London – Page 18 – Earth First!

Tar Sands protests (Brighton & London)

Climate Camp Invades BP Petrol Stations Over Tar Sands

Climate Camp Invades BP Petrol Stations Over Tar Sands
On Saturday 13th February activists from the South Coast neighbourhood of the Camp for Climate Action invaded the three BP petrol stations in Brighton, on the Lewes Rd, Ditchling Rd and London Rd, to protest at BP’s plans to invest in the Alberta Tar Sands in Canada. Moving by bicycle 8 activists carried a banner reading ‘Tar Sands Oil Is Blood Oil’. They handed out information on the Canadian tar sands and BP’s plans to invest in it to customers and urged them to boycott BP.

Many of BP’s customers where shocked to hear about BP’s proposed involvement in one of the dirtiest businesses on earth, especially in the light of its past attend to project a green image, and in some cases left immediately left to get their fuel somewhere else. This action is the start of a campaign, which is hoped will spread across the UK. A one of the Brighton activists said: “We hope that other concerned local people across the UK will follow our example and begin putting the pressure on BP in their areas. Tar sands are an appalling example of placing insane greed ahead of the whole planet and everyone on it.”

Tar sands are deposits of tar, sand and clay under the forests of Alberta in western Canada. Tar sands extraction is an ecological disaster, sometimes referred to as ‘The biggest environmental crime in history’. Oil produced from tar sands is the filthiest most carbon intensive oil (over 3 times as much CO2 to produce as conventional oil). The Athabasca tar sands operations are the largest single industrial emitter of CO2 on the planet. Enough natural gas is used every day extracting this oil to heat 3.2 million Canadian homes.

Tar sands extraction involves the wholesale destruction of vast tracts of ancient forest over an area the size of England and Wales and the use of huge amounts of water that is left so contaminated that it must be stored in giant ponds. The toxic tailings ponds are so vast they can be seen from space. Leaks for these ponds are poisoning local rivers and the indigenous peoples that live there. The rush to extract oil from tar sands is also trampling on the rights of the local indigenous peoples.

While the tar sands are in Canada, much of the financing is coming from UK companies. BP which once tried to rebrand itself as `Beyond Petroleum’ to give itself a green image is planning on investing $10billion in the Sunrise Project a tar sands extraction project in Alberta. This week a number BP’s shareholders have started a revolt and are pressuring BP to stop. Other UK companies that are involved in tar sands include Shell, RBS and Barcalys.

Photos:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4048/4354992582_a300eeb4fb_b_d.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4062/4354252823_1123bd6cd9_b_d.jpg

Tar sands info:
http://www.ienearth.org/tarsandsinfo.html

Press:
BP faces protest over oil sands development
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article7018483.ece
Shareholder group calls on BP to rethink oil sands project
http://business.scotsman.com/business/Shareholder-group-calls-on-BP.6050650.jp

Contact:
E-mail: southcoast@climatecamp.org.uk
Web: http://climatecamp.org.uk/get-involved/local-groups/south-coast

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Tar Sands banner London Oil-ympics Come To Trafalgar Square
On Saturday, 13 February at 12 noon, UK and Canadian environmental activists opened the ‘Oil-ympics’ at Canada House in Trafalgar Square. The event, timed to coincide with the opening of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, highlighted the role of British companies in the single biggest industrial project on earth, the Canadian Tar Sands (1).

The Oil-ympics event saw activists divided into three teams: BP, Shell and RBS, all ready to ‘Race to the Tar Sands’. Traditional winter sports were subverted to illustrate the irony of Canada portraying the Vancouver Winter Olympics as an event which celebrates Canadian indigenous culture and environmental sustainability, while in the neighbouring province of Alberta, Canadian First Nations are finding that their lands, communities and health are being devastated by the Tar Sands (2).

BP received special attention after it recently unveiled plans to embark on its first Tar Sands extraction project. BP had previously sold its potential stake in Alberta in 1999, when BP’s chief executive at the time, Lord Browne, deemed Tar Sands extraction to be economically unviable and environmentally unpleasant. However, BP’s new chief executive, Tony Hayward, is now set to make BP a major player in the Tar Sands with a partnership with Canada’s Husky Energy – a venture that is facing sharp criticism from BP’s own shareholders (3, 4).

