Other – Page 22 – Earth First!

Maya Villagers Burn Mine Equipment

A group of Mayan Mam villagers torched the equipment of a company attempting to set up a mine on their land without permission on June 12.

A group of Mayan Mam villagers torched the equipment of a company attempting to set up a mine on their land without permission on June 12. Exploradora de Guatemala, a subsidiary of the Canadian company Goldcorp, had been pressuring 20 families in the San Miguel Ixztahuacan municipality to sell their land, but the villagers had consistently refused. When the company began moving mining equipment onto their land anyway, the villagers demanded its removal.

The company promised to remove all equipment by June 10, then failed to do so. It promised again to remove the equipment by June 12, even as it requested police and army assistance — receiving 8 police units (2 of them anti-riot) and 4 vehicles full of soldiers.

On June 12, seeing that the company was not going to remove the equipment, villagers set fire to an exploration drill rig and pickup truck, while police and soldiers stood by and watched.

Unfortunately, due to company pressure, the police filed charges against 7 villagers for the action on June 19.

Mayo update – resisting Shell on Wednesday & Thursday

25.6.09
Solitaire on the horizon,more arrests – the resistance continues – Solidarity!

The Solitaire, the huge pipe laying ship, that will lay the pipeline in Broadhaven Bay has arrived. If you were thinking of coming to Rossport this summer now is the time. Resistance continues whilst 200 Gardai and the Irish Navy are drafted in to facilitate Shell’s project.

As the Solitaires arrival looms large, the state ups the pressure with more frivolous arrests.

At approximately 5.30pm on Wednesday, two swimmers were arrested in Broadhaven Bay by the joint Gardaí and Naval force, for opposing Shell’s Corrib Gas Project. Both were quite a distance outside of Shell’s so-called ‘exclusion zone’ in the Bay when they were arrested by Gardai jumping towards them from RIBs (Rigid Inflatable Boats). The protest was against preparatory cable work being done before the arrival of the Solitaire. Neither protester was close to any machinery, or stopping any work from taking place. This brings to 22 the number of people arrested this month for opposing Shell.

This forms part of a larger pattern of arbitrary arrest, through which Gardai are seeking to repress peaceful protest against Shell’s disastrous Corrib Gas Project. Recent weeks have seen draconian attempts to remand first-time offenders to custody for relatively minor offences, along with very high bail money being demanded for protesters. The attempted criminalisation of campaigners raises very serious questions about civil liberties and the infringing on the right to protest.

Shell to Sea spokesperson Maura Harrington said: “The hundreds of Gardai and Naval personnel drafted into the area in the last 48 hours shows just how far the government will go to facilitate Shell, despite the fact that this project is completely against the interests of the people of this country. These latest arrests are merely the Gardaí and Navy trying to justify the immense and totally disproportionate force that has been sent down by the State to force this project through”

LE Emer is currently stationed in Broadhaven Bay and Navy RIBs crewed by Gardaí and Navy personnel are currently being used against protestors.

….

The 24th of June began with an oppressive Garda presence in the Glengad area and ended with two swimmers from the camp being arrested in Broadhaven Bay this evening. Shell’s contracted pipe-laying ship the Solitaire began its journey to Glengad this afternoon and is expected to be in the bay by morning.

At lunchtime two squadrons of kayakers set out into Broadhaven bay as a practise run for actions when the Solitare arrives. Kayakers were confronted by a heavy Garda and navy presence supported by Shell security in rigid inflatable boats (ribs). Two kayakers were roughly handled, being dragged at speed by Garda ribs while Gardai hung on to their craft. All kayakers managed to return safely to the Solidarity Camp. At the same time the Irish naval vessel the LE Emer entered Broadhaven Bay, circled the bay and dropped anchor near Balyglass pier. This warship remains at anchor tonight in the bay.

