arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Here's some reports on actions in Holland recently.
This Friday, midsummer June 21st, will be the climax of this month of ecological insurgence in the lowlands. Details, legal info, maps, accomodation etc. on http://www.groenfront.nl

1) Bicyclists take over parking garages (17-6)
2) GroenFront! sabotages Betuwelijn open day (15-6)
3) ELF gets botanical gardens 'drunk' (13-6)
4) GroenFront! occupies Schiphol Airport construction site (4-6)
5) Return to Africa Port - Starbucks is next! (25-5)

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Press Release

GroenFront! Bicylists Take Over Utrecht Parking Garages
Friday Massive Eco Streetparty Against Spanish EU Summit
Utrecht, June 17 2002

About fifty bicyclists demonstrated today in Utrecht against the parkingtumor in the city. Various rounds were ridden in the garages in the Strosteeg and Catharijnesingel. At the St. Jacobsstraat the garage was shut down by security personel and no car could go in or out. For Friday, midsummer, GroenFront! announces a massive 'Rave Against the Machine' when tenthousands will also converge to act against the EU Summit in Sevilla. Also, with the streetparty, GroenFront! celebrates its sixth birthday.

The bicycle demonstration ended on the Lucasbolwerk, where the streetparty will begin. Under the town green a new parking garage might be built. Trees will die a slow death because their roots will be cut. The garage will draw an increasing amount of cars to the city centre. And more planned garages are on the drawing board, such as under the central station where there's now a bicycle cellar. GroenFront! thinks this money had better go to free public transport.

To celebrate its sixth birthday, GroenFront! called for a month of ecological insurgence in June. Up untill now, there have been protests against the now constructed but barren and empty Africa port near Ruigoord, Amsterdam. A week later construction to expand Schiphol airport has been stopped for a day. The ELF took action against a GE bacteria field at Utrecht University. Last weekend GroenFront! sabotaged a Betuwelijn construction site open day near Pannerden.

"We wish to express ourselves forcefully, to underline the gravity of the situation we called for a month of ecological insurgence. Species are going extinct, air thickens with pollution and the last non-industrialised space in Holland is threatened. The situtation is becoming more and more instable: for example, climate change is bringing us more and more parasites. Many effects are unpredictable, unnumerable are yet unknown," says Joris van den Bosch, involved in the protests.

On June 21st, midsummer 1996, GroenFront! occupied a construction site to halt construction of the Panamabridge in the Indische neighbourhoud in Amsterdam. That was its first action, inspired by the international EarthFirst! network. A long list of actions followed to protest road construction (A12, A4, A2), bridges (Second Lek bridge at Vianen, Panama bridge), port (Africa port near Ruigoord), airport (Schiphol) and railroad (Betuwelijn) construction or expansion. GroenFront! has also taken up direct action and genetic engineering, climate change and nuclear waste transports.

The streetparty commences at 14.00 h. at the Lucasbolwerk, Utrecht. A map and other directions can be found on http://www.groenfront.nl.

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PRESSRELEASE -- June 15, 2002

This morning, the Dutch EarthFirst! support group received the following statement.

GroenFront! back against Betuwelijn
Eco-Activists Sabotage Open Day

Last night the radical environmental network GroenFront! visited the construction site of the Betuwelijn tunnel under the Pannerden Canal at Doorneburg, and left a momento to all nature murdered there, for an open day at the site planned for today. The chaos seems to have misplaced some equipment.

The builders and project organisation Betuweroute have organised an open day on the occasion of turning around drillhead 'Maxima'. Such events are used by Betuweroute to show off with technical novities and to tell fairy tales on the future of rail cargo transport. This generally involves a complete negation of nature and homes destrroyed and the imminent financial debacle. Visitors can contemplate these slogans that have been painted on the site: "Betuweline, Dead Track", "Nature strikes back, GroenFront! lends a hand," and "No compromise in defense of mother earth".

The tunnel under the Pannerden Cannal is probably the most harmul link in the trajectum. North of the river lies nature reserve Kandia. The tunne; exits right in the middle of it. Kandia houses various rare species including the 'kamsalamander'.