Alice Hargreaves, of the UK Tar Sands Network, said: “BP has been trying to prove that they are ‘Beyond Petroleum’ for years, but with their entry into the Tar Sands project, we can see the truth: Beyond Petroleum is nothing more than a Broken Promise.(5) BP shareholders are rebelling over this betrayal, and so are we. Over the next two months, we’ll be putting the pressure on to make sure BP get the message – stay out of the Tar Sands!”

Shell has been singled out as it is already a major operator in the Tar Sands, and RBS as it is the 7th biggest global investor in the Tar Sands. (6)

tarsandsinfocus@gmail.com

http://tarsandsinfocus.wordpress.com/

(1) Deposits of Tar Sands are spread out over 54,000 square miles of prime forest in northern Alberta, an area the size of England and Wales combined. Producing crude oil from the Tar Sands generates up to five times more carbon dioxide, the principal global warming gas, than conventional drilling: see

Environment Canada, 2007, National Inventory Report Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks in Canada 1990–2005, http://www.ec.gc.ca/pdb/ghg/inventory_report/2006_report/som-sum_eng.cfm

(2) This action is in solidarity with Canadian First Nations who have called for a moratorium on the Tar Sands. For more information see the Indigenous Environmental Network: http://www.ienearth.org/cits.html

(3) BP has entered a joint venture with Husky Energy to develop a Tar Sands facility which will be capable of producing 200,000 barrels of crude a day by 2020. In return for a half share of Husky’s Sunrise field in the Athabasca region of Alberta, the epicentre of the Tar Sands industry, BP has sold its partner a 50 per cent stake in its Toledo oil refinery in Ohio. The companies plan to invest $10 billion in the project, making BP a major player in Tar Sands extraction. The final investment decision will be made in the next few months.

http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=2012968&contentId=7038865

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aGw2sL7JwHG8

(4) A coalition of shareholders has tabled a resolution for BP’s AGM on April 15 highlighting the environmental and social risks of Tar Sands extraction. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article7018483.ece

(5) http://tarsandsinfocus.wordpress.com/bpbrokenpromises/

(6) For Shell Investments see http://www.foei.org/en/resources/publications/pdfs-members/economic-justice/shells-big-dirty-secret/view?searchterm=shell%27s%20big%20dirty%20secret

For RBS investments see http://understory.ran.org/2010/01/31/banks-ranked-and-spanked-on-tar-sands/

UK Tar Sands Network
tarsandsinfocus@googlemail.com
http://www.tarsandsinfocus.wordpress.com

TAR SANDS – OILYMPICS – CALL TO ACTION – solidarity actions against green washing, 13th Feb

*Call to Action*

The Canadian Tar Sands Oil-ympics – The Race to the Tar Sands is On!
Saturday February 13th, is the opening day of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. That’s right, it’s time for the Oil-ympics, and you can participate!

*Call to Action*

All you need to bring is ‘sports clothing’ (winter if possible) and a sense of mischief and fun to Canada House in Trafalgar Square, this Saturday, February 13th at 12:00 pm. Attendees will be divided into three oily teams: ‘BP’, ‘Shell’ and ‘Total’, all ready to ‘Race to the Tar Sands’?

Ever tried curling? Come along and and help sweep out BP, Shell, and RBS as they all race headlong into the Tar Sands.

The Canadian Tar Sands in Alberta is one of the single biggest industrial projects on earth, the environmental and social nightmare that is the Tar Sands – is currently producing the dirtiest oil on the planet. There is currently a global “race to the tar sands” and the main competitors Shell, Total and BP are all racing ahead to extract unconventional oil from the Canadian Tar Sands, regardless of the environmental and social costs of extraction and opposition from local communities affected by the
extraction.

Although the oil is being extracted in Canada, there are direct links to the UK. Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Barclays are all invested in the tar sands. Britain’s very own BP are about to reverse their decision to stay away from the destructive project, making ‘Beyond Petroleum’ nothing more than a Broken Promise.

This action is in solidarity with Canadian First Nations groups whose lands and communities are being devastated in the name of corporate profit, and who have called for a moratorium on the tar sands.

For more info about the Canadian Tar Sands, the Oil-ympics and the UK Tar Sands Network check out these links.

http://www.tarsandsinfocus.wordpress.com
http://oilsandstruth.org/topics/2010-olympics
http://olympicresistance.net/
http://www.ienearth.org/cits

Kew Bridge Eco-Village update (+ Seedy Sunday)

There’ll be a seed swap day on 14th Feb, inspired by Brighton’s original Seedy Sunday – details here.

