G8 Day of Action Round-Up - 15 Actions in 4 Continents!

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 06/08/2007 - 14:20

International Day of ActionReports have so far come in of actions in London (Esso and lastminute.com targeted), Bristol (Critical Mass), Norwich (petrol station blockade) and Nottingham (activists picket A453 exhibition) in the UK, Evershagen (Shell garage) in Germany, Lisbon and Porto (battle for climate justice and carbon trading street theatre) in Portugal, Sao Paulo (Critical Mass) in Brazil, Whanganui-a-Tara (Tour of EEEVil) in New Zealand and Asheville (Bank of America targeted), San Francisco (Critical Mass), Florida (natural gas plant targeted) and Portland (anti-dam/no boarders) in the US. Read on to find out all about them, and make sure to email info@risingtide.org.uk with any other actions we haven't heard of yet!

In brief ...

UK
London - Esso Blockade and Lastminute.com HQ targeted
Bristol - Critical Mass
Norwich - Jet petrol station blockade
Nottingham - Activists picket A453 exhibition

Germany
Evershagen - Shell garage blockade
Video 1 WMV 7.6M
Video 2 WMV 7.6M
(Video hosted on Indymedia. You may need to download it first by e.g. "right click, save target as".)

Portugal
Lisbon – Battle for Climate Justice
Porto – Carbon Trading Street Theater

New Zealand
Whanganui-a-Tara - Tour of EEEVil

Brazil
Sao Paulo - Critical Mass

North America
Asheville - Bank of America targeted
San Francisco - Critical Mass
Portland - Anti-dam action/ Anti-Borders Action
Florida - Critical Mass

In Detail ...

UK

LONDON: ESSO STATION BLOCKADE FIGHTS THE PIPE

Esso Blockade

London Rising Tide and Friends descended on Chelsea Tractor country on Friday night in a protest against the G8’s pathetic attempt to “consider” climate change and to reduce CO2 emissions.

The Tigers and Clowns blockaded the E$$O station at Fulham Rd for over two hours to highlight Exxon Mobil/E$$Os role in bankrolling our future down the pipe. Their support for the Liquid Natural Gas pipeline coming to a city near you is paving the way for new Gas Fired power stations, locking us into another 30 years with these emission-spouting beasts. The emissions from these stations are comparable to the existing Coal Fired
ones!

Because the tankers carrying this gas have to come from Qatar and are so huge, they cannot navigate the Suez Canal so have to circumnavigate Africa, freezing the gas as they go. In terms of emissions this makes the final figures at use almost as high as energy derived from coal. LNG is NOT a clean fuel!

The protest went well with the overwhelming majority of people, including car drivers… were positive to the message that we were giving out. The Police arrived after about thirty minutes, but after telling us to stay out of E$$Os forecourt, we remained for another hour: their threat of “ten minutes of you’re in the van” being the usual bravado. A good time was had by all, and the Tigers will continue to prowl…… (contact london@risingtide.org.uk)

STOP THE PRESS:
With the pipeline converging on two fronts the protest three camp in the Brecon Beacons has just been served with an eviction notice and are now on high alert for Monday 11th. Activists are now dug-in and locked-on up trees with support from local people, ready to resist. They need your support. If you can get down there, ring the camp hotline on 07917383517, or email bristol@risingtide.org.uk.

Full coverage and more photos

Superglue at Lastminute.com

LONDON: LASTMINUTE.COM HQ BLOCKADED

An environmental activist was so enraged that lastminute.com continue to push 'short haul' flights whilst knowing the damage they do to the climate, that she super-glued herself to the front door of the company's Victoria HQ.

At 8am this morning, Penny Eastwood – a member of climate action group, Plane Stupid, pasted superglue over her hands and glued herself to the front doors of the building and by doing so blocked staff from entering their offices.

Before she was arrested, Penny said, "Whilst G8 leaders have simply spouted more hot air, I've showed what one woman alone can do to shut down climate criminals."

She added, "Lastminute.com irresponsibly encourage people to binge-fly five times a year. In other words, they're forcing the world towards the brink of eco-meltdown and all for a quick buck!"

Penny Eastwood is one of those planning to attend this summer's Camp for Climate Action at Heathrow.