In preparation for attaching the pulling cable to the Solitare one of Shell’s tug boats drew a smaller cable from the Glengad compound to one of the dredging platforms in the bay at aproximately 5:30pm. Two swimmers set out to investigage what was happening, supported by two kayakers. They were immediately met by Gardai, navy personnel and Shell security in a total of 18 ribs. Even though the swimmers did not enter the exclusion area they were surrounded by ribs and arrested at about 6 pm. The swimmers were put at some danger during the arrests by Gardai because of the lack of propeller guards on the ribs while they surrounded the swimmers. They also denied the swimmers the possibility of swimming back to shore by surrounding them with ribs before they arrested them. They were then taken to the Shell Glengad compound where they were held by Gardai for over 2 hours before being taken to Ballina Garda station for processing. One of the arrestees has since returned to the Solidarity camp but the other person is being detained in a care home in Galway because they are 2 months short of their 18th birthday.

In a further incident later on Garda parking cones were removed by locals and campers after it was discovered that Gardai had no legal basis for putting them there. Soon after, two van loads of Gardai arrived at the road outside the Solidarity Camp, claiming that campers and locals were blocking the road. A stand-off developed which lasted for over a half an hour. During this incident several local people identified a man driving a four wheel drive jeep on the road as the driver of the digger involved in the incindent at Pullathomas pier on the 11th of June, 2007; this was when numerous people were injured after a digger was driven through a crowd of local protestors. This was brought to the attention of the Gardai present but they chose to ignore this complaint, instead claiming that the assembled locals and campers were blocking the road.

There has been a heavy Gardai presence in the area throughout the area, including a public order unit stationed inside the Shell Glengad compound. Gardai have also been stopping trafic on the roads around Glengad checking for insurance, tax, etc. A mysterious white van with Mayo plates has been parked on the roadside during the daytime, adjacent to the Rossport Solidarity camp with the side door open, with someone in there taking photographs or carrying out some other type of espionage activity. The occupants of this van are remarkably camera-shy. Garda numbers in ribs on the bay have also increased markedly in the last 24 hours. All in all, the state is making an extra-special effort on Shell’s behalf here in Co. Mayo.

—-

Pat & Jonathan O’Donnell Arrested and Boats Commandeered by Gardai As Solitaire’s Arrival Imminent

June 25 2009

Fishermen arrested for the crime of fishing in Broadhaven Bay

In a reprise of last year’s repeated arrests on the waters of Broadhaven Bay, Shell’s Gardai have arrested Pat ‘the Chief’ O’Donnell and his son Jonathan while they were fishing in Broadhaven Bay this morning. Their two boats were commandeered by Gardai and brought to Ballyglass pier under tow and naval escort. Gardai claim that the two boats were ‘loitering’, the new term for criminalising fishermen exercising their rights to fish in their native waters. Pat’s brother Martin is currently still on the water in the bay fishing in his boat. Meanwhile the Solitaire is less than an hour away from arriving off Glengad.

Earlier this morning Pat and Jonathan O’Donnell were arrested by Gardai while exercising their right to fish in Broadhaven Bay, waters that Pat and his family have fished for five generations. Gardai boarded the O’Donnells’ two vessels, arrested the men for ‘loitering’, and brought their vessels under tow and naval escort to the nearby pier at Ballyglass. All this happened while Pat and his boat was under Garda ‘protection’. Jonathan has been taken to Ballina Garda station, but there is no word as yet of where Pat is detained. Pat’s brother Martin is still fishing in the bay at the time of writing.

In another development, a mixed group of thirty-five regular and public order Gardai have taken up a position on the beach adjacent to the Rossport Solidarity Camp, presumably in an attempt to prevent actions happening on the water today. When the Gardai were asked by campers and locals what lawful authority they had to do this they were not answered by any Garda.

The pipe-laying ship the Solitaire is due to arrive in Broadhaven Bay in an hour or so, as of the time of writing. The arrest of the fishermen and their processing by Gardai in distant stations is a blatant attempt to facilitate Shell’s project works in the bay with every underhanded method at their disposal. If there ever was a time to get to Mayo to support this community fighting back against state corruption and corporate greed it is now!

