Solidariteitswake voor Hambach - donderdag 20 september - 20.00
Waar: Duitse consulaat, Honthorststraat 36-38, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Wanneer: 20/09/2018 - 22:39
Woensdagmiddag is er een een persoon overleden tijdens de ontruiming van het Hambach bos in Duitsland, na een val uit een loopbrug op 20 meter hoogte tussen de bomen. Wij zijn geschokt en zijn met onze gedachten bij de familie en vrienden van de overledene. Velen van ons zijn de afgelopen jaren in het prachtige Hambach bos geweest, of hebben meegeholpen bij acties tegen deze allesvernietigende bruinkoolmijnen vlak over de Nederlandse grens.
Onder het mom van brandveiligheid is de Duitse politie vorige week met een enorme operatie begonnen om met waterkanonnen, gepantserde voertuigen, hoogwerkers, en honderden robocops de 50 boomhutten in dit bedreigde oerbos te ontruimen. De overledene was als journalist aanwezig om verslag te leggen van de ontruiming en het legitieme en noodzakelijke verzet daar tegen.
De situatie in Hambach staat niet op zichzelf. Terwijl de klimaatcrisis zichtbaar en voelbaar ontspoort neemt overal in de wereld het verzet tegen de fossiele brandstoffen industrie toe, van Nigeria tot Australie en van Argentinie tot Groningen. En net als in Hambach kan dit verzet overal rekenen op toenemende repressie en criminalisering. Wij zijn verdrietig en boos, maar zullen niet stoppen met strijden voor een rechtvaardige samenleving op een leefbare planeet.
We roepen iedereen op om morgen om 20.00uur bladeren, twijgen, bloemen, kaarsen, borden en spandoeken mee te nemen naar de solidariteitswake bij het Duitse consulaat in Amsterdam. Daar zullen we een moment stilte houden en zal er gelegenheid zijn om elkaar te steunen.
De bosbezetters roepen naar aanleiding van het incident op tot een permanente staking van de gewelddadige ontruiming. De Regering van Noordrijn Westphalen heeft de ontruiming voorlopig stil gelegd. Code Rood & GroenFront! steunen de oproep aan RWE van tal van actiegroepen en NGO's om de uitbreiding van de bruinkoolmijn te stoppen en het bos te behouden.
Sinds jaar en dag ondersteunen wij de bosbezetting in het Hambacher Forst en helpen wij mee aan de massale bezettingen van de bruinkoolmijnen door Ende Gelande. Op 6 oktober vind er opnieuw een grote demonstratie plaats bij de bruinkoolmijn, en eind oktober zal Ende Gelände wederom de Hambach bruinkoolmijn bezetten en stillleggen. Net als vorige jaren organiseren wij bussen vanuit Nederland naar deze actie. Sluit je aan, zodat we deze groter dan ooit maken, en er zo snel mogelijk een einde komt aan het fossiele tijdperk.
Solidariteitswake voor Hambach, donderdag 20 september, 20.00u - Duitse consulaat - Honthorststraat 36-38 Amsterdam
Verklaring van de bosbezetters hier
https://hambacherforst.org/blog/2018/09/19/mensch-von-baum-gestuerzt-akt...
Updates: volg #hambibleibt op twitter
Hambach solidarity vigil. Thursday Septemer 20th 20.00hr
German consulate Honthorststraat 36-38 Amsterdam
Last Wednesday afternoon a person died during the eviction of the Hambach forest in Germany, after falling from a 20 meter high walkway between the trees. We are shocked by what happened. Our thoughts are with family and friends of the deceased. Many of us have visited the gorgeous Hambach forest over the years or have been involved in activism against the ever destructive RWE lignite mines close to the Dutch border.
Citing fire safety rules the German police has started an massive eviction effort last week. Water cannon, armored vehicles, cherry pickers and hundreds of robocops are trying to evict 50 treehouses in the forest. The deceased person was present as a journalist in order to document the eviction and its necessary and legitimate resistance.
The situation in Hambach is not a unique thing. While the climate crisis is visible and can be felt all over the world resistance against fossil fuels is heating up everywhere, form Nigeria to Australia and form Argentina to Groningen. Like in Hambach this resistance is being confronted with ever escalating repression and criminalization. We are sad and angry but we will not stop fighting for a just society on a liveable planet.
We ask everyone to take leaves, twigs, flowers, candles, signs and banners to the solidarity wake at the German consulate in Amsterdam. We will observe a moment of silence and it will be possible to support each other.
# Hambibleibt
The occupiers of the forest have asked for a permanent stop of the violent evictions in the light of the incident. The government of Nordrhein-Westfalen has stopped the eviction for now. Code Rood and Groenfront! are supporting the call by a large number of groups to ask RWE to stop enlarging the mine and keep what is left of the forest in place.
We have supported the forest occupation for a long time and we have helped organize the large occupations of the mines by Ende Gelaende. On October 6 another big demonstration will take place at the lignite mine, and Ende Gelaende will occupy and stop the lignite mine again at the end of October. As in previous years we will organize coaches for travel from the Netherlands to these protests. Join us and and make these protests the largest protests in history, so we end the fossil fuel age as quickly as possible.
Der tragische Tod von Vergissmeynnicht: YouTuber dokumentierte das Leben der Aktivisten im Hambacher Forst
https://meedia.de/2018/09/20/der-tragische-tod-von-vergissmeynnicht-yout...
„Wir sind hier oben, um die Menschen zu informieren, was hier so passiert“
Während der Räumungsarbeiten im Hambacher Forst ist ein Mensch tödlich verunglückt. Wer war Steffen M.?
