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Solidarity Demonstration at the Alcoa European Headquarters in Switzerland

Actions | ALCOA | Arms Industry | Corruption | Landsvirkjun | Saving Iceland

Click here for a video from the demonstration

A letter from our friends in Switzerland
GENEVA 26TH MARCH 2008

Swiss demo 2

Motivated by other actions that have taken place all over Europe against heavy industry and by the inspiring presentations of Saving Iceland made by Icelandic activists this winter in Switzerland, we organised a demonstration, creating a new group of this international campaign in Geneva.

Saving Iceland Conference Declaration 2007

ALCOA | Amazon | Arms Industry | Australia | Century Aluminum | Corruption | Democracy deficit/Repression | Ecology | Economic | Greenwash | Icelandic Alloys-Elkem | India | Jamaica | Landsvirkjun | Laws/Treaties | Malaysia | Media bias | Norsk Hydro | Pollution | R & D Carbon | Rio Tinto-Alcan | Saving Iceland | South Africa | Surinam | Trinidad & Tobago

This declaration was made in consensus by dozens of people attending the first Saving Iceland conference, 'Global Consequences of Heavy Industry and Large Dams' on July 7-8, 2007. [Video report part 1 | 2]
Photo gallery of the conference.

We are gathered in Olfus, Iceland, we are people from more than fifteen different countries and five continents. We are here to share our experiences of heavy industry, dams, transnational companies and other expressions of globalisation, in Iceland, in Brazil, in South Africa, in Denmark, in Canada, in England, Germany, India, Trinidad and Tobago and many other countries.
We are not professional protestors. Unlike the well-paid corporate lobbyists and spindoctors that try to sell you heavy industry, none of us gets payed to be here. We are ordinary people, we are teachers, nurses, youth workers, students, shopworkers, fathers, mothers. We are here because we care. The Icelandic wilderness is unique. It is the largest in Europe and one of the few wild places left on this continent. It’s beauty and uniqueness and fire and ice are a heritage we must preserve and must defend. It is the heritage and responsibility and privilege of all Icelanders, and all Europeans, and all humans...

Defending the Wild in the Land of Fire and Ice - Saving Iceland Takes Action

Amazon | Arms Industry | Democracy deficit/Repression | Ecology | Greenwash | Landsvirkjun | Pollution | Saving Iceland | South Africa | Trinidad & Tobago
raveroof

Jaap Krater
Earth First Journal
3 August, 2007

Summer of Resistance in Iceland - An overview

This year, Iceland saw its third Summer of direct action against heavy industry and large dams. In a much-disputed master plan, all the glacial rivers and geothermal potential of Europe’s largest wilderness would be harnessed for aluminum production (see EF!J May-June 2006). Activists from around the world have gathered to protect Europe’s largest remaining wilderness and oppose aluminum corporations.

Agya, What do You Mean by Development?

Arms Industry | Articles | Democracy deficit/Repression | India

In this exhaustive text, Felix Padel and Samarendra Das give a thorough analysis of the situation of the aluminium industry in India, its history as a global force of destruction intrinsically linked to the arms industry and its links to genocide. This is required reading for anyone with an interest in the aluminium industry, peace, and the desperate situation of the people of Orissa, India.

Double Death - Aluminium’s Links with Genocide

ALCOA | Arms Industry | Articles | Democracy deficit/Repression | Economic | India | Norsk Hydro | Rio Tinto-Alcan
Cost of resistance

"The evidence we present goes against the conventional history of aluminium, which tends to portray the industry as central to various countries’ economic power and prosperity, without understanding the financial manipulation and exploitation between and within countries, and the true costs."

ALCOA Cluster Bombs - Los Angeles Times

ALCOA | Arms Industry | Articles
cluster bomb
30% of all aluminium produced is for the war machine

CLUSTER BOMBS MAY BE WHAT KILLED REFUGEES

Los Angeles Times
April 17, 1999.
Paul Watson
LA Times Staff Writer
Pristina, Yugoslavia

The small craters and mysterious fin-shaped pieces of metal found next to civilian vehicles attacked in Kosovo suggest that they may have been hit by U.S. cluster bombs designed to destroy tanks. Similar evidence has been found at several bomb sites over the past four days, including two roads on which tractors pulling wagonloads of Kosovo Albanian refugees were destroyed during NATO airstrikes Wednesday.

Dreamland Iceland: A Universe on an Island - A Talk by Andri Snær Magnason in New York City

Arms Industry | Cultural/Events | Democracy deficit/Repression | Greenwash
Andri Snaer

Monday, March 3, 6:30 pm.
Scandinavia House
58 Park Avenue at 38th Street, New York City
$10 ($8 ASF members, students with ID free)

Icelandic author Andri Snær Magnason will speak about Iceland as a political, economic, and sociological microcosm of the world, arguing that Iceland as an island can be used as a model to understand issues of conflict, interest, influence, war, independence, and dependency around the globe. Drawing on his recent bestseller, Dreamland: Self Help for a Frightened Nation, Mr. Magnason will use local topics to help understand complex global issues like the military industrial complex, the exploitation of natural resources, globalization, corporations, and democracy. The New York Times calls Dreamland, which was awarded both the Icelandic Literary Award and the Icelandic Bookseller Prize in 2006, “a devastating polemic that puts Iceland's environmental issues into a global perspective.”

Vissir þú að Alcoa er hergagnaframleiðandi?

