Rest of Europe – Page 10

Eviction of Ferrarisbos Forest Occupation Wilrijk, Antwerp, Belgium

At 7am on Tuesday 3rd of September individuals occupying a wrongly zoned Farraris forest in Wilrijk were woken by the sound of chainsaws.

At 7am on Tuesday 3rd of September individuals occupying a wrongly zoned Farraris forest in Wilrijk were woken by the sound of chainsaws. Breaking the news to all that the forest was being evicted. The first arrest of an individual in a tent on the ground, followed swiftly: the tent was unzipped and the occupant ordered out although was not informed of their arrest or their rights. A cherry picker was used to gain access to the two platforms. One individual was lifted into the cherry picker and arrested. Another individual was locked on, and a cutting team was used to break the lock on, remove the person and arrest them. A fourth individual, in a bed spiral (hanging treehouse) the tree was climbed and the individual removed and arrested. The whole process took 2-3hrs, within 5hrs the forest had been cut.

Local supporters and press were at first not allowed through to outside the forest. After sometime they managed to make their way through. Some locals chose to sarcastically applaud as a representative of Essers went past. This resulted in 3 individuals being administratively arrested*.

Essers is the company responsible for the cutting of this forest. Wanting to build warehouse there, at present there is no known client for this warehouse as the previous prospective tenant pulled out of the contract.
Within Belgium there is zoning of land – land is designated for a particular use. This is out of date and therefore not accurate. Where forest (as in this case) is zoned as industrial land it is very easy to acquire the necessary permits required to fell the forest.
Ferrarisbos forest is land that in 1771 whilst Ferraris was surveying and mapping Belgium was found to be forest. This means the forest that was felled 03/09/13 was over 250 years old.
Flanders (region within Belgium) has one of the lowest percentages of remaining woodland in the EU with 8% of woodlands remaining, 20% is considered a “healthy” minimum.
The forest felled 03/09/13 was an important breeding habitat for over 20 bird species including woodpeckers. Also the forest was the summer home and hunting ground to many bats possibly including endangered and protected species, and groups of red squirrels. A Belgian Government Agency advised that if felling was to take place it should happen between the 15th of September and the 15th of October or during the spring to ensure minimal disruption to the animals living there.

There was a total of 7 arrests throughout the day, 4 of occupiers of the forest and 3 local supporters. All the arrests were administrative*.
Of the occupiers the first was quickly released due to having their passport with them. 2 were released after fingerprints and photos were taken. The one remaining occupier spoke no dutch and police refused to speak more than limited English to them, refused to provide food and then informed them they would be taken to foreign detention at some point (between in 5 minutes and 2 days). After becoming distressed the individual gave their name and was then released after being driven to a small street in Antwerp with no money, no idea of their location and no means of contacting anyone.

The 3 locals arrested during the eviction of the forest all chose to give their IDs resulting in a short detention for 2 of them. 1 was taken to prison, being told this would be for 12 months, after 5 hours they were released and put on tag for 3 months. It is unclear why and how this has happened.

Further Action
People from the Occupation of the Forest have asked for solidarity demos outside Belgian Embassies against the cutting of wrongly zoned forests.
Shortly there will also be further information for communications blockades.

*Administrative Arrest is where an individual is arrested for identification, this can last up to 12hrs if the individual chooses to give their name or has ID on them. The arrest can last up to 24hrs if no name is given.

http://groenoord.wordpress.com/2013/09/04/kroniek-van-een-aangekondigde-ontbossing/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferraris_map

steungroep.groenoord@gmail.com
www.groenoord.be

News from the anti-MAT struggle in the Girona area of Catalonia

2nd of September, 2013:

News from the anti-MAT struggle in the Girona area of Catalonia

2nd of September, 2013:

News from the anti-MAT struggle in the Girona area of Catalonia

The active resistance camp against the MAT (very high tension electricity line) taking place near Girona has squatted a huge, antique, abandoned farmhouse near the village of Orriols, in order to give continuity to the struggle against this deadly project and the world which needs it. The resistance against the MAT has been active for more than a decade and has now reached a crucial point seeing that the construction of the line has now started in this area and is going ahead at a furious pace.