Full coverage

Bristol CM

BRISTOL: CRITICAL MASS

This morning saw a good natured and fun critical mass reclaim the streets of Bristol from car-culture! A good crowd of 40 to 50 riders gathered in the centre ready to move off in a carnival of cycling in solidarity with protests against the G8 and to draw attention to the chaos of climate change.

The crowd moved off towards Temple Quay, the new financial heart of Bristol, down Baldwin Street, over the bridge and down towards the roundabout that connects to Bristol Temple Meads, then over into temple quay where we found a mural on the floor 'We Have the Power' – very apt! Then on towards Broadmead and onto the bottom of the M32 and round back to the fountains. A good mornings work!

The reception was almost totally positive, flyers were handed out to pedestrians and fellow cyclists and drivers explaining what this was all about. Lots of people waved, cheers and beeped as we passed. There were bemused faces in corporate Bristol as the be-suited Temple Quay was invaded by pedal-power!

This event just going to show how people can reclaim a public space from the relentless grind of the rat-race and build some community. Unlike the G8, we care about climate change and got off our ass to do something!

Full coverage

Jet Blockade
NORWICH: JET PETROL STATION SHUT DOWN

During this morning’s rush hour twelve activists from Norwich Rising Tide braved the East Coast storm warnings and set off to shut down their local Jet petrol station as part of the International Day of Action Against Climate Change and the G8.

Having met up at silly o’clock in the morning and gathered together banners, rope and ‘Danger, Global Warming’ hazard tape, we arrived at the Jet petrol station on Dereham Road only to find 8 of Norfolk’s finest lying in wait. Ignoring them, we unpacked our banners and stretched them across the three entrances, preventing vehicles from filling up. Passing motorists rushing to work were treated to the sight of us jumping up and down in the rain, waving banners bearing the slogans ‘Closed for a Total Re-think’; ‘Social Change, Not Climate Change’; and ‘International Day of Action Against Climate Change and the G8.’

We handed out leaflets to drivers and pedestrians, explaining that the blockade was part of a series of events taking place around the world to highlight the role played by the leaders of the high-emitting G8 nations in causing climate change, and to show up this week’s so-called ‘climate deal’ for the sham that it is.

One of the banner wavers was heard to shout: ‘We will not stand by and watch the planet burn as the G8 leaders and their corporate bedfellows trivialise the greatest threat facing humanity with a blind faith in techno-fixes and market mechanisms such as fraudulent carbon offset schemes. If we are going to truly solve this problem, we need a rapid transformation to a low-energy society – starting with the dismantling of the oil industry.’

We chose the less well-known Jet as our target to show that there is no such thing as a good oil company. Jet is owned by ConocoPhillips, the fifth largest oil refiner in the world, and the first Western oil company to enter Iraq after the start of the war. Jet and ConocoPhillips have so far escaped the criticism that has been justifiably heaped upon industry giants like Shell and BP, but they are no different. ConocoPhillips, like all oil companies, destroys ecosystems and communities around the world, and is profiteering from oil wars and climate chaos.

The response from drivers and passers-by was predictably mixed, and although the early arrival of the police forced us to change our plans slightly, the action still served its purpose: to highlight the inability of G8 leaders to truly tackle climate change, and to take action in solidarity with those disrupting the summit in Germany and those already suffering from the effects of climate change around the world.

Full coverage and more photos

NOTTINGHAM: ACTIVISTS PICKET A453 EXHIBITION

The Highways Agency held a fancy exhibition in Clifton today, to promote their planned widening of the A453. So climate-change activists picketed it.
With thoughts of the G8 and the international day of action on climate change in our heads, we came to the roadbuilder's PR show to put the other side of the argument. Our display was a lot less flash than that of the H.A. but we got our message across, and many visitors to the exhibition were very supportive.