On June 6th 2009, nearly a hundred activists converged on a piece of derelict land at Kew Bridge in south west London to create an eco-village community based entirely on sustainable technology and construction techniques.

This eco-village occupation is inspired by campaigns like The Land is Ours which campaigns peacefully for access to the land, its resources, and the decision-making processes affecting them, for everyone, irrespective of race, gender or age. for more information, please visit:

Please post any seeds or postcards or anything you like to:

The Eco Village
2 Kew Bridge Rd
Brentford
TW8 0JF
site phone number – 07967864370

In December we had a six month celebration and invited people from the community to a fire party. It was a great success.

In September last year, villagers cheered when Hounslow councillors put off a plan by St George to build 164 flats, a riverside pub, a business hub and a piazza on the site.

The development is not due to be discussed by a council committee before March and, with local elections taking place in May, a meeting may not take place until June – meaning the eco-village may remain for another six months.

Over the last 4 months we have gradually improved our living conditions on the site. We have a full working compost toilet, a kitchen and a roundhouse. Still 100% relying on donations and the rubbish you throw away, we have built up our community from nothing!

The best improvement so far is definitely our homes. You may have gone past us on the bus and seen a tarp village, assuming that it was all tents – but its not! We have learnt to build our own houses out of hazel wood poles. By bending them into arches, tying them down and then insulating with blankets and tarps, we have created wonderful little living spaces that are easy peasy to do!

We still maintain that we are essentially a community garden. We encourage everyone from the local area to pay us a visit and share their ideas about what we should do with the land, as well as getting them to help us plant our vegetables and also just to chill out and get to know us all.

We will hold a public meeting every Thursday night at 7pm on site, and we shall try to make every Sunday an event filled open day.

Needless to say, we still welcome everybody from all over London and the world. We have had quite a few international visitors lately! Everyone is welcome to come and stay as long as they follow site rules which include no drugs and alcohol, as well as being considerate to others and you must actively participate as a member of the community.

We especially welcome anyone with any skills or knowledge which may be useful or interesting. We encourage people to hold workshops to share their skills, whether it is about common law, herbal remedies, yoga, or even how to make didgeridoos or repair bicycles! Or even if you know nothing but just want to learn, come along too!

Our week:

Mondays – Closed (we go and protest outside MOD and downing street)

Tuesdays – Fridays – Open 11-1 and 5-7pm

Every Thursday – 7pm Public meeting

Every Friday – Wild Food Friday 10am – a walk around Richmond park tasting and learning berries nuts and mushrooms

Saturdays and Sundays – Open 11-6

(By ‘Open’ I mean the gate is open and we give tours. If you want to come and help us then please just come in anyway!)

…………………………………………………………..

You are welcome to come and visit us and stay over if you like, but:

1. You must sleep in the Hexiyurt guesthouse as we don’t have the room for any more tents. The guesthouse can accomodate about 6 people, so it may be best to ring us prior to your visit to check if there is enough room for you!

2. The Hexiyurt has to be cleared of your stuff by 10am so it is open for visitors and as a workshop space. (you can store your things in the mansion shed instead during the day)

3. You are welcome to stay up to 7 days, after which time you must leave as to give others the chance to stay over.

4. If, after staying for 7 days, you wish to move in permanently, we will have a meeting to discuss it, to determine if we have enough room, and then shall hopefully welcome you in!

Capacity is a big issue on site at the moment and we are unlikely to allow many more people to move in on a permanent basis. However as winter freezes over we might lose a few members and have room for some more. If you are desperate to stay with us then showing us that your are a good, hard worker who gets along with most people on camp and who is polite and courteous to all will defiantly help you 🙂

Soon after it started

Non Commercial House is gone again…

On Wednesday 3rd Feb at 9.20 am, High Court Bailiffs came round the Non Commercial House Free Shop, armed presumably with a restitution warrant, and evicted the place and i

On Wednesday 3rd Feb at 9.20 am, High Court Bailiffs came round the Non Commercial House Free Shop, armed presumably with a restitution warrant, and evicted the place and its occupiers.Owners and Bailiffs seemed quite happy to prevent us from running a FreeShop (oooooh, scary, giving out shit for free!!!!) and making some more people homeless because they want to keep their building empty for another couple of years.