The police are constantly harassing the squatted zone and farmhouse. This is the squat's fifth day and the second day since the doors were opened to anyone who wishes to contribute to the struggle against the MAT and intends to organize collectively in order to stop it. The liberated space, located very near to where two pylons are being constructed, is like sand in the gears and cogs of this machine of death and destruction driven by industrialists and politicians and defended by the police and journalists.

During the last week of August the police presence around the camp in Fellines and its activities was very strong: people stopped and identified, provocations, number plates written down, constant patrolling along the surrounding roads, protest marches blocked, a helicopter flying above the camp and hovering near it at low altitude, presumably taking photos, etc. However, the harassment did not stop the people who came from all over the surrounding areas, the Spanish State and other European countries, and even spurred them to intensify the struggle, as can be seen with this new squatted area which seems to have thrown the police off-balance.

On the 1st of September it was made public knowledge that the abandoned Mas Castelló farmhouse had been squatted as a new space of resistance and coordination, and soon enough the police arrived in great numbers, suddenly waking up to the fact that the action had taken place right under their noses and despite all their checkpoints. The barricades built along the dirt track leading to the house, the presence of many people behind them and some other resisters on the roof of the new squat, helped keep the police away, even though they tried to advance showing plastic bullet guns, firing a few shots into the air, perhaps bringing dogs to the scene, threatening and shouting and throwing rocks at the resisters in order to provoke them and thus create the legal situation necessary for a speedy eviction order. Before nightfall, however, the forces of repression withdrew most of their faithful soldiers, only to come back a little later as a small group accompanying the owner of the house, shouting threats and trying to identify the people on the roof.

The night was quiet but this morning saw the arrival of many police vans yet again. Some of the barricades have been removed by firefighters and by a tractor which was probably ordered to do so by the owner of the house. Some hours later most of the vans filed away and the resisters got back to the tasks necessary in order to make Mas Castelló a meeting point for locals and non-locals who will continue the struggle against this deadly megaproject.

Everyone is invited to come and participate to help defend the land around Girona. People are arriving but greater numbers are necessary, so come and show your support!

If you are unable to be physically present, express your solidarity in whichever way you see fit, wherever possible and as soon as possible.

Mas Castelló resists!

ELF fight against expansion of ski resort, Germany

September 2, 2013 – Germany

The ELF has claimed responsibility for sabotage at a ski resort on Wurmberg mountain (Harz mountain range). During the night of August 27, the windows of several construction vehicles were smashed, hydradulic hoses and electricity cables cut on several vehicles, a snow groomer, snow machines and at electricity stations, and the cable car infrastructure was damaged. Painted slogans were left behind, such as: "LASST DEN WALD LEBEN" ("LET THE FOREST LIVE"), "SKIANLAGEN SABOTIEREN" ("SABOTAGE SKI RESORTS"), "LET THE FOREST PROSPER", "THERE'S NO TIME TO WAIT FOR CHANGE" and "SHOW YOUR DEDICATION THROUGH YOUR ACTION." Damages are estimated at €100,000. The expansion of the ski area has been strongly criticized by environmental organizations. (photos: goslarsche.de)

Anonymous claim of responsibility (German), from linksunten.indymedia.org:

"In der Nacht vom 27. August auf den 28. August haben wir die Mittelstation der Liftanlage des Skigebietes am Wurmberg sabotiert. Mit Farbe sprühten wir mehrere Botschaften an die Mauern der von der Wurmberg Seilbahn Gesellschaft betriebenen Anlage.

– 'LASST DEN WALD LEBEN'
– 'SKIANLAGEN SABOTIEREN'
– 'LET THE FOREST PROSPER'
– 'THERE'S NO TIME TO WAIT FOR CHANGE'
– 'SHOW YOUR DEDICATION THROUGH YOUR ACTION'.

