Why is road building back on the agenda after the infamous protests against road building in the 1990s forced a dramatic turn around in government transport policy away from building roads? Why is the government following yet again a “predict and provide” model, and allowing for massive traffic growth, when road transport contributes 20 per cent of UKCO2 emissions? What is being done about this?
In the 1990s the then Conservative government launched what they termed “the largest road…
Congratulations to local campaigners working to stop the planned Stansted airport expansion. At a packed local planning meeting on 29 November, Uttlesford District Council voted unanimously against the plans of airport operator BAA, which would have seen an additional 80,000 flights per year. Speaking after the decision, Peter Sanders of the Stop Stansted Expansion campaign said, “BAA's plans would have had an appalling impact on this predominantly rural area, as well as generating the…
For several years campaigners have been working to protect the ancient Sussex woodland at Titnore, just outside Worthing, as a proposed 875 new homes and associated road-widening scheme threatens 265 old growth trees.
Despite the efforts of police and private security to intimidate and make life difficult, a camp has been sustained on the development site for the past four months in an attempt to defend the woodland through occupation. At the end of August however, campers lost…
Aimed at people who are fed up with barefaced lies from politicians, big business and the media, and who have had enough of a world where corporate profit comes before life and dignity, Earth First! invites those who want to share ideas on direct action for “people and the planet” to its Summer Gathering from 16 to 20 August.
The gathering will include workshops, discussions, outings, and entertainment. Workshops already planned include kids' workshops, legal workshops, discussions…
On Saturday 10 June, thousands of cyclists around the world participated in the 2006 World Naked Bike Ride.
Protesting against oil dependency, celebrating humanity and having a good cycle round town, naked cyclists and their colourful props (from flowers and masks to coffee-cup cock-holders) took to the streets in their droves. Perhaps the biggest set of rides to date, there seems no lack of enthusiasm for going au natural for the day. Rides took place in at least 50 cities…
For the past nine months, activists in Southend have been occupying a piece of land scheduled for destruction as part of the #21.5m F5 road scheme.
It is estimated that the scheme will shave a mere 2.5 minutes off the average journey, and it has been controversial since first proposed in the mid-1970s.
Campers have been busy building tree platforms and digging tunnels in a bid to delay possible eviction. PN had a chat with camp resident Ant in June and he said they'd really…
Alien penguins, thought-powered spacecraft and some doddery members of Green Peas race through this children's book to stop an evil fast food empire. Marcellus Guzzle, despot of the toadburger chain, and his henchmen will murder anyone who gets in his way.
While his dreams of ecological disasters and unlimited financial profits seem to be coming true, an unlikely adversary appears on the scene. Eddy Tumble is just a fat 14-year-old who loves fast food until he dies at the dinner-…
The Mole is fascinated by some of the strange cults found above ground. You might have noticed one which has been particularly prominent in recent weeks, which seems to be very into S&M imagery (that's S&M as in sado-masochism, not as in the abbreviation for what's left of Yugoslavia).
For what else is the innocent observer to make of models and pictures of a grisly 2000-year-old method of execution being flaunted everywhere? [“Jesus died for his own sins - not mine!” -Ed.]…
Warfare has dramatically impacted forests throughout history. Between 2000 and 1200 BC, the ancient Assyrians burned woodlands as a military tactic, as did the Greek and Roman armies. Techniques changed little until the twentieth century, when more sophisticated and destructive technology was rapidly developed and deployed.
France pioneered the aerial bombardment of forests with incendiaries in the Rif Mountains of Morocco during the 1921-26 uprising, and napalm, supplied by the US,…
At Easter, around 100 protesters visited the Lake Cowal Gold Project inNew South Wales, Australia, in protest at the environmental damage caused by cyanide used in the mining process, and in support of the claim of the Wiradjuri Nation, on whose traditional lands the mine resides. Work was reportedly halted for five hours and there were eight arrests. One of the arrestees called the mine a “desecration of the Wiradjuri Sacred heartland and an environmental disaster”. This is just one of many…
The New Internationalist's mini books are packed with quotes, cartoons, photographs and nuggets of information, which makes them ideal for dipping into. These three titles pursue pacifist, environmental and animal rights agendas as one would expect from this magazine group, run by a co-op. The New Internationalist was originally sponsored by Oxfam, Christian Aid and the Cadbury and Rowntree Trusts, and still focuses on poverty and inequality.
Although most of the quotes support an…
Back in December, The Mole surfaced at London's City Hall - the glass monstrosity near Tower Bridge, home of ex-red Ken Livingstone. It was a “peace reception”, and guest of honour was US “peace mom” Cindy Sheehan - who's become a peace campaigner since her son was killed whilst taking part in the US military occupation of Iraq.
Her sincerity is not in doubt. But The Mole couldn't forget the strictures of Jeff Cloves in his column in the final issue of Nonviolent Action a…
In December and January activists from environmental groups Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd battled with a Japanese whaling fleet in the ocean off the coast of Antarctica.
Each year Japan carries out its “scientific” whaling programme in the Antarctic and North Pacific. The 100-day hunt for Minke and endangered Fin whales is illegal and violates international conservation regulations.
The 2005/6 hunt began when six Japanese ships reached their destination off the coast of…
The Saving Iceland campaign began in 2003, when the Icelandic government bypassed a series of laws in order to allow the national power company, Landsvirkjun, to build a gigantic hydroelectric dam, now being constructed in the country's eastern highlands.
The National Planning Agency originally refused to grant permission to the first proposal in 2001 due to the irreversible negative environmental impact the dam would have. Incredibly, the then environment minister (whose only…
Recent months have seen an upsurge in activity within the road protest movement, particularly in Scotland, reinforcing existing camps and campaigns - such as the ongoing occupation of Bilston Wood since 2002 and a legal challenge brought by Friends of the Earth to the extension of the M74 - and establishing new camps such as Dalkeith, near Edinburgh and, in southern England, at Camp Bling in Southend.
The Dalkeith bypass was first discussed in 1992 and approval was finally given in…
