Archive for 2006

Dec 29 2006

“Smelter will kill fishing industry”


Trinidad Express
29/12/2006

Errol McLeod yesterday bought fresh fish where he usually does-from a vendor at Otaheite Bay. But he feared it may not be long before he would not be able to do so. Read More

Dec 25 2006
2 Comments

Christmas Victory for Trinidadian anti-smelter movement


In his Christmas year-end review, Trinidadian Prime Minister Patrick Manning announced that he is to scrap his plans to build an Alcoa Aluminium smelter by the towns of Chatam and Cap de Ville, where local residents have fiercely campaigned against the government’s smelter plan. Read More

Dec 08 2006

A Trini Poem About the Smelters


For Better or for Worse??
Poem by Marcel, a Cedros resident

So, Mister Man, you’re giving us a Plant
Against our wishes- not the kind we want
Approaching with incentives and bright smiles
To destroy our plants for three square miles.
The fauna too, are going to be dead
‘Cause money Madness gone to someone’s head. Read More

Dec 06 2006

2006 Protest Camp at Snæfell, Kárahnjúkar and Reyðarfjörður


2006 Protest Camp
Snaefell camp 

 

Nov 18 2006

Aluminium Smelter Protesters Climb Cranes On-Site


illegal worksite

Over a dozen protesters of the Reydarfjördur aluminum smelter in east Iceland entered the building site this morning, and two of those have climbed 70-meter high building cranes, on which they have attached banners with slogans. The banner reads “ILLEGAL WORKSITE (ÓLÖGLEGT VINNUSVÆÐI) referring to the judgment of the Icelandic High Court which was still valid at the time of the action. RUV (Icelandic National Broadcast Service) reported that the banner read ‘Illegal Action’. Some would say there was quite a difference there. This was never corrected in spite of promises to do so. How convenient for ALCOA…

 

illegal worksite cu 

Just in case…
Ó-L-Ö-G-L-E-G-T
V-I-N-N-U-S-V-Æ-Ð-I! Read More

Nov 17 2006

Norsk Hydro Join the Aluminium Feeding Frenzy with 600.000 Tons


Reykjavik newspaper ‘Bladid’ reports that Norwegian oil and aluminium company Hydro (or Norsk Hydro as they are known in Iceland) and the Icelandic government met yesterday to discuss the possibility of building a 600,000 ton smelter in Iceland within the next eight years. The company’s representatives met with Iceland’s Minister of Industries Jón Sigurdsson yesterday to present their ideas, as Bladid reports.

However, Sigurdsson denied on Icelandic State Radio that the smelter plan was ever mentioned in the talks… How shady everything has become in the little aluminium republic. Read More

Nov 09 2006
1 Comment

‘Blood and bauxite’ by Chandra Siddan


Montreal Mirror
Nov 20-26.2003
Vol. 19 No. 23

kashipur dance 

 

Impoverished Indians fight ALCAN’s bid to open a mine in their backyard. Since this article was written the repression has been stepped up.
Read More

Nov 09 2006

Saving Iceland Protests in Spain


Saving Iceland protests in Spain

In Alicante, Spain, where Alcoa owns an aluminium factory, signs denouncing Alcoa’s presence in Iceland have appeared.  Graffiti and banners on the walls of Alcoa’s factory and all over Alicante have been appearing. All over the world people have risen up against the heavy industrial violence against the Icelandic wildernesses.

On the 30th of September there was a public action with people concentrating at the doors of the factory and a hand out of information in the center of Alicante. Read More

Oct 28 2006

Report from the Iceland / Trinidad Funeral march in London


The following is a report back from one of the people at the London protest against the heavy industrialisation of Iceland and Trinidad on the 27th of October 2006.

The demo was attended by about 40 people, not too bad for a weekday demo in inner city London (we chose to have the demo then so that we could get into the embassies.) Perhaps next time we will organize something on a weekend. About a quarter of the demo were Trinidadians. We started the event with an emotional funeral ceremony, with talks from an anti-dam activist who’se been involved in the anti-Narmada dam campaign (India) as well as the anti-Karahnjukar dam campaign (Iceland); Sue Doughty, former Liberal MP, talked about her attempts to get the UK parliament to ask the Icelandic state to reconsider its path of heavy industry; two Trinidadian speakers: talked about the neo-colonialist-liberal invasion by western corporations of the third world, and the beauty of the Cedros Peninsula and tragedy of the Aluminium development, respectively; then an Icelandic speaker who talked about the loss of the Icelandic Karahnjukar wilderness, and the future plans of heavy industry in Iceland. Read More

Oct 27 2006

Smelter Struggle: Trinidad Fishing Community Fights Aluminum Project


“What you got…..we don’t want,
what you’re selling…..we ain’t buying!
So no matter, how hard you’re trying,
we want no industrial wasteland in our yard”
(Anti-Smelter Warriors Anthem, chorus)

by Sujatha Fernandes, CorpWatch September 6th, 2006

The roads that wander through the southwestern peninsula of Trinidad pass small fishing villages, mangrove swamps, and coconut plantations; they skirt herds of buffalypso and reveal sheltered beach coves. This February, Alcoa signed an agreement in principle with the Trinidad and Tobago Government that threatens to fundamentally alter this gentle landscape. Plans by the Pittsburgh-based manufacturing company to build a large aluminum smelter have sparked criticism from local residents and environmentalists. Read More

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