Once a person coming into the shop simply asked: “but why do they want to evict you?” Thats a very good question isn’t it? Why? Probably hundreds of reasons, just pick your favorite one. Maybe the reason they want us out is exactly why we’re moving in! 🙂

So the Non Commercial House Free Shop is gone. It’s been an amazing project, so many people just passing by, coming in, having a quick chat, being so shocked that this was a squat and that some of the people they were talking to were actually here in relation to their anarchist politics, taking a couple of cool things they liked, promising to bring some of their own unused stuff (and sometimes actually doing it!!!!).

Apart from having loads of people giving and taking the most incredible stuff on opening days, many complementary activities happened in the house: bike repairs, parties, Spanish lessons, mothers’ gathering, workshop of nothing, polyamory workshop, squatting meetings, wireless hacking, queer fashion show, film screenings and boxing in the basement, etc

It’s also been so much fun for everyone involved that it would be surprising not to see some more FreeShop blossoming later this year…

https://london.indymedia.org/groups/non-commercial-house
email: noncommercialhouse at riseup.net

The new EF! Action Update – bursting onto the seams…

In the Spring edition of the EF! Action Update, see how King Coal is being confronted – chimneys climbed, conveyors locked-on to, mines invaded, machinery occupied, ecotage, and more.

Marvel at the Mainshill strategy of continuous action, look with awe at the range of tactics they used in the many months before eviction…and then think about what you can do, with who, where and when.

“If not you, who? If not now, when?”

The Mainshill feature includes an action timeline, local community links and ideas for the future.

The Nuclear New Build CONsultation is over on 22nd February – read about what happens next, who’s involved, and an anti-nuclear camp in April.

“in the end we just need rebellion. Everywhere.” – what was your response to the Copenhagen climate chaos, whether you went or stayed at home?

Be inspired by an interview with “D Lock,our mystery digger diving activist” – get out there, bicycle lock in hand. In January, one person so-armed brought a whole coal terminal to a halt for many hours.

And from across the seas, read about our brothers and sisters struggling against high-speed train destruction in Italy, high-voltage power lines in Catalonia, and whale hunting on the High Seas.

And if you don’t get high on all that, try not to be inspired by conferences blockaded, dams delayed, earth-trashing machinery sabotaged, trees hugged, architects imposted, genetics roofed, biomess biomassed and much more.

“We are going to inherit the earth . There is not the slightest doubt about that. We Are not afraid of ruins. We carry a new world, here in our hearts. That world is growing this minute.” – Durruti

To download the latest EF!AU for printing, go to http://www.earthfirst.org.uk/efau/actionupdate_feb10print.pdf

To read the latest EF!AU online, go to http://www.earthfirst.org.uk/efau/actionupdate_feb10.pdf

European protests to stop bulldozers on uncontacted tribe’s land

26 January 2010
Protestors gathered in London, Madrid and Paris today to oppose the destruction of land belonging to one of the world’s last uncontacted tribes.

The protestors stood outside the Paraguayan embassies in Madrid and London holding placards reading, ‘Save the Ayoreo.’ The Ayoreo-Totobiegosode are losing their forest to a Brazilian company bulldozing it to graze cattle for beef.

In Paris, a letter was handed in to UNESCO’s head office expressing their concern for the Totobiegosode. The forest being destroyed by the cattle-ranchers is part of a UNESCO ‘biosphere reserve’, but despite pleas from the Totobiegosode to stop the destruction UNESCO has yet to respond.

The company, Yaguarete Pora S.A., recently won Survival’s ‘Greenwashing Award 2010’ for its decision to create a ‘nature reserve’ on the Totobiegosode’s land while destroying thousands of hectares of their forest. Yaguarete denies it is acting illegally and claims the land it is destroying does not belong to the Totobiegosode, despite the fact that many studies prove it belongs to them and a legal claim made by the Totobiegosode is based on one of those studies.

See the company’s deforestation plans.

Satellite photos clearly show the destruction of the Totobiegosode’s forest. They are the only uncontacted tribe in the world losing their land to beef.

Survival director, Stephen Corry, said today, ‘People all over the world are beginning to wake up to what is happening to the Totobiegosode. Paraguay risks being more famous for this tragedy than anything else.’

