Blockade actions on the Datteln-Hamm Canal take a stand against colonial exploitation through hard coal mining
“No coal ships come through here today.”
Blockade of the Datteln-Hamm Canal. (c) Christoph SchnĂĽll
More pictures here.
Lünen, October 07.10.2023th, 20, 00:XNUMX a.m – Climate activists from the Anti-Coal Network Still burning successfully end their blockade of the hard coal supply chain to the Lünen power plant on the Datteln-Hamm Canal. Activists used kayaks, road blockades and abseiling from a bridge to ensure that no coal could be transported to the power plant for several hours. According to the climate justice groups involved, the actions were intended to draw attention to the connection between fossil energy production in Germany and the exploitation of people and nature in the mining regions in Colombia.
Says this Lara Eckert: “Today we showed that anyone who continues to mine and import hard coal at the expense of people and the environment must expect our resistance. We join the courageous resistance of the people in the mining areas in northern Colombia and say: Stop! Not a single river, not a single field, not a single kindergarten must be sacrificed for the profit of large energy companies.”
In Germany, hard coal is used to produce fossil electricity. The import of coal from Colombia was recently boosted in the wake of the Ukrainian war and with the end of hard coal imports from Russia.
Juan Pablo Gutierrez, a delegate from the indigenous Yukpa who was involved in the action, sharply criticizes the German government's actions: “The federal government responded to the energy crisis along colonial lines. Corporations in the Global North are reaping the fat profits. The people in the mining areas pay with their health and their lives. We demand that the German government finally stop its murderous policy.”
Activists from Lützi leben, Ende Gelände, Last Generation, Sugar in the Tank, AusgeCO2hlt, Kappen met Kolen (Netherlands), Aufbaumen, Mujeres Guerreras (Colombia) and Somos Yukpa (Colombia) took part in the protest.
Goes to the broad action alliance Carla Rochel, press spokesperson from the Last Generation: “Every day that hard coal continues to be mined and burned, the climate catastrophe destroys the livelihoods of people and animals. With today's action we have proven that together we can send an effective signal. We will always counter fundamental and human rights violations, exploitation and destruction with global solidarity and resolute disobedience.”
Contact and further information:
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Press contact on site: 0163 3393 487
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Website: stillburning.net
Check out Still Burning's flickr account Photos of current and past actions: www.flickr.com/photos/184829975@N06/