Less Than 60 Hours Left to Support Indigenous Land Defenders!

by Amanda Lickers from Reclaim Turtle Island

As yall know, self-representation and independent media are key.

You might have heard about Reclaim Turtle Island , which is a budding platform for Indigenous-run grassroots media projects. Right now we need your support! Literally all across Turtle Island, Indigenous Nations are combating reservation apartheid and industrial genocide. This means fierce ‘n’ frontline resistance to resource extraction! Everything from tar sands, pipelines, fracking, to mining, Land Defenders are throwing down to protect our lands and build up our communities, regaining identity and reclaiming territories.

Born in late 2013, we focused on supporting the Mi’kmaq Warriors fighting fracking, and put out our first short film! Co-produced with subMedia.tv, titled Kahsatstenhsera – Indigenous Resistance to Tar Sands Pipelines.

Reclaim Turtle Island is a form of anti-colonial cultural production and is primarily focused on producing media for and by Indigenous folks, helping to inspire to strive for total liberation. We are raising funds for a few simple reasons.

#1 is equipment. We want to produce high-quality short films that educate and elevate! This means audio, post-production editing tools, data storage (so many hard drives), etc!

The other main reason is that we are in the midst of production right now!!!!

*Funds from this project will go to:

Film production, including Dine’ resistance to frack-sand mining, uranium mining and cultural revitalization and sovereignty projects, Lakota and Ponca resistance to tar sands pipelines, Innu resistance to Plan Nord, and more…

Travel for an ACFN grassroots organizer to attend an important gathering in Lakota territory, marking their 2014 Liberation Day and furthering conversations about tar sands resistanc…

Equipment needed for film-production, such as audio, post-production editing, etc…

Even a small donation will help us reach our goal!!

Donate here.

Nia:wen’kowa – Great thanks!  Your support can help make this happen.

 

Twitter @defendourlands / Facebook 

(amanda lickers, turtle clan/ onondowa’ga haudenosaunee is a curator for Reclaim Turtle Island an anti-pipeline organizer based in tiotiah:ke, so-called montreal @amandalickers)

Occupied Abenaki Lands Desecrated by 9/11 Memorial Protesters Intervene to Address U.S. Imperialism & Genocide

reposted from Indigenous Action Media

U.S. flag receptacle

Middlebury College, VT — At 3:00PM on Wednesday, September 11, 2013, five protesters removed thousands of flags desecrating occupied Abenaki lands. The U.S. flags were part of a 9/11 memorial established by Middlebury College students.

Amanda Lickers, a member of the Onondowa’ga Nation, states, “In the quickest moment of decision making, in my heart, I understood that lands where our dead may lay must not be desecrated. In my community, we do not pierce the earth. It disturbs the spirits there, it is important for me to respect their presence.”

“For over 500 years our people have been under attack. The theft of our territories, the devastation of our waters; the poisoning of our people through the poisoning of our lands; the theft of our people from our families; the rape of our children; the murder of our women; the sterilization of our communities; the abuse of generations; the uprooting of our ancestors and the occupation of our sacred sites; the silencing of our songs; the erasure of our languages and memories of our traditions. I have had enough.” stated Lickers.

Lickers was at the college to facilitate a workshop on Settler Responsibility and Decolonization.

The Earth First! Newswire Has Moved

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Check it out to see the latest news in the world of eco-resistance.

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For the wild,
The Earth First! Journal Collective

Sweden’s Indigenous Sami in Fight Against Miners

by Malin Rising and David Mac Dougall / The Detroit News

Per Mikael Utsi, standing, member of the Sami Parliament, takes part in the opening session of the parliament in Jokkmokk, northern Sweden (Carl-Johan Utsi / AP)

Jokkmokk, Sweden — On a dirt road passing through sparkling lakes and spruce woods in the wilds of northern Sweden, a woman belonging to Europe’s only indigenous people — the Sami — chants a traditional, high-pitched tune.

Since the end of the last Ice Age, the Sami have wandered the vast landscapes of northern Europe, herding reindeer and nurturing a philosophy of harmony with nature. This time, however, the woman’s Joik — a Sami chant that involves gliding over notes without lyrics — has a desperate tone to it: Her voice trembles and grows into a scream as four policemen remove her from the road. She had been protesting a British mining company’s plans for an open pit mine on ancient lands.

The woman is one of dozens of Sami and environmental activists who gathered recently on the site, setting up road blocks, burning bonfires and flying the Sami flag, with the aim to block the company from conducting test blasts near the town of Jokkmokk on the Arctic Circle.

Indigenous Resistors to Wind Farm Project in Mexico Facing Violent Threats

from CODIGODH

The Gobixha Committee for the Integral Defense of Human Rights (CODIGO DH) would like to express concern for the lack of institutional attention to the conflict generated by the construction of the wind farm Strength and Energy Bií Hioxo, owned by the Gas Natural Fenosa (GNF) Company. This situation has generated a wave of violence against supporters of the Popular Assembly of the People of Juchitán (APPJ). We are concerned about the indifference of the authorities and their lack of action during the last eight months.

The last act of violence against members of the APPJ took place on Sunday, August 25, when they where attacked by gunshots at the summit of the place named Chigueeze, inside the area of the Bií Hioxo park. These actions took place approximately at noon when APPJ members were walking on communal lands to document the effects of the wind farm project. At this time they were stopped by armed men in a white suburban who threatened them with death, took their pictures, and shot at them. The men briefly held Sara Lopez prisoner and tried to stab her, but she was defended by the people who were with her, and was able to escape. The armed men also tried to run over another person with their vehicle.

