American Slave Labour Camps.

       The American prison system is nothing less than slave labour camps, where billions of dollars of merchandise is produced for the American military and large corporations, and the prisoners get no choice in the matter.
          Regarding the action against the American prison system, June 13th. from Free Marius Mason site. 

         Greetings to all the good folks who are coming together on this day to fight together against an important Environmental Justice issue. It inspires me to see that friends in the environmental movement and friends in the prison abolition movement are seeing some essential common ground, to join forces and visions in their work.
       Many, many years ago in Detroit, I and a small group of neighbors got together to oppose a trash incinerator that was being built in the city, in our neighborhood. At one of the many public hearings, I accosted an EPA official who had signed off on a report that said that the fatalities due to the operation of this monstrosity would be about 40 people. His answer to me, was that was only if people were exposed to the toxins coming from the stack every day, all day. His assertion was that most people would go away from the area, either by moving or for vacation or for work…..but this was a false assumption. The poor people of my neighborhood were stuck there, many were house-bound elders or small children, and most of us who were able to work did so minutes away from the faculty. We were in essence a sacrifice community, deemed expendable because of our poverty or our race. We eventually lost our fight, for the most part. But were able to get them to put the state of the art capture technology on the Incinerator that would NOT have been put in place had it not been for our intense struggle. Direct action really does get the goods, but you have to be in it for the long haul.
        No one is more locked into one spot for the long haul than are the prisoners incarcerated in the United States; so many for decades on end. Many are prohibited from transfer and would certainly be exposed relentlessly to any toxic source that was on the premises. And as recent litigation has proved..hardly anyone is less likely to be served as to their medical needs. So the curse of a toxic facility on a prison population is doubled by the lack of access to any monitoring or treatment. Given that the prison population is overwhelmingly people of color, trans and queer folks and poor people – the result is a great human rights tragedy as well as the thoughtless destruction of an environment that is literally coming apart, unable to withstand the damage that our society is inflicting on it.
     As an environmental and animal rights activist, as a trans prisoner of conscience, as someone whose choice and whose voice are so often taken away by the system – I am infinitely grateful to all of you who are here today to insist that we want a world that cares and respects all beings and this Earth. Thank you for speaking for so many who cannot. I wish you strength and success in your campaign.

We are all in it for the long haul, love and solidarity,

Marius Mason

Write to Marius.

        We encourage everyone to write to Marius in prison:


Marie (Marius) Mason #04672-061
FMC Carswell
Federal Medical Center
P.O. Box 27137
Fort Worth, TX 76127

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

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

The Tar Sands Killer.

       Tar sands, probably among the dirtiest and environmentally damaging fuels man produces. It is not pumped out of a hole in the ground, you have to remove all the topsoil and vegetation growth, and in so doing destroy all the wildlife in the area. What you leave behind is a wasteland, a barren desert, in the case of Alberta tar sands, the largest in the world, the effect on wildlife is devastating.
       Not a new video, but still very relevant today.

This from Wikipedia:

        In Northern Alberta, oil development activities bring an enormous number of people into a fragile ecosystem. Historically, population figures have been very low for this region. Water is easily polluted because the water table reaches the surface in most areas of muskeg. With the ever-increasing development and extraction of resources, wildlife are recipient to both direct and indirect effects of pollution. Woodland Caribou are particularly sensitive to human activities, and as such are pushed away from their preferred habitat during the time of year when their caloric needs are greatest and food is the most scarce. Humans' effect on the Caribou is compounded by road construction and habitat fragmentation that open the area up to deer and wolves.^[118]

      Wildlife living near the Athabasca River have been greatly impacted due to pollutants entering the water system. An unknown number of birds die each year. Particularly visible and hard hit are migrating birds that stop to rest at tailing ponds. There have been numerous reports of large flocks of ducks landing in tailing ponds and perishing soon after.^[119] Data has been recorded since the 1970s on the number of birds found on tailing ponds.^[120]

        There has also been a large impact on the fish that live and spawn in the area. As toxins accumulate in the river due to the oil sands, bizarre mutations, tumors, and deformed fish species have begun to appear. A study commissioned by the region's health authority found that several known toxins and carcinogens were elevated.^[121] Aboriginal communities that live around the river are becoming increasingly worried about how the animals they eat and their drinking water are being affected.^[122]

        While there has been no link yet made between the oil sands and health issues, Matt Price of Environmental Defense says the connection makes common sense. Deformities in fish and high concentrations of toxic substances in animals have also been identified.^[123]

       This not being done because there is a shortage of oil, there is actually a glut of oil on the market. It is simply done to make money for already rich corporations. However, there are people who are prepared to make a stand and do what they can to impede this filthy destruction of the natural environment by rich greedy corporations.

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

Greed Versus The Environment

 

Health and Environmental Effects of the Tar Sands

 

      Across the United States, oil refineries are seeking permits to expand their facilities to process heavy crude oil from the tar sands. Processing tar sands oil will mean more asthma and respiratory diseases, more cancer, and more cardiovascular problems. Many local communities are opposing the expansions.

In Canada, the toxic burden on communities near the tar sands is already enormous. In addition to direct human exposure, oil contamination in the local watershed has led to arsenic in moose meat—a dietary staple for First Nations peoples—up to 33 times acceptable levels. Drinking water has also been contaminated.

      The alternative is simple: we need to break our addiction to oil and fossil fuels. We could be on the road to a new energy future if we simply redirect the investment capital slated for the tar sands into sustainable alternatives. Heightened investments in clean energy also mean the creation of new green jobs. We need to stop investing in dirty fossil fuels and start funding the future.

Read the full article HERE:

Read more: What are the Tar Sands? | Rainforest Action Network http://ran.org/what-are-tar-sands#ixzz2XAYsM8xS

ann arky's home.

CARBON CAPTURE, WHO PAYS?

      We all know that the corporate world will make a killing wherever possible and they will dress it up as if they were some sort of compassionate caring body looking out for the well being of the planet. Carbon capture is one of those brilliant ideas where the developed world goes about its business of destroying the environment, while pointing to how it is all be sorted by raping and plundering of the undeveloped world.
This from WideOpenExposure:

     Hundreds of hydroelectric dams in Panama. Incinerators burning garbage in India. Biogas extracted from palm oil in Honduras. Eucalyptus forests harvested for charcoal in Brazil. What do these projects have in common? They are all receiving carbon credits for offsetting pollution created somewhere else. But what impact are these offsets having? Are they actually reducing emissions? And what about the people and the communities where these projects have been set up?
    THE CARBON RUSH takes us around the world to meet the people most impacted. They are the least heard in the cacophony surrounding in this emerging "green-gold" multi-billion dollar carbon industry.
     From indigenous rain forest dwellers having their way of life completely threatened, to dozens of Campesinos assassinated, to the livelihood of waste pickers at landfills taken away, THE CARBON RUSH travels across four continents and brings us up close to projects working through the United Nations, Kyoto Protocol designed Clean Development Mechanism. This groundbreaking documentary feature asks the fundamental questions "What happens when we manipulate markets to solve the climate crisis? Who stands to gain and who stands to suffer?"

ann arky's home.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE?

Graphic from Void Network:

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. 

ann arky's home.