Press release from the Hambach Forest – Meadow search and partial evacuation

Today, on 28/08/2018, there are partial evictions in the meadow camp of the Hambach Forest occupation as consequence of a search. The purpose of this search is to provide evidence of past actions and to seize items to carry out further actions.
As part of this mission, which began at 7:20 clock, there were over 30 sending-offs and also some arrests.
As a result of the five-day long police operation, the Hambach Forest has now been declared a danger area, ie. no people are being let in right now.

We strongly condemn the escalating actions of the police. The violence emanating from the police is in no way de-escalating, and the destruction of livelihood with the legitimation of confiscation of dangerous objects is unacceptable.

The Press Group

For further information: press_hambachforest@nullriseup.net

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Destruction of towns and villages for Garzweiler Mine Continues

Immerath, Kuckum, Keyenberg, Lutzerath are in the process of being destroyed by RWE and joining a list of over 24 villages and towns erased as if they never existed just for the Gartzweiler mine with over 50 more having been demolished in the region.  The local villagers are not consulted or included on any of the resettlement committees that are constantly filled by the outsiders, their schools are not rebuild in the new locations forcing the parents to transport their children to neighboring towns.

Continue ReadingDestruction of towns and villages for Garzweiler Mine Continues

Another Forest Walk Show of Support – Another Police Action this week?

This Sunday walk was another symbolic show of support of general public to Hambach Forest Occupation, to Coal Exit and another chance to see, unfortunately one of the last, the forest in full bloom, coming alive after the winter.  Over 200 people showed up with the oldest being 76 and the most distant visitor coming from South Africa(country also intensely cursed by coal extractionism and the environmental and social breakdown that accompanies it)

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Reflection and Call for Action Following Skill-Shares Camp

This weekend on Saturday and Sunday another successful Skill-share Camp concluded with full days of workshops and on a lighter note concerts on Saturday and Sunday. Both of the last 2 days also were full of political discourse, DiY, Media workshops and numerous activities such a piercing and tatoo workshops. The Meadow and the Forest filled with circles of groups sitting on the ground, walking through out the forest occupation, learning climbing and many other skills, all of this to a beautiful background sounds of birds serenading, sharing their happiness of first warm and sunny weather of this spring. Birds and other organisms that in a year or two will be deprived of their habitat like many of those living in the forest after the sure to come evictions. Like birds the forest activists continue to build a new and rebuild after the storms of repression and after the waves RWE Social and Climate Chaos. Continuing to expand and rebuild knowing very well that that all our and our animal comrades’ habitats are shrinking and that after 2018-20 cutting season the whole ancient Hambacher Forest will seize to exist. That’s why a call goes out to all who attended the Skill-shares and to others who are not at Hambi that in case of Forest Evictions if you are not able to come and help rebuild and re-occupy please consider doing a banner action in front of your local coal power station if there is one close by or by RWE offices which there should be one, or a German consulate or embassy if you are outside of KohleAusstieg(Coal Exit) Land. Let’s point out the price of Climate and Ecological destruction is not just destroying the Planet and habitats but also communities and cultural and protest spaces such as Hambacher Forest Occupation. That is the true price of Carbon and Coal, so please help us bring that message home and deal with numerous disconnects on which Climate Disaster Capitalism is based.

Saturday also ended on a more playfull twist: a Quiz Show on Radical People’s history with prizes took place. In case you have not been there here are some of the questions that were asked to test your knowledge of our collective past: (with answers on the bottom of this article):
1.What revolution took place in 1918.
2.What happened during Shah’s visit to Berin?
3.Which revolution was named after a flower. With extra point for the year it took place.
4.List 3 ways of blockading a road. With extra point if anybody in the quiz group was arrested for using that method.
5. What tropical plant was the revolution in Bougaville named after with a documentary of that same time.

On Sunday the final “workshop” was a day long session dealing with the realities of cleaning up the theory and praxis aftermath of the skillshares in the Meadow, aka[d1]: “Meadow Clean Up Workshop”.

Selected quiz answers.
1. German Sailors rebell after the end of WWI and form workers councils inspired by the Bolshevik revolution. The revolution was know as November Revolution, Kiel Revolt, or also by their participant name of Red Sailors.
2. During the Shahs visit to Berlin a West German policeman Karl-Heinz Kurras shot the student Benno Ohnesormore sparking the beginning of student radicalization, resulting also in formation of RAF. Interesting sidenote: once STASI archives were opened it turned out that Kurras was a paid East German spy. It is not possible to say if him shooting Benno was an intentional attempt to radicalize the West German student movement, however without doubt the resulting political polarization benefited the East German State greatly, even though most students in the West were inspired more by Maoist example than by the existing models of Socialism in the Eastern Bloc.
3 . Carnation Revolution took place in Portugal on 25 April 1974. Initiated by a non-violent military coup it overthrew the authoritarian regime of the Estado Novo, and was overtaken by civil resistance and protest to the fallen dictatorship. Also known as Revoluo dos Cravos.
4.This is an open list as there is multiplicity of methods, and anything that is effective counts just as it counts whther it was and it is possible to put this theory into practice
5. Coconut Revolution. Named as the Bougaville rebels utilized the plant for food, fiber, oil and even fuel.

Continue ReadingReflection and Call for Action Following Skill-Shares Camp