Call to 'Occupy the Machine'

RADICAL environmentalists have issued an open letter to the Occupy movement urging it to go beyond symbolic action.

Entitled "Occupy the Machine - Stop the 1%, Literally", the piece appears on the Deep Green Resistance website.

It states: "We invite you to imagine, as many of you already probably have, if thousands of people occupied local refineries, roads, ports, oil and mining extraction sites, etc. – in other words, imagine if people occupied the locations where the 1% destroy the land and exploit humans, all for profit.

"Imagine their stock prices falling, their cash flow being interrupted, their ability to get loans and/or expand 'production' – a euphemism for converting living beings into dead products – finished.

"Imagine if we were able to stop them, stop the 1%. Literally. Not symbolically.
We think it can be done if we all do it together. We think it can be done if we all figure out how to do it and if we are willing to make the necessary sacrifices, together.

"To be clear, what we’re envisioning here would mean a massive escalation. It would mean hundreds of thousands of people all over the country leaving behind school, jobs, family, and comfort, to really go for it. To not settle for less than victory. To leave behind symbolic action for good."

For the full detailed article go to http://deepgreenresistance.org/occupythemachine/

Chinese villagers riot over pollution

 


RIOTS have broken out in China against a factory polluting local water as resistance grows globally to the neoliberal industrial nightmare.

Reports China Forbidden News: "Villagers in Haining city, Zhejiang province in China have held three days of protest against Jinko Solar Co. discharging heavy cancer-causing pollution.

"Villagers and journalists were beaten by company security. The protesters beat local officials and overturned four police cars. The police also fired tear gas.

"Online sources state that over 10 people are injured or dead.

"A human rights activist said that Chinese Communist Party' (CCP) system was causing the struggle in people's lives.

"The Jinko Solar company is a subsidiary of a New York Stock Exchange-listed Chinese solar company, fully financed by Hong Kong Paker Technology Co., Ltd.

"They produce solar wafers, cells and other products, exporting to more than twenty countries within Europe, Asia, and the United States.

"The plant is located in Haining city, Zhejiang province and Shangrao city, Jiangxi province.
There are over 10,000 employees and the plant covers more than 165 acres.

"Villagers blame the company for discharging polluted water and harmful gases into the environment, causing the massive deaths of fish floating in the river.

"Local villagers found that there were over 10 people who developed cancer as a result of the pollution."

Peruvian protests halt mining

PROTESTERS in Peru have scored an astonishing victory against the destructive forces of global capitalism.

Reports the Globe and Mail: "As smoke rose from burning tires and torched security vehicles, heavily armed police confronted nearly a thousand angry anti-mining protesters walking the runaway of Juliaca’s airport in southern Peru, near Lake Titicaca.

"One protest leader called for the group to reclaim the airport. Others said it was too dangerous. Then a call came through from the protest leaders in the capital, Lima.

"The government had given into their demands and agreed to revoke the licence for Canadian mining firm Bear Creek to open its Santa Ana silver mine in the area; as well, it halted all new mining concessions in Puno province for 36 months.

"The unrest ended with the agreement Saturday, narrowly averting a repeat of a bloody conflict the day before, when police killed at least five demonstrators at the airport.

"While the breakthrough agreement stopped further bloodshed, it casts doubts on other resource operations in Peru, a nation that relies heavily on foreign investment and receives about 70 per cent of its GDP from the mining industry.

"Peru is South America’s fastest-growing economy, driven by surging commodity prices, but the rural poor have benefited little from mining and complain it contaminates their water and crops.

"The incoming government must balance the interests of international resource firms, whose production is a huge source of national wealth, alongside those of protesters who argue mines have a devastating impact on the environment."

Activists hold up oil work

FOUR eco-campaigners were arrested at Rossport in Eire this week as work was stopped at Shell's compound in Aughoose for over seven hours.

Says a report on UK Indymedia: "At 7am on May 4, two people from the Rossport Solidarity camp locked their arms together inside a plastic and concrete barrel, which had been placed directly in front of the gates of of the Shell compound.

