News from the StopHS2 Jones Hill Woods protection camp eviction today. This morning at 5:30 am circa 40 National Eviction Team officers, working for HS2 & the government, supported by police, entered the woods. Their intention was to clear the camp to enable mass tree felling. Whilst 2 protestors were removed quickly by excessive force, many more protestors occupy multiple treehouses across the site. This ancient woodland has been a protest camp site for over half a year 6 months & is one of 20 ancient woodlands #HS2 is targeting this month. This woodland represents just one of 108 woodlands that are due to be impacted during Phase 1 construction of HS2. Jones Hill Wood also represents the cultural loss that will be caused by this large scale industrial development.
[Read More]
Wendover (UK): Jones Hill Woods under attack
London: Eviction resisted, we’d rather be squatters than scabs
On Thursday 24th September in Greenwich, London, an illegal eviction attempt on a squatted building was thwarted by a combination of self-organised defence and bloody minded stubbornness.
At 6.30am, high court enforcement agents in black masks used heavy tools to cut the locks on the gate and attempted to force entry into the building using threats of physical violence. The occupiers managed to hold the door, and by 8.30am a crowd of around 30 members of London’s autonomous community had gathered to support them as they besieged people inside. The defenders travelled from across the city in support, including members of the newly energised Eviction Resistance Network, a gang from militant trans activists NFA Queer Punx, and legal support from the Advisory Service for Squatters.
Spirits remained high as the crowd dominated the car park area in front of the building, gradually managing to squeeze the bailiffs and their hired goons back with a consistent tirade of obstinant resistance. The crowd sang “Well I’d rather be a squatter than a scab!”, and one activist was able to begin deliveries of food and toilet paper to those locked inside via the scaffolding.
[Read More]
Uppsala: Callout from Blodstensskogen
About a year ago, the forest-occupation project in Uppsala started [previously on S!N] after the municipality officially decided to clear a more than 200-year-old forest in order to build expensive high-rise buildings in its place.
The forest, Blodstensskogen, is located between two nature reserves and thus serves as a corridor for the many forest animals to move around. At the same time, Blodstensskogen has developed a strong and diverse ecosystem through its long existence. For example, there are deciduous trees and fir trees that are over a hundred years old, and it is home to many animals, including those that are protected (Red Listed Animals: different insects such as the longhorn beetle, musk longhorn beetle, scarlet fungus beetle, birds such as the black woodpecker and the crested tit, fungi such as the pine fire sponge, irpicodon pendulus, resupinate spurge and the beautiful earth stars, as well as three different species of bats that use the Blodstensskogen as hunting grounds and for reproduction).
[Read More]
UK: Calvert Reserve Protection Camp getting evicted
Rudely awoken this morning by NET 😞 Calvert is currently being evicted, support needed – Calvert Jubilee Nature Reserve, Buckingham, MK182HE
UPDATE – With a heavy heart I have to say that today we lost Calvert Jubilee Nature Reserve.
8 weeks ago we heard that HS2 were going to compulsory purchase the reserve and start destroying it to build an access road for the high speed rail line. We occupied the reserve, building homes and a community amongst locals and activists. We held the ground, held up HS2 and have helped inspire other people to stand up for their own beliefs.
We may have lost the reserve but there are positive ripple effects beyond our perceptions.
Today the fascists won but we aren’t done yet. We will be back at it at soon as tomorrow!
Thank you to everyone who has supported us this far. We could not have got this far without you and we will continue because of you.
Berkshire Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire Wildlife Trusts statement: “BBOWT is devastated that High Speed 2 Ltd have now taken legal possession of a large section of our Calvert Jubilee Nature Reserve.”
UK: Stop HS2 and Extinction Rebellion
Extinction Rebellion have finally decided to refrain from trying to take over control of the STOP HS2 protection camps between London and Birmingham, and instead they are offering to HELP the front line activists who actually live there, and to LEARN direct action from them, according to unconfirmed reports from the camps.
Some of the eco-warriors at the Harvil road and Denham camps in Colne Valley near Uxbridge invited Extinction Rebellion to join them at the protest sites last year, and HS2 Rebellion was the name that was eventually chosen to be used by the new recruits. Unfortunately a power struggle developed fairly soon, with HS2 Rebellion apparently insisting that they controlled some kind of hierarchy and were in fact the “leaders” of the climate movement, and all the protesters were obliged to take orders from them.