Wir haben zahlreiche Scheiben des Gebäudes sowie von dort stehenden Baufahrzeugen und von zwei Pistenraupen eingeschlagen. Wir durchtrennten Kabel an Baufahrzeugen, Pistenraupen und an einigen Stromkästen der Lift- und Beschneiungsanlagen.

Dies war ein notwendiger Akt des Widerstandes gegen die von der Wurmberg Seilbahn Gesellschaft fortlaufend vorangetriebene Zerstörung der Natur am Wurmberg. Eine Skianlage, wie sie die Wurmberg Seilbahn Gesellschaft betreibt, ist in ihrer Entstehung wie in ihrem Betrieb abzulehnen.
Dort, wo die natürliche Umwelt ausgebeutet wird – also den Profitinteressen einzelner Akteure unterworfen wird -, dort ist direkter Widerstand gegen diese Ausbeutung unumgänglich! Deswegen ist die Wurmberg Seilbahn Gesellschaft zum Ziel unserer Aktion geworden.

Der bereits weit vorangeschrittene Ausbau des Skigebietes am Wurmberg macht einmal mehr das destruktive Verhältnis der Menschen zur Natur im Kapitalismus deutlich. Über 16 Hektar Wald wurden gerodet, um eine neue Liftanlage, einen Großparkplatz sowie neue Pistenabfahrten an den Berghängen zu schaffen. Die Bäume, die übrig sind, im Rodungsgebiet jetzt plötzlich am Rand der Baumgruppen stehen, werden durch Windbruch zusätzlich gefährdet sein. Auch sollen mehrere Beschneiungsanlagen neu gebaut werden, die künstlich erzeugten Schnee auf den Pisten verteilen. Dafür wird aus dem Wasserschutzgebiet der Warmen Bode Wasser entnommen und ein riesiger Speichersee auf dem Gipfel angelegt. Diese Kunstschneepisten werden bei Nacht dann weiträumig mit Flutlichtscheinwerfern ausgeleuchtet. Den Tieren, die noch nicht aus ihrem Lebensraum vertrieben wurden, wird das Leben in ihrer ursprünglichen Umgebung zur Unerträglichkeit gemacht. Der Lärm und das Licht der Wintersportanlage wird den Wald stetig belasten. Da hilft es auch nichts, dass die Wurmberg Seilbahn Gesellschaft – zur Vortäuschung der eigenen Umweltfreundlichkeit – von künftigen Bergwiesen an den gerodeteten Hängen und von Aufforstungen an einem anderen Ort spricht.

Der Wald am Wurmberg ist zerstört. Er wird nie wieder so werden wie er einmal war. Die Konsequenz daraus muss sein, die Zerstörung jetzt auf das destruktive Skigebiet zu verlagern, um dem Wald Stück für Stück seinen Raum zurückzugeben, damit er, sich selbst überlassen, frei von Ausbeutung existieren kann.

Earth Liberation Front

ELF"

Activist Group Black Fish Using Drones to Defend the Ocean from Driftnets

On a warm night in July 2012, off the island of Ugljan in the

On a warm night in July 2012, off the island of Ugljan in the Croatian Adriatic, two activists slipped into the water near a line of huge fish farms. Security boats patrolled the perimeter of the vast circular nets, as guards stationed on a nearby hill kept watch through the night. And for good reason: the thousands of bluefin tuna in the farms, destined for the tables of Japanese sushi restaurants, are worth millions. Individual fish routinely sell for more than $1,500 at wholesale markets in Tokyo and closer to home. The Croatian tuna had been caught as juveniles under a loophole in international law, and were being “fattened up” before heading to market.

Wearing tactical diving gear, the divers arrived at the first net, slicing three-quarters of its length and sending bluefin streaming out. The divers swam to another net, repeating the process, and then headed home. The security teams circling above were none the wiser until the following day. The activists, from a group known as the Black Fish, were long gone. The raid was similar to a previous attack in September 2010, when Black Fish divers freed dolphins from holding pens near Taiji, Japan.

