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)

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.

Activists Blocking Coal Train in Germany

from Linksunten Indymedia

Rhineland Coalfield – Germany: Around 200 activists are occupying the coal train tracks which is the main way to transport coal between the open-cast coal mine “Hambach” to the big power plants which emit 100 millions tons of CO2 per year. The action is happening in solidarity with the Climate and Reclaim the Fields Camp that is taking place from August 23 to September 6 2013 in the Rhineland coalfield.

The activists went onto the tracks at around 1pm. At the time of writing (5.30pm), they are still there, surrounded by a lot of police. The fire fighters have arrived to fell trees, to make way for the police. It is expected that the occupation is going to be evicted within the next hours.

Already in the last two years, there have been blockades like this. The tracks are an extremely vulnerable point in the coal complex ca. 40km west of Cologne, which consists of three open cast lignite mines and four coal-fired power plants. Usually, wagons loaded with coal run here every 15 minutes to supply the power plants. The plants have storage capacity for only two days.

Honduras: Three Indigenous Murdered for Defending Territory from Resource Extraction

by Curtis Kline / Intercontinental Cry

photo: larepublica.pe

While carrying out peaceful actions to defend their territory from the illegal exploitation of natural resources and forest clearing, three Indigenous Tolupan from Yoro district in Honduras, María Enriqueta Matute, Armando Funez Medina and Ricardo Soto Funez, were murdered on Sunday.

At the time, the Tolupan community of San Francisco de Locomapa was carrying out a peaceful demonstration to protest the installation of a mine in their territories. Exercising their legitimate right to the protection of their environment and their livelihoods, the community organized a roadblock, preventing all vehicles from gaining access to any minerals.

Syria Intervention Plan Fueled by Oil Interests, Not Chemical Weapon Concern

by Nafeez Ahmed / The Guardian

U.N. chemical weapons experts visit people affected by an apparent gas attack, at a hospital in the southwestern Damascus suburb of Mouadamiya. Photograph: Stringer/Reuters

On 21 August, hundreds – perhaps over a thousand – people were killed in a chemical weapon attack in Ghouta, Damascus, prompting the US, UK, Israel and France to raise the spectre of military strikes against Bashir al Assad’s forces.

The latest episode is merely one more horrific event in a conflict that has increasingly taken on genocidal characteristics. The case for action at first glance is indisputable. The UN now confirms a death toll over 100,000 people, the vast majority of whom have been killed by Assad’s troops. An estimated 4.5 million people have been displaced from their homes. International observers have overwhelmingly confirmed Assad’s complicity in the preponderance of war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Syrian people. The illegitimacy of his regime, and the legitimacy of the uprising, is clear.

Destruction of Police Facility Claimed by UK Anarchist Groups as Response to Badger Cull

by Sunita Patel-Carstairs / The Telegraph

Radicals from two groups – the Angry Foxes Cell and the ACAB (All Coppers Are Bastards) – said they started the fire to coincide with the start of the cull.

They claim they poured accelerants on electrics at the half-built centre on Monday night and “left it with flames licking high”.

Their strike was part of a “night of action” against the authorities, which included attacking two vehicles used by prison security services.

A fire at a police training area in Portishead, Bristol, sends out a giant plume of smoke. An anarchist group opposed to the badger cull has claimed responsibility for the fire which gutted a £16million police firing range Photo: SWNS.com

Firefighters on Wednesday were still battling to extinguish the blaze at the Black Rock Quarry centre in Portishead, near Bristol, 36 hours after it was started.

The statement by the ‘Angry Foxes Cell in collaboration with ACAB’ said: “It put smiles on our faces to realise how easy it was to enter their gun club and leave a f*** you signature right in the belly of the beast, with a curious fox as our only witness.

South Africa Shale Pits Shell Against Sheep Farmers

by Paul Burkhardt / Bloomberg

Shell applied for permission in 2011 to drill 24 exploratory wells in the Karoo. GO!/Gallo Images/Getty Images

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)’s shale gas drilling plans for South Africa’s Karoo semi-desert are pitting the government and its energy goals against farmers and conservationists like billionaire Johann Rupert who say the land will be spoiled.

The government estimates enough gas can be discovered to generate 1 trillion rand ($100 billion) of sales within three decades and help bring a country that imports 70 percent of its crude oil needs closer to supplying its own energy demand. Landowners are lining up against the water-intensive drilling techniques that Europe’s biggest oil company intends to use.

“People don’t see what will happen,” Izak van der Merwe, a 59-year old sheep farmer, said as he sipped a beer while walking down a line of freshly slain antelope at the Murraysburg Hunting Competition, 620 kilometers (385 miles) northeast of Cape Town. “The people at Shell don’t realize the kind of ecosystem we have.”

Undercover at the Tar Sands: What It’s Really Like Working for Big Oil

An anonymous worker reveals conditions at ground zero for Canada’s controversial pipelines

from Rolling Stone

from Getty Images

Editor’s Note: In recent months, many climate activists have focused their efforts on Canada’s tar sands and the companies set on extracting fossil fuels from them. With the debate raging louder than ever, Rolling Stone is in contact with one of the workers helping to build a pipeline to bring oil from the tar sands to the U.S. Read on for that anonymous correspondent’s second dispatch from one of the world’s most controversial jobs.

On its surface, Fort McMurray, Alberta, looks like any other small Canadian city, with rows of new houses, condo developments and a Wal-Mart. Recycling bins line the streets, and residents schlep cloth bags to the store because the community banned plastic bags. But there’s one big difference between Fort Mac and other towns: This is ground zero for Canada’s controversial tar sands operations. Like tens of thousands of others, I saw green in the tar-like bitumen-drenched sand, and I came here to cash in. (I’m writing anonymously to protect my colleagues, my friends and myself.)

Read Our Undercover Correspondent’s First Dispatch from the Tar Sands

The majority of oil-related work happens north of town. Follow Highway 63 for about 20 minutes and you’ll see a sprawling series of smoke stacks at the Syncrude Canada Ltd. processing facility. You can smell the oil in the air, and smog hangs across the otherwise crisp northern horizon. Drive further, and things get even worse. Koch Carbon’s giant pile of petroleum coke in Detroit is nothing compared to what the oil companies have up here. Shell, Imperial Oil, Exxon, Encana, Husky, BP, Suncor Energy, CNR, Southern Pacific and Petro-Canada all have a stake in this game, and there’s an estimated 170 billion barrels of crude on the line.