Extinction Rebellion released a statement about how HS2 Rebellion was becoming the umbrella organisation for all the protection camps and they listed their “criteria and values” which they claimed all the activists had to agree to and abide by. This was regardless of the fact that the eco-warriors had originally started the camps with the Green Party four years before XR came along to attempt to take them over and control them.
HS2 Rebellion started their own fundraiser with £32,000 being donated for the Colne Valley protest by more than 1000 people. The fundraiser stated that the money would be distributed to all the protection camps, but HS2 Rebellion refused to share anything with camps that did not agree to join Extinction Rebellion and obey their rules.
Two camps which agreed to join Extinction Rebellion and obey them were given £16,000 between them, but the Harvil road and Denham camps at Colne Valley near Uxbridge which remained autonomous and independent got absolutely nothing.
The STOP HS2 organisation which started the local residents protest campaign in their own local communities against the high speed rail link 13 years ago asked for financial support but HS2 Rebellion did not want to help them so they also received nothing.
[Read More]
UK: Poors Piece camp eviction alert
On Monday the 21st of Monday 28th September, Poors Piece Conservation area will be facing eviction… they have amazing structures & homely straw houses. This ancient woodlands was a life saving project years ago to give wood and timber to the locals who at the time were financially deprived. The land now is conserved by a local called Clive, who is very supportive of the group who are their to protect all life within from HS2.
If you can join those there to protect this land, please do!
This Stop HS2 camp is at Steeple Claydon, Buckinghamshire, MK18 2HH, UK
UPDATE Monday 28th!!
An update from the No TAV campaign and thoughts on its relevance for Stop HS2
The No TAV campaign in northern Italy has been fighting an expensive, unneeded and corrupt high speed railway link for over three decades. The proposed mafia-linked freight train service from Turin to Lyon has been repeatedly exposed for its fantastical predictions and is slated by local people who see no reason to leave their homes for a white elephant. If you are already thinking about the similarities to HS2 here in England then you are in the right place. I will start by giving a very brief history of No TAV, then an update on recent events. In the second half, I will concentrate on what the Stop HS2 movement can learn from No TAV.
For those who have never heard of the No TAV movement, it is a campaign born thirty odd years ago to resist the construction of a 270 kilometre long high speed railway (Treno di Alta Velocita) between Turin (in Italy) and Lyon (in France). There is widespread opposition on both French and Italian soil, since the railway is a corrupt scheme proposing to transport freight based on fantasy figures and the people who live along the route see no benefit (the train won’t be stopping there). They argue that the already existing railway infrastructure should be improved instead. The resistance is greatest in the breathtakingly beautiful Val di Susa (Susa Valley), which stretches from Turin to the Alps for fifty kilometres. In summer, the valley is bright with colours, the blue sky and green grass bisected by the snow on the mountains. It has a unique environment, since one side sees the sun and the other does not. The train line would rip straight through it before entering a tunnel of 57.5 kilometres to France. This tunnel would be longer than the Chunnel and in fact would just squeeze in as the longest rail tunnel in the world, if it ever gets built. Local people are concerned that drilling into the mountains will disturb uranium and asbestos deposts, that mafia construction will lead to health hazards and that the overall economic case for TAV no longer stands up.
[Read More]
Amsterdam’s lost FREE heaven
In 2019, after 21 years of occupation, one of the world’s most incredible free spaces was demolished, and its residents evicted, in order to make space to … nothing at all!
Our friend Anita, a member of Underkonstruction sound system and part of the amazing Nostruckture travelling stage, has been visiting the ADM community for several years.
We asked her a few questions about the past, present and future of ADM.
Mexico City: Occupation of national human rights commission
Mexican women have occupied the headquarters of the national human rights commission (CNDH) in the capital Mexico City. They have promised to stay until the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (Amlo) recognises the rights of women instead of allowing the high levels of sexual violence and murder to continue. Eleven women are killed every day in Mexico and 98% of murders go unsolved. Predictably, Amlo focused more on the hilarious vandalism going on than the activists’ concerns. Inside the buildings slogans have been painted and various paintings have been improved. Pictures taken by the only tolerated press photographer Andrea Murcia (Inst@usagii_ko) have lit up the internet. She has known the occupiers from the beginning and therefore is trusted by them.
