Forest Protectors Call For Solidarity.

        As the struggle intensifies, the Hambach Forest protectors are calling for a massive show of solidarity on September 30th. This is just one part of the struggle for that better and sustainable world that we all desire. The forest destroyers are at work across the globe, they are international conglomerates backed up by state power. Only by the combined power of the ordinary people can they be defeated. Their desire is for increased profit, power and control for the few, and to hell with the many and the planet. Our solidarity is the winning weapon we possess.  

 

Originally published by Ende Gelaende. 

         Dear climate activists, forest protectors, environmental, anti-coal, anti-nuclear, anti-racists groups and local Ende Gelände groups!
           For Sunday 30.9.2018 Ende Gelände is calling for a big, decentralised day of action under the slogan „Hambi stays! Coal phase out now!“ We do not want a coal phase-out by 2038 nor 2030, rather we want to get out of coal immediately. We need to get out of this globally devastating dirty energy that has no future.
        RWE, the utility responsible for lignite mining in the area, and the provincial government of North Rhine Westphalia are harming the climate and the future for short term profit – this is resulting in the destruction of the ancient forest Hambacher Forst and the ruthless eviction of the tree houses.
         For the decentralised day of action on the 30.09. we are calling on people in many different cities in Germany and Europe to march for an immediate coal phase out and for the protection of the Hambacher Forst!
       On the same day there will be a traditional forest walk – a weekly demonstration which is slowly but surely turning into a massive demonstration against the eviction and the upcoming cutting season. For updates about the forest walk in Hambacher forest on September 30, see the Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/744218195930655/, For the coming months, there is also a permanent climate camp nearby in Manheim (not Mannheim) where you can pitch your tent if you want to come earlier or stay later.
         Most importantly: organise marches and creative solidarity actions in your cities!
          Be loud, be visible and say „Hambi stays! Coal phase out now!“
        If you create a Facebook event or Tweets, please share your stories and pictures and let our press and social media gang know, so we can help spread word: presse@ende-gelaende.org (PGP-Key), socialmedia@ende-gelaende.org

 

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A Sunday Walk In The Forest--Accompanied By 4,000 Cops.

 

     More on the Hambach forest protectors, the struggle continues with thousands of supporters turning up for a Sunday walk in the forest. The walk went ahead despite a police ban, and more barricades were built. 

This from Enough Is Enough:

      Hambacher Forest, September 23: On Saturday the cops banned the weekly Sunday forest walk and announced that they only allowed a stationary gathering. Thousands went into the forest in an act of mass cicil disobedience. The cops lost control for hours.
       When we ( a team of 2 persons today, I was one of them) arrived the cops had installed a checkpoint at the opposite of the permanent vigil (video in Tweet below). More and more people arrived and it was pretty clear to us the cops would not be able to check all people. The road was to small and the open fields at both sides of the road were too difficult to control. On Saturday cops damaged one of our camera’s at a checkpoint, so we were even less enthusiatic about checkpoints as we normally are. But often it’s not that difficult to pass on alternative routes without being checked.
          The stationary gathering was scheduled to start at 11:30, but more and more people crossed the fields to avoid being checked and to get into the forest (Image below. Image by @infozentrale).

