Direct Action

An Historic Direct Action In A Forest Outside Atlanta

March 19, 2023 Unicorn Riot. Resist! Atlanta, Cop City, Direct Action, Police, Sabotage

DeKalb County, Georgia – In broad daylight Sunday, March 5, a group of about three hundred masked people wearing mostly camouflage and black clothing stormed the main police security outpost within the Weelaunee Forest at the proposed construction site of the ‘Cop City’ project. Demonstrators tore up silt fencing, and set an office trailer, two UTVs, a mobile surveillance tower, and a front end loader afire as police ran for cover. The group hurled rocks and fireworks at the retreating police, who repositioned to a smaller outpost across Key Road SE and worked furiously to close a gate behind them to establish a barrier between themselves and the advancing group.

Climate Scientist Arrested For Demanding Stronger Climate Action

March 4, 2023 Kerry Smith, Green Left. Resist! Australia, climate crisis, Direct Action, Scientist Activism

Five climate activists, including grandparents, a climate research scientist, were arrested on February 28 for blockading headquarters of the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA), the umbrella organisation for gas and oil corporations. It was the second day of coordinated actions across Australia. More than 30 supporters of Extinction Rebellion ACT and Stop Fossil Fuel Subsidies gathered at APPEA to disrupt and show solidarity with Lismore’s flood victims — 6000 of whom are still waiting to hear about rehoming, a year on. Activists barricaded the front doors with lifeboats while others dropped a banner which read: “We’re drowning in fossil fuels” and “You can’t offset a climate crisis”.

ILWU Alums Tackle Labor Power And Strategy Questions

February 28, 2023 Steve Early, Popular Resistance. Strategize! Direct Action, Labor Movement, Solidarity, Supply Chain, Unions

Workers in the logistics industry often make headlines when their handling of goods is disrupted by pandemic conditions or labor conflicts. Thanks to global supply chains, many consumer products are now manufactured in one country, shipped by sea, rail, or air to another country, unloaded and trucked to huge distribution centers (aka “warehouses”), and then delivered to retail store chains or directly to customers at home by on-line retailers like Amazon. When workers in any one link in this supply chain have a fight with their boss—on the docks, at a trucking company or railroad, or even in a single newly organized warehouse—their chances of winning are greater if they occupy a strategic “choke point” or can enlist labor allies, at home or abroad, who do.

Forest Defenders Vow Resistance After Court Okays Phase I Of ‘Cop City’

February 24, 2023 Candice Bernd, Truthout. Resist! Cop City, Direct Action, Georgia, Police

Georgia - The Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia, issued an order last week denying three plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order to halt clearing and construction work at the forested site of a planned police training facility that activists in Atlanta have dubbed “Cop City.” The ruling paves the way for construction activity even as the DeKalb County Zoning Board of Appeals considers the merits of the plaintiffs’ legal appeal of the project’s land disturbance permit. The 85-acre, $90 million police militarization and training complex is being spearheaded by the Atlanta Police Foundation.

Lützerath Bleibt!

February 22, 2023 By Dennis Schüpf and Regina Ruete, Resilience. Resist! climate crisis, Coal Mining, Direct Action, Germany

On the 14th of January 2023, a large-scale demonstration of around 35,000 people proved that the evicted village of Lützerath (Germany) has reignited the climate movement’s determination. Several organizations converged to express their resentment against lignite mining, including climate activist Greta Thunberg. Lignite is the energy source that has the largest climate impact, and the Rhenish lignite mining area is the largest cause of CO2 emissions in Europe. Russia’s war in Ukraine, however, has raised concerns regarding Germany’s energy security, and the country has turned back to coal for the short term.

Rebecca Solnit: Hope Amid Climate Chaos

February 22, 2023 Stella Levantasi, DeSmog. Strategize! climate crisis, Direct Action, Energy

From throwing soup against paintings, to blocking roads, to striking for the climate, to stopping private jets from taking off, activists worldwide are pushing harder than ever for action to address global warming. And they are delivering a clear and consistent message: What has long been accepted as the status quo — expanding fossil fuels, investing in polluting industries, oil and gas propaganda, greenwashing, climate change denial, governmental delay in climate action — is simply not acceptable anymore. The climate movement is working incessantly to make this clear to everyone.

Labor Power And Strategy Helps Organizers Think About Chokepoints

February 18, 2023 Peter Olney and Rand Wilson, Labor Notes. Strategize! Chokepoints, Direct Action, Labor Movement, Worker Rights and Jobs

John Womack is well-known in the United States as one of the foremost historians of the Mexican revolution, as the author of the seminal Zapata and the Mexican Revolution. However, his writings on strategic sectors and strategic workers have not received the same attention. In the current organizing upsurge, Womack’s thoughts on these subjects, which he shares in the new book, Labor Power and Strategy, have a lot to offer a new generation of union activists seeking to run smart, strategic, and effective campaigns. And fortunately, in our just-in-time, next-day delivery, consumer economy, there is no shortage of opportunities for identifying chokepoints and taking advantage of supply chain issues to build labor’s power and promote solidarity.

As Pressure Mounts Against Cop City, Mass Mobilization On March 4-11

February 17, 2023 Defend The Atlanta Forest. Resist! Atlanta, Cop City, Direct Action, Georgia, Police

Atlanta, Georgia - Nearly two years after the beginning of the movement to Defend the Atlanta Forest, Georgia State Patrol officers murdered an activist found alone in the forest. Repressive forces continue their legacy of attacking civil rights protesters in Atlanta, supposedly “The City Too Busy to Hate.” The people of Atlanta have had enough. We will no longer accept “The Atlanta Way,” the backroom deals made between corporations and those in city government who pledge to support their constituents. Atlanta is not for sale. We are fighting against corruption and tyranny, we are fighting to defend public space and the right to protest.