Solitaire Arrives in Rossport

25.6.2009
The Solitaire, the huge pip laying ship, that will lay the pipeline in Broadhaven Bay has arrived. If you were thinking of coming to Rossport this summer now is the time. Resistance continues whilst 200 Gardai and the Irish Navy are drafted in to facilitate Shell’s project.

Solitaire on the horizon,more arrests – the resistance continues – Solidarity!

At approximately 5.30pm on Wednesday, two swimmers were arrested in Broadhaven Bay by the joint Gardaí and Naval force

As the Solitaires arrival looms large,the state ups the pressure with more frivolous arrests

LE Emer is currently stationed in Broadhaven Bay and Navy RIBs crewed by Gardaí and Navy personnel are currently being used against protestors.

http://shelltosea.com

Peru Mine Blockade Enters 10th Day

Attracting less attention in light of the full-fledged uprising that has consumed Peru’s Amazon region for 70 days, a mine blockade is ongoing in the country’s highlands.

Attracting less attention in light of the full-fledged uprising that has consumed Peru’s Amazon region for 70 days, a mine blockade is ongoing in the country’s highlands. On June 10th, miners launched roadblocks at the Buenaventura mining company’s Orcopampa gold mine in Peru, in protest of poor labor conditions and the mine’s impact on local communities. The blockades are still halting work at the mine, and the workers have tentatively called for a strike for June 24th.

Peru Indigenous Holding Strong in Standoff

June 3rd 2009
A massive indigenous mobilization in the Peruvian Amazon is nearing its second month, with no sign that the native protesters will allow themselves to be intimidated into giving up on their demands.

Thousands of indigenous protesters have blockaded critical infrastructure in Peru’s Amazon region since April 9, when they declared a national strike in protest of new laws that would facilitate increased industrial exploitation of their territories for timber, oil and gas. The laws were passed by decree under powers granted to President Alan Garcia to bring to country into compliance with a US-Peru free trade agreement. The 10 laws that protesters are demanding repealed were not part of the trade agreement, however, and were declared unconstitutional by a congressional commission in December.

So far, indigenous protesters have blockaded roads and waterways, forced a shutdown to the only crude oil pipeline in Peru, forced two oil companies to cease operation, blocked tourist access to the ruins of Machu Picchu (twice), and held protests that paralyzed the region’s biggest city, Iquitos. On May 31, several hundred protesters took over two valve stations on the only pipeline that transports natural gas from the controversial Camisea gas fields.

The protests are organized under the auspices of the Interethnic Development Association of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESP), which represents 1,200 different native communities. AIDESP’s elected leader, Alberto Pizango, insists that the mobilization will not end until Congress repeals the 10 objectionable laws, declares the state of emergency (martial law) declared in 5 Amazonian provinces since May 9, and enters a good-faith discussion with native communities over a different model for developing the Amazon.

One of the 10 laws has been tentatively repealed, but this action must be approved by the full Congress. The other 9 laws remain on the books.

Anti-Shell actions at Rossport, Eire

2nd June 2009

Rossport: Causeway at Shell compound ‘washed away’ by Shell to Sea action

2nd June 2009

Rossport: Causeway at Shell compound ‘washed away’ by Shell to Sea action

Part of the Shell causeway extending into the sea at Glengad was yesterday evening removed by Shell to Sea protesters. This was in protest at the illegal blocking of access to the public beach and to oppose the forcing of this unsafe project on the local community and the giveaway of Ireland’s natural resources.

A group of about 30-40 people waded into the sea to gain access to the causeway, and proceeded to remove a large amount of the stone which makes it up. They were confronted by a 70 Shell security after about half an hour of the action, at which point the people left. An upbeat and playful mood prevailed over a beautiful evening.

The Rossport Solidarity Camp has again taken up residence in Glengad, and after a very successful weekend, including a number of actions, will build up the resistance to Shell over the coming weeks and months.

