Land and animal justice across Europe (Direct Action News, 9 to 15 Jan 2023)

1. 1. 1. 1. Right to Roam announces a “wild wassail to reclaim the commons”
         2. Police start evicting anti-coal mine resistance in German village
         3. Insulate Britain claims ‘civil resistance works’ after MP report
         4. Right to Roam calls for action on Dartmoor after high court ruling
         5. People in Sweden are sabotaging the wolf cull

Right to Roam announces a “wild wassail to reclaim the commons”

The Right to Roam campaign is attempting to break the stranglehold that private landowners have over England. And it claimed nine acts of mass trespass throughout 2022. The land justice campaign will hold a wassailling festival at Stanton Drew Stone Circles in Somerset on 29 January. It describes wassailing as a “cider festival” intended to celebrate the following year’s harvest. Check in on the eventbrite page for further details and updates.

Police start evicting anti-coal mine resistance in German village

Police carried out a sweeping eviction on people in the German village of Lützerath on 11 January. Anti-coal mine protesters have occupied the village for nearly two years after it was earmarked for destruction in order to create a new lignite coal mine. Lignite coal is the most polluting type of coal and the German government agreed in November 2022 to phase out coal-generated energy by 2030. Nonetheless, authorities are pushing ahead with the Lützerath mine.

Since they started occupying the village, protesters have occupied existing houses and built many of their own. The eviction process itself was largely resisted through non-confrontational means including tripods, occupations and underground tunnels. According to anarchist publisher Ill Will Editions, some people also chose more confrontational methods including “Molotov cocktails, fireworks, and burning barricades“. Solidarity actions outside of Lützerath also took place including blockading the heaquarters of energy company RWE, who will operate the mine, and the burning of Strabag lorries in Hamburg. At the time of publishing, the resistance and its eviction continue.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism exposed HSBC as the financier of the new coal mine on 11 January.

Insulate Britain claims ‘civil resistance works’ after MP report

BBC News said that a report produced by the Environmental Audit Committee on 5 January called for the government to spend more money on, amongst other measures, insulating homes. Insulate Britain celebrated the news on 12 January, with the report reflecting demands that the group has made since its outset. Insulate Britain also said on 12 January that a jury found four people involved with Insulate Britain not guilty. They took part in an M4 blockade on 1 October 2022. “Civil resistance gets results!” the group claimed.

Right to Roam calls for action on Dartmoor after high court ruling

In a busy week for land justice campaign group Right to Roam, it has announced a second action in January. Dartmoor was the only place in England and Wales that had an assumed right to camp without asking the landowner’s permission. But Alexander Darwall, who owns much of Dartmoor, brought a high court case to clarify the law. The judge ruled on 13 January that people do not have a “right to pitch tents or otherwise make camp overnight on Dartmoor Commons”.

Right to Roam responded in an Instagram post saying:

Right to Roam is launching a full fight back against this outrageous decision.  We will not back down. We will not let Darwall’s entitled, misanthropic behaviour destroy the only remaining scrap of land where we are permitted to sleep freely under the sky.

The group has called on people to gather at the Dartmoor-based Cock Inn pub on 21 January.

People in Sweden are sabotaging the wolf cull

Hunt Saboteurs Sweden (HSS) are taking action against the country’s wolf cull. Since 2 January, shooters have had the approval of the government to shoot up to 75 wolves over the course of a month. It is the largest cull to date. The mandate comes on the back of claims wolves are a danger to livestock and residents. However, as Politico reported on 5 January, a 75-wolf cull is hugely damaging to the country’s wolf population, which stands at only 460. Furthermore, as HSS explained, there are no recorded cases of wolves injuring humans in the country. The sab group said it has sabotaged the cull since it began on 2 January.

Featured image via Inside Edition/YouTube