"This was eventually removed by 1pm by the Garda protest removal team. Following the removal of the lock-on, a tractor bringing borehole drilling rig to the Shell compound was stopped and two people climbed up on the tractor cab and the borehole drilling rig.

"The Gardaí who had been mostly calm during the lock-on, became very aggressive and reckless, immediately climbing on the borehole drilling rig and dragging one of the people down in a dangerous and foreful manner.

"The second person who was on the tractor cab was taken down about 30 minutes later again in a dangerous manner by having her hands handcuffed and her legs cable-tied and then being handed down a ladder by Gardaí. None of the Gardaí involved wore any ropes, harnesses or any safety equipment."

Rock star joins Khimki Forest battle

A RUSSIAN rock star is backing a campaign against a new motorway through ancient Khimki Forest.

A few weeks ago anarchists stormed a town hall in protest, pelting it with smoke grenades and fireworks and painted slogans on the walls.

Now the campaign has become a national cause celebre.

Reports The Independent: "Hundreds of Russian police surrounded a central Moscow square yesterday as a prominent critic of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin led a protest concert against a road-building scheme that is becoming a focal point for demonstrations against the Kremlin.

"More than 1,000 people gathered at Pushkin Square to protest against a new road that will go through Khimki Forest just outside the capital, part of a new highway between Moscow and St Petersburg.

"Organisers of yesterday's meeting had planned a protest concert by Yuri Shevchuk, one of Russia's best-known rock musicians, who confronted Mr Putin about democratic freedoms this year during a televised meeting.

"But police surrounded the square and refused to allow any equipment in, forcing the singer to sing without a microphone through a barely functioning loudspeaker, from a makeshift stage.

"'Khimki Forest has become a symbol,' said Mr Shevchuk before the concert. 'It doesn't matter where you live. Everywhere there are environmental problems, and soulless bureaucrats who do all they can to make sure we have no fields, no forests and no rivers. They destroy it all and turn it into money to line their own pockets.'

"Activists say that there are several alternative routes for the highway that would avoid the forest. The long-running protest has led to several activists being detained, facing court cases and fines.

"'All we want to do is breathe clean air,' shouted Evgeniya Chirikova, one of the group's most prominent activists, at yesterday's meeting. 'Can you hear us, Mr President? What else do we have to do to make ourselves heard?'

"Ms Chirikova has been detained by police on several occasions, and after emerging from a courtroom three weeks ago was bundled into an unmarked car by police and driven away. She was later released.

"Yesterday, Shevchuk sang songs including one called 'When the oil runs out', which talks about a bright future for Russia when the country stops relying on exports of natural resources. In May, he confronted Mr Putin during a televised meeting between the prime minister and cultural figures in St Petersburg.

Shevchuk complained that Russia was ruled by 'dukes and princes with sirens on their cars', and asked Mr Putin if he really wanted a society with real democracy where 'people stop being afraid of policemen on the street'.

In one of the most frank discussions that Mr Putin has faced in his decade in power, Mr Shevchuk also asked why police break up opposition rallies brutally. A visibly irritated Mr Putin said that 'without a normal democratic development this country will have no future', and said protests should be allowed, within reason. But this did not stop police from dispersing, with their usual vigour, a large protest rally in Moscow a few days later."

Scotland - protesters aim to shut bank HQ

PROTESTERS are aiming to shut down a bank's HQ on Monday as the culmination of days of action.

They have set up a camp right next to the offices in Scotland and there have already been clashes with police.

The BBC reports that two women have been arrested after the climate change protesters attacked the Royal Bank of Scotland's Edinburgh headquarters on Sunday.

It says: "More than 100 protesters took part in the action, which also involved an oil-like substance being thrown at the building and windows being smashed.

"Campaigners bearing a banner reading 'Greedy pigs, bankrolling the climate crisis' tried to enter the bank's headquarters."

The Camp for Climate Action website explains it is a "grassroots movement taking direct action against the root causes of climate change".