A sailor prepares to head out to sea with five 2.5-kilometer nets in ant’Agata di Militello, Sicily; 2.5 kilometers is the legal limit, but Mediterranean fishermen often join multiple nets of this size together to get around the law.

Since the action in Japan and Croatia, the group has turned its sights on drift nets—long, fine nets suspended from buoys, typically across fish migration paths. Banned in international waters since 1992, the longest nets, which can stretch 50 miles behind industrial-sized fishing vessels, are associated with almost indiscriminate killing of marine life. Their mesh size can be as little as ten centimeters, meaning young fish are caught before they can reproduce. Sea turtles, dolphins, and sharks also fall prey, and since they’re illegal to catch, they’re returned, often mortally wounded, to the ocean.

In spite of the ban put in place at the urging of the UN, the practice continues. From the Indian Ocean to the North Pacific, illegal drift nets are still in use, and no proper authority exists to monitor their use or bring prosecutions. In the Mediterranean, their use is often controlled by various mobs, according to the Black Fish’s founder Wietse van der Werf: “Organized crime and corruption is a big part of why drift netting carries on in the Mediterranean. The Calabrian Mafia is known to run the biggest operation in Europe, right alongside the biggest cocaine-running operation—they’re pretty much one and the same.”

And they’re hard to catch, said Wietse. When EU inspectors roll around, corrupt captains will take their nets to pieces, head to sea, or “re-flag” their boats, dodging European rules by hoisting a North African flag. A few years ago, Italian fishermen were given millions to hand over their drift nets and invest in more “sustainable” gear—they immediately spent the cash on bigger, badder drift nets. These were either stored in non-EU countries or overlooked by corrupt Italian officials (paid off, ironically, using the money set aside for newer, less damaging nets).

A member of the Black Fish toying around with a quadcopter supplied by ShadowView.

So illegal fishermen have to be caught actually using the nets in order to be brought to justice. Which is why the Black Fish have begun to invest in drones. With the help of ShadowView, a nonprofit which provides charities and NGOs with unmanned helicopters and planes, the group has begun monitoring ports for signs of illegal kit. They’ve just finished a series of “port inspections” in Albania and Italy, using cameras mounted on small “quadcoptor” drones to gather evidence from above.

Posing as beach-towelled vacationers, Wietse and his undercover crews normally go unnoticed until their little robot is buzzing above a bunch of pissed off fishermen. In other spots, like Libya and Tunisia, drones tend not to go down so well, so the Black Fish use hidden cameras and a tourists’ blank expression to wander around ports with impunity. The group is still analyzing their videos and pictures from this year, but have already spotted several “blacklisted” vessels, each tied to illegal fishing in the past. A few weeks ago, they spotted dead sea turtles—“Among the most highly protected species in the world,” Wietse said—tangled in Tunisian nets.

A Black Fish member logging the registration numbers of fishing boats that have been blacklisted by the EU.

However, to properly catch the estimated 500 illegal Mediterranean driftnetters in action will take bigger, more expensive drones. By next year, Wietse plans to run big, “fixed wing,” petrol-powered unmanned planes, with a much bigger range, which should be able to conclusively prove illegal drift net use. “When governments can’t do anything about such a vital problem,” he told me, “volunteers with a little time and money can make a positive difference.”

Also next year, the Black Fish plan to score a secondhand coast-guard ship to use as a platform for drones and speedboats fast enough to catch drift net users red-handed. They also have a plan to create a diplomatic incident and force the issue: “Once we have the ship,” Wietse told me, “we want to put a British flag on it and then try to enforce the law somewhere close to, say, Spain. This would anger the Spanish and force them to pick sides—illegal poachers or European law. With any luck, this will create an international problem and force governments to crack down.”

