The Savage March Of Raw Capitalism.

      The previous post was on the insane savage destruction of the Amazon forest, however, it's what capitalism does, destroys. Destroys communities, environments eco-systems, fauna and flora, defacing the earth, all in the name of profit for the few. The 21st. century juggernaut capitalism, raw capitalism, capitalism with the gloves off, people and communities can be cast aside, villages removed, every action assessed as how it will show up on the financial statement of the corporate world. When and where does it stop, when the last tree has been logged, the last green spot concreted? 

Part one of a two-part Shoal report from Germany.

Hambach mine: destroying communities

             The bus stops remain, but the buses don’t call any more in the little rural village of Manheim in Nordrhein-Westfalen. The pub is still there, but permamently shut. The same with the shops. The village church is still standing but was desanctified in May this year and will never host another service. Only a handful of houses show any signs of occupation. The rest are deserted, boarded up, surrounded by bleak wastelands of rubble where once stood family homes.

 

 

        Manheim is, in fact, in the process of being completely demolished. Why? It is the latest human settlement to get in the way of the massive Hambach opencast lignite mine, which is busily laying waste to 85 square km of German countryside to extract “brown coal” used for fossil fuel power stations. Trees, wildlife, communities – nothing can ever be allowed to get in the way of industrial capitalism and its insatiable need to destroy all that is living.
       Operator RWE, whose entire executive board joined the Nazi Party en masse on May 1 1933, knows that electrical and political power always go hand in hand and thus far has been given free rein by the authorities, despite much local opposition. The human beings whose homes got in the way of their profits have been resassigned to Manheim-neu, a new settlement 7km away on the other side of the A4 motorway. 

      Just as clear-cut forests can apparently safely be replaced by planting saplings on a different site, so can people’s lives be neatly rearranged to suit the financial needs of the ruling industrial capitalist elite. An environmental activist who has been visiting Manheim for several years told me of his sadness at the death sentence imposed on the community. “You really saw the decline of the village. At some point you could not buy bread any more. People were really depressed. They said their grandparents were born there, their parents as well, they had lived there all their lives.
      “There are not a lot of old buildings in Germany because so many were destroyed in the wartime. Where I live, you need permission to paint your house – not just the colour but the kind of paint. “Here, 60km away, they are destroying whole villages. It all depends on who is wanting to do what”.
       There were attempts to protect Manheim. As well as residents determined to defy the compulsory purchases, supporters squatted some houses but were rapidly evicted and the buildings immediately rased to the ground to stop them coming back. RWE and the authorities insist that that the destruction of Manheim, with all the human trauma it involves, is for the “common good”. 

 

    Passers-by we spoke to didn’t seem to agree. One referred to RWE as “criminals”, while another preferred to describe them as “the mafia”. He noted that they ruthlessly threw people out of their homes in Manheim and then adopted a “human” approach when it came to the question of destroying Hambach Forest, arguing that the jobs were good for the local “community”. The political situation has shifted a little in Germany in 2019. Rising awareness of climate change, and the environmental crisis in general, means there is currently a question mark over the ongoing expansion of the Hambach mine. But nobody seems to have have told the people demolishing Manheim. We watched as their bulldozers tore into the walls of a place that somebody once called home. Before long, even the firm soil it stood on will have been ripped away by RWE’s enormous and brutal machineries. Is this what progress looks like? Replacing a community with a massive hole in the ground?

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States, Green Liars.

        Most states are spouting the lie that they are following a "green" agenda, it makes them look good in the eyes of certain sections of the public. Here in the UK the present Tory government has stated it plans to be the "greenest" government in UK history, then in the same breath, gives planning permission for fracking to take place. Germany is similar, waffling on about its "green" credentials but granting permission for further opencast mining to the detriment of the local communities, the ecology of the area and continues to feed the atmosphere with CO2 gasses. Open cast mining is probably one of the worst culprits for devastating the landscape, they simply tear the surface of the earth apart over a vast area, making it look like a moonscape, not to mention the damage done by the burning of the result of this ecological disaster.  

