Environmental activists and concerned citizens from across Britain, Iceland and Trinidad and Tobago converged on Sloane Square in London today (27/10/2006) to protest against the aluminium invasion into these islands. They congregated for an emotionally charged 'funeral procession' and demonstration, to mourn the loss of the wildernesses in Iceland, the Kárahnjúkar wilderness in particular [1]; and the rainforest and beaches in the Cedros Peninsula of Trinidad and Tobago [2].
The aluminium industry, notably ALCOA and ALUTRINT are determined to turn these regions into heavy industry havens. The event was in the style of a funeral for the 'dying lands', and featured a lone violin playing between moving speeches and poems. Speakers included a student union president, several Trinidadians and Icelanders as well as former UK Member of Parliament Sue Doughty [3].
Miriam Rose, from the campaign 'saving iceland' said, 'today was very important as we established a real link between the fights in Trinidad and Iceland. People were truly moved by this solidarity and the shocking truths about ALCOA's actions.' After the ceremony a procession followed the symbolic coffin to the embassies of the affected nations, where petitions were presented. Embassy staff threatened to call the police when a woman from the Cedros Peninsula, Trinidad, tried to hand over a petition to the Trinidadian and Tobagon embassy. Staff at the Icelandic embassy refused to accept the document, which asked for the Icelandic and Trinidadian and Tobagon governements to reconsider their heavy industry policy.
A live phone link connected the crowd in London to a simultaneous protest in Trinidad, where locals are setting up a protest camp at the University of West Indies in objection to the building of two huge gas powered smelters [4], one by Alcoa, one by Alutrint. Details from this Trinidadian protest camp can be obtained through contacting
info@therepublicofcedros.org or rightsactiongroup@gmail.com The London demonstration was organised by the websites www.SavingIceland.org and www.NoSmelterTnT.com
Notes to the editor:
[1]The American Aluminium giant ALCOA is building a series of large dams across the Icelandic wilderness (the last in Western Europe) to power one Aluminium smelter.
[2] ALCOA is building two gas powered smelting factories in the Cedros
Peninsula of Trinidad, cutting down a tropical rainforest and forcefully
evicting over 200 residents from their homes.
[3]Sue Doughty, then Liberal MP for Guildford, tabled a Parliamentary
motion in March 2005 calling on the British Government to persuade the
Icelandic Government to terminate the building of the Kárahnjúkar dam and
reconsider its heavy industry policy.
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