Anti-coal campaigners were celebrating a major victory today as Business Minister Sajid Javid banned opencast mining in Druridge Bay — and are pushing for a similar ban at Pont Valley. Javid’s Druridge decision stunned both activists and corporate bosses at site developer Banks Mining by citing climate change as his main reason for denying the
Tag: Environment
Loughborough Students Risk Disciplinary Action on Fossil Fuel Campaign
At the start of the academic year something unusual happened at Loughborough University. Whereas undergraduates normally avoid politics on campus a small group got together to discuss a campaign to encourage the university to take their investments out of fossil fuels. Initially the Loughborough People and Planet campaign had the support of Loughborough Students’ Union
ZAD: a month away from possible eviction
Following the announcement by French prime minister Edouard Philippe that the ‘illegal occupants’ will be evicted at the end of March, for four weeks now ZAD has seen a large police presence, with about 200 gendarmerie mobilised daily in the area. Their mission: to control the entrances, and to engage in a number of harassment operations,
Lancashire: Activists Perform Lock-on at Preston New Road Fracking Site
In the early hours on Friday anti-fracking campaigners locked themselves onto the entrance of the Preston New Road fracking site in Lancashire. The well co-ordinated action was executed amid double security and the police present at the site at around 5am. Despite that activists managed to successfully block the site for hours, with the second lock-
Greek Floods and Gentrification
In November, flash floods caused by heavy overnight rain have killed at least 23 people and caused significant destruction in central Greece. The floods hit one of the poorest of the areas surrounding Athens, and by many were compared to the tragedy of Grenfell Tower. This is a personal account and comment from Fani Tsioumpekou, a
Occupation of General Directorate of State Forests in Warsaw, Poland
Twenty two people were arrested yesterday during the occupation of the General Directorate of State Forests in Warsaw, Poland. The action was taken in protest against Directorate’s decision to start logging of Bialowieza Forest in Northern Poland: the last remaining part of European primeval forest. Both main entrance and main hall were occupied. Outside of
Fight against toxic prisons tour starts this week
Following a highly successful callout last month, the Empty Cages Collective has announced the details of a ten-day run around Britain for its Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons (CFTP) tour, talking about the fight against the social and ecological impact of the United States prison-industrial complex. The topic is of particular interest in Britain, which as in
Notes from the US: Blackwater bubbles up again
In 2007 mercenaries from the notorious Blackwater terrorist company (now Constellis Holdings following its fourth name change) murdered a total of 14 unarmed Iraqis and left another 17 wounded in the Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad. They were sentenced in 2014. But early last month a federal appeals court threw out the lengthy prison sentences of
No TAV: A war for the Susa Valley’s soul
This month the campaign against high-speed railway line TAV kicked into life once again as construction work began on a project which has been been fought against for decades across Italy, France and Switzerland. Italy’s government wants, whatever the cost, to impose the Turin-Lyon line line which critics say is useless, expensive, harmful to health and
Notes from the US
Louis Further brings us his latest update from across the pond, rounding up some of the happenings you won’t have heard of in the land of the “free” Environmental damage One of the most dangerous appointments which Trump has made is that of Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Not only does