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direct action
'Victory': Gas Drilling Project Paused After Greenpeace Occupies Platform in North Sea
"Today's events show that people power works!" a campaigner said. "Whether it is occupying a gas rig or challenging it in court, people will not be silent, we are standing up to the fossil fuel industry."
Jun 04, 2024
A Dutch court on Tuesday ordered a pause to a gas drilling initiative in the North Sea after Greenpeace activists occupied a platform owned by the company behind the project, leading the environmental group to declare "victory" as it pushes for an end to new fossil fuel infrastructure in Europe.
The activists sought to disrupt the work of Dutch energy company ONE-Dyas, which had just received the go-ahead for offshore drilling from the Dutch government last week and quickly sent the drilling platform to the site, which is about 12 miles from the German island of Borkum and straddles Dutch and German waters.
"The science is clear, we must stop digging and drilling for fossil fuels if we are to avoid the worst of climate chaos," Mira Jaeger, energy expert from Greenpeace Germany, said in a statement released earlier on Tuesday, before the court decision. "We cannot afford any new fossil fuel extraction projects. Not in the North Sea or anywhere else."
"Today's events show that people power works!" Jaeger said in another statement following the ruling. "Whether it is occupying a gas rig or challenging it in court, people will not be silent, we are standing up to the fossil fuel industry."
🔊VICTORY: The gas drilling platform currently occupied by @greenpeace_de and @greenpeaceNL activists has been ordered to stop their drilling activities by a Dutch court.
Resistance WORKS! #StopFossilGas https://t.co/MRhJZ2ZXiQ pic.twitter.com/5d6x2jzO6l
— Greenpeace International (@Greenpeace) June 4, 2024
Greenpeace, an environmental group that engages in nonviolent direct action, has previously occupied oil and gas rigs in the North Sea and elsewhere. Last year, the group's campaigners occupied a platform contracted by Shell, a multinational oil and gas company, as it made its way to work in U.K. waters.
The planned Borkum drilling project, which Greenpeace has said would threaten rocky reefs and a local nature reserve, has been the subject of a legal and regulatory fight in recent years. Environmental and community groups filed a lawsuit against it in Dutch court, and a judge halted the project for over a year starting in April 2023. However, following court-ordered changes, the Dutch state secretary for economic affairs and climate approved the project last week. On Monday, Offshore Energy, a trade publication, declared that the project, which it said involves an investment of more than $500 million, had "no more legal woes" and would produce gas by the end of the year. A Dutch official noted the importance of a domestic supply of natural gas in approving the project, Offshore Energy reported.
With the company moving quickly, Greenpeace activists aimed to block the installation of the platform on Tuesday. Five of the 21 who went to sea for the action occupied the platform, called Prospector 1, and tied themselves to pillars, according to Greenpeace. The occupation lasted 8 hours, ending when news came of the court ruling.
Tuesday's ruling suspended the approval granted by the Dutch state secretary for economic affairs, and is to be followed by a hearing on June 12. The decision came at the request of environmental and community groups, which submitted an application on Friday for "provisional relief." The groups aim to block the drilling initiative entirely, arguing that ONE-Dyas should abandon its "legal tricks" and "accept reality and abandon the project."
Greenpeace, which was one of the plaintiffs in the application, reiterated its demand on Tuesday that the project be permanently canceled, while calling for the E.U. to abandon all fossil fuel infrastructure projects.
"The Borkum project is just the tip of the iceberg: in Europe, fossil fuel companies are pushing European states into such massive, unnecessary investments just like TotalEnergies’ LNG terminal in France, or OMV’s Neptun Deep gas drilling project in Romania," the first Greenpeace statement said. "But the European Union can and must put its member states on a path away from fossil fuels, by banning new fossil fuel projects and investing in an energy system based on renewables and energy sufficiency."
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Protesters Arrested Disrupting Macy's Parade Over Genocide in Gaza
"What we are witnessing right now in Palestine is one of the greatest human rights issues of our time," said Seven Circles Alliance.
Nov 23, 2023
A small number of demonstrators were arrested on Thursday for disrupting the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Sixth Avenue in New York City to protest Israel's "ongoing ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians" in the Gaza Strip.
"Floats, marching bands, and the parade's iconic balloons were navigating around the protesters as cops moved in to make arrests," the New York Daily Newsreported. "Protestors clad in white jumpsuits, some emblazoned with the words 'Colonialism,' 'Militarism,' and 'Ethnic Cleansing' poured fake blood on one another and the roadway."
Taking credit for the direct action, Seven Circles Alliance said in a statement that the coalition of climate, social justice, and political activists is calling on the United States to "cease its support for Israel's occupation of Palestine" and for both the U.S. and Israel to recognize the International Criminal Court (ICC).
"A free Palestine and the liberation and decolonization of all people, everywhere is deeply linked with the climate movement," the alliance asserted. "If the powers of the West are unabashedly supporting genocide and ethnic cleansing, it is crystal clear that they will not budge an inch in addressing climate breakdown and preventing societal collapse. Climate is a human rights issue, and what we are witnessing right now in Palestine is one of the greatest human rights issues of our time."