      There is strong resistance by communities to these acts of duplicity, but states can and have bulldozed the opposition of local communities with sicking regularity. We need to link up all our opposition to these deeds of ecological acts of terrorism with a concerted resistance to the root cause, capitalism. The state and capitalism are hand in glove by far the greatest threat to our existence. They will continue to rape and plunder the planet for their gain of power, wealth and privilege. The welfare of the planet and its inhabitants are of very little concern to the state/capitalist machine, the managers of this destructive duo seem to be oblivious to the fact that if they continue as they are going, they will be part of the that species that went extinct. Only the combined power of the ordinary people can stop this greed driven human suicide, and anarchism is the only tool that is capable of turning round this human blunder and creating a sustainable system that sees to the welfare of the planet and all its inhabitants. However, time is running out, we are at the stage of now or never, which will we choose.  

German citizens resistance to open cast mining, from Enough is Enough:

        The action group “Kohle erSetzen!”(replace coal) and the alliance “Alle Dörfer bleiben” (all villages stay) call for a sit-in blockade against the construction of the L354n road between Wanlo and Kuckum, which began yesterday. The road will only be needed if more villages are destroyed for the brown coal underneath. Under the motto “Not a single meter for coal”, residents and activists of the climate justice movement want to block construction work on Monday 27 May.
       “With this road construction, RWE is revealing its ignorance of the forthcoming coal withdrawal,” says Mira Jäger, press spokeswoman for Kohle erSetzen! “It is clear that all villages will remain. Even with the completely inadequate result of the coal commission, the opencast mines can hardly be continued. Thus both the dredging of the villages and the new road construction are absolutely unnecessary.” Nevertheless, a piece of forest has already been cleared for the construction work and several hectares of fertile arable land are to be sacrificed.
       “In order to create more facts and to put people in the villages under pressure, RWE is building a new ‘mine edge road’ far behind the villages. This is a mockery for all those who are determined to stay in their villages,” says David Dresen from the threatened village Kuckum. If open-cast mining continues as RWE intended, the new roadside mine road will not be needed until 2027, when Kuckum will be destroyed. RWE has already had approval for the new construction for four years. According to RWE’s current plans, it would be sufficient if road construction were not to begin until 2025. The local residents therefore assume that RWE is already building to put them under pressure and deprive them of the quality of life in their villages. “At RWE, there is a system in place to make life hell for the people here. The construction of the road raises the provocations to a new level,” says David Dresen. “In order to give weight to our demand for an immediate halt to all preparatory mining measures, we are therefore forced to go one step further and call for the construction work to be blocked.”
      RWE is currently digging a path through fields and forest across the full width of the future road. Once this work has been completed, the aisle will be examined for possible old explosive devices and archaeological finds, after which road construction will begin immediately.
       In the last 100 years almost 300 settlements for lignite mining have been destroyed in Germany alone. In the meantime, however, broad support has emerged for a quick exit from coal, as is demanded by tens of thousands of people every week during the “Fridays for Future” climate strike. Nevertheless, RWE is pushing ahead with the resettlement of around 1,500 people in the Rhineland region. Six villages and additional farms are still under threat from the Garzweiler II open-cast mine. On 22 June, Alle Dörfer bleiben therefore invites you to a major day of action in the Rheine region (Rheinisches Revier), together with Fridays for Future, BUND, Greenpeace, Campact and nature lovers. On this day, activists from Ende Gelände will also disobey the coal mining industry elsewhere (but near… Enough 14).
        RWE’s business not only destroys village communities in Germany. As corporation with the highest carbon dioxide emissions in Europe, it poses a particular threat to the existence of people worldwide who are losing their basic livelihoods as a result of the climate crisis. These people are already suffering from increasingly severe droughts and extreme weather events, even though they have contributed very little to the climate crisis.

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Trees Or Tarmac??

 

       The destruction of the Hambach Forest continues, vast areas of rich forest land are being clear to create profit for RWE energy and construction company. This has been going on for some considerable time, but has been slowed down by persistent and determined opposition from locals and supporters from further afield. There is always a call for support to toughen and prolong the resistance to save what they can of this vast important wild habitat. Its destruction would be an ecological disaster, not just to the area, but would be another massive step in the deforestation of our planet. To survive on this planet we need more trees, not more concrete and tarmac. The corporate world will relentlessly devour all natural habitats, denuding our planet of green, and turning into a useless tarmac lifeless ball, all in the quest for profit. An insanity that only we, in our solidarity, can stop.

Dueren, Germany: 
Call from the Hambach Forest: We need all of you!

