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Mainshill Blockaded
The same morning at around 7am
the access road to the woods used by
loggers was blockaded by residents at the
Mainshill Solidarity Camp. Work was
stopped for over seven hours, with two
big barricades and two people locked
on. Actions to stop tree felling carried
on throughout the night, and Tuesday
morning saw another two people locked
on to harvesting machinery.
A
s we go to press the forced eviction shut down the nearby Ravenstruther coal A Strategy of Continuous Action
of Mainshill Solidarity Camp has terminal for the third time in a year. The camp has brought attention to the
come to an end. Over 70 people This huge show of resistance comes fact that Scotland bears the brunt of new
resisted the eviction, with 45 arrests and after seven months of intense activity in coal developments in the UK. Unlike a
a huge number of defences that kept the the area – South Lanarkshire in Scotland lot of environmental direct action over
National Eviction Team busy for five has played host to at least 30 different the last decade which has focused on
days. These included a multi-layered ‘fort’, blockades, digger dives and acts of one-off spectacular mass actions, Mainshill
a double-layered tripod with a prism sabotage against machinery on open-cast Solidarity is effective because it is targeted
shaped sky-raft hanging from its apex and coal mines. Taken together, all these and continuous, building momentum over
lock-ons under the ground and at the tops actions have so far prevented Scottish time.
of the trees. The tunnel team had to work Coal from turning Mainshill Wood into The campaign has also found that
24/7 to extract the people from inside the what would be the fifth open cast coal different types of actions are necessary to
tunnel. At the same time digger diving mine in the area. maintain the level of activity. They have not
Nuclear CON
NOW – there’s no point in winning at
Kingsnorth if we surrender Sizewell and
Hinkley Point and all the rest without a
As we go to press, the so-called govern- it’s not clear how this will affect their plans struggle. After all, we’re tackling exactly
ment CONsultation process on nuclear for five new reactors in Britain. These five the same problem – the same companies
new build has almost finished and the include Sizewell and Hinkley, which are promoting dangerous and expensive false
path to 10 new nuclear power stations predicted to be the first to go ahead. Of all solutions to climate change.”
looks clear. By February 22nd this year, the the countries that have signed agreements
public will have lost any chance to have with the French government, just one new save-our-valley.co.uk
an input into the authorisation of the two reactor (in Finland) is going ahead so far, stophinkley.org
new reactor designs – both of which were and this has been dogged with massive stopnuclearpower.blogspot.com
heavily criticised by the Health and Safety delays and serious safety concerns.
Executive last December. The Companies
Gearing up for battle? behind new nuclear
Built on shaky finance For a long time now, resist-
At the same time, the We’ve got a long ance to nuclear in Britain • British Energy – Hinkley
companies involved may way to go in pretty has been concentrated in Point, Sizewell, Hartlepool,
be more vulnerable than the areas around the power Heysham, Bradwell
they’d like us to think. much no time at all stations. Recently, Hinkley • RWE – Braystones, Kirksanton
The government claims has seen demonstra- • Horizon – Wylfa, Oldbury
that there will be no subsidies, but nuclear tions at the EDF offices, and against the • Scottish and Southern,
reactors have never been built without construction of power lines that are tied in Iberdrola, GDF – Sellafield
public money. The French state-owned to the nuclear new build programme. At
Choice of reactors
company EDF is heavily in debt, although the end of January, demonstrations were
• EPR (European Pressure
Protesters outside nuclear conference in London, Jan 10
held outside the National Nuclear New Reactor)- Areva and EDF
Build Conference to expose nuclear’s long • AP1000 – Eon and RWE
history of greenwash and dodgy cover ups. • Horizon remains undecided
Two days later, the Department of Energy
and Climate Change Select Committee
meeting on nuclear energy was disrupted
by three activists with a banner which read Anti-Nuclear Camp
“Local Democracy Dumped.”
‘Nuclear Power is not the
The No New Nuclear gathering held
Answer to Climate Chaos’
in London last November made a start
Camp on the beach at Sizewell A and
at bringing isolated local campaigners B nuclear power stations, Suffolk
together. One punter commented: “I feel 23rd – 26th April
like we laid the foundations for a more Protest, Workshops, Info Tours,
effective national network of resistance to Networking, Planning.
nuclear, but we’ve got a long way to go in
D. Viesnik
Conference
Blockades
In November, activists from
‘Climate Alarm!’ blocked
entrances to a conference
centre in Brussels preventing
hundreds of corporate lobbyists
representing Shell, Arcelor
Mittal, BASF and Daimler from
attending ‘Business Europe’.
25 activists were arrested,
with police using pepper
spray and excessive force.
earthfirst.org
blockaded the main entrance was halted when protesters lack of economic sustainability. The lock-on, banner drop and
to the UN’s Climate Change locked on to a drill rig on Over 90 activists have been leafleting preceded a national
Conference in Barcelona and Coal River Mountain’s Bee arrested in the past year. demonstration later in October.
dropped the banner “Without Tree mountaintop removal climategroundzero.org earthfirst.org.uk
a drastic reduction, there is no site, West Virginia. The action
solution.” The action supported brings attention to the extreme
African nations boycotting the danger facing residents of the GM Food Protest ELF Russia
talks due to lack of serious- Coal River Valley from blasting
ness from rich countries. near a dam which holds Activists chained themselves Earth Liberation Front
elclimanoestaenvenda. nine billion gallons of toxic to the roof of the European claimed responsibility for
wordpress.com coal slurry; a 40-foot wall of Food Standards Authority October actions in Butovo,
sludge could flow through the (EFSA) building in Parma, Moscow, where an excavator
valley. Elsewhere in the state, Italy, to protest against the and tractor were torched.
Blasting Stopped protesters locked on to block GM invasion of Europe. Currently, the “Internal Intel-
on Coal River coal trucks from entering a EFSA is currently authorizing ligence Bureau” is cutting the
Mountain USA mine site to highlight the detri- MON810 maize (Monsanto) forest down to make a road
mental effects of mountaintop and RICELL62 (Bayer) for to their infrastructure there.
This November, blasting removal mining, including its growing throughout the EU. 325.nostate.net
About Earth First! cally modified crops, protesting against climate criminals, fighting
corporate power and much, much more.
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8 EF Action Update | Spring 10