      We were among the first ones that arrived in Hambacher forest and at that moment the army of 4000 cops were still controlling the forest. They checked us 2 times in the forest but didn’t stop us.
       We didn’t visit the memorial for Steffen in Beechtown until Sunday and we felt that we had to go there first. At the memorial is was very quiet. Some tears, sorrow-stricken faces. Personally I had a mixture of feelings.. Still shocked, grieve and rage. Speechless…
      We left Beechtown and went to Cosytown. Some of the tree houses were evicted in the past weeks, but not all. Soon people started to build barricades to protect one of the two tree houses that was not evicted until now. More and more people came and more and more barricades were build. A few police vans arrived, but retreated again after a few minutes. To much determined people.
       Many many people were building barricades everywhere around us. After the cops retreated, more and more barricades were build on the road between Beechtown and Cosytown. NRW state minister of interior, Herbert Reul, told German media several times that the eviction stop is temporarily, exploiting Steffen’s death by saying that he is even more convinced that the tree houses have to be evicted “because they are to dangerous”. Last night RWE’s (Reul) puppet even told WDR media that the eviction has nothing to do with uprooting Hamacher forest.
     We decided to go to Lorien. During our walk to Lorien we saw small groups of riot cops standing around. It looked pretty planless what the cops were doing. Around the small treehouse village people were digging trenches and improving barricades.
      We walked through the forest again, saw new tree houses and barricades on two sides of police vans. That explained why the cops acted planless for hours: Many of them were trapped between barricades.
      As an armored vehicle came into the forest, people climbed on the armored vehicle and were dancing on it. The armored vehicle retreated again. We passed the cops that were trapped between the barricades, a female cop complained to her colleagues: “They can’t let us stand in the rain for hours and hours, we will all get sick.” When we passed the last barricade we noticed that even the police vans that were not trapped had problems with the rain. The forest road had turned into mud and we saw 4 cops that had to push their van.
      At T-Town the cops started to remove barricades (Video in Tweet below). But they stopped and headed to Beechtown/Cosytown, where the cops had lost control for hours. The cops were desperate and even started to confiscate canvas to protect people from the rain. The pouring rain didn’t stop and in the afternoon the wind was getting stronger. Hard conditions for everybody.
      We went back to the road between Beechtown and Cosytown. Soon the cops started to reinforce and attacked people with pepper spray. The cops also came to the memorial for Steffen at Beechtown. In full riot gear. No respect.
      More and more cops arrived, they had to walk though the forest, because their vans were still trapped between barricades. After we left the area two groups were kettled at Cosytown and cops started to remove barricades.
     We walked through the forest and saw new barricades everywhere. People didn’t only defy the ban against the forest walk, there was spontaneous mass civil disobedience in Hambacher forest. We saw people building barricades, who probably did nothing like that before in their life. We saw cops loosing control for hours that didn’t know how to respond for a long time.
       The fight against uprooting the Hambacher forest is far from over. The determination of so many people was impressive and when Reul gives a green light to continue with the evictions, he will only make people even more angry.
Hambi will stay!    Written by riot turtle

More photos, tweets and videos HERE:

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Blind And Biased Media, The State's Mouthpiece.

          Most of our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, is still pouring out the horrors of Ghouta in Syria, giving horrifying details of injured and dead children, the horror is real, and is an indictment against state power. However, why no similar details of the Turkey's Erdogan fascist's horrifying genocide in Afrin. In the eyes of the Western state propagandists, are the people of Afrin lesser mortals than the people of Ghouta? Is murder and devastation justified when perpetrated by a "friend", but unacceptable when administered by a rival imperialist power block? How long will we tolerate this slaughter of innocents to bolster state power.
This from Enough is Enough:

 “Let’s meet in 

#Brussels against Turkey and #NATO 

on March 27″

         The Platform for Afrin issued a written statement to call for a central march and rally to be held in Brussels on March 27.

          The statement starts with, “Tens of thousands of people will join the NATO protest in Brussels on March 27 and stop the massacres and the genocide,” and continued with:

“ERDOĞAN CAN BE STOPPED THROUGH RESISTANCE”

        “The fascist Turkish state carries out massacres and invasion attacks in Afrin using all the opportunities and weapons NATO offers, as well as the silence and support of international powers.

The second largest army in NATO is implementing a genocide in Afrin with open approval for the massacre by Russia. NATO is directly responsible for the massacre inflicted on a civilian population, using all opportunities and resources of NATO.

         The people of Afrin have put forth the Resistance of the Age and stupefied imperialist states and their tool the fascist Turkish state. Since January 20, the peoples of the world have been witnessing the most noble resistance of human history. We are faced with the duty to increase the resistance of the peoples which will foil the plans of the imperialist states and international institutions who have offered silent support for the massacre of the Kurdish people. The murderer Erdoğan is glad of this silence, but he can be stopped if we turn everywhere we are into the grounds of resistance.

“WE WILL BE THE VOICE OF AFRIN”

          The genocidal operation against our people in Afrin is implemented barbarically by the Turkish state with the permission and approval of imperialist states. Hundreds of civilians, women and children have been massacred by the fascist Turkish state’s army and the murderous Al-Nusra, Free Syrian Army and ISIS gangs to date. Together with the anti-fascist and peace movements from Kurdistan, Turkey and Belgium, we will be in Brussels on March 27 to be the voice of the people of Afrin.