Wietse is critical of celebrity fishing activists Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall who support the relaxation of rules over fish that are discarded for being too small or outside of quotas, arguing that their approach is just a way of allowing young fish to be caught and sold legally. He’s also skeptical of so-called “sustainable” fishing in general, which he says “legitimizes destructive fishing,” offering little more than a warm glow to “ethical” shoppers.

The shell of a sea turtle, one of the world’s most protected species, found in Tunisia.

When they’re not angering Mafia boat crews, the Black Fish are training teams in diving and other skills in order to widen the organization’s scope. Wietse likens his plan to the early days of police forces, in which private militias were formed into organized forces in their own local areas. They’ve made a film with the help of volunteers, and are spending the winter lecturing and raising money to buy their ship.

Overfishing isn’t the only target of activists with drones. ShadowView are working with the conservation charity SPOTS to catch poachers at secret locations in South Africa, with the Sea Shepherd group filming illegal seal slaughter on the Namibian coast, and with the League Against Cruel Sports in the UK to film illegal fox hunts. Protesters have been using drones to spy on cops for a couple of years now, and their price is falling.

But for Wietse, perhaps unsurprisingly, driftnets and overfishing are still the main aim: “The death of the seas is the worst environmental problem we face, and using drift nets is like destroying a forest to catch a couple of wild boar—it’s just insane.” Luckily, according to him, “It’s also one of the easiest problems to solve—it just needs to be addressed now.”

200 activists blocking coal train in the Rheinland

31/08/2013 Manheim. Second Day of the Actions Days in the Rhineland Coalfield. Around 300 activists are occupying the coal train tracks which is the main way to transport coal between the open-cast coal mine “Hambach” to the big power plants which emit 100 millions tons of CO2 per year. The action is happening in solidarity with the Climate and Reclaim the Fields Camp that is taking place from August 23 to September 6, 2013 in the Rhineland coalfield.

„Already in the last two years, there have been actions like this. But this year, there are much more people who express their legitimate protest in this way. It is people from the most varied backgrounds and regions of the world. This clearly shows: Climate change affects us all. And: A change of the existing conditions of exploitation and destruction is only possible with determined and joined grass-root actions”, says one of the activists.

„The impacts of lignite burning is not a local issue – first, because of the consequences of global warming but also because of the far-reaching distribution of particle matter. Depending on the weather conditions, the particle matter of RWEs power stations can go down anywhere in Europe and can cause grave health problems.”

„Some people criticize the resistance actions against lignite mining because they are in conflict with the law. However, if the existing law protects industries which destroy the future of this planet, then the law is the problem. Not the people who violate it“. This is how one of the activists explains why she is there and why she thinks this action is legitimate..

Manual for Sabotaging Wolf Hunts Released

“And in that case, we choose to be saboteurs for the wild.”

The following text is from a press release of the Earth First! Media office, which provides correspondence to news outlets around the world.

“And in that case, we choose to be saboteurs for the wild.”

The following text is from a press release of the Earth First! Media office, which provides correspondence to news outlets around the world.

Download the Earth First! Wolf Hunt Sabotage Manual Here

by Earth First! News

Earth First! Media has released a manual which provides detailed information for disrupting wolf hunting in those states that allow it. Titled The Earth First! Wolf Hunting Sabotage Manual, the text, complete with step-by-step graphics, explains how to find and destroy wolf traps, handle live trapped wolves in order to release them, and various methods, including the use of air-compressed horns and smoke-bombs, for stopping wolf hunts.

The authors of the manual describe themselves as, “hunters and proud of it,” adding, “But we aren’t proud of what passes for hunting these days and especially for what passes as ‘sportsman’ hunting. Somehow, the National Rifle Association, yuppie trophy hunters, cattle barons, and the Obama Administration are in cahoots in an effort that promises to wipe wolves clean off the planet. And in that case, we choose to be saboteurs for the wild.”

The manual, which was sent to Earth First! Media by unknown persons calling themselves “the Redneck Wolf Lovin’ Brigade,” is being published electronically at Earth First! News and is being offered for others to print and distribute.