ALCOA | Arms Industry | Íslenska
evidence of ALCOA military involvement
    Mörg fjárfestingafyrirtæki þurrkuðu Alcoa út af viðskiptalistum sínum þegar Alcoa keyptu hergagnafyrirtækin Cordant Technologies og Howmet International

    14. desember 2005 skrifuðu Alcoa undir samning um að framleiða álbíla fyrir bandaríska herinn

    Alcoa framleiða parta í Tomahawk eldflaugar

    Fyrsta eldflaugin sem skotið var á Írak var merkt Alcoa

Stríðsglæpir Century afhjúpaðir - Saving Iceland gerir innrás í Orkuveitu Reykjavíkur

Arms Industry | Íslenska | Century Aluminum | Corruption | Democracy deficit/Repression | Ecology | Greenwash | Rio Tinto-Alcan | Saving Iceland

HÆTTIÐ ORKUFRAMLEIÐSLU FYRIR STRÍÐSREKSTUR!

Fréttatilkynning
20. júlí, 2007

REYKJAVÍK – Í dag heimsótti trúðarher Saving Iceland höfuðstöðvar Orkuveitu Reykjavíkur, Bæjarhálsi 1 þar sem þeir komu fyrir borða sem á stóð Vopnaveita Reykjavíkur?. Saving Iceland krefst þess að O.R. stöðvi orkusölu til álfyrirtækjanna Century-RUSAL og ALCAN-Rio Tinto, en 30% framleidds áls fer til hernaðar- og vopnaframleiðslu (1).

Sem stendur er O.R. að stækka jarðvarmavirkjun sína við Hengil á Hellisheiði. Í umhverfismati vegna stækkunarinnar kemur fram að markmið stækkunarinnar sé að koma til móts við kröfur stóriðjufyrirtækja með aukinni raforkuframleiðslu. Orkan sé aðallega ætluð stækkuðu álveri Century á Grundartanga og mögulega stækkuðu álveri ALCAN í Hafnarfirði og nýju álveri Century í Helguvík (2,3).

Global Actions Against Heavy Industry!

Actions | ALCOA | Arms Industry | Dansk | Greenland | India | Pollution | Rio Tinto-Alcan | South Africa | Trinidad & Tobago

you can see some more pictures here. 21/09/07

On the 12th of September 2007, the Global

Trinidad_protest
Trinidadians say NO to industrialisation

Day of Action Against Heavy Industry, people in South Africa, Iceland, Trinidad, Denmark, New York, Holland and the UK protested against the heavy industrialisation of our planet. This marked the first coordinated event of a new and growing global movement that began at the 2007 Saving Iceland protest camp in Ölfus, Iceland. The common target of these protests against heavy industry was the aluminium industry, in particular the corporations Alcan/Rio-Tinto and Alcoa.

Voice of the Wilderness - The Saving Iceland Magazine

Arms Industry | Articles | Democracy deficit/Repression | Ecology | Greenwash | Pollution | Saving Iceland

The first issue of Saving Iceland's magazine Voice of the Wilderness (download pdf) introduces all the key issues and speakers at the Saving Iceland 2007 Conference.

Ábyrgð almennings, fyrirtækja og fjölmiðla

Arms Industry | Íslenska | Democracy deficit/Repression | Ecology | Greenwash | Landsvirkjun | Laws/Treaties | Media bias | Pollution | Saving Iceland

Saving Iceland
2. ágúst, 2007.

Ályktun SI flutt á blaðamannafundi í Reykjavíkur Akademíunni 2. ágúst 2007.

Ástæða fundarins er sú að umfjöllun fjölmiðla um aðgerðir okkar síðustu mánuði, bendir til þess að það séu nokkrar ranghugmyndir uppi um eðli og tilgang hreyfingarinnar. Þær fréttatilkynningar sem við sendum með hverri aðgerð sem við framkvæmum hafa komist illa til skila og var fundurinn til þess gerður að leyfa fjölmiðlum og öðrum að spyrja okkur spjörunum úr og fá útskýringar á því sem ekki er á hreinu.

Saving Iceland Blockades Hellisheidi Power Station

Actions | Arms Industry | Íslenska | Century Aluminum | Ecology | Greenwash | Pollution | Rio Tinto-Alcan | Saving Iceland
RAX - Hellisheidarvirkjun

UPDATE: It turns out that the offer of strawberries and a welcome to put up a S.I. banner in the headquarters of Reykjavik Energy was but an empty gesture and pretense alone. Reykjavik Energy have announced along with infamous contractor Istak (Karahnjukar etc.) that they will sue SI protestors for the action below.

Saving Iceland blockaded two roads to Hellisheidi Power Station at 7am this morning. The activists locked on to different vehicles and one climbed a crane on the worksite and unfurled a gigantic banner: "STOP PRODUCING ENERGY FOR WEAPONS"
Reports have just come in saying that 8 have been arrested but that the climber in the crane is still free.

Saving Iceland Blockades Rio Tinto-Alcan Smelter in Hafnarfjordur

Actions | Arms Industry | Íslenska | Democracy deficit/Repression | Landsvirkjun | Rio Tinto-Alcan | Saving Iceland | South Africa

UPDATE: Rio Tinto-ALCAN to Sue Saving Iceland

Saving Iceland
Press Release (in Icelandic below)
July 24th, 2007

lockonRioTinto Alcan

HAFNARFJORDUR – Saving Iceland has closed access to Alcan-Rio Tinto’s Straumsvik smelter in South-West Iceland. About 20 protestors have locked their arms in metal tubes and climbed onto cranes on the smelter site. Saving Iceland opposes plans for a new RioTinto-Alcan smelter in Keilisnes or Thorlakshöfn, expansion of the existing smelter, and a new coal and nuclear powered smelter in South Africa.

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