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/wer-ist-der-verunglueckte-aus-...
"Unser Freund"
Steffen M. war Blogger, aber auch Teil der Aktivisten im Hambacher Forst. Nach dem tragischen Tod des 27-Jährigen halten die Behörden erst einmal inne.
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/todesfall-im-hambacher-forst-unser-f...
Tod im Hambacher Forst
Vom Beobachter zum Freund
Der verunglückte Steffen Meyn arbeitete an einer Langzeitdokumentation über den Hambacher Wald. Er wollte zeigen, was dort passiert.
http://www.taz.de/Tod-im-Hambacher-Forst/!5534584//
Steffen Meyn
Press release 09/20/2018 – Tragic death in Hambach Forest
On Wednesday afternoon about 3:45 pm, the movement journalist, blogger and activist Steffen Horst Meyn, died in the tree house village Beechtown in Hambach Forest. He crashed while attempting to document an ongoing eviction action by the Special Task Force of Police (SEK), from a suspension bridge from about 20 m height. Rescue workers on the ground tried to resuscitate him. According to our information, however, he died a little later, still in the forest, in a rescue helicopter.
We are shocked and stunned by this tragic event. We deeply sympathize with the family and friends of the deceased and hope that they will get the privacy and peace they most likely need in their situation. For many of us, too, he was a friend whose loss we do not really understand. Especially the people in Beechtown who, after weeks of stress due to the eviction, now had to experience this terrible accident, we wish a lot of strength and peace.
After all the information that we at the press office of Hambach Forest have been able to gather so far, it is clearly a tragic accident.
It would have been a worthy handling in our eyes if all sides would keep a low profile for the time being. On this day, in a reaction of the Interior Ministry and the police, the voluntary exit of tree houses was required. In this situation we consider that as an absolutely inappropriate strategic use of the death.
In the communication about the occupation, and now also about the accident, the government of North Rhine-Westphalia and the police also fall back upon false reports. Actually, we would have wished we had not yet to speak on a political level about the accident. Unfortunately, after the spread of untruths and the disrespectful attempt to instrumentalise Steffen’s tragic death, we now see ourselves forced to make a few corrections.
1. At the time of the accident, local police and evacuation forces were deployed in Beechtown. We are linking here corresponding footage and photo material. (Trigger warning: https://bit.ly/2xyVOy5) It is incomprehensible to us how the police can claim the opposite.
2. In six years of almost uninterrupted tree house occupancy, this is the first and only comparable case. For six and a half years, the treetops were inhabited, people climbed daily up and down and moved between the trees without a comparable case having occurred so far. That the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the police and RWE are now trying to exploit this tragic accident in order to justify the alleged necessity of this violent eviction, we consider unworthy and a mockery of those affected.
3. The question that accompanies us all these days is the question of ‘why?’. For weeks, the Hambach Forest has been besieged to get to the underlying lignite. It is no coincidence, in our view, that this first fatal accident in the history of occupations took place right now, during the eviction.
Everyone in the occupations stood for several weeks under constant stress because of an eviction campaign, which was beaten through at an insane pace. Constant noise from expulsion and clearing, day and night floodlights and flashing blue lights, massive police presence on the ground, sonication with barking dogs and recordings of chainsaw noises, as well as the news about the repeatedly life-threatening approach of the task forces, leave physical and mental traces in all involved. Insomnia, stress and over-stimulation are poisonous for the attention and tranquility essential for safe tree climbing.
According to our information, there is no direct connection with the acute local police action at the time of the accident. But we know first-hand that the deceased only climbed into the trees because he was permanently prevented by the police from doing his press work on the ground.
“ After the press was often restricted in their work during the last few days in the Hambach Forest, I am now 25m up on Beechtown to document the evacuation work. There is no barrier tape up here.” (https://bit.ly/2MPh6NB)
Also the government of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the police and RWE should also take a deep breath these days and reflect. The attempt to blame alleged safety deficiencies in the constructions is a transparent strategy in this situation and absolutely inappropriate.
What we need now is peace for the necessary mourning. It is not enough to suspend the concrete expulsions until further notice. The night after the accident, Beechtown was still lit with a floodlight system and sonicated with barking dogs. The forest is still full of police forces that we only experienced as aggressors in recent weeks and years. The lifting platforms, eviction tanks, water cannons and chainsaws are still in the forest and waiting for their use. This is not a considerate pause.
What is needed now is an immediate withdrawal of the police units and a stop to the expulsions and felling. The forest and the people need rest to handle this accident. In addition, the police should fundamentally reconsider their deployment strategy and the manic pace of eviction.
There have been too many incidents in recent weeks that have put the health and lives of activists at risk. The freedom of the press was massively restricted during the whole mission. Safety-relevant material such as climbing ropes, climbing harnesses and fire extinguishers were systematically seized or destroyed in large quantities. And of the people in the trees was expected a mental, emotional and physical burden by this massive presence, which is not reasonable for safe climbing nor for the processing of a death.
All this has to stop. Therefore, we demand an immediate total calling off of the operation and the release of all prisoners.
Mr. Weinspach and Mr. Reul: Let us grieve in peace.
Source: https://hambachforest.org/blog/2018/09/20/press-release-09-20-2018-tragi...
[Hambach Forest] Declaration from the canopy following yesterday’s events (Thu, Sep 20th)
https://en-contrainfo.espiv.net/2018/09/22/hambach-forest-declaration-fr...