—-

Monday the 1st of June saw the arrival of a multitude of assorted vessels to Broadhaven bay. The boats, which are subcontracted by The Royal Dutch Shell company (Shell), are attempting to prepare for works on the controversial Corrib gas project.

Today however, their progress has been significantly impaired by resident Shell to Sea activists that had already gathered a small, albeit formidable, fleet of kayaks, ready to deploy within short notice. The Kayaks were birthed from the Rossport Solidarity Camp, which directly overlooks the vicinity that the Shell boats have been operating in the past twenty-four hours.

Currently there are diverse assortments of vessels converging in the once pristine bay; the majority of these are either carrying out, or assisting, dredging and surveillance operations. An Garda Siochana, have also been sighted patrolling the work zone, along with two black ribs; The Laura Emily accompanied by its twin the Galltee, which are both brimming with men dressed in black military fatigues.

Works, taking place earlier this afternoon, came grinding to a complete halt when twelve activists in kayaks broke through the security line that consisted of nine high speed security boats. The activists managed to tactfully circumnavigate security boats for approximately two and a half hours, which effectively halted Shell dredging works for a considerable period of time.

After numerous attempts by Gardai to secure an arrest, they eventually managed to drag one man from his inflatable Kayak. The man, in his fifties, is reported to have been halting a dredger conveying silt into a barge, and thus stopping afternoon work.

This current work being carried out by Shell is likely to signify the impeding arrival of the Solitaire; at over 400 meters long the Solitaire is the largest pipe laying vessel in the world, and its expected presence in Co. Mayo will undoubtedly provoke formidable resistance.

At this point in the project, all dredging works carried out in Rossport are likely to be held as sacrosanct by Shell’s board of directors, and conversely seen as detrimental by the Irish public.

Climate Rush Pedal Power

…A GOOD OLD-FASHIONED START-OF-SUMMER BIKE RIDE!

On Monday 1st June the UK Parliament returns from recess for the summer sitting.
We want to give them a warm welcome and remind them of the heat they can expect if they continue to ignore climate change.

…A GOOD OLD-FASHIONED START-OF-SUMMER BIKE RIDE!

Ed Miliband (Secretary of State Energy and Climate Change) is in Bonn that evening, discussing with other ‘world leaders’ the agenda for the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen. Let’s give our ‘leaders’ a taste of the civil disobedience they can expect if real climate justice fails to materialise.

It is also the first evening of a coal conference at the illustrious ‘Chatham House’. Everyone who’s anyone, at least in the coal world, will be there.

We’ll begin our bike-ride outside their conference before winding our way through town.

Meet us from 5pm on St James Square, SW1Y 4LE. We’ll then move off at 6pm and take our bikes for a relaxed tour through London. Labour might think that investing in electric cars is the solution to climate change but we know that cars using electricity from coal-fired power stations is yet another red-herring.

‘Mother Earth in climate crisis’ say indigenous people

12 May 2009
A statement by indigenous representatives from around the world describes ‘Mother Earth (as) no longer in a period of climate change, but climate crisis.’

The statement, known as the Anchorage Declaration, was released after indigenous people from the Arctic, North America, Asia, the Pacific, Latin America, Africa, the Caribbean and Russia met in Anchorage, Alaska for the ‘Indigenous Peoples’ Global Summit on Climate Change’.

‘We are deeply alarmed by the accelerating climate devastation brought about by unsustainable development,’ the Declaration says. ‘We are experiencing profound and disproportionate adverse impacts on our cultures, human and environmental health, human rights, well-being, traditional livelihoods, food systems and food sovereignty, local infrastructure, economic viability, and our very survival as Indigenous Peoples.

‘Mother Earth is no longer in a period of climate change, but in climate crisis. We therefore insist on an immediate end to the destruction and desecration of the elements of life.’