In this month of ecological insurgence GroenFront! returns to it's roots. The last weeks saw actions at Ruigoord and Schiphol. In the summer of 1999, GroenFront! tried to set up a protest site in Kandia but this was roughly evicted by police after a week. Later the construction site for the tunnel was occupied twice. In the nearby village Angeren a house was squatted to stop it from being demolished in the 'spring offensive' of 2000, but it was violently evicted immediately. Eight squats were held by GroenFront! on the Betuwe during 1998-2000. The eviction in February lasted two days and required 800 riot policemen.

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ELF GETS BOTANICAL GARDENS DRUNK
Amsterdam, 13 juni 2002

In the night of June 12-13, Eco activists of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) have disinfected a genetically altered field trial with "elvenwine" in Utrecht. The trial, situated in the Botanical Gardens of the Utrecht University, has supposedly been destroyed. "The genetically modified bacteria have deceased because of us spilling our distilled elvenwine," says the ELF in a statement delivered to action magazine Ravage.

The ELF also states: "We had a bit of a party a week or so before midsummer, and those gardens are the only thing that's a bit nice in the concrete apocalyps of De Uithof [the main campus of the Utrecht University]. It went down alright and it turned out to work. Maybe we'll try it a again for midsummer! So girls and boys, have a new moon party on those weird mutant fields, oh and there was the eco insurgence month that we agree upon."

The group apparantly refers to the 'month of ecological insurrection' called for by GroenFront!. The group ends their statement with words that characterise the ELF: "No Compromise in Defense of Mother Earth!"

The Earth Liberation Front is an international radical environomental movement with the purpose of committing ecologically inspired sabotage, to ecomically damage polluters.

Action Magazine Ravage
Van Ostadestraat 233n
1073 TN Amsterdam
telefoon 020-6761773
fax: 020-6730595
http://www.antenna.nl/ravage

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GroenFront! Occupies Schiphol Airport Crane
Schiphol, 4 juni 2002

Press release

Early this morning the radical ecological action network GroenFront! occupied a construction crane that's set to build a new docking pier for Schiphol Amsterdam Airport. Work has been stopped. The activists protest expansion of the airport, the largest single source of CO2 emission in The Netherlands. The action is the second in a 'month of ecological insurgence' that the network has announced on the occasion of it's sixth birthday this midsummer.

The large blue crane, near arrival hall 3 of the airport, is essential for the construction of an eighth docking pier, necessary to keep up with the increase in flights. To the crane banners have been attached saying Stop Jet Expansion and Nature Will Strike Back. March 5th of this year, GroenFront! also painted the words Nature Strikes Back, GroenFront! Lends a Hand on one of the airports radar towers.

"For us, expansion should have stopped long ago," says Joris van den Bosch, a GroenFront! activist. "We can go on provoking nature by laying out more concrete and sending more planes in the air. But nature won't allow for this and will strike back, for example with climate change. Or with cancer, astma - all of that increases with the growth of Schiphol."

In the past GroenFront! also protested expansion of the airport. A fifth landing strip was dug up in transport minister Netelenbos' garden. A house that was to be demolished for the expanding airport was squatted, to be evicted a week later during an anti-Schiphol demonstration in The Hague.

This action is the second in a month of ecological insurgence. A month of direct ecological action in the run up to midsummer, June 21st. On this day there is a Rave Against the Machine in Utrecht, with a link to Sevilla, Spain, where at that moment will be protests against the EU summit. This day, six years ago, was the first succesful GroenFront! site occupation.

GroenFront! is a name that radical eco-activists use for nonviolent direct action. GroenFront! is the Dutch branch of EarthFirst! GroenFront! and EarthFirst! are networks rather then organisations, and have no leaders.

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Return to Africa Port - Starbucks is Next
Africaport/Ruigoord/Amsterdam, May 24-25, 2002

To kick of a month of ecological insurgence, activists returned to the tiny town of Ruigoord, where after five years the construction of the Africaport is completed. In 1997, this project was the first in the nineties to be confronted with a major wave of ecological direct action including a treesit camp and a green fort. This year, after a reunion, activists constructed a raft and floated to the location of the old camp. There trainings and workshops took place such as 'how to occupy a Starbucks construction site.' Starbucks is the only company taking an interest in the otherwise empty port and wants to build it's European distribution centre there.