Saving Iceland

Today, Alcoa, the Ministry of Industry and Norðurþing district council signed a research contract for Alcoa’s planned aluminium smelter in Húsavík (Bakki), north Iceland. The contract allows for the furthering of research into the efficiency of the smelter construction and into the energy production capability of the geothermal areas in the north. The smelter is supposed to be run on geothermal energy only. Read More

The Left-Green Party demanded in parliament in April that the Minister of Justice, Bjorn Bjarnason, should write a detailed report of all actions of the Icelandic police against Saving Iceland activists during the years of 2005, 2006 and 2007. This report is due now. Saving Iceland will be reporting on further developments in this case. Below is the demand in English.
Armand: Brave Cops of Iceland Read More

Last Monday, June 23rd, the district council of Skeiða- and Gnúperjahreppur agreed on a major change in the district plan. The change includes implementing the construction of two of the three dams Landsvirkjun (national energy company) plans to build in the lower Þjórsá River; Holtavirkjun and Hvammsvirkjun. The plan is now being reviewed by the National Planning Agency. The decision to build these dams was taken despite a huge local opposition in the area. Right now one of the landowners is taking the Icelandic state to court, accused of bypassing laws on local democratic agreement to these projects. According Sól á Suðurlandi (a grassroots organization fighting against the dams) more landowners might follow this figurehead.

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Begins on 11th July 2008 in Chimalkhedi, Nandurbar District, Maharashtra.

No doubt every monsoon brings along with it a new lease of life and a green glitter. But, however, it also brings in a threat and a challenge for people in the Narmada valley as in the other river valleys, where the rivers are dammed and damned and the people and the natural environs are doomed and drowned. Even after 24 years of struggle, the adivasis in the Satpudas and Vindhyas and the
farmers, fish workers and others in the Nimad region of Madhya Pradesh have had to continue to struggle for their rights. Their battle is also for the rightful share for dalits adivasis, farmers, fish workers and all those who toil with nature and their own labour, harnessing and developing the natural resources in the human society. Read More

By Snorri Páll Jónsson Úlfhildarson, originally published in Morgunblaðið – Erna Indriðadóttir, Alcoa’s P.R. manager wrote an article in Morgunblaðið where she intended to answer Björk Guðmundsdóttir’s writings about Alcoa. Indriðadóttir’s answer is pathetic and a reason to write more articles than this one. But what stands out is her quibble about Alcoa’s weapon production and human right abuses. Indriðadóttir reckons that Guðmundsdóttir is talking about the fact that “aluminium is used in almost all vehicles under the sun, incl. fighting jets, space shuttles and missiles.” And the whitewash continues when she talks about Alcoa’s social responsability and its sustainability projects. 

Using the same words as Indriðadóttir, this has been said before. This same quibble has always been used when Alcoa has been accused of links with the war industry and weapon production. The company’s principals here in Iceland repeatedly try to make it look like Alcoa only produces aluminium and sells it, but does not have anything to say about the future life of is produce. This myth should have been destroyed long time ago.

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Distinguished Indian environmental scientist Dr G. D. Agrawal today began his commitment to fast until death unless the country’s government heeds protests and warnings against the construction of several hydroelectric power dams on the River Ganges.
On the festival of Ganga Dusshera marking the birth of the river Ganges, crowds gathered on the banks of one of its tributaries, the sacred Bhagirathi river, to begin a day-long collective fast in the north Indian town of Uttarkashi, a gesture repeated by thousands throughout the country to show support for eminent scientist Dr G. D. Agrawal in his protest against proposed and ongoing hydroelectric construction schemes in the area a protest which will see him fast until death unless all such development work is stopped. Read More

Update: the Camp this summer is over – read a report and summary of this summer’s camp, actions and other activities here.

A summer of International dissent and action against Heavy Industry – swarming around Iceland from the 12th of July 2008!
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Century Aluminum had hoped to hold the traditional ceremony of digging the first spade of earth for their new smelter in Helguvik in a celebrity manner. But neither environmental protesters nor even the Icelandic corporate media were about to let that happen.
A group of people came to the ceremony to protest against how destructive the new Century smelter would be towards the ecological, social and economic life in the south-west of Iceland.They all refused to protest in the ‘designated protest area’ provided by the police, which was out of sight and sound from the ceremony itself. Instead they got much closer to the ceremony before being stopped, one person carrying a green and black flag being held by two undercover police. Some carried a coffin, which read ‘Reykjanes’ and gravestones which read “Innovation – died 6.6.08.”

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