      From the 21st of November onwards we need all of you to help stop the cutting season this year!
      In three weeks there is going to be a trial concerning the lawsuit of BUND against RWE’s planned destruction of the Hambacher Wald this cutting season. The court published a “verdict” that already shows what kind of result we can expect: a piece of the forest that is not even in the existing cutting zone shall be protected. We expect RWE to try to start the destruction as soon as the trial on the 21st of November finishes. This year RWE plans to cut the oldest parts of the forest and all of the tree house villages.
      We have already constructed tree houses on many strategic points and more are planned. Now we need the voices and actions of as many people as possible to save the forest.
     We are going to demonstrate that this kind of exploitation of habitats for the purpose of profit can not happen without massive resistance. The struggle here is concerning everyone. One third of the German CO2 emissions are caused by lignite mining and the resulting damages to the climate are causing death, destruction, and forcing people from their homes worldwide.
     Get ready to come protect the forest in the middle of November. Organize yourselves in affinity groups in advance. Put your mobile numbers on the eviction list and spread our call to allies and friends.
    Everyone can support us in whatever way they feel comfortable. The tree houses are well equipped, open for everyone, and serve as safe spaces. We share the burdens of repression together. We have organized Out of Action places all over Germany. If you can’t come to the forest you can support us from your city through actions of solidarity and other means.
      We will keep the cutting zone squatted till the end of the cutting season. We will bring so much life to the forest RWE will not be able to carry out its plans this year. We will spread what happens during the cutting season with the help of diverse media coverage so that the whole world knows what crimes RWE is committing in the name of profit.
       In case of a widespread eviction we will reoccupy the forest on the forth weekend after day X with your help. Stay informed and spread the news to family, friends and allies. Solidarity is our strongest weapon.
        Together we will stop this crucial cutting season. Turn your theory into practice and live resistance.
       In the Hambach Forest and everywhere.
      Find more information about the cutting season and how to prepare: hambachforest.org/cutting-season-17
       All means to contact us: hambachforest.org/contact/

Useful information from a previous call for support:

       We have put together a call to action and translated it into different languages. Please help us spread it!
         We do not only want people to come, but we want everyone to be able to be active in the best way possible. That’s why we put together a plan and hope we’ll be able to realise it together with you

October onwards

        Beginning in October and continuing to the end of the cutting season, we will bring life to the area designated for deforestation to such an extent that RWE won’t be able to cut. To achieve this, we want to occupy as many trees as possible, so that they first have to evict the entire area before starting to cut. We will accompany any evictions with our own media channels. We will show the world that RWE wants to profit from destruction at every price. Our strongest weapon is, that we take care of each other. Everyone should only do actions with which they feel comfortable. The large tree houses should be accessible for everyone and be used as spaces for relax and take a break. We will try to carry repressions communally. We have organised out of action spaces throughout Germany.
       We believe that we can stop deforestation as a group! Turn theory into praxis and live a life of resistance! In Hambach and everywhere else.

Pack list
       If you want to come by during the cutting season, the following things might come in handy:
Any medicine you need to take
Water tight shoes, even better if you’ve got two pairs, in case one needs to dry…
Rain clothes
Sleeping bag
(Air) matress
Camouflage clothing (trousers, jacket, balaclava)
Knife
Head torch
Lighter
Toothbrush
If you’ve got one, a tent, otherwise we’ll find a place for you to sleep
If you have allergies, food that is suitable for you
small book for personal notes
sturdy, robust clothing
harness, if you’ve got one. There are some communal ones in the forest
Working gloves

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In Defence Of Hambach Forest.

        The corporate bodies that rape and plunder our planet are, if nothing else, persistent, they are unrelenting in their drive for ever greater profit. They set their plans in motion to desecrate an ancient forest to further their profits, the public protest and set up resistance, five years on the corporate juggernaut is creeping ever closer to those fighting to save the forest. All this is done with the backing of the state, an institution whose prime purpose is to keep the lid on the civil population, should they attempt to protect their country's forests, mountains, rivers and ecosystems from the devouring corporate monster. The state is the corporate plunders minders, stemming the flow of resistance, to allow the unbridled greed of their corporate masters to go unhindered in its rape and plunder of the planet. The state and capitalism will never allow rationalism, freedom and sustainability to enter the debate, perpetual growth is the only game in town, to the detriment of all that is natural and necessary for our survival. Just as the corporate juggernaut is relentless and persistent, so is the resistance of the people, and those who put their time, energy and lives on the line to protect our natural environment, deserve all the support and solidarity we can muster.