2 anti-nuke protests against new build plans

Anti-nuclear activists disrupt Parliamentary Select Committee
27.1.2010

This morning in Westminster, during the Department of Energy and Climate Change Parliamentary Select Committee on the proposed nuclear and other energy National Policy Statements, two anti-nuclear activists stood and unfurled a banner in the centre of the committee room reading “Local Democracy Dumped.” The banner also featured radiation symbols and drums of radioactive waste. A third activist handed out briefings on why they believe nuclear power is unacceptable and an inappropriate technology for tacking climate change. The three activists were taken away and detained inside the House of Commons, along with a forth man who was taking photographs. The four were held for over two hours for alleged breaches of the House regulations, before being released and banned from the Parliamentary estate for the rest of the day.

Representatives of energy giants EDF, E.ON and RWE npower and of the Association of Electricity Producers were giving evidence before the committee of MPs. The protesters were highlighting the lack of local democracy associated with the new fast-track planning process, which will be used to silence dissenting local voices on major infrastructure projects such as new nuclear power stations and nuclear waste dumps.

Yesterday the four protested with others outside the Nuclear New Build Conference at Charing Cross Hotel (see below)

Nuclear People Power / No New Nuclear
http://stopnuclearpower.blogspot.com

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London Conference Protest Exposes Nuclear Greenwash
26.1.2010

A group of nine anti-nuclear campaigners staged a two-hour protest outside the Nuclear New Build Conference in central London this morning in protest at industry attempts to paint nuclear power as a “green” technology and win public support for new nuclear reactors.

Standing outside the Guoman Hotel adjacent to Charing Cross railway station in the morning rush hour dressed in white overalls and masks, the protesters displayed a large banner reading “Nuclear Power is Not the Answer to Climate Chaos”, handed out leaflets and detailed briefings explaining why they believe nuclear power to be a false solution to climate change and detailing other problems with this form of energy. During the demonstration, the conference’s keynote speaker, former energy minister Malcolm Wicks MP, exchanged views on nuclear power and energy policy with one of the campaigners.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change is currently undertaking a public consultation on its draft nuclear National Policy Statement (NPS). Once this is approved, decisions on new nuclear reactors will be left to an unelected quango called the Infrastructure Planning Commission, with no further opportunity for local objections to be heard.
The Government is keen to push through a new generation of costly and highly controversial nuclear reactors, despite widespread opposition and the lack of any long-term solution for over 50 years’ worth of high level radioactive waste from existing reactors. Campaigners are concerned that the high cost of building new reactors would divert essential investment from renewable and decentralised energy and energy efficiency measures. They say that new reactors take too long to build and would not in any case make a significant contribution towards meeting the UK’s carbon emission reduction targets. They also remain concerned about the health effects of radioactive emissions, such as the cancer and leukaemia clusters found near nuclear power stations, as indicated by the 2007 German-government sponsored KiKK study, and the risk of a terrorist attack or catastrophic Chernobyl-type reactor meltdown. A former director of the Forsmark nuclear plant in Sweden said of an incident at the site in 2006: “It was pure luck that there was not a meltdown.”

Daniel Viesnik, 35, a London-based activist, said “The nuclear industry’s long history of secrecy, cover-ups and shoddy and dangerous practices stretches back over fifty years. It wants us to believe that a leopard can change its spots, but the only thing that really seems to change is the industry’s PR tactics.”

Ian Mills, 44, a long-term anti-nuclear activist from Chippenham, Wiltshire said, “Nuclear power is a dirty, dangerous and expensive distraction from the major investment needed for a radical transition to a safe and sustainable low-carbon future and green industry, based on more modest consumption, energy efficiency and conservation, and renewable and decentralised energy.”

Mell Harrison, 38, Eastern Region CND’s campaigns officer, who lives near Sizewell nuclear power station in Suffolk, said: “It is frustrating that we are not included in the talks happening at the conference, especially as the energy needs of the UK concerns us all. A seat at the conference costs over £1300 and the future costs if new nuclear goes ahead are far greater. Surely now it is time for the nuclear industry to be open and accountable? But yet again as we have seen time and time again, all the ‘real’ talk goes on behind closed doors.’ Mell added ‘ This protest is just the start- we need real solutions to climate change – not nuclear green wash.’

