---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Krystian Woznicki <[email protected]> Date: Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 6:54 PM Subject: [bgcon] "Criminalization of Climate Activism" To: <[email protected]> Hi, we would like to draw your attention to the ongoing criminalization of climate activism. Of course, this is not a new story. Environmental activism has been considered as causing 'terror' for many decades already. However, nowadays we are facing a new movement of movements – an almost unprecedented mobilization of civil society. And the function of criminalization gains a particular relevance in this context, last but not least as a way to destroy solidarity among climate activists. At the MORE WORLD conference, one workshop group dedicated itself to a project on the causes of #HambiBleibt – a protest movement against coal mining in Germany whose members are facing criminal charges. The MORE WORLD workshop group in question produced a solidarity video with Sudesh Mishra from Fiji: https://projekte.berlinergazette.de/workshops/2019/11/01/climate-action-we-d... You can donate to the #HambiBleibt initiative here: https://hambachforest.org/?noredirect=en_US Yesterday an email by a distant friend and neighbor of the Berliner Gazette came in: artist and activist Oliver Ressler, who is one of 90 people who participated at a blockade of Bílina coal mine in Northern Bohemia in the Czech Republic in June 2018, against who the company Severočeské doly ("North Bohemian Coal Mines") filed a lawsuit at the City Court in Chomutov. There is a fundraising campaign running to cover the cost of the court case and attorneys, so please feel free to share and donate: https://www.darujme.cz/projekt/1201737?locale=en This is Oliver's statement that has been published in Czech translation on social media as part of the defense campaign: "In times of climate breakdown, when the Amazonas is on fire and Venice under water, when the Arctic ice is melting and ecosystems collapsing, the ongoing extraction from the Earth of coal and gas must be seen for what it is: a crime against humanity. The blockading of coal mines and other fossil infrastructure is therefore an entirely legitimate form of self-defense: an attempt to protect humanity, ecosystems and all forms of life on planet from even greater damage. Whatever particular reasons led people to join the blockade, they are sure to have been good reasons. Speaking personally, my reason is that as an artist and film-maker I have followed the climate justice movement for the last couple of years, documenting the ever-evolving forms of mass civil disobedience and amplifying the voices of climate activists in films and other artworks. To be among such committed people is constantly inspiring. I hope my work can help at least in some small way to share these shining moments of climate action with people who are not yet part of it. My involvement in the blockade of the Bílina coal mine in 2018 resulted in the film “Everything's coming together while everything's falling apart: Limity jsme my” (4K, 10 min., 2019), which is the fifth film in a cycle of films on climate action. It can be watched in exhibitions, biennials and screenings, or through following this link: https://vimeo.com/293150164 (password: Northern Bohemia)" Oliver Ressler ([email protected]) Stay tuned, Krystian (for the BG team) -- -------------------------------------------------------------- BG – Berliner Gazette | since 1999 | http://berlinergazette.de -------------------------------------------------------------- MORE WORLD – How can we cooperate across borders to tackle climate change? BG’s 20th anniversary conference – October 10-12, 2019 – ZK/U https://more-world.berlinergazette.de -------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ [email protected] mailing list %(list_address)s https://ml-cgn05.ispgateway.de/mailman/listinfo/digi-yards_berlinergazette.d... -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/