We wanted to point out the links between the proposed A453 scheme and the proposed M1 widening and EMids Airport expansion...a combined recipe for more traffic growth, more pollution, more C02 pumped into our dying atmosphere. Strangely the H.A. exhibition made no mention of climate change, although they were tackling pollution by giving away free in-car air fresheners!
The exhibition is at Clifton Leisure Centre, Southchurch Drive all day tomorrow (sat 9th). Why not email your comments on road building and climate to A453Widening@highways.gsi.gov.uk as well. climateactionnow@hotmail.co.uk

GERMANY

EVERSHAGEN – SHELL GARAGE BLOCKADE
On Friday samba bands and protestors shut down the Shell garage in Evershagen, Rostock
Police, unsurprisingly, arrived in seconds, and the riot squads surrounded the garage.
But, despite this, the Shell station was blocked for an hour.

In Germany fuel stations are not kept in stock by tanker trucks. They run huge fuel pipelines from one to the other, linking them across the city. And in every fuel station is an emergency shut-off button.

And, low and behold, someone hit the button, shutting off the fuel supply to some if not all the Shell garages across Rostock, causing a slight headache for the multinational oil and gas company's profits that day in the lovely north-west German city.

Video 1 WMV 7.6M
Video 2 WMV 7.6M
(Video hosted on Indymedia. You may need to download it first by e.g. "right click, save target as".)

PORTUGAL

LISBON AND PORTO: BATTLE FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE and CARBON TRADING STREET THEATRE
Lisbon Street Theatre

In Portugal, the G8 Network has made actions in the city of Lisbon and Porto on the 8th of June, International Day of Action Against Climate Change and the G8.

In Lisbon we made, in Down Town (Augusta Street), a battle for climate justice ("World isn’t a target, from CO2 has to be saved"), in which the people of the street tried to stop the 8 leaders of G8 to fill the world, specially south hemisphere, with pollution: the world against the politics of G8! In a world map the G8 throw black balls (the CO2) to the poorest countries while people throw green balls ("the good actions for climate") to prevent climate disaster and social injustice: meaning that G8 are historical responsible for climate change and their politics will not prevent serious disasters that affect primarily the poorer, because they will continue to pollute the world making business of pollution and exploring the poorest countries.

We made also some games in the street, inviting people to stop pollution and save climate (the G8 stopped the actions to save climate and not pollution...), and put banners in one of the most polluted avenues in city due to automobile traffic saying: "400 thousand cars for day...is to much", "less car, more public transport, less pollution", "freedom to move, city to the people".

In Porto we simulated, in Down Town (Santa Catarina Street), an emissions trading market. The G8 leader traded emissions between them (black balloons) and then offered pollution to the people on the street.

Full coverage and more photos

NEW ZEALAND

UK High Commission NZ
WHANGANUI-A-TARA: TOUR OF EEEEEVIL
Midland Park was the start of the Tour of EEEEEvil with a phat boom-box hailing out loud. first they cycled towards the US embassy. crayons were used to beautify the pavement, being under heavy scrutiny by security guards and police.

The number of protesters had been few, the attention by our friends in blue astonishingly intense - 2 cop cars and one paddy-wagon were following the small group closely.

a cat's leap later, the protesters rang the door-bell of the German embassy to tell them they are all scummy polluters of the environment. next station was the British High Commission where a banner was unfolded to make capitalism history.

finally, the group was not keen on visiting the other embassies of the G8 and cycled through the CBD and dispersed around Victoria St, receiving smiles and applause from some people on the streets.

Full coverage and more photos

BRAZIL

SAO PAULO: CRITICAL MASS
Sao Paul Critical Mass

A bad smell surrounded Bicyclist's Square last Friday morning, Global Direct Action Day against G8 and Climate Change. All around the world, people reclaimed the streets to say no to the lethargy of the 8 leaders that met in Germany behind fences and armies.

In Sao Paulo, 25 human beings joined to celebrate life, sustainability and the act of living together in a Critical Mass ride for life. In Germany, there're only 8 human beings deciding to keep war and predatory waste of resources that destroys the planet and kills lives all around the globe.

To start our ride a tree was planted on Bicyclist's Square. It was in honor of a homeless man that was sleeping below the Square and was killed by a car on May 25th, a few hours before the May Critical Mass took to the streets to celebrate life.