The Declaration lists fourteen specific calls for action. These include reducing levels of global carbon emissions; indigenous participation in climate change debate; the recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights in schemes to ‘Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation’ (REDD); the abandonment of ‘false solutions’ to climate change such as nuclear energy, ‘clean coal’ and agrofuels; the recognition by governments of indigenous peoples’ rights; and the return and restoration of ‘lands, territories, waters, forests, sea ice and sacred sites’ taken from indigenous peoples by governments in the past.

The Declaration ends with an offer to ‘share with humanity our traditional knowledge. . . relevant to climate change, provided our fundamental rights. . . are fully recognized and respected. We reiterate the urgent need for collective action.’

Read the Anchorage Declaration

Wonthaggi Protest highlights Desalination Issue for Melbourne, Australia

One person was arrested when protesters carrying two banners walked onto the Desalination Plant proposed site near Wonthaggi on May 9. The occasion was a rally at the gates of the proposed site organised by Watershed Victoria and Melbourne supporters.

Photos on Flickr | Action: Get Real on Climate Change | FoE

“Last chance to have your say – if you build it, we won’t pay”

For over two years, anti-desal campaigners have organised rallies, meetings, film showings, debates and briefings, outlining the real costs of this project and putting forward the practical alternatives to an energy guzzling desalination plant on the Bass Coast. Despite the spiralling costs of the pilot plant itself, the scarcity of data, criticism of the project from experts inside and outside the government, as well as doubts about financing the project, the government continues to push ahead.

The Desalination Plant is beng designed to supply 150 Gigalitres per year for the Melbourne water supply and will be managed and operated through a public -private partnership (PPP) being extoled by the Brumby Labor Government. But many experts say deslaination should be the solution of last resort as it involves huge amount of (CO2 pollutng) power, and generates tonnes of solid waste and brine sludge which is pumped back out to sea where it can affect the coastal marine environment.

Alternative sources for water include recycled purified water from treatment plants (110 GL/y), stormwater capture (50 GL/y), rainwater tanks (25 GL/y), Flood Diversion (20 GL/y), and installation of dual flush cisterns (15 GL/y) all of which could be done for a fraction of the cost of a desalination plant.

The proposed Desal plant at Wonthaggi will cause 1.18 – 1.57 million tonnes of carbon emission equivalent to 365,000 extra cars on the road, discharge 8,800 litres of brine per second just 500 metres off the beautiful Bass coast, suck in and kill 380,000 small organisms per second into the plant. Operation of the plant will be for profit by a multinational infrastructure company, most likely Veolia who already run the Melbourne train system as Connex. The cost (and profits) of the plant will be passed on to consumers through increases in water rates. The people of Melbourne will pay!

In March Federal Evironment minister Peter Garrett gave conditional approval of the desalination plant in Victoria. Cam Walker from Fiends of the Earth criticised the ministerial decision saying “we believe that his assessment is flawed because it is based on information provided by the project’s proponent rather than independent studies,” he said. He also raised that the decision does not relate to or consider the full impacts on species that are not federally listed. “In particular there are serious concerns about the impacts on marine life posed by the plant, including to whale populations, which are not addressed in the Minister’s decision. Cam Walker said in a news release: Garrett fails Victoria on desalination plant approval.

The coastal zone and beaches nearby are a popular fishing spot that will be effectvely ruined. The effluent pipe for the concentrated brine will only take the sludge 500 metres out to sea to destroy the ecology of the rocky reef environment, when it should be extended 2 to 3 kilometres out to sea where the brine can be adequately dispersed by the currents in Bass Strait.