           As the Platform for Afrin that includes 94 organizations and institutions (Kurdistani institutions and organizations, revolutionaries and democrats from Turkey, Assyrian-Syriac people, Armenians, Alevis, Êzidîs, Muslims, Christians, women’s and youth organizations), we are calling on the Belgian and world public:

“NATO WEAPONS USED IN MASSACRES”

           The true owner of the dirty war and invasion attacks in Afrin is NATO. NATO’s support for the massacrist Turkish state, NATO resources and weapons are being used in the genocidal war in Afrin. Our call for all Belgian people who are anti-war and pro-peace, all unions, NGOs, antifascists, politicians and for the women’s movement is to join the European central march we will be holding on March 27 to stop the NATO war in Afrin.

        We are calling on all our people and our allies to participate in the protest against NATO on March 27 in Brussels.

We are calling on all peoples to participate in the march to dismantle this dirty alliance.”

          The Platform for Afrin announced that the march will start from the Place Rogier Bruxelles on March 27 at 12.00.

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/186900225257467/

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

The Invisible People.

       The "refugee crisis" in Europe, or should that be stated as the "fruits of Western foreign policy" has not evaporated, though by the silence of our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, on this matter, you might get the impression that somehow all those fleeing the West "building democracy" in the Middle East had all been suitable accommodated. 

      Of course the truth is a different story, countless thousands of innocent people are still fleeing, death and destruction, the mayhem and misery, of the West "building democracy" in the Middle East. From all across northern Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan, a constant stream families and individuals struggle across borders, facing unimaginable horrors, in an attempt to live in peace, to seek somewhere to live a normal life. They are meet with resistance from states across Europe, who treat them like cattle, non-persons, a dangerous group that has to be controlled, but have no rights. Their plight is at the mercy of the vagaries of authoritarianism. However, they are still there, teachers, shopkeepers, plumbers, factory workers, children, elderly, infirm, all with one aim, to live with their family in safety and decency, something the West is not prepared to grant.

       It might seem obvious to most people, that building democracy with bombs doesn't work, but our lords and masters, still spin the lie, that is what they are about.   

This from Enough is Enough:  

         In Sarajevo, mostly locals are helping to all those who are arriving daily. Every kind of help is needed medical, food, clothes, shoes…Volunteers are needed too, including doctors or nurses. If you can come to Bosnia, please get in touch with Are You Syrious.

Originally published by Are You Syrious.
    Full update on situation in Sarajevo

       On Friday evening, over 40 people entered Bosnia from Serbia, mostly families with children. For now, all of them have been placed in a local hostel paid for by the local volunteers in Sarajevo, but soon they will be moved to Delijas, the only existing asylum center. They will be forced to stay at this center in the mountains, where they are not given adequate food or any kind of help, far from the city. It is a twelve-kilometer walk to the closest gas station where they have a phone and an internet signal. No volunteers are allowed into this center.
       Nevertheless, groups of local and international volunteers are trying to help all the people who are arriving daily in Sarajevo. Several hundreds are now on the streets since no shelter has been provided by the government, UNHCR or any organization that exists in the country. The only available help is coming from the small, local groups of international volunteers.

Two groups that are working in Sarajevo need your help.

       One is Pomozi.ba, a local charity that supports volunteers in the field. The volunteers are working to provide accommodation for all, giving priority to the mostly vulnerable people. So far they are taking care of about 300 people, but many are still on the streets.
      Locals are also providing food, medical help, clothing and everything else. But they desperately need help to continue working, while the number of people who are arriving is increasing every day.