Our Tour
First stop: Italian Consulate. Fiats, Ferraris, Masseratis, Lamborghinis and Berlusconis kill thousands of human beings every year. Second stop: Petrobrás building, the Brazilian fuel company. The plan to make Brazil become a huge cane brake is no energetic or ecological solution, but only a way to fuel an obsession and keep the state of war, environmental destruction and irrational mobility standards. Off the bikes on the crosswalk, going to the third stop: Japan Consulate. Hondas, Toyotas and Mitsubishis kill thousands of people every year all around the world. Fourth stop: French Consulate. Renaults and Peugeots pollute as much as the others. In Sao Paulo, air pollution kills about 8 people a day. More than a half of the air pollution comes from private cars. Fifth stop: German Consulate. Mercedes, BMWs and Audis spread individualism and aggressively, contributing to the planetary state of war. In front of British Consulate - Earth in Danger on the hands of war poodle Tony Blair. On to Daslu, the store where the richest people in Brazil shop. Our "G8-people" shop there and seems to feel nausea about their own land: English written phrases, employees dressing French butler clothes, just beside the polluted Pinheiros river and surrounded by third world favelas. Last stop – the Canadian consulate in World Trade Center Sao Paulo: Earth in danger (and it's not because of Bin Laden).

Full coverage and more photos

NORTH AMERICA

ASHEVILLE: BANK OF AMERICA TARGETED FOR COAL INVESTMENT

Asheville Bank of America

Today dozens of cyclists paid a surprise visit to Bank of America to protest their financial backing of coal companies as a part of the International Day of Action Against Climate Change and G8. After tying up downtown traffic, the 30-strong bike ride descended on the downtown Asheville headquarters of Bank of America. Once there, a number of people dumped coal in front of the main entrance, while another person spontaneously sacrificed their bike lock and locked the front doors shut.

With police still not in sight, the bike ride continued on to another Bank of America branch, where participants plastered the bank in stickers, handed out flyers to customers, and held banners reading, “Stop Banking on Climate Change” and “Climate Chaos: Brought to you by Bank of America.”

The protest was held in solidarity with the massive anti-G8 protests in Germany, where leaders of the 8 richest countries continue to drag their feet on making any meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The bike ride was organized by Asheville Rising Tide, a group dedicated to confronting the root causes of climate change.

“By targeting coal industry investors, we can undermine their financial support which they depend on to continue operation. The less money they have, the less coal they can extract and burn. In the face of cataclysmic climate change, we do not have time to wait for government regulations. We must directly intervene now!” said Jennifer Clayson, who participated in the ride.

Full coverage and more photos

PORTLAND: LA PAROTA DAM FINANCIERS TARGETED

La parota

On Friday, Stop La Parota PDX launched its campaign to pressure companies with ties to the financing of La Parota Dam to sever all connections to the destructive project.

Activists held a colorful demonstration in front of the Lloyd Center Sears to demand the Sears Holding Corporation cut all ties to Grupo Carso. Grupo Carso is the financial umbrella of Mexican billionaire, Carlos Slim Helú, who has publicly declared that Grupo Carso subsidiaries will be involved in every aspect of La Parota.

La Parota, a 765-megawatt hydroelectric dam slated for the Papagayo River in Guerrero, Mexico, is a classic infrastructure expansion project resulting from trade agreements like NAFTA and the FTAA in the worst of ways. The dam would submerge 43,000 acres of forest and farmland along the river’s banks, displacing at least 25,000 mostly indigenous campesinos (subsistence farmers) from the Communal Lands of Cacahuatepec. Already, indigenous resistance to the dam has been met with imprisonment and murder.

The CFE made no attempt to include the campesinos in the decision-making process regarding La Parota. In July 2003, without giving notice or seeking permission, the commission simply sent in machinery to build two tunnels to divert the flow of the Papagayo. Farmers from surrounding communities responded with road blockades and encampments to keep CFE equipment out of the area. The ongoing roadblocks have been largely successful, and the CFE has been forced to pull out most of its equipment. In Chilpancingo, the state capital, the protesters were 30,000 strong. Their message was clear: “We are ready to die for the land.”

The demonstration was held both in solidarity with the resisting campesinos as well as the resistance in Germany to the G8. La Parota is a manifestation of the global system of oppression created by organizations like the G8 to further the interests of transnational corporations at the cost of people and environmental integrity.