The direction action wasn't the only expression of solidarity with Palestine during Thursday's parade. Someone riding on the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe float also held up a Palestinian flag.
Israeli airstrikes and raids in Gaza have killed more than 14,500 Palestinians, including over 6,000 children, since Israel declared war in response to a Hamas-led attack on October 7. The assault has also displaced about three-quarters of the besieged strip's 2.3 million residents and devastated civilian infrastructure.
Massive street protests around the world over the past several weeks have pressured political leaders to demand a cease-fire and path toward peace in Gaza, while genocide experts and other critics of Israel's war—including some Israelis—have advocated for action by the ICC.
Some U.S. lawmakers have also called for a cease-fire, but President Joe Biden has stressed his "unwavering" support for Israel and asked Congress to authorize $14.3 billion for the war effort, on top of the $3.8 billion in military aid that Israel already gets from the United States annually.
A four-day pause in fighting is scheduled to begin at midnight to allow for the release of 150 Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons as well as 50 hostages held by Hamas.
"A temporary pause in the violence is not enough," U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian American in Congress, said earlier this week. "We must move with urgency to save as many lives as possible and achieve a permanent cease-fire agreement."
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Barcelona Dockworkers Vow Not to Load Weapons for Israel or Any Conflict Zone
The move builds on a growing number of direct actions targeting weapons bound for Israel as its bombardment of Gaza has claimed more than 10,000 lives.
Nov 07, 2023
The union representing Barcelona's dockworkers promised Monday not to load or unload military materials onto any ship bound for Israel or another warzone where they could be used against civilians.
In their statement, the Organization of Port Stevedores of Barcelona, OEPB in Catalan, called for a cease-fire in Israel, Palestine, Ukraine, and every other global conflict.
"We have decided... not to allow shipping activity in our port that contains military equipment, with the sole purpose of protecting any civilian population in any territory," the union wrote. "No cause justifies sacrificing civilians."
OEPB said it was its duty as a workers' organization to "respect and vehemently defend" the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—"Human rights that appear to have been forgotten by the countries that have signed their Magna Carta, and that are now being violated in Ukraine, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and other parts of the planet."
The union's statement came as the death toll from Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip surpassed 10,000. Hamas also killed 1,400 in the October 7 attack on Israel that launched the current bout of open conflict, though Gaza has been under Israeli blockade for 16 years. At least 9,614 civilians have been killed in Ukraine between when Russia invaded on February 24, 2022, and September 10, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said.
In addition to calling for a cease-fire in all global hostilities, the OEPB called on the United Nations specifically to "cease its posture of complicity through inaction" and return to its mission of preserving international peace and security, protecting human rights, distributing humanitarian aid, supporting sustainable development and climate action, and protecting international rights.
"We, several unions active in ground logistics, call on our members not to handle any flights that ship military equipment to Palestine/Israel."
It's unsure how many weapons the OEPB's promise will actually stop from reaching their destination, according to Reuters. Spain exported 1.3 billion euros in military equipment during the first half of 2022, with 9 million of that sent to Israel. However, the Spanish government has said it does not plan to export any deadly weapons to Israel to use in its current attack on Gaza.
OEPB secretary Josep Maria Deop told Reuters Tuesday that the statement was largely symbolic and intended to encourage other Spanish ports to follow his union's example. But he said that military equipment did likely ship from Barcelona and that peace organizations could help the union pinpoint which vessels to avoid.
The move also builds on a growing number of direct actions targeting weapons bound for Israel. It came a week after four Belgian transport unions issued a statement urging their members not to handle Israel-bound military equipment, as Reuters reported at the time.
"While a genocide is under way in Palestine, workers at various airports in Belgium are seeing arms shipments in the direction of the war zone," the unions said.
"We, several unions active in ground logistics, call on our members not to handle any flights that ship military equipment to Palestine/Israel, like there were clear agreements and rules at the start of the conflict with Russia and Ukraine," their statement continued.
Protesters also attempted to block the MV Cape Orlando from leaving the ports of Oakland and Tacoma after receiving word it was being loaded with weapons destined for Israel. They delayed its progress for nine hours in Oakland on Friday and more than eight in Tacoma on Monday.
Also on Monday, more than 75 activists blocked the entrances to a Boeing plant in Missouri that manufactures bombs used by Israel in Gaza, as Middle East Eye reported. The plant had provided Israel with nearly 1,000 bombs including Small Diameter Bombs and Joint Direct Attack Munitions.
"We are joining millions of people across the U.S. and around the world in demanding an end to Israel's brutal assault on Gaza and its decades-long occupation of Palestine," Ellie Tang, an organizer with the anti-war group Dissenters, told Middle East Eye.
The protest, which also included members of the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee and Resist STL, prevented Boeing workers from entering the plant for a few hours Monday morning, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Members of Palestine Action in the U.K. and Palestine Action U.S. have also carried out several direct actions targeting weapons makers, in particular Elbit Systems, which is Israel's largest arms manufacturer. On Monday, Palestine Action blockaded an Elbit factory in Kent, after which three protesters were arrested. On Tuesday, they blocked off the entrance to Elbit headquarters in Bristol.
In Bristol, police arrested four protesters and took more than three hours to remove the blockade once they arrived, the group said.
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