Contact: vd2012-npp [at] yahoo.co.uk or mellcndeast [at] cnduk.org
Tel: 07760 161 755 or 07506 234 091
http://stopnuclearpower.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/nukepeoplepower

London squatting news

Non Commercial House is Back!

The Non Commercial House was a squatted autonomous space on 165 Commercial Street, London, E1. The project consisted of a giant Free Shop for people to share, recycle what they dont need and take what they need. After several attempts that were resisted, the space was finally evicted on 30th November 2009 by high court bailiffs, on behalf of the owner The City of London.

But the place has been taken back!! and on Saturday 16th of January there was the Grand Re-Opening. Apart from the FreeShop itself and some free food and loads of cuppas, there was also skillsharing sessions and some music in the evening to enjoy the space at its best. [Event]

“We live in a society of over consumption and waste. Non Commercial House aims to offer an alternative based upon cooperation, mutual respect and sustainable living. It is not only about objects but about sharing!”

Address: 165 Commercial Street E1 (next to Bishopsgate, Liverpool st tube station)
Email: noncommercialhouse..at..riseup.net
Website: http://london.indymedia.org.uk/groups/non-commercial-house

Children are very welcome within the space. We are hoping to have a kids section of the free shop with free toys / clothes and hold family friendly events. The ground floor is wheelchair accessible. However, the only toilet in the building is on the top floor and not.

This is a non-profit, non-hierarchical space open to all and your input is valued so drop by some time to get involved and let us know what your ideas / thoughts are.

The Non Commercial House collective

Email Contact: noncommercialhouse@riseup.net

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100 flowers [Belgrade Road] evicted
19 January 2010

The 100 flowers squat on Belgrade Road [Hackney] has been evicted this morning

There were about 30 people outside, and a number of people inside the place which had been barricated.

Several vans of riot cops came [in full gear] and eventually managed to remove the people outside, before breaking in and evicting the place.

No arrests that Im aware of.

climate camp ‘where next?’ regional gatherings and reader

PROPOSALS FOR 2010 SO FAR

We’ve got a new discussion board up on the Climate Camp website with all the proposals for the regional gatherings received so far, plus some other useful texts from the Where Next? discussions. Join the discussion here:

http://discussion.climatecamp.org.uk

REGIONAL GATHERINGS IN JANUARY

PROPOSALS FOR 2010 SO FAR

http://discussion.climatecamp.org.uk

REGIONAL GATHERINGS IN JANUARY

Here are the latest confirmed details of our regional gatherings in January…

(More details as we have them will be posted at:
http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/get-involved/national-gatherings/next)

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Climate Camp Reader

Dysophia and Shift Magazine have joined forces to put together a Climate Camp Reader, “Criticism without Critique”, published in January 2010. This reader hopes to encourage and faciliate debates at the next climate camp gatherings. To download it follow this link:
http://dysophia.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/cca_reader.pdf
The editorial is posted below:

Editorial

In January & February 2010, the Camp for Climate Action will go through a period of introspection as it works out where it shall go next. While in some ways the Camp has been a success, it has also come under a barrage of criticism from some quarters within the radical movements that spawned it.

To help this debate we have put together a set of resources and relevant articles to inform and spark discussion relating to this criticism. Our bias is obvious, though the opinions expressed are those of the authors alone. Whether you agree with them or not, we believe they are worth taking on board. We hope at least that you feel confident answering their challenges, rather than just dismissing them.

Now is the time for the Camp to examine its politics in more depth, to work out just what it stands for. This is a cross-roads in its development, to continue down a path of ever increasing liberal, reformist approach, or to be the noisy radical, pointing out all the white elephants in the climate change debate. The future of the movement around the camp is being shaped here. The decisions being made now will have profound impacts on who is and who is not involved in the future.

The Camp for Climate Action grew out of the radical anarchist and environmental movements, a synthesis of the organisational skills developed at the Anti-G8 protest camp at Stirling, and the ecological direct action movements such as Earth First! The perception that emerges from these criticisms is this has been lost along the way.

We accept that this booklet makes challenging reading and that we offer little in the way of solutions. These, we believe, must come from within the camp itself. However, it is apparent that there is a need for two things. Firstly, a greater visibility for the anarchist roots within the day to day life of the CCA process and proposals. Secondly, and just as important, a more open and explicit critique of capitalism and how it is the root cause of climate change.

