. We should have video and pictures soon.
UPDATE 11:00AM- Today’s first solidarity rally in Washington DC is beginning now outside the American Petroleum Institute!
UPDATE 11:10AM- 6 blockaders have been arrested at the Tree Blockade.
UPDATE 11:35AM- Picture from the DC solidarity rally. Over sixty people turned out over their lunch hour to stand with the Texas blockade and stop Keystone XL.
UPDATE 12:50PM-We have now confirmed that a 70-year-old woman participating in the blockade was thrown to the ground and tackled by TransCanada’s hired thugs. Video will be coming soon.
UPDATE 1:55PM – At least eight people have been arrested after walking onto the Keystone XL clear cut in defiance of recent repression. Two blockaders are still locked to huge excavator in the path of toxic pipeline.
UPDATE 3:20PM- Solidarity rally in Denton, TX has begun!
UPDATE 3:45PM– In case you missed it, Tar Sands Blockade was on Democracy Now! this morning. Our spokesperson Ron Seifert was joined by landowner Susan Scott and actress Daryl Hannah to discuss the blockade, TransCanada’s bullying and the SLAPP lawsuit against 21 people associated with stopping tar sands.
UPDATE 3:50 PM – Two blockaders who locked themselves to Keystone XL machinery have been arrested. A crowd of supporters stood by and cheered for as they were taken into police custody to the cheers. These two most recent arrests make eight total for the day.
UPDATE 4:00PM – Our first arrestee has been released without charges. He was arrested early this morning when he sat down in the Keystone XL’s pathway and refused to move. His defiant action helped delay police officers and allowed other blockaders to breach the police line and enter the tree blockade. After he was arrested he was made to lie face-down in the mud for several hours. He continued to refuse compliance with the police and siting health concerns had to eventually be removed on a stretcher. He was later released from the hospital without charges.
UPDATE 4:15PM- Solidarity photo in front of the TransCanada offices in Westborough, Massachusettes.
UPDATE 4:30PM -We’re getting sued!
As the Winnsboro, Texas tree blockade enters its fourth week, over 50 blockaders publicly demonstrated on the Keystone XL easement despite the threat of a newly-expanded Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) by TransCanada and egregious criminal overcharges by local law enforcement.
Due to the SLAPP suits’ outrageous claims, the tree blockaders have by-and-large felt too threatened to safely reveal their identities, despite their protest being nonviolent. Today’s defiant walk-on protest is the largest in the history of protests surrounding Keystone XL construction sends a clear signal that we will not be deterred by SLAPP suits and other legal threats to limit our civil liberties.
Apparently we’ve been causing some serious delays of Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
UPDATE 6:00PM- Six of the eight arrested today have been released from jail on charges of criminal trespass which is a class B misdemeanor. The bail was $1,500 each, a total of $9,000. The two blockaders who locked themselves to Keystone XL machinery will see a judge in the morning.
UPDATE 8:00PM– Today was our biggest day of action yet! More video and stories will be trickling out over the next couple of days as we try and wrap our heads around everything that happened today. In the meantime we have a ton of brilliant and beautiful photos that begin to tell the story. Check them out.
UPDATE 6:00AM – Read the excellent coverage about the blockade in today’s Washington Post.
On Monday, after a weekend of nonviolent civil disobedience training, supporters of the Tar Sands Blockade rallied in Winnsboro, Tex., where protesters were holding a “sit-in” 70 feet off the ground in a swath of trees. The trees stand in the middle of a corridor already cleared for the pipeline. The tree-climbing pipeline foes unfurled a banner that reads: “Rise Up and Defend Your Homes.”
“The only option afforded to powerless individuals who have been abused by the system is this tactic of nonviolent civil disobedience,” said Seifert, the Tar Sands Blockade spokesman. “Everything has been done to petition for justice at every level. And the institutions failed. This is a clear case of injustice, and it’s up to people to rise up and defend themselves.” Read the full story here.
UPDATE Oct 16th, 7:00AM – Watch our intense action video!
"puyallup wetlands are under attack by a private logging company that I and others have yet to identify. this attack was carried out on canyon rd. short-term damage was done to a hydraulic excavator, as a warning. if they continue – our attacks will increase."