Panagioti Tsolkas, a correspondent with Earth First! Media, says the manual is being published in light of regional delistings of wolves in the Great Lakes region and the Northern Rockies since 2011 where subsequent wolf hunts have accounted for over 1,500 wolves hunted or trapped. “According to several wildlife agencies’ reports, there are fewer than 6,000 wolves left in the lower 48 states where wolves once numbered in the hundreds of thousands,” Tsolkas added.

In June of this year, the Obama administration announced that it plans to push for nearly all wolves, excepting those in the U.S. Southwest, to be stripped of Endangered Species Act protections despite compelling evidence from numerous scientists that wolves have not recovered as a species. “We are coming into a new era of wolf genocide,” said Tsolkas, adding, “It will be important for individuals and groups with a passion to protect wolves to take this manual into consideration. It will surely save lives, but it is also a very dangerous undertaking. Wolf hunters have guns and obviously little morals when it comes to what they shoot.”

Over its 33-year history, Earth First! activists have used hunt sabotage to disrupt hunts across the country. “This wolf hunting manual could very well spark a new version of Whale Wars. It’ll be called Wolf Wars.”

Earth First! is an international radical environmental movement which began in 1979. The movement also publishes a quarterly magazine and online newswire.

Swedish anti-mining protest camp against Beowulf Mining

Right now there is a battle to save Sápmi (occupied by Sweden) from more mines. Sápmi has already been exploited and colonized by the Swedish state and corporations for generations. Now an entirely new area is under attack from the mining industry, the forests, mountains and lakes west of Jokkmokk are threatened.

Since a month there is a blockade against british Beowulf Mining´s test mining project in Gállok (swe: #kallak) going on. Activists have joined together with indigenous Sami people to save the place from a big iron mine. The 29th of July the swedish police came and tore down the first blockade and arrested 6 persons. The same night the blockade was raised again, with improvements to the company´s great disappointment. The activists plan to stay for the winter when the reindeer and herders come and legally can stop the test mining.

Resistance against the planned mine is growing while the swedish police have said they are doing what the mining corporation orders them to. Beowulf is currently silent and probably don’t want more bad exposure and might try to beat the activists in the waiting game. Meanwhile more people join the protests in different ways through art and music as well as supporting the growing protest camp. The activists are now building Pentagon, a house supposed to work to decolonize the world.

Update: The second barricade was also destroyed by the cops the 12th of August and a security guarding company is hired to protect the testmines and the road from protesters. This only to do test mining.

More recent update: Yesterday they started blasting, with 4 people near by in trees not outside the blasting safety zone. pigs removed barricades in the morning. many people got pulled off the road and chased from the forest. 8 people were arrested. last night and again tonight the road is barricaded to delay work. now 10 security workers work 12hr shifts, day and night. our spirits are high. the battle continues.

http://kolonierna.wordpress.com/ for more info, pictures and videos.

Coal company and police try to prohibit climat camp

Climat Camp near Cologne, Germany starting tomorow got problems with the camp site.

Climat Camp near Cologne, Germany starting tomorow got problems with the camp site.
The administration action of climate-camp-organizers at the administrative court in cologne against the restrictions against the climate/rtf-camp by the district police got rejected. The district police had approved the legal registration of the camp, but forbade "infrastructure in terms of accommodation and food services" to be established. the district police had filed an application for rejection against our administrative action with some outrageous claims.

That these conditions are now confirmed by the administrative court, is a blow against our basic right to freedom of assembly. Previously, the city of Kerpen announced that in the event of registration as an event also high requirements would be imposed, such as professional security service, even though it had only been at Pentecost that there was a Catholic youth camp with around 200 participants in Manheim, a without such requirements. Similarly, the city of Kerpen forbade the use of the sanitary facilities of a sports field to which the camp participants had easy access in recent years.

Like that the climate camp should be banned by the back door, so as to avoid unpleasant critical publicity at Hambach. "We believe that RWE has put pressure on the city and police because they do not like the camp," says Claudia Henry of the preparatory group, "but the stones that are placed in our way, just show how thick the sleaze between energy companys and local institutions is. "

At the moment, the people that are building up the camp are put under massive pressure to take the tents down again!

