Newsletter #15: Share this news
The climate crisis is getting ever more serious. 2016 was also one of the hottest years since records began. The fight back starts now. We’re fighting against politicians who sing to Trump’s climate-denying tune all too easily and simply agreed to remove climate from the G20 agenda. Against Merkel who has delayed the coal phase-out and stands for a policy of saying nice things about the energy transition while at the same time blocking it. Against LEAG, RWE and MIBRAG who are unscrupulously trying to escalate the climate crisis further so that they can profit from it. We don’t think it’s normal that in Germany in 2017 people are being expelled from their homes to make way for expanded mines.
But there is also some good news: the number of people standing up to climate change and the companies and politics driving it is increasing – in Germany and around the world. We want to spread our message to as many people as possible and encourage them to join in. So: please forward this newsletter, send it to your friends, contacts and relatives. Let’s make this movement even bigger. You can register to receive this newsletter very easily at www.ende-gelaende.org – and it is available in German, English and French.
Please join us
Preparation for more good news is already underway.
This year there will be two large ENDE GELÄNDE actions in the Rhineland coal mining area:
From 24th-29th August we will block the mine together as part of the action days against coal. On the first or second weekend of November during the UN climate conference we will return to the mine and show where the real climate negotiations are happening!
There are lots of ways you can get involved: Ende Gelände now has lots of smaller and larger local groups, mainly in Germany though. To contact the alliance directly, just send an e-mail to info@ende-gelaende.org.
Newbies are also welcome at alliance meetings:
- 7th to 9th April in Magdeburg
- 5th to 7th May in Köln / Cologne
- 9th to 11th June in Berlin
- 28th to 30th July in Köln / Cologne
Antirep
Some people have been contacted following past actions with accusations of breaking various civil and criminal laws. But we won’t leave anyone on their own. If you get letters from state prosecutors, the police or coal industry lawyers, get in touch with the anti-repression groups for the Rhineland coal area (2015 action) or Lausitz/Lusatia (Aktion 2016). We are currently litigating quite successfully using a variety of strategies: so far no-one has been sentenced for trespass at Ende Gelände actions!
RWE’s lawyers are currently sending civil lawsuits to people involved in Ende Gelände 2015 who have so far refused to sign a statement promising not to reoffend (cease and desist). The company is now planning to demand the signatures in a civil case who will cost the activists thousands of euros. We think that RWE is turning up the pressure to intimidate us before the 2017 actions. But their plans will fail. We said before the action that we wouldn’t leave anyone helpless and we are now going to act on that promise. We need lots of support to pay for the legal dispute and we need to show support and solidarity to the activists being sued. We should support the campaign they have started “Leave the coal in the ground instead of undermining our protest” – read more about it here.
Ende Gelände in the mining areas
We don’t just organise mass actions – we also support climate activism in the various lignite mining areas.
Rhineland mining area: 1. April in Köln/Cologne
1st April, from 11:00 – climate festival in city woodland with a diverse cultural programme, background information on what’s going on and action training. Then from 15:00 there will be a peaceful blockade of the railway line used by trains bringing coal from the Rhineland mining area to the coal-fired power station Merkenich. We’d be particularly keen to see people with no/little experience of actions.
Lausitz (Lusatia) mining area – cycle tour
21st – 28th May – Pack your tents, pump up your tyres and join us: our tour will take us to various coal extraction hotspots around the region. Action, information and networking. More info about the tour at lausitzcamp (in German).
It looks increasingly likely that LEAG wants to open new mines in Lausitz. We are following developments and will post information on our homepage if LEAG decides extract yet more coal instead of implementing a logical climate policy.
Central German mining area: save Pödelwitz!
We’ve noticed that the lignite mining company MIBRAG and its Czech owner EPH are trying to expand a lignite mine south of Leipzig at the expense of the village of Pödelwitz even before they are given legal permission to do so. All the empty houses in the village are at risk of being torn down – Mibrag has already bought most of them. Residents of the village affected and numerous organisations have written an open letter calling for the plans to be dropped. More info here (in german).
This year there will be events every last weekend in the month drawing attention to the injustice going on in Pödelwitz.
News from the international climate movement
It’s not just us who have big plans for 2017. Lots is going on in Europe:
24-28. Mai, climate camp in Wien/Vienna
24th June, port blockade in Amsterdam: Mass civil disobedience action on 24th June 2017 in and around the port of Amsterdam – the world’s number one port for oil and Europe’s number two for coal.
21st – 27th June Czechia / Czech Republic: The first Czech climate camp in a mining region near Most on the German border, not far from Dresden. With an action.
7th July, climate action G20 Hamburg: there will be a mass action in the port of Hamburg, a crucial piece of capitalist trade infrastructure, organised by the “No G20 climate action” during the G20 summit. Planning conference on 7th / 8th April in Hamburg. Contact: klima.ag@g20hamburg.org
4th – 15th August, France: climate camp (location yet to be announced)
Best wishes, Ende Gelände newsletter team.