An adulterated portrait of Francisco I. Madero (pictured, 33rd president of Mexico) has received the most attention online. As well it should, it looks great now, gotta love the ACAB. The original artist doesn’t like to collaborate it seems, saying “The most outrageous thing is that they believe that losing respect for the characters who made our Mexican history will solve the lack of the kind of government that we all deserve.” In response, Yesenia Zamudio on of the occupiers said “If he doesn’t agree with us painting the painting, I don’t agree with that my daughter was murdered and that for five years nobody has helped me.” [Quotes]
[Read More]
Two, Three, Many ZADs
A ZAD means a “zone to defend” (zone à défendre in French). These environmental protest occupations have recorded successes such as preventing an airport near Nantes and a dam in the region of Toulouse. This a roundup of recent ZAD news. In July this year, activists from ANV-COP21 and Extinction Rebellion occupied land in Besançon near to the Swiss border, before handing it on to anonymous occupiers supported by Gilets Jaunes. They are resisting plans to build a controversial “eco-housing” district, saying they prefer the wetlands which are now threatened with destruction. Despite being initially reluctant to use the term ZAD, they are now going by ZAD des Vaîtes.
Currently, there is a standoff of sorts. The mayor refuses to negotiate until a watchtower has been demolished (for the safety of the campers she claims) and the Zadists are digging in for winter, having already celebrated two months of occupation. Meanwhile at Roybon, a small village to the south of Lyon, the squatters have won! After a long struggle both in the courts and in the trees, Center Parcs Europe decided in July to halt their construction plans. They had planned to build a new waterpark and a thousand holiday cottages in a forest, sparking concerns about the amount of pollution it would have created. The Zadists have announced that after six years of occupation, they actually quite feel like staying, which has outraged the local mayor. She is calling for eviction and the story continues. More news on social media or at their website.
France: ZAD du Carnet
In just one week, the ZAD du Carnet has become a place of resistance, solidarity and welcome for all those who wish to join it. A welcome area raises awareness about the project for locals, cyclists and walkers. Every day we set up common living spaces thanks to donations of equipment and recycling and a free-shop offers second-hand clothing or other items. Self-built structures protect people from the rain and wind. A bicycle repair workshop allows bicycles to be repaired in order to be able to move around the site. The barricades still prevent construction machinery from passing, material and physical resistance necessary to prevent the continuation of the devastating works.
The ZAD obviously does not prevent walkers and residents from accessing the Carnet natural area, it only protects it from roadworks. We are a free zone where sexist, racist, homophobic and ableist oppressions (among others) are proscribed, feel free to join it.
IMPORTANT INFO
Come to join: http://zadducarnet.org/index.php/venir-nous-rejoindre/
Supporting the struggle: http://zadducarnet.org/index.php/soutenir-la-lutte/
Facebook: ZAD du Carnet
Twitter: @ZAD_du_Carnet
Mail: zadducarnet [at] riseup [dot] net
Receive the newsletter by email: https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/info-zadcarnet
Receive urgent info by message: send ′′ hello ′′ to the number from Signal:+ 1 25 12 92 15 23
Reoccupation:In case of eviction in the next few weeks, we are already calling for a massive protest to reoccupy the site on the third Sunday following.
Via https://fr.squat.net/2020/09/08/frossay-44-bienvenue-a-la-zad-du-carnet/
USA: From Hoovervilles to Trumpvilles, Homeless Crisis Deepens
Nearly a century ago, when the Great Depression descended on New York in 1929, Gotham, like cities around the country, sprouted Hoovervilles, homeless encampments. In New York, a dozen or so were in Central Park and dubbed “Hoover Valley,” “Shanty Town,” “Squatters Village,” “Forgotten Men’s Gulch” and “Rockside Inn.”
Other Manhattan encampments included “Hardlucksville,” the city’s largest encampment, at 10th Street on the East River, and “Camp Thomas Paine” in Riverside Park and the West 70s. Farther uptown, the homeless found residence in floating shanties along the Harlem River around 207th Street; at Camp Dyckman, which consisted mostly of World War I veterans; and at Marble Hill, just across the Spuyten Duyvil, where Sarah J. Atwood and her daughter, Mavis, ran a boxcar village.
The outer boroughs were also home to encampments. In Brooklyn, a large facility operated on Columbia Street, in Red Hook, and near today’s Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn Heights, some six hundred people lived in “Hoover City.” Writer Edward Newhouse lived for three weeks in a Queens encampment to do research for his novel You Can’t Live Here.
A new generation of homeless encampments – Trumpvilles – are spreading throughout the country.
Radar Online Agenda