If we do neither out of fear of a mainstream media backlash, then we are reduced to being another NGO. Yet, the power of the Camp has always been the promise of a genuine alternative action in the face of prevarication and obstruction from governments and corporations – now is the time to spell that critique out and use it to build real alternatives, not legitimising the system we complain of. It was the strength of the Camp’s founding critiques that gave it the boldness its subsequent successes have rested on.

Ultimately, the message of the Camp is a very radical one – that radical social change is needed, especially if we are to tackle of the root causes of climate change. The answer is not to water down our actions and our messages, but to be bolder than ever. That is the excitement and power that gives the Camp its life.

To download the reader follow this link:
http://dysophia.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/cca_reader.pdf

http://dysophia.wordpress.com/
http://www.shiftmag.co.uk/

Climate Protestors in Court Following Defacing of Canadian Flag

Three climate activists are this morning due in Westminster Magistrate’s Court charged with criminal damage against the Canadian High Commission in London following an action to stop the Tar Sands..

On December 15th, while the International Climate Summit was taking place in Copenhagen, the protesters scaled the entrance to the Canadian High Commission in Grosvenor Square. They cut loose the Canadian flag, before defacing it with crude oil while unfurling a banner reading “Shut Down the Tar Sands”.

The action was a response to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s obstruction of the summit in Copenhagen in order to protect Canada’s Tar Sands Industry [1]. Tar Sands are the dirtiest fuel known to man, both in terms of its impact on the climate and the devastation inflicted on the
local communities [2].

There is an enormous open cast mine in the Alberta Tar Sands region of Canada, where an area the total size of England will be exploited. This is the largest industrial development in the world and is devastating for the indigenous communities that live there, not only destroying the land
itself but increasing levels of cancer, poisoning much of their traditional food sources and leaving the water unsafe to drink [3]. This violates the indigenous treaty rights legally bound to this region.

Jake Colman, 20, Bradley Day, 22, and Daniel Whitely, 19, are all participants in the Camp for Climate Action [4], an action group that occupied Trafalgar Square for the two-week duration of the Climate Summit.

Bradley Day, a waiter from Oxford, speaking after the action:

“This is just the beginning of a UK-based direct action campaign to stop Canadian Tar Sands. These murderous ventures are being funded from within the UK, with the Royal Bank of Scotland, now 84%-owned by the public investing billions, and British Petroleum currently preparing to move in
to Tar Sands. [5] We won’t stand by and let these greed driven corporations cause catastrophic environmental and human destruction.”

Clayton Thomas-Muller, an Indigenous activist with the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), spoke during the Copenhagen summit:
“The Canadian government continues to ignore its own laws, which state they must consult with Indigenous Peoples who have been trying to convey concerns about Tar Sands development. Tar Sands are killing our communities and trampling over our rights. Furthermore, the environmental destruction wreaked by the Tar Sands is directly threatening thousands of lives now and is driving our climate into chaos. The world has woken up to the fact that Canada is now Public Climate Enemy Number One. It’s time Canada did its global duty and shut down the Tar Sands,”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] At the failed Copenhagen Climate Summit, Canada proposed an inadequate target for reducing greenhouse emissions by only 3% by 2020 ignoring world scientists’ recommendations to commit to over 40% reductions below 1990 levels in order to avoid dangerous runaway climate change. Canada already failed to meet its commitments to the Kyoto Treaty and refuses to sign the UN’s Declaration of Rights for Indigenous Peoples whilst continuing development of Tar Sands oil extraction.

[2] Tar Sands fuel is a way of extracting oil who’s energy intensive process has not only completely destroyed areas of the Boreal forests the size of England, burns enough natural gas to power 6 hundred thousand homes a year, produces lakes of toxic waste 66km wide -which filters into
all local life and drinking water- but would itself be enough to push our climate into chaos.

http://tarsandsinfocus.wordpress.com/about/

[3] http://tarsandsinfocus.wordpress.com/about/

[4] http://climatecamp.org.uk

[5] This is the start of a fast growing UK campaign against Tar Sands. Although we do not receive oil directly from Canadian Tar Sands, Corporations such as RBS which is now 84% owned by the British Tax Payer invests billions and British Petroleum have plans to move in to the ‘Sun Rise’ site in the coming months. Action on these issues and these corporations are soon to become a focus of UK activism as we begin to stand up to International injustices such as Tar Sands in Canada.

Stop the Tar Sands