Hundreds Turn Out To Back Hawaiian Occupiers Of Famed Coco Palms Site

by Brittany Lyte / Civil Beat

KAPAA, Kauai — Five days after a judge ordered a pair of Native Hawaiians out of a 2,000-tree coconut grove that is the namesake of the famed Coco Palms resort, a Sunday night eviction deadline sparked the opposite of the intended effect.

In a show of solidarity, about 200 people joined dozens of men, women and children who have occupied the property sporadically over the last 10 months, with about 20 of them routinely sleeping there in makeshift housing.

Under a ceiling of coconut fronds illuminated by a waxing moon, the crowd sang, chanted and prayed to reconfirm their commitment to guarding ancient bones on the property and practicing sustainable farming. Many of the visitors joined the occupiers for a warm meal under the stars and pitched tents to spend the night.

As the blowing of conch shells perforated the night air, law enforcement officials were nowhere to be seen. The State Sheriff Division is the entity that is responsible for responding to a violation of a court order, county officials said.

Neither of the defendants who lost his bid to assert genealogical ownership rights in the contentious land dispute said he intended to leave. (more…)

Italy: Beware of the Intruder – the Italian Eco-Animal Fascists

from Contagio Antispecista

Fascism has always been clearly present in the democratic dynamics, but, most of the times, historically little followed by the masses.

Nowadays it is different.

The extreme right, to garner consensus, moves massively behind the scenes.

One such example are the infiltrations by fascists in the world of animal rights activism which, in Italy alone, has hundreds of thousands sympathizers.

Hidden in disguise, camouflaged among the conformist environments, fomented by a passive (as much as guilty) acceptance of an always increasing repressive climate it resurfaced marked by the usual intolerant, xenophobic, squadrist and sectarian attitude, finding an easy proliferation in environments, among individuals and groups that define themselves “apolitical”. (more…)

Chile: Lies, Dam Lies and a Mapuche Activist Murdered

Content Warning: murder

from Freedom News

It has taken nearly a year-and-a-half of fighting the authorities, and a second autopsy, to confirm what the family of Macarena Valdés Muñoz already knew – she was hanged after her death. There was no suicide. 

On the afternoon of Monday August 22nd, 2016 Macarena, a Mapuche environmental activist fighting against the construction of a mini-hydroelectric dam near and over her property in Newen-Tranguil, near Liquine, Los Rios, was found hanged in her home aged 32. A noose was round her neck and for the coroner the situation was obvious: “Death by suffocation and hanging” – a suicide with a technical explanation that baffled her family.

What had actually happened however was murder. A doctor was first to explain to loved ones that key factors for a suicide had not happened. Her cervical vertebra hadn’t been broken, and it was clear, explained her father-in-law, Mapuche political leader Marcelino Collío, she had been killed. Most likely, it had happened in front of her one-year-old child who was with her at the time. (more…)

More Actions Against Fracking in the UK

from Drill or Drop

Demonstrations outside council meetings

Campaigners against shale gas exploration demonstrate outside council offices before meetings in Chester and Rotherham.

Councillors opposed plans by IGas for shale gas testing at Ellesmere Port. DrillOrDrop live updates and reaction.

In Rotherham, the council’s planning committee opposed plans by INEOS for shale gas exploration at Harthill and will contest the application at a public inquiry. DrillOrDrop live updates and reaction.

(more…)

Germany: Hambach Forest Defenders Call for Day of Action on February 3

from Hambach Forest

On January 22, the police tried in vain to clear the occupied barricades in the forest with an expensive action. Even the attempt to present the “violent ecoterrorists” to the present regional deputies of the SPD and AfD failed. For our resistance is colorful, courageous and broader than ever. Nevertheless, now 9 climate activists are in custody. They are accused of resistance to law enforcement officers. For opposing their bodies to the evacuation machines. For having decided to peacefully but firmly demonstrate against lignite mining and for a climate-friendly world. Never before in the history of this forest occupation, so many activists were imprisoned at the same time.

The violence against them is violence against all of us. The repression that hits them is addressed to us all. It is a clear attempt to intimidate us and thus an attack on the entire climate justice movement. They try to set an example against the refusal of personal data, that, for example, at the last Ende Gelände action again proved to be an effective means. They try to take any form of resistance from us: in case of militant resistance we are isolated, criminalized and isolated. By their massive repression against our civil disobedience, we not only experience direct police brutality through brutal evictions and painful ED treatments, but we are also locked away indefinitely.