But the fight against climate change and for our livelihood can't be forbidden. The organizers of the camps will not be intimidated by administrative barriers and police harassment and will do everything so that all the camps can take place. Spread the news, stay up to date, solidarise yourself and come around.

http://www.ausgeco2hlt.de/klimacamp/en/camp-2013-2/

NO TAV movement again under attack, Italy

For twenty years in mountains of North West Italy, not far from Torino, a powerful movement has grown that has resisted the Italian government’s plan to build a high velocity railroad, which in addition to being very costly and economically useless would certainly destroy the mountain environment. Over and over, the NO TAV movement, now well-known throughout Europe, has come under attack by the police and the army, besides being the object of a smear campaign by politicians of almost every political stripe. However, so strong has been the determination of the people of Val di Susa and their many supporters to resist this assault on their land and their lives that so far no real construction has taken place and all that the companies in charge of the project have achieved has been to surround thousands of acres of land, belonging to the local population, with barbed wires and cops.

It is now generally recognized, even at the EU level, that the construction of the high velocity railroad is unnecessary, so that some participant countries have already withdrawn from the project. Nevertheless, the Italian government has even further intensified its attack on the resistance to the TAV trains, with the full militarization of Val di Susa. As the villagers of this beautiful historic valley, near the border with France, the center of the partisan resistance to Fascism and Nazism in the ‘40s, have repeatedly denounced, no effort has been spared to repress ideologically and physically the legitimate protest of the residents of the valley who would bear every day the consequences of the TAVS. Already the land of Val di Susa has been drenched with tear gas, and many have been arrested, wounded, and some have even died because of the government’s outrageous determination to complete this work regardless of its devastating consequences for the people of the valley.

Now a new violent assault on the No Tav movement is unfolding that demands a clear response by all those in and out of Italy who believe that the systematic destruction of our environment and the violation of people’s most basic needs and demands are crimes that affect us all and we should not tolerate.

On Monday morning, July 29, the DIGOS – the political branch of the police – has raided dozens of homes in Torino and in Val di Susa. Twelve comrades have been forced to open their houses to its agents, who have then proceeded to search for incriminating materials, presumably related to their protest against the enclosure of the land of the valley with hedges of barbed wire. Instructed to look for explosives and cutters, the police have failed in this goal, but they have confiscated all the audio-visual and telecommunication materials they could find, clearly the real objective of the search. As one of the activists raided put it: “They came for weapons, they left with computers and phones”.

The raid has included the restaurant La Credenza – a name that in Italian significantly means both ‘faith’ and ‘pantry’ – a public place of meeting and aggregation for No TAVS in Val di Susa, where workers’ unions and political associations are also located. This is a place where every day people meet to discuss current events, mostly relating to the struggle, as well as share some food and a glass of wine. Whoever goes to Bussoleno, the heartland of the NO TAV struggle, passes through it, to have a chance to talk to local people, check on current events, and have a great dinner. But the magistrates paint it as a place of conspiracy, to support the charge that motivates the raid: involvement in “attacks with terrorist and subversive intent.”

Anyone who has been in Val di Susa, or has followed the long history of the protest its people have mounted against the TAV knows this charge is false, outrageous, and is a classic example of blaming the victims. Not surprisingly the “proofs” are manufactured.

At one of the houses raided, a map of the valley was found with marker-signs on it. The young woman living there is a member of the Legal Team for the movement, and the map is part of the material that she was to submit to the defense in trials that are already taking place against some of its members. On it, the sites are marked where in 2011 several people were brutalized by the police. But according to the investigators, the map proves the existence of a militarily organized guerrilla movement.

Similarly, beer bottles presumably found on the construction site are presented as evidence for the presence of Molotov cocktails, no proof given that they ever contained anything but beer. Black T Shirts too were confiscated, though it is hard to imagine what they could prove. But the meaning of the police operation comes forth most blatantly where the magistrates state that those raided are investigated as suspects of “attacks with terrorist intent.”