You can help by donating to Pomozi.ba
Name of the bank: Intesa Sanpaolo Banka BiH
SWIFT CODE:UPBKBA22
IBAN: BA39 1541802008533048
Receiving: Udruženje “Pomozi.ba”, dr. Fetaha Bećirbegovića br. 8, 71000 Sarajevo
Purpose: help for refugees

If you want to send financial support from Austria:
ERSTE BANK
IBAN: AT64 2011182266475400
BIC: GIBAATWWXXX
Wien, Oestereich
Name: hilfhelfen-pomozi.ba

        If you want to volunteer in Bosnia, please get in touch through the AYS inbox on Facebook. Experienced volunteers only.
     The other group (Warning Facebook Link) are international volunteers who are working at a private property with a local family who has offered shelter for about 80 single men. But every day new people are arriving and they are struggling with financing food, blankets, and other essential items.

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Spaceship Earth Has No Escape Capsule.

 

       States, councils and corporate bodies, talk the talk on climate change, but never walk the walk. Grand words, but actions that are mainly to protect the profits of the large corporations, who have billions wrapped up in fossil fuels. As the corporate juggernaut grinds its way through our planet, plundering for greed driven profit, our planet limps to a dubious future, where human life is doubtful. All unnecessary, all preventable, if we act now, but time is running out. We would do well to remember, spaceship Earth has no escape capsule. This is our only place for humanity, there is no other planet waiting for the Earth's population. Screw this one up and we are finished, no second chance. If this generation allows this greed driven suicide to continue, we condemn our grand children to an unimaginable, unlivable dystopia of our own making, surely they deserve better. 

        There are those who are fighting this murder by profit, our solidarity should be guaranteed and unstinting, more power to their efforts. This from Enough is Enough:

Climate protectors occupy coal-ship transfer port in Rotterdam
       Rotterdam: This morning (March 9) dozens of climate activists from ‘We Stop Coal’ occupied the coal-ship port of the EMO Rotterdam. The participants of the protest state that it is time to break the power of the fossil industry. They say they will not leave until this renewed contract of EMO is made public and destroyed. There has been a huge international outcry about the continuation of the biggest coal harbour of Europe.
       If the Netherlands wants to take their responsibility regarding limiting the warming of the planet by 1.5 C°, then the port of Rotterdam should stop facilitating fossil fuels as soon as possible. “The port of Rotterdam and counsellor Visser are guilty of climate destruction. By not acting on their responsibility regarding the lease contract of the EMO transfer company they are equally responsible for the destruction of our Earth. People in the Global South and our children will be the ones facing the costs of the decisions of EMO.” Albeit spokesperson Maria Rietberg. “This is a Code Red for the climate. Rotterdam is the biggest coal dealer in Europe. If the government does not take action, it is up to us.”
       The port of Rotterdam is a crucial cross-section of the global fossil fuel trade. “Fossil fuels belong to the past. If we do not intervene right now, our planet will slide into a situation where their inhabitants are unable to live any longer”. Says Rietberg. “Rising sea levels, melting icecaps, millions of people on the move because of hunger due to failed harvest: the cause of this is partly to be found in Rotterdam.”
In the city council of Rotterdam, the behaviour and (lack of) responsibility of D66 councillor Adriaan Visser have triggered antipathy and a feeling of disbelief. Many local political parties urged their followers to take part in the climate march for a coal-free Rotterdam. The march is organized by the Climate Initiative and will leave this afternoon from the City House towards the port company at 13:00 h.
        In the port of Rotterdam, 28 million tonnes of coal is transferred yearly. The burning of this coal equals 47% of the total Dutch CO2 emissions. The majority of this coal is exported by train and inland ships to Germany. In November, hundreds of Dutch citizens joined the protests during the climate summit in Bonn at the Ende Gelände coal mine actions. Four thousand citizens joined the demonstration against the RWE brown coal mine. These people forced RWE to stop their destructive work.
German outrage
       The passive display of the Rotterdam city board has caused international dismay, both in Germany and England. In an open letter, international environmental organizations called upon mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb, port company director Allard Castelein and the city council to phase out the coal transfer. “The international willingness for action to come to the Rotterdam port for big scale actions has increased enormously” Albeit spokesperson Micha Vos. “International anti-coal coalitions state that the Netherlands is avoiding their responsibility. With this unacceptable decision, the City Council acts against the Paris climate agreement.
Just transition for the port workers
       ‘We Stop Coal’ aims for a just transition. The coal port workers whose families depend on their income can be part of the immediate transition to renewable energy. The action group supports the call of the FNV -the workers union, for a Coal Fund for the workers of the coal branch. “We think it is necessary that the shareholders give a compensation back to the workers; have they not profited for years from their labour?” states Vos. “Renewable energy provides many opportunities for a new future in the port. The continuation of the status quo through failing government policy has enormous consequences. That is why we now stand up for the climate and demand climate justice for everyone”, albeit Rietberg.
We put a Stop to Coal, March 9, 2018.