(more…)

Mexico: Yaqui Community Continues to Resist Agua Prieta Pipeline

by Gabriella Rutherford / Intercontinental Cry

In 2013, Enrique Peña Nieto’s government deregulated Mexico’s energy sector, opening it up to foreign investors for the first time 75 years. In what he called an “historic opportunity”, the Mexican President proclaimed “This profound reform can lift the standards of living for all Mexicans.”

But not everyone stands to see their quality of life materially improve from the deregulated sector. Such is the case for the Yaquí Peoples in Sonora state, Mexico, whose territory is currently home to an 84-kilometre stretch of natural gas pipeline.

The Aguaprieta (Agua Prieta) pipeline starts out in Arizona and stretches down 833km  to Agua Prieta, in the northeastern corner of the Mexican state of Sonora—cutting through Yaqui territory along the way.

Once completed, the pipeline would also cross Yaqui River (Río Yaqui), the Yaqui’s main source of water. (more…)

Canada: Kwakwaka’wakw Leaders Hand Eviction Notice to B.C. Fish Farm

from CTV News

Setting out from Port Hardy on Vancouver Island, members of at least six B.C. First Nations took to the sea Monday to deliver an eviction notice to a fish farm operated by Marine Harvest: one of Canada’s largest producers of farmed Atlantic salmon.

“This is our right and this is our territory and we need to protect it,” organizer and Kwakiutl First Nation elder James Wadhams told CTV News.

Like many environmental groups, the hereditary chiefs and elders aboard the boat believe that fish farms such as Marine Harvest’s spread disease and hurt wild salmon.

Their symbolic protest is the latest to rock B.C.’s fish farm industry.

Last year, there were demonstrations across the province and several First Nations groups occupied a handful of aquaculture sites. (more…)

Hambach Forest, Germany: Barricade Eviction and the ‘Hambi 9’

9 activists are in pre-trial detention, after being arrested during a barricade-eviction in the occupied Hambach Forest, Germany. The activists are accused of ‘obstructing the work of police officers’, during the barricade eviction on Monday the 22 of January.

Arriving early in the morning, the cops were met with activists occupying blockading-infrastructure, including 2 tripods, 3 monopods, a skypod, and a 3 meter deep tunnel.

(more…)

South Dakota: Oglala Lakota People Denounce State’s Approval of Gold Mining

by Talli Nauman / Native Sun News Today

At a hearing on Jan. 18, Oglala Lakota tribal members and others took issue with state officials for approving a permit transfer that moves Canadian prospectors one step closer to their goal of large-scale Black Hills gold mining.

After taking public comments at the hearing in the state capital, the members of the South Dakota Board of Minerals and Environment granted an exploration permit transfer from Mineral Mountain Resources Ltd., of Vancouver, British Columbia, to the company’s wholly-owned South Dakota subsidiary, Mineral Mountain Resources (SD) Inc., releasing the foreign parent company from liability in the operation.

The panel of nine members, appointed by the state governor, voted unanimously in favor of the transfer, effective with the subsidiary’s posting of a $20,000 reclamation bond.

The permit gives a green light for planned diamond drilling exploration of 120 holes up to 5,000 feet deep at 12 sites on some 7,500 acres of private land and an unspecified number of additional holes at 21 more sites on public land.

The activity is set to launch at the so-called Rochford Gold Project, located in the vicinity of the historic Standby Mine claim and the Lakota spiritual center of Pe’ Sla, all in Pennington County in the central Black Hills.

(more…)

Cambodia: Environmental Activists Jailed For Photographing Boat

from AEC News Today

Cambodia’s human rights record and justice system suffered another blow today, January 26, when two environmental activists were jailed for taking a photograph of a boat on the ocean.

Koh Kong Provincial Court sentenced Mother Nature activists Dem Kundy and Hun Vannak to one year in prison and fined the pair Rl1 million (about US$250) each, after finding the pair guilty of ‘violating privacy’ and ‘incitement to commit a felony’. Seven months of the jail term was suspended.