In sum, the goal of this new operation is to escalate the assault on the movement by representing it, legally and through the media, as a ‘terrorist’ movement – a move obviously intended to scare its supporters, turn public opinion against the people of Val di Susa, and legitimize any violence the state will deem fit to unleash against them.

We do not think this operation will succeed. The people of Val di Susa have fought the fascists, have fought the Nazis, and for twenty years they have been able to push back the attempt of the Italian government to destroy their mountains, already traversed by many railroad lines and a recently constructed highway. However, we should not underestimate the will of the government to crush this movement. This in fact appears to be the primary objective of the present operation, as reports indicate that, even from a capitalist viewpoint, the TAV project is turning out to be economically unfeasible. Why to pursue it then with so much obstinacy, to the point of stomping over the lives of thousands of people? Is it because the Italian government cannot admit that when people struggle in a unified way they can win? Or is it that the profits that private companies would make would outweigh the failure of the project to bring any benefit to the country as a whole and outweigh as well the immense agony and loss inflicted on the people of Val di Susa?

Politics these days has a surreal character. Lies, distortions, arguments motivated solely by the narrowest of private economic motives are the order of the day. But the fictitious character of the charges brought against the victims of the raid should not deceive us about the damage they can inflict. At the very least these attacks are forcing a movement to re-channel its energies from the struggle against the TAV to the defense of those under attack.

This is why we need to support the NO TAV activists under investigation, we need expand our support for the NO TAV struggle, and send a clear message of protest to the Italian government, demanding it ends the persecution of the No TAV activists and put an end to the TAV project itself.

Please sign the following statement –affiliation for identification purpose only:

We urge the Italian government and judiciary to:

*End its arbitrary use of the law to persecute No TAV activists;

*Cease the investigation against the twelve people whose homes have been raided;

*Stop the militarization of Val de Susa;

*Listen to the legitimate protest of the people of Val de Susa and abandon the TAV project, which has already caused so much suffering to so many people

CCF-Russia Torches Mobile Housing Unit at a Highway Construction Site in Adygeya (Russia)

Adygeya, RU

from Bite Back

anonymous report, from From Russia With Love:

“At the end of july 2013 near Maikop (resp. Adygeya) we carried out an ecotage action at the highway construction site. We chose a moonless night to reach the site of this horrendous rape of nature and chose our targets: personal belongings of slave-workers as well as corporate property. Having picked up a stone in the ditch nearby, we cracked open a window and poured some gasoline inside the mobile housing unit (we made sure no workers were inside before the attack). The rest of gasoline was poured on the wheels. In the next moment a flash of match send this shit to hell where it properly belongs. We wish the construction company to follow the vehicle there. Our withdrawal was lighted with flames (as usual). No guard turned up to stop us (as usual).

Do not wait for the optimal moment to present itself before you go on offensive. Only the state of permanent conflict will make your personality strong. If you follow the track of biding your time, hoarding money, buying some sophisticated stuff for the action – you’re subconsciously withdrawing from the struggle. No camouflage or fancy boots will carry out the action for you (though they do help). All things are mere tools. Go outside and fight now! Do not listen to those who murmur: ‘now is not the time’! To hell with famous ideologists! To hell with ‘inappropriate anarchy’! Anarchy is here and now! To hell with union struggle! Working class is dead just like the present day society. It’s rotten. It’s in decay. Yet we are supposed to communicate with it just like Russians are supposed to communicate with Lenin. Do what you want the way you want it to be done. Fight for your own freedom. Fight for yourselves. Fight for your brothers and sisters. Fight for the future of your children. Nobody will grant you freedom unless you take it by force for yourselves. If now is not the time for you to step over ‘the law’, to look beyond the templates of accepted ‘resistance’, then we bet you won’t find any courage inside when the civil war starts. We wish you luck.

CCF-Russia, 2013″