October 17, 2012
anonymous report:
"puyallup wetlands are under attack by a private logging company that I and others have yet to identify. this attack was carried out on canyon rd. short-term damage was done to a hydraulic excavator, as a warning. if they continue – our attacks will increase."
Indigenous people have expanded their blockade against the Murum dam in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, taking over an additional road to prevent construction materials from reaching the dam site. Beginning on September 26th with 200 Penan people, the blockade has boomed to well over 300. Groups now occupy not just the main route to the dam site, but an alternative route that the dam's contractor, the China-located Three Gorges Project Corporation, had begun to use.
"The major works on the construction of the dam have been paralyzed over the last one week. The drivers have left home and let their cement tankers, lorry trucks and trailers with building materials had been hauled over and park at the road side near the blockade site," the Sarawak Conservation Alliance for Natural Environment (SCANE) said in an update on the blockade. "The access to the construction site of Murum hydroelectric dam project is totally blocked on all directions with the setting-up of second road blockade by the Penans."
The Penan are protesting what they say has been disdainful treatment from the government-owned corporation overseeing the 900 megawatt dam project, Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB). The dams construction, which will inundate 24,500 hectares of native land, will lead to the involuntary resettlement of seven indigneous communities, who still remain in the dark about many of the details of the resettlement plan. In addition, the tribe alleges that SEB has been intentionally destroying important sacred and historical sites.
"We will not remove the blockade or move out of here until our demands are resolved and fulfilled by the government," Labang Paneh, a representative from Long Wat village, said in a statement.
Families, including elderly and children, have set up makeshift camps near the blockade and appear to be in it for the long haul.
A government minister spent two days with the Penan investigating the blockade and speaking with them about their grievances.
"I went in and I saw the situation from the view of these Penans whose lives are being uprooted and whose future looks so uncertain," Liwan Lagang, Sarawak Assistant Minister for Culture and Heritage, told The Star. "I found out that indeed, they had not been properly consulted and their concerns not addressed by those handling the construction of the project."
For decades the Penan people have seen their customary forests felled for logging, plantations, dams, roads, and other big infrastructure projects with the Sarawak government refusing to recognize their land rights. Traditionally, the Penan were nomadic hunter-and-gatherers, but today most live in settled villages, but still depend on the forests for their livelihood.
Assistant Minister Lagang added that "contractors involved in the dam project are making millions of ringgit in the project. They must be considerate and exercise better social corporate responsibility and good public relations with the local affected natives."
Sarawak already produces far more energy than the state uses leading critics to allege that numerous massive dam projects are merely means for corrupt officials to siphon off state funds and collect bribes. The state recently completed the 2,400 megawatt Bakun Dam, which produces double the energy consumed by Sarawak during peak times. Bakun resulted in the forced resettlement of 10,000 people.
Lummi tribal leaders burned a mock cheque from coal companies during a protest at Cherry Point, Wa., Oct 2012 (Photo by: Alan Berner / The Seattle Times)
Lummi tribal leaders burned a mock cheque from coal companies during a protest at Cherry Point, Wa., Oct 2012 (Photo by: Alan Berner / The Seattle Times)
LUMMI INDIAN RESERVATION, BELLINGHAM, Wash.—A fleet of boats piloted by Native and non-Native fishers gathered today in the waters off Xwe’chi’eXen (Cherry Point, Wash.) to stand with the Lummi Nation in opposition to the proposed Gateway Pacific coal terminal at Xwe’chi’eXen.
“We have to say ‘no’ to the coal terminal project,” said Cliff Cultee, Chairman of the Lummi Nation. “It is our Xw’ xalh Xechnging (sacred duty) to preserve and protect all of Xwe’chi’eXen.”
A ceremony of thankfulness, remembrance and unity was held on the beach during the event. Lummi Indians maintain the largest Native fishing fleet in the United States, and Lummi fishers have worked in the Cherry Point fishery for thousands of years.
If constructed, the terminal would be the largest coal terminal on the West Coast of North America. It would significantly degrade an already fragile and vulnerable crab, herring and salmon fishery, dealing a devastating blow to the economy of the fisher community.
“This is not about jobs versus the environment,” said Jewell James of the Lummi Nation’s Sovereignty and Treaty Protection Office. “It is about what type of jobs are best for the people and the environment.”