Full coverage and more photos

AND ANTI-BORDERS ACTION

They are eight, we are six billion...lets start acting like it and reject their chaotic system of exploitation and control.

We meet at the INS Office to say No to the Border fence being built, ICE Raids, and to reject the idea that multi-national corporations can freely cross borders to exploit people and steal land. While the people are being contained by borders, forced off lands and controlled by militarization.

SAN FRANCISCO: ANTI-G8-CLIMATE CHANGE SOLIDARITY MASS BIKE RIDE

San Fran critical mass

Painted yellow flags flapping in the evening sun read "V8, not G8," "No G8, No Climate Change," "Climate Justice," "Rising Tide," "Bay Rising; Not Capitalism, Not Rising Bay," and Flood the Streets Before the Ocean Does."

The resurgent European global justice and anti-capitalist movements successfull battle with the G8 were being celebrated in San Francisco along with other cities across the planet.

Towards a hundred bicyclist participated through the evening's solidarity anti-G8 and anti-climate change ride in a winding ride through the street and neighborhoods of San Francisco. Rising Tide, a radical international anti-climate change network, had called for a day of action, and cites around the US and the planet responded.

The local Bay Rising Affinity Group call read in part: "Use pedal power to challenge oil addiction, to show solidarity with anti-G8 mass mobilizations in Germany and resist the polluting economic and political system of the G8. This global system is at the root of our ecological and social problems; climate chaos, lack of heath care, housing and education, war and empire, more prisons, the rich getting richer, low wages and lousy jobs, pollution, and attacks on immigrant, worker and civil rights. As the megalomaniac G8 leaders meet in police-state Germany, behind fences, cops and soldiers, intent on leading us further towards catastrophic and irreversible climate chaos, we must shout, scream and roar 'no more'."

Occasional chants of "fight warming, not wars," "Fuck the G8" and "we all live in a police state" to the tune of the Beatles "yellow submarine" as a heavy presence of police in cars, on bikes and on motorcycles, Highway Patrol and Sheriffs following the ride, harassing a few band a motorcade of block away for much of the ride. People ignored their provocations as the mobile pedal powered festival snaked through the city. Neighbors and tourists stopped watched, took photos or waved.

Leaflets were passed out. City busses honked support. We ended the ride with a bike drawn soundsystem at at Dolores Park, the heart of the city and across the street from the house where Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman contributed to "The Blast" newspaper on the verge of the worldwide revolutions of the early 1900's.

Full coverage and more photos

FLORIDA: CRITICAL MASS
Picket signs blew in the wind as three bikers rode slowly but surely down Dixie Highway.
Uniting with activists worldwide in protest of the Group of Eight summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, Lake Worth contributed a total of six.
But the issues they brought hit close to home.
Their destination was the Palm Beach Gardens home of FPL Group Inc. Chief Executive Lewis Hay III.
Their complaint: FPL's decision to build the West County Energy Center, a natural gas plant, about 1,000 feet from a wildlife preserve, according to the group's flier.
"You can't smoke 1,000 feet from a school, but you can put a power plant 1,000 feet from an animal preserve?" asked supporter Rachel Kijewski, 22.
The group rode a large part of the four-hour trek in front of their veggie truck.
The beat-up blue solution to global warming fights petrol with vegetable oil.
"Its exhaust smells like tempura," said bike rider Panagioti Tsolkas.
Most drivers' reactions to the trio were positive, giving them thumbs-up. Their journey, however, was not without challenges.
Mother Nature poured down rain all Friday afternoon.
Averaging 7 to 10 mph on the highway, the group pressed on, stopping traffic the entire way until they were stopped outside the gate leading to Hay's home inside Old Marsh Country Club.
As the G-8 summit's gathering of the eight industrial powerhouses comes to a close, Lynne Purvis said she feels their fight is just beginning.
"It's hard you know," Purvis said.
"We're all pretty low budget. These rich executives have all this security and money and to supply these things and we use cardboard signs and public transit." Laughing in spite of their small numbers, the protestors remained optimistic.
"We'd love if he decided not to build an energy center," she said. "As easy as it is for him to keep this in his nine-to-five life, it affects us too."

Community