It adds: "After mobilising and helping stop the proposed third runway at Heathrow and a new coal fired power station at Kingsnorth, we're growing into a mass movement reclaiming our future from government and profit-hungry corporations.

"This year we're targeting the Royal Bank of Scotland.

"Last year RBS were bailed out with £50 billion of public money. This bank is one of the world's largest investor in oil, gas and coal. From tar sands extraction in Canada to coal infrastructure here in the UK, we're paying to trash our future.

"These projects are not just causing catastrophic climate change, but destroying the lives and livelihoods of people across the globe. Meanwhile, we're told there is no money left and we should be braced for decades of public sectors cuts.

"Ecological destruction is built into the mechanics of the financial system, with communities disenfranchised from their own futures. This is why people from across the UK will be converging to take back the power and Break the Bank!"

UPDATE: REPORT FROM INDYMEDIA

People resisting climate change closed down the Royal Bank of Scotland's Global HQ at Gogarburn near Edinburgh and took direct action at numerous sites throughout Edinburgh today 23rd August.

The Camp for Climate Action said: "We are celebrating a successful day targeting various climate criminals - holding direct actions, demonstrations and street theatre confronting the role of financial institutions like RBS in bankrolling climate change."

Harry Reynolds who took part in the actions said:
“No one came to work today at the RBS Gogarburn headquarters. Since we had already effectively shut that down, we decided to concentrate our energies targeting RBS and its fossil fuel affiliates in the Edinburgh city centre. We’ve done a lot to disrupt RBS dirty energy operations today, but we are committed to keeping up the pressure until we manage to cut off the flow of capital from the banks to the fossil fuel industry.”

Russian anarchists attack town hall to save forest

RUSSIAN anarchists stormed a town hall in the latest battle in a longstanding war to protect Khimki forest from a motorway.

In dramatic scenes, they pelted it with smoke grenades and fireworks and painted slogans on the walls.

The Moscow Times says the attack "left the building with broken windows and covered in graffiti reading 'Save the Russian Forest', according to Antifa.ru, a web site for anarchists and anti-fascists.

"No one was injured because the staff had left for the day, the Khimki administration said in a statement, adding that the building suffered “considerable damage,” particularly to an art gallery it housed.

"Security guards present in the building did not resist the assailants, whose number was put at 300 by Antifa.ru."

Police described the incident as 'an insolent bandit attack'. A report on Infoshop says local residents supported the protesters' actions.

Campaigners point out on an Aljazeera video that the motorway could run next to the existing railway line, but was being deliberately rerouted through the forest in order to open up land for commercial development.

Heroic eco-resistance in Scotland

RADICAL environmentalists in Scotland put up a heroic five days of intense resistance to the eviction of the Mainshill Solidarity Camp, protecting woodlands from coal mining.

Reported Indymedia Scotland: "A total of 45 people have been arrested, making Mainshill the biggest protest site eviction in 11 years. The eviction is not an end, but merely a beginning - the struggle continues!

"All five days saw the violence inflicted by the state on those who try to create positive change, and the collusion between the courts, police and corporations.

"But they also saw heroic acts of defiance, with people fighting off bailiffs until having their hands and feet cable-tied together and supporters maintaining a 24-hour vigil throughout the eviction.

"This eviction is not an end, but the beginning of a campaign of community-based radical direct action sweeping Scotland’s central belt which can only grow in strength.

"From actions to stop work on opencast sites and the shutting down of a major coal rail terminal for a day (which happened for a third time on Wednesday), to community engagement and solidarity resulting in a seven-month occupation and a positive change in direction for radical environmentalism in Scotland.

"But where can we go next? We’ve hit these capitalists and money-grabbers where it hurts most – in the pocket – and we can’t wait to hear how much it has cost them in total.

"Over 30 direct actions have taken place over the past 12 months, and that’s not including the eviction. Machines have been trashed, health studies published and bonds been made with those affected by heavy industry and the causes of climate change. We’ve dug tunnels, defended trees and climbed onto diggers.

"The Mainshill Solidarity Camp has now been evicted, but the struggle continues!"