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Direct action against the High-Speed Railway in the Basque Country

grod | 02.07.2010 00:03 | Ecology | Repression | World

Activista have locked themselves inside disused mines...



1st of July, 2010

Last night four people locked themselves inside the shafts of the old Itsasondo mines in the Basque Country (on the Spanish side of the border) in order to "stop the construction of the High-Speed Railway (HSR)” and to denounce the "social model of which these construction sites are just the outer mask". They are demanding the "immediate cessation" of the tunnelling work taking place in that same area.

"We know that the risks are high. We've gone deep down underground in order to strengthen with our bodies this very earth. We are locked inside the mines so as to defend our ideas and denounce the lack of sense of those who hold power. Our bodies are our weapons and direct action is our path".

This is what the four people who have locked themselves inside the mines of Itsasondo had to say about their act of "resistance" to the HSR. The statement was communicated to the press by fellow opponents of the mega infrastructure in a press conference in which they also warned of the dangers of the Ordizia-Itsasondo tunnel.

They reported that of the 37 surveys and test drillings that were meant to be done before the construction project, only one actually took place.

From inside the mines, the activists who have locked themselves in explained that the construction work is taking place in Mariaratz, Olaberria, San Martin, Berostegi and Itsasondo. "Near here, in the Mariaratz construction site, there are daily explosions... explosions which destroy the earth and everything on top of it. It's highly possible that the mines will collapse if the explosions and drillings continue, threatening the lives of these four people. Therefore, we demand the immediate stop of the works taking place".

The protesters have called on people to participate in the meetings that will take place every day at 19.30 in Itsasondo and in the demonstrations called for this Friday in various places and also in the protest march which will take place on Sunday, departing at 17.00 from the square of the town of Ordizia.

Anyone able to spread information and to express solidarity with this protest action in other parts of the world is asked to do so as soon as possible! The action of these four comrades must not remain isolated!


 http://www.sindominio.net/ahtez/?q=es

 http://www.avatartherevolution.com/en/gal


(Brief update: the construction company, the Basque Railway Service and the police have all refused to stop the explosions of the tunnel excavations, thereby endangering the lives of the four activists who are currently underground)

grod

Comments

Hide the following 5 comments

so who will stop uk condom from imposing high speed lunacy in uk

02.07.2010 02:05

so who will stop uk condom from imposing high speed rail lunacy in uk

notobigbusiness


different?

02.07.2010 09:09

high speed rail is planned to be done differently here than in other European countries. Yes, we'll have the needs of it being straight and therefore trashing nice places (it's planned to go through the Chilterns). But the last government certainly pledged not to do the things that happen elsewhere that make them a focus of opposition - cut other slower rail services, close stations, make it impossible not to take the high speed, and also charging insane prices. It is this marginalisation of all communities in between the main few high speed stations that is so socially destructive and opposed in other places. Despite the Madrid-Barcelona high speed line costing stupid amounts to take and doing all the above bad things, it has drastically cut the number of people flying that route, which is a good thing for us and future generations.

obs


Whatever happened ...

02.07.2010 09:23

... to that Bengali nutter and his Crossrail hole conspiracy?

Luddite watch


The lesser of two evils?

02.07.2010 11:08

I ask this in all naivete because I am not as clued up about the details of these issues as the protesters and author appear to be, so I am really curious about the choices we face:

long distance travel is still going to be a global economic requirement to service the megamachine and to provide that service aviation really took off (ouch!) but is very damaging in terms of emissions and particulate pollution (along with noise, cultural issues, socioeconomic disparities, etc) and is rightly being challenged on those grounds, and the argument seems to be gradually sinking in. The alternative will have to be something as fast and as convenient and high-speed rail would seem a logical option and one apparently with lower emissivity. How do they seemingly get it right in Japan and even China?

I appreciate the protest is anti-capitalist, but what options are worth considering bearing in mind that the capitalist model is going to continue to need humans as machine interface fodder and will need them to be able to move around in order to do just that?

Confused


Ken Livingstone, Simon Fletcher, Crossrail must disown racist post

04.07.2010 06:17





The racist post, saying 'Bengali nutter’, is a clear case for deletion.

So why is it still on the Indymedia site?

There has never been a 'Bengali nutter' on any campaign. Unless the racist who has made that reference is a fruitcake who is unable to identify themselves and be hailed away to a suitable unit for the overdue treatment.

The Campaign against Crossrail assault on the East End of London has been able to force the scrapping of the majority of the planned attacks.

If the racist nutter is meaning to attack the Khoodeelaar! Campaign for defending the East End of London then it [the racist nutter] should say so. He will then find that the Khoodeelaar! Campaign has NOT been one from one ethnic or racial or nationality group at all. And the community in East London is NOT a recognisably ‘Bengali’ one.

It is, for the records, a Bangladeshi one!

The racist nutter is not only ignorant of the facts; it [for we do not know if the racist has any gender like ordinary people have or if it is as neutered as its primitive post says it might be] is transparently illiterate. The evidence of CrossRail retreat over their plans has been a matter of public record for a good four years and four months now!

If a racist has to defend Crossrail then that says more about the inadequacies of the scheme than even the dignified defenders of the East End have reasonably imagined it to be!

Or may be the racist is CLOSER to the Crossrail tout Ken Livingstone than even Livingstone would have the guts to admit.

That racist nutter now writing anonymously comes across just like that self-confessed liar Matthew Parris who resorted to the desperate ‘warning’ that if G Brown didn’t commit £Billions to Crossrail then Livingstone should go it alone as an independent [that was before 2008 London elections for a mayor in the name of the people]. That was after Parris had attacked the constituents in “Brick Lane” for daring to kick out Oona King at the 2005 election and letting in George Galloway!

The challenge now is for all self-claimed anti-racists to declare their opposition to racist posts.

Will Livingstone disown the racist poster who has attacked the community in that post? Will Livingstone expressly distance himself from that racist?

Will the Crossrail Company and TfL and Boris Johnson – and Simon Fletcher- do the same and expressly say they totally distance and disassociate themselves from the racist attack post?

NotoracistsbackedCrossrail


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