ELF Attacks On Tourism, Development and Culture in Germany, Russia and Indonesia

Image of the site prior to sabotage. “Militante Ökos haben sich zum Anschlag auf die Seilbahn am Wurmberg bekannt.”

from Earth First! Newswire

The international ELF presence appears to be on the rise.

Last week it was reported that militant ecologists destroyed parts of a ski lift and an artificial snow production station at the Wurmberg in the Harz region of Germany, declaring themselves to be members of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). This marks the first reported action of an ELF cell in German-speaking countries.

Area threatened by ski tourism. “Der millionenteure Ausbau des Skigebiets für den Tourismus wird heftig kritisiert.” (Archivbild)

According to initial police estimates, the damage amounts to around 100,000 euros, primarily by cutting numerous electrical lines. The action aimed at protesting the destruction of a sensitive area for the sake of ski tourism.

Earlier in the month, ELF Moscow had this to say:

“About two weeks ago we torched a tracked excavator at the place where workers were destroying Ismailovo park. The vehicle was parked on the side of the highway, where they were adding more lanes to the road. It took us 3-4 minutes to do the job.

Prisoner Support: Two Activists Arrested with “Burglary Tools” in Rural Illinois

Animal rights activists held in jail for allegedly possessing wire cutters.

from Animal Liberation Frontline

Los Angeles animal rights activists Kevin Olliff and Tyler Lang have been arrested in rural Illinois, charged with felony “possession of burglary tools.”

These are the facts of the case that are known right now:

The two were pulled over late at night in Roanoke, Illinois in what appears to be a routine traffic stop. When they refused consent to a search of the vehicle, the police searched the vehicle anyway. Inside, police allege they found bolt cutters, wire cutters, muriatic acid, ski masks, and cammo clothing.

Kevin Olliff and Tyler Lang were subsequently arrested for “possession of burglary tools.”  The police have not made any statement as to what they believe the intended “burglary” target was, and Kevin & Tyler were not arrested on anyone’s property. Their history as activists appears to be the sole basis for the charges.

Michigan Tar Sands Pipeline Protester Could Get Two Years in Jail

by John Upton / Grist

One oil spill in his community was more than enough for Kalamazoo resident Christopher Wahmhoff.

To protest Enbridge’s replacement of the pipeline that burst along a Michigan riverbank in 2010, Wahmhoff spent 10 hours of his 35th birthday inside the new pipe, slowing construction for a single day in June. [See “Activist Has Climbed in Enbridge Tar Sands Pipe in Michigan” for the story.]

Now Wahmhoff, a member of the Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands [aka MI-CATS], has been charged with two felonies and a misdemeanor, charges that could see him put behind bars for more than two years.

“It was worth it, without a doubt,” he told the Battle Creek Enquirer on Tuesday following a preliminary hearing before a district judge. “We got awareness out.”

The prosecutorial overreaction is all the more striking because of the peacefulness of Wahmhoff’s protest. Though he refused to come out of the pipeline until 5 p.m., Sheriff Department Detective Steve Hinkley told the court, “He was very cooperative.”

Wahmhoff’s wrongdoings certainly pale in comparison to Enbridge’s. When the company’s improperly maintained pipeline ruptured in 2010, it led to the nation’s largest-ever onshore oil spill. More than a million gallons of goopy, toxic tar-sands oil spilled into the Kalamazoo River and a tributary, and up to 180,000 gallons are still contaminating the river bottom today. So who’s the criminal here?

Join the Rolling Balcombe Fracking Blockade: September 1st – 28th

from No Dash For Gas

Fracking company Cuadrilla’s governmental licence to drill in Balcombe ends on September 28th. The government may be allowing them to drill but they have no social licence from the people of Balcombe to frack their land and threaten their water supply.  Neither do they have any mandate to begin an entire wave of fracking across the country. The vast majority of people in the UK want cleaner, greener energy.
After the upsurge of climate activism at Reclaim the Power in August, let’s make these last 28 days count. Let’s halt their work at Balcombe, and also send a strong message to those wanting to frack elsewhere.

A blockade has been on-going at the drilling site, but trucks have still been getting through. Now it’s time to up the ante.

We invite groups from around the country to come and play a part in a 28 day rolling blockade.

Think creatively and act responsibly. Pick a weekday before September 28, gather friends and useful kit get yourselves to Balcombe.

Fracking is stoppable, another world is possible.

* People are reminded that this is a peaceful blockade and that the Balcombe camp is alcohol-free.

* For further information please contact 28dayslater.balcombe@gmail.com

* Follow us on Twitter (@28_dayslater) and like us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/28dayslaterrollingblockade)

Sabotaging the Badger Cull

Activists flood the Somerset cull zone as guns start firing

from SchNEWS

The shooting of badgers in Somerset has started this week. The cull is aiming to kill over 70% of the badger population in the area in a misguided attempt to stop tuberculosis (TB) in cattle. The TB problem is mainly down to poor farming practices and inbreeding of the cows, (see Schnews 836) but some would rather scapegoat badgers. Gloucestershire has not started their cull yet, but may do next week.

There has always been huge public opposition to killing badgers and the start of the shooting has seen some of those people taking direct action. As soon as the marksmen started shooting, there were people sabotaging it. Stop the Cull reported the first incident on Tuesday night in the Stogumber area when people heard shots and then some people made enough noise to send the badgers safe underground. The shooting stopped. Since then, there seem to have been problems for the marksmen every time badger friendly people find them. Finding them is a bit tricky, which is why more people are needed to help.