Tomorrow’s World!

See the fat cat’s grinning smile

as Corporate Capitalism runs amok,

Chasing profit as it goes

firing millions of ordinary folk.

Raping and polluting land after land,

starting bloody wars.

Toxic waste, sweat shop wages

and oil covered sea shores.

Where have all the flowers gone

beneath this ozone free sky?

To join the birds, to join the fox

on yonder plutonium field to die.

Mercury fish, strontium lamb

trees that never show a leaf,

radio active beaches, toxic streams

good lean BSE-antibiotic beef.

In a world of epidemic, plague and famine

it’s bottled water and chemical food.

Of course, it’s all tested on rats and mice

so you know its got to be good.

Beneath a sky that’s always black,

hurricane winds and endless drought,

its oxygen masks for the toxic air,

corporate profit’s what its all about.

It doesn't have to be that way.

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To The System, Refugees Are Non-Productive Units.

       Although our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, like the European states, have long since abandoned the refugees that are scattered around the EU, the misery and deprivation is still there. No more so than on the Greek islands. Where they are held in camps and in some cases in prison. Herded like cattle in unhealthy and totally inadequate conditions for the winter weather, their plight is real, but hidden. In this capitalist system refugees in such numbers are surplus to requirements, so can be left to rot, only when the system sees a way to make a profit from them will they become of some interest to the pundits of our corporate financial Mafia. Humans are no more than productive units in this callous system of exploitation. Cease to be productive and you can rot in hell.

        This from Enough is Enough:

       The protests of refugees on Lesvos island continue. In the past days conditions at the Moria refugee camp even got worse because of heavy rainfall. According to a post by Arash Hampay on Facebook. Hesam (who is on hunger strike) was questioned about his refusal to eat. Hesam replied that, “Until you set me free I will stay on hunger strike, because I didn’t do any crime, and if you deport me I might die there,” to which the policeman replied, “Ok. So you will die.”

        The protests of refugees on Lesvos island continue. In the past days conditions at the Moria refugee camp even got worse because of heavy rainfall. According to a post by Arash Hampay on Facebook. Hesam (who is on hunger strike) was questioned about his refusal to eat. Hesam replied that, “Until you set me free I will stay on hunger strike, because I didn’t do any crime, and if you deport me I might die there,” to which the policeman replied, “Ok. So you will die.” 
Lesvos solidarity – Pikpa wrote on their Facebook page yesterday: “Protests and fire in Moria camp last night. Amidst rain and tear gas, several families were brought to the nearby community centre of Humans 4 Humanity. Together with many different groups, we all helped and came together to respond to the emergency: with tents for the families, food, water, medical assistance,…
Today the municipality organised a protest and called for a general strike, to demand the central government to decongest the islands. At the same time, refugees are protesting for their rights and to open the islands.
      How many more emergencies, protests, distressed families, cold and wet nights, speeches, marches? We need immediate action. #opentheislands“

      Arash Hampay wrote on his Facebook profile that yesterdays protests were confronted with counter protests but the refugees avoided any kind of confrontation with the “anti-refugee” protesters: “The anti-refugee protesters want to do their protest at the same place that we are, so we decided that when they start their protest, we will collect our stuff from there and let them do their protest, to show that we are respecting the people who are living there and who are born there. We also want to show that our protest is peaceful. Therefore, we will wait until the end of their protest before we begin ours.” The goal of yesterdays refugee demonstration was clear: “To be free from Moria Camp and Karatpe Camp and, of course, from Lesbos prison. They will use the following slogans: #Opentheborder #Opentheisland #Freetherefugees.”

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When Is Enough Enough?

        This is a wee speech that we should all learn and repeat on a daily basis and when ever we come face to face with that bloated political class and any of their corporate/financial Mafia friends. Reblogged from arrezafe:

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