Hi,
After a relaxing summer, the deforestation season has started again. So RWE is busy again cutting trees, but the coal resistance was not idle as well … Read it best yourselves in this actual newsletter. As always only a small selection.
⇑ What was going on in the Forest lately?
⇑ September: Fire at the signal box of the coal railway
On the 10th of September, the signal box of the coal railway burned. For the operation of the open pit mines, this infrastructure is indispensable. First on Indymedia, afterwards also on the Hambi blog you find some background information on this fire and on the coal railroad in general:
http://hambachforest.blogsport.de/2016/09/22/fire-at-a-signal-box-of-the-coal-railroad/
http://hambachforest.blogsport.de/join-in/actions/the-coal-railroads/
⇑ September : Skill Sharing Camp
At the end of September, the annual Skill Sharing Camp took place. With the last summer sunrays and the first autumn foliage, many exciting workshops took place. As always, many workshops were offered spontaneously. On the last day of the Skill Sharing Camp the Hambachbahn (coal railway) was blocked once again. A report of this blockade can be found here:
http://hambachforest.blogsport.de/2016/10/10/blockade-of-the-hambach-railway-on-10072016/
⇑ October: Action Red Line
On 10/23/2016 there was a call to come in red clothes to the former motorway. This should give a clear signal “Until here and not further!”. According to police, more than 1,000 people participated in this campaign.
An overview of the echo in the media can be found here:
http://hambachforest.blogsport.de/2016/10/30/action-red-line-media-review/
⇑ October: The deforestation season started.
Every year, on the 1st of October, the deforestation season started in the Forest. What exactly this means and how you can support a tree occupation is described in the following blog articles:
http://hambachforest.blogsport.de/2016/11/04/report-from-the-hambach-forest/
http://foretdehambach.blogsport.de/2016/11/04/la-saison-a-commence-la-deforestation-est-protegee-par-la-police/
http://hambachforest.blogsport.de/join-in/actions/support-for-a-tree-occupation-but-how/
⇑ October: Neighboring meadows bought by RWE.
At the beginning of October there was still the hope that we could buy the meadows next to ours. Unfortunately these meadows were purchased by RWE.
⇑ Kurt’s lawsuit
Kurt continues to struggle for the meadow and is driven from one trial to the next. No final decisions have yet been made by the court.
A brief review of the last trial:
http://hambacherforst.blogsport.de/2016/11/03/kurzbericht-zum-heutigen-prozess/
⇑ Police relies on de-escalation
Since a couple of months, the police in Aachen is mainly responsible for the events in the Hambach Forest. They adopted a de-escalation strategy and sent us a contact policeman for this purpose: Robert Hintereker, who prefers to be called Robert and wants “to solve the conflict together with us in a non-violent way”. If there is any stress with police or security guards, he would be pleased to be contacted: +49 172 6360968. They also offered that we can visit the detainees in their cells in order to make sure that they are doing well. This offer has been used once so far – we were led into the cell of a single person who was ok. The others were treated worse, which we heard only when they were released.
⇑ Still one person in custody
Turtel is still in custody and will remain there for some time. In the Christmas period, there are not so many political camps anyway – there should be time for a wintery writing-café with biscuits and punch.
⇑ What is planned for the near future?
⇑ Campaign for the upcoming deforestation season
A lot has already been prepared for this campaign. On the blog you will find, among other things, an action call, action cards, flyers / posters and a few notes on the framework of actions:
http://hambachforest.blogsport.de/join-in/actions/campaign-against-the-deforestation-2016-2017/
⇑ Photographic Exhibition
From 11/05/2016 to 1/20/2017 Hubert Perschke presents his pictures of the Hambach Forest under the title “Rest, But Not In Peace” in Düren. Further information is available here:
http://hambachforest.blogsport.de/2016/11/04/photographic-exhibition-in-dueren/
⇑ Jail solidarity tour
From November 4th to December 17th, a jail solidarity tour will take place where a hodgepodge of street musicians will travel through Germany and Switzerland in order to give concerts in front of the jails.
Further information:
http://hambacherforst.blogsport.de/2016/10/19/knasttour/
⇑ How can we help?
⇑ Donations in kind
We are always glad to accept any sort of donations in kind. On the blog you find a list of what we currently need on the occupation (if unsure please feel free to ask):
http://hambachforest.blogsport.de/join-in/donations/
⇑ Become supporter / sponsor of a tree occupation
People who take over sponsorships for tree occupations regularly look at the occupied trees and bring along the required things with them. A description of how this is done:
http://hambachforest.blogsport.de/join-in/actions/support-for-a-tree-occupation-but-how/