Building The Movement To Stop Cop City: Three Theories Of Victory

February 12, 2023 Unity and Struggle, It's Going Down. Strategize! Atlanta, Cop City, Direct Action, Georgia, Police

The struggle in Atlanta’s Weelaunee forest and against Cop City has been waged on many fronts: treesits, rallies, community meetings, targeted property destruction, lawsuits. Recently, police attacks and the assassination of Tortuguita dealt many of us a devastating blow. But the choice by Mayor Dickens to continue with Cop City in the face of mounting nationwide opposition also poses risks for the Atlanta ruling class. If we size up our enemy’s vulnerabilities, and strike effectively, we can win. For the last two years, a diverse movement has defended the last forested land in metro Atlanta and prevented the construction of “Cop City,” a massive police training complex slated to be built in a Black working class area of Dekalb county.

Greenpeace Activists Occupy Shell Oil Platform On North Sea Bound Vessel

February 4, 2023 Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch. Resist! climate crisis, Direct Action, Environment, Greenpeace, Shell Oil

An international quartet of Greenpeace-affiliated climate activists have boarded a Shell-contracted vessel bound for the oil fields of the North Sea with a simple message for the fossil fuel company: “Stop Drilling. Start Paying.” Carlos Marcelo Bariggi Amara of Argentina, Yakup Çetinkaya of Turkey; Imogen Michel of the UK and Usnea Granger of the U.S. managed to board the White Marlin at 8 a.m. Tuesday and went on to occupy an oil and gas platform that will be used to unlock eight new oil wells. Fellow activists Yeb Saño from the Philippines and Waya Pesik Maweru from Indonesia also approached the vessel but were unable to board. “Shell must stop drilling and start paying,” Saño, who is also the executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said in a press release. “We’re taking action today because when Shell extracts fossil fuels it causes a ripple of death, destruction and displacement around the world, having the worst impact on people who are least to blame for the climate crisis.”

Greta Thunberg Detained At German Village Menaced by Coal Mine

January 19, 2023 Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch. Resist! climate crisis, Coal, Direct Action, Germany, Greta Thunberg, Mining

Greta Thunberg was one of the climate activists detained Tuesday during the struggle to protect the German village of Lützerath from being swallowed by an expanding coal mine, the second time this week that the Swedish climate campaigner has been detained during the protests. Images revealed Tuesday showed German police physically carrying Thunberg away from the edge of part of the mine, as DW reported. Police told Reuters that she was being held with other demonstrators who would all be released later in the day. “Greta Thunberg was part of a group of activists who rushed towards the ledge. However, she was then stopped and carried by us with this group out of the immediate danger area to establish their identity,” a spokesperson for the police of Aachen, Germany, told Reuters.

Will The Weather Eventually Provoke Radical Action On Climate?

January 18, 2023 Paul Rogers, Resilience. Educate! climate crisis, Direct Action, Extreme weather, Global North

With two world summits on the global environment at the end of last year – COP27 and COP15 – there should have been the prospect of an immediate impact on the looming disaster of climate breakdown. In reality, results were limited at best. COP27 on climate change did agree to a ‘loss and damage’ fund that acknowledged the role of long-term emitters in the industrial world and the need for them to aid countries across the Global South. Funding was proposed for accelerating the transition to renewable energy while responding to the impact of current and future climate disasters. What was lacking was any firm timescale and, even more importantly, COP27 did not secure an across-the-board commitment in the Global North to rapid decarbonisation.

Six Arrested Protesting At An East Boston Electrical Substation Site

January 18, 2023 Miriam Wasser, WBUR. Resist! Boston, climate crisis, Direct Action, Environment

Boston, Massachusetts - Six environmental activists were arrested early Tuesday morning while protesting the construction of a controversial electrical substation in East Boston. Jule Manitz of Extinction Rebellion, the group that organized the demonstration, said the group got to the site around 6:45 a.m., and within a few minutes, several Boston police officers arrived. “We were attempting to unfurl two banners and were barely able to do that [before] a lot of cops showed up,” she said. “People were arrested right away.” Manitz lives in Chelsea, about a mile away from the substation site, and has taken part in several protests over the years. She said she was surprised to see people arrested on the sidewalk and in a nearby parking lot — two areas where people have protested peacefully in the past.

Germany Plans To Destroy This Village For A Coal Mine

January 14, 2023 Laura Paddison, CNN. Resist! climate crisis, Coal Mining, Direct Action, Germany

It’s a stark image in 2023: Police in riot gear flooding a village, pulling people out of houses and tearing down structures to make way for the arrival of excavating machines to access the rich seam of coal beneath the ground. Since Wednesday, as rain and winds lashed the tiny west German village of Lützerath, police have removed hundreds of activists. Some have been in Lützerath for more than two years, occupying the homes abandoned by former residents after they were evicted, most by 2017, to make way for the mine. More than 1,000 police officers are involved in the eviction operation. Most of the buildings have now been cleared, but some activists remained in treehouses or huddled in a hole dug into the ground as of Friday, according to Aachen city police. Protest organizers expect thousands more people to pour into the area on Saturday to demonstrate against its destruction, though they ultimately may not be able to access the village.

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