The Bunurong Land Council is concerned over the destraction of aboriginal cultural sites. Steve Compton, Cultural Officer with the Bunurong Land Council told the rally “Some of those sites on the property are the largest sites in the Bass Coast region … So basically the Bunurong community have asked me to say to you guys that they’re dead against the Desal. There is better options for getting water like putting rainwater tanks in Melbourne. Basically bugger off and leave the coast alone and stop trying to dish out big loads of money to foreign multinationals.” (Youtube Video Report: Bunurong people Oppose Desalination Plant)

Gareth Barlow, a councillor from Bass Coast Shire Council spoke about the council’s long standing opposition to the development. Bass Coast State MP for the Liberal Party spoke of his opposition to the plant, while acknowledging that the Liberals had proposed a smaller State owned Desalination plant at the last election which he had supported.

Anton from the Clean Ocean Foundation highlighted the amount of water wasted in Melbourne from the Eastern Treatment Plant and Gunnamatta outfall and from stormwater runoff. (Youtube Video Report: Desal plant for Melbourne what a Waste)

Cam Walker from Friends of the Earth came down from Melbourne and spoke about the growing disquiet in the Melbourne suburbs on the Desalination Plant being pushed by the Brumby Labor Government, and the need for more grassroots activism on water issues in Melbourne.

There were also speakers who outlined the reasons for opposition to the Desalination Plant for Melbourne and its sitng near Wonthaggi. (Youtube Video Report: Why you should oppose a Desalination plant for Melbourne)

A speaker also covered the prospects and background of Infrastructure company Veolia who looks likely to be the only private contender for managing the plant under a public-private partnership. Veolia’s record in water management (they are also known as Vivendi) leaves much to be desired with community protests and outrage for their water management and pricing practices. (Youtube Video Report: Veolia set to run the Wonthaggi Desalination Plant supplying water to Melbourne)

Just as the speakers were finishing two groups of people entered the exclusion zone of the pilot plant near the dunes to display banners. (Youtube Video report – Protestors enter Desal plant exclusion zone) One person was arrested in the walkon, and was escorted back to the rally where he was released after showing the police identification. The banners said “Fuck off Brumby” and “Desal Costs the Earth”.

Songs were sun to popular tunes at the rally Opposing the Desalination plant near Wonthaggi. (Youtube Video Report: Desal Song: We don’t want to swim in your chemicals)

Lots of police were brought from around the region to “protect” the pilot plant, as well as the presence of private security company employees, but in contrast to Melbourne protests the police were pretty friendly. I guess they are part of the local community and probably know many of the people opposed to the plant. Indeed, some of the police probably also disagree with the plant being built.

Panama: Campesinos arrested over gold mine

June 5, 2009

Late last month, a group of demonstrators were violently arrested by police at a roadblock in the northern Panamanian province of Cocle.

June 5, 2009

Late last month, a group of demonstrators were violently arrested by police at a roadblock in the northern Panamanian province of Cocle.

The roadblock was first set up on May 9, 2009 to resist the Petaquilla Gold mine project, which is owned by the Panama company Minera Petaquilla, and developed by two others: the Vancouver-based junior company, Petaquilla Minerals and the Toronto-based company, Inmet Mining.

As a many as 24 local communities are opposed to the project because of the “aberrant predation and destruction of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, where hundreds of hectares of virgin jungle and forest have been cut down, and where the mountain passes and rivers that made the area one of the most important in the world due to its rich biodiversity have been destroyed and polluted,” notes a May 14 report by La Estrella.

The communities also say “they have never been consulted, but rather deceived, and their lands have been taken from them unfairly in many ways, including the destruction and burning of ranches of indigenous peoples, without even indemnifying the local residents and without any authority of the PRD government fulfilling its constitutional obligation to defend the communities.”

Also reporting on the arrests, La Estrella says 12 demonstrators were arrested in total (other reports say it was 30 demonstrators), “among them the Chiriqui environmentalist Carmencita Tedman. A peasant who did not want to be identified, said that he was really afraid, because policemen were hitting the protestors mercilessly, even women and children. He added that when all this was happening Petaquilla Gold helicopters were surveying the scene.”

The police used rods, and shot pellets and tear gas to subdue the demonstrators.

For background on the Petaquilla Gold mine and local efforts to stop it, visit miningwatch.ca