Another gathering of Lummi Indians and non-Indian residents from the local and regional community was held at Xwe’chi’eXen on Sept. 21 to call for the protection and preservation of Xwe’chi’eXen, which is the location of a 3,500 year old village site, and a landscape that is eligible for registry on the National Register of Historic Places.
A Lummi Nation Business Council Resolution declared Lummi “will continue to safeguard our ancestral and historical areas” and the ability of its members to “exercise treaty, inherent and inherited rights.”
The Lummi Nation is participating in a broad intertribal coalition to defeat the project and to ensure that the natural and cultural legacy of Xwe’chi’eXen is protected in perpetuity.
Construction on Brazil’s megadam, Belo Monte, has been halted again as around 150 demonstrators, most of them from nearby indigenous tribes, have occupied the main construction site at Pimental. Over a hundred indigenous people joined local fishermen who had been protesting the dam for 24 days straight. Indigenous people and local fishermen say the dam will devastate the Xingu River, upending their way of life.
“The renewed occupation of the project’s earthen cofferdams paralyzed construction works, while indigenous protestors seized the keys of trucks and tractors forcing workers to leave the strategic Pimental work camp on foot,” reads a press release from the NGO Amazon Watch. Around 900 workers were sent home.
This is the second occupation attempt in less than six months. Over the summer some 300 indigenous people sustained an occupation of the dam for 21 days, before breaking it off though little headway was made in talks with consortium building the dam, Norte Energia.
The Belo Monte dam, which would be the world's third largest, has been plagued by controversy from its origin decades ago; the battle for the dam has been fought both in Brazil's courts and on the international stage. If built, the dam will flood an estimated 40,000 hectares of present rainforest and could push some fish species to extinction. In addition, 16,000 people will be displaced according to the government, though some NGOs say the number is more likely double that.
Despite the impacts, the dam has been strongly supported by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, and every legal injunction against the dam has been overturned. Norte Energia has filed with a local court for repossession of the construction sties.
Indigenous groups say the construction of the dam is already imperiling their way of life, as the Xingu river becomes more difficult to navigate. They have also said they have no intention of leaving until Norte Energia meets their demands.
"We are witnessing the devastation of this land. The island of Pimental was completely destroyed, with a sole tree left standing, and the water is putrid. It is very shocking," an protestor told Amazon Watch.
Dams are often described as 'green' energy source, however in the tropics they actually release significant methane emissions due to rotting vegetation. Although it has a shorter life than carbon, methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas.
A second treesit has been set up at the site of the Tar Sands Blockade in Texas; both sits are ongoing. In other news:
A second treesit has been set up at the site of the Tar Sands Blockade in Texas; both sits are ongoing. In other news:
The tar sands blockade has successfully delayed construction of the pipeline for two days by locking themselves to construction machinery and shutting down the construction sites. There have been two successful blockades at construction sites in Livingston and Saltillo, Texas.
Transcanada surveyors were also prevented from preparing for construction when landowners and community members turned them away north of Winnsboro at an ongoing vigil to protect a local vineyard which will be destroyed if construction begins.
Two journalists working for the New York Times were handcuffed, detained and then turned away from private property by local law enforcement employed as private security guards for TransCanada.
Nevertheless, the New York Times still ran a front-page article about the Tar Sands Blockade, including the first tree blockade in Texas history.
On August 19th the Transcanada corporation officially began construction of the Keystone XL pipeline which will carry poisonous tar sands from Alberta Canada to the Gulf of Mexico despite overwhelming opposition from landowners and concerned residents, but a broad coalition called the Tar Sands Blockade is organizing to stop it.
"Ukraine, Kiev. In the night of 02/10/2012 anonymous activists attacked a clearcut site on the 'Bald Mountain'. A LIEBHERR excavator fell victim to their arson. Clearcut coordinates: http://wikimapia.org/#lat=50.3891043&lon=30.5495088&z=16&l=0&m=b We take this opportunity to report about a similar action at the same location on the 20/03/2012 (http://nature-first.info/2012/03/20/forest-svyatoshyno/)."
"Tree spiking in Ternopol municipal park. Ukraine.
This act of ecotage is in response to development plans of a local construction company: it intends to destroy a public park to make room for private living blocks.
We spiked trees with huge nails, so the developer will have to bring in heavy equipment in order to destroy those trees. But construction vehicles can be taken care of as well!"