This from Squatting Will Stay:

 Call for defending the occupation of the Hambach Forest

       The Hambach Forest has been occupied for five years. For five years people have been building and defending tree houses in order to protect the trees they are living on. For five years diggers, cops, and secus have kept coming closer. Officially, the forest is owned by RWE, a multinational energy company that does not only want to kill the thousands-of-years-old forest, destroy habitats, dispossess and displace residents from the surrounding villages to generate power. With it’s production of lignite in the Rhineland along it is responsible for 30% of Germany’s CO2 emissions. A company that does not shy away from exploiting the entire world in order to maximise its profits. It is a company that significantly contributes to generating situations forcing people to leave their countries of origin. Because the people who first have to deal with the consequences of global warming are not those profiting from coal, but people from the global South. This makes our struggle part of the struggle against imperialism, against oppression and racism. What happens here does not happen by accident. It is a symbol of the capitalist system. And we are working on means of attacking it.       For five years we have not only been attacking RWE, but a system of hierarchy and exploitation that facilitates the company’s mania for profit. It is very clear for us that the fight for climate justice is intimately linked with the struggle for a world without hierarchies, a world far away from capitalistic coercion where major companies do not yield any power over human beings and nature! It is intimately linked to a world where everyone has the right and courage to defend their opinions and principles without being silenced by repressions from the state and system! The fact that the occupation is still alive after five years is proof for the fact that it is possible to resist, that it is possible to dedicate your life to your own maxims and that we will succeed in turning theory into praxis. Only by organising collectively and through courage were we able to fight for this freedom and free space and to maintain it. Despite repressions, despite many of us having been beat up, abused and imprisoned, we are here and will stay here!

Continue reading: 

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Hambach Forest Campaign.

      And so it goes on, under the false flag of "democracy", corporations and governments working hand in hand to enrich their millionaire friends. All this is backed up by the governments' hit squads, under the pseudonym "law enforcement", whose job it is to repress any resistance to their destructive plundering of the planet. European "democracy" will stand no interferences to greed driven march of corporations, as they rip the heart out of our environment, screwing up the climate, and speeding the demise of species after species, with our own species on the list.

 

On the Hambach Forest campaign, this from Contra Info:

       After the courtcase of LAUtonomia activist Sara on the 22nd of march at Cottbus district court, our compa Huba got arrested. Sarah was released and got arrested straight away again for something else, but we don’t have info on why and for what. Sarah was in jail for a month for not giving ID after getting caught shoplifting. When leaving the courtroom civil cops and the screws held Huba at the door and confronted him with a warrant for his arrest. The same day he was before a judge in Cottbuss. He came as a spectator for the court case and left in handcuffs.

       Right now he is in the JVA Wriezen and will be transported to Aachen this week. He is charged with violent assault that allegedly happened the 11th of November, in the cutting area of the Hambach forest.

       We do not know how long it will take for Huba to arrive in Aachen. prisoner transport normally takes quite a long time. Huba will be transported from prison to prison where he will be put in one person cells with no access to books, sports or other things that you would normally get when you are in jail. When arriving in Duren he will be before another judge.

       We do not know how this is going to develop, what we do know is that this tactic of accusing activists of violent assault is very common in the Rhineland region (Hambach forest). These confrontations with security and police are not filmed and the activists get accused of all sorts of stuff, then need to prove their innocence whilst on remand in jail until the court case which can take months.

      This shit is getting fucking old and also annoying. Our comrades get run over by jeeps [and kidnapped], get their noses broken, get beaten up in the copshop, don’t get to see doctors, all of this from the side of freaking RWE, and their fucking rented army of dumb security douche-bags, backed up by the cops. These evil companies and people are protecting one of Europe’s biggest Co2 emitters (RWfuckingE) that are killing the freakin’ planet. And now they started to call us terrorists.

       You can post letters to Huba to the WAA and when there will be a post address available they will send the letters to the prison. When there is more information about Sarah we will make this known. But for now:

       Send letters, make actions, be creative, write a song, talk about this stuff, get involved in struggle or campaign.

ABC Rhineland
z.Hd.: Huba
Kallsgasse 20
52355 Düren

Solidarity

none are free until all are free

abcrhineland.blackblogs.org lautonomiaen.blogsport.eu
hambachforest.blogsport.de

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk