Jul 18 2008

Orissa: Tribe Takes on Global Mining Firm

This article and BBC News feature details the opposition of the Dongria Kondh people in Orissa, Northeast India, to bauxite mining by mining giant Vedanta, which is having a severe impact on the ecosystems of this area. The mined bauxite or refined alumina are sold to aluminium corporations.

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Jul 17 2008

July 21-27 – International Week Of Solidarity Actions

During our protest camp this summer, that starts 12th of July, a week of international solidarity actions will take place from July 21st to 27th.
People who can not come to the camp but want to support the resistance against heavy industry in Iceland, should take a look at Saving Iceland’s target brochure (which can be found here) and use their imagination. Read More

Jul 15 2008

Reykjavik Energy Linked to Torture

This week Frettabladid and Iceland Review reported that Saving Iceland rejected an offer from Orkuveita Reykjavíkur (Reykjavik Energy) to receive a grant. Vice-chairman of OR, Ásta Thorleifsdóttir, told Fréttabladid that she admires the vision of the Saving Iceland organization.

“We applaud that OR has started listening to criticism, and that this has lead to the cancellation of plans to buid the Bitruvirkjun plant in Hengill. However, Hellisheidi is still being expanded for aluminium and this is not something we support at all. OR is a company that is still directly involved in heavy industry expansion, so we can not accept any donations from them,” says Saving Iceland’s Jaap Krater. Read More

Jul 15 2008

Radical Actions and Professional Protesters

By Snorri Páll Jónsson Úlfhildarson, originally published in Morgunblaðið

Last Sunday, an anonymous journalist from Morgunblaðið wrote about Saving Iceland under the title “Action Groups and Cells”. He talked about Saving Iceland’s upcoming action camp in Hellisheiði and brougth forward a list of actions that people could anticipate from those attending the camp this summer, i.e. “try to get the police into a fight, chain themselves to whatever is near to them, do minimum sabotage, disturb companies’ legal operations or public traffic”. According to him, this kind of behaviour has characterized Saving Iceland’s activities for the last years.

We at Saving Iceland, use direct action and civil disobedience in our actions against capitalism in the form of Iceland’s heavy industrialization – and we do not deny that. Although we do not chain ourselves to whatever is around us, but to machinery, machinery which is being used to destroy the nature. Thus we stop the destruction for some limited time. One does not lock lock on to a huge machine “just because” – one does it because of ideals and with a spirit of resistance. Read More

Jul 14 2008

Landsvirkjun Wants to Reactivate Whole Energy Masterplan

Court Delays Hydropower Projects in Þjórsá

If all heavy industry projects that are planned in Iceland will be executed, the sector will require the double amount of energy that is uses today. The heavy industry sector currently uses about 61 percent of all energy produced in Iceland. Landsvirkjun has stated that the planned Þjórsá and Tungnaá (Langisjór) dams and geothermal exploitation (þeistareykir, Krafla, Hengill and Reykjanes) will not be sufficient and more power projects are needed. Landsvirkjun is basically suggesting that the whole original energy masterplan would need to be reactivated, contrary to supposed government policy.

In the mean time, the court case between landowners by Þjórsá river in south Iceland versus the state, on the harnessing rights of the river, will delay the construction of three planned hydropower plants, because of so-called Titan Agreements (an old water agreement). Read More

Jul 13 2008
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20th July- Tour around threatened Þjórsá area with local farmers and Icelandic mountain guides.

On Sunday the 20th July Saving Iceland and members of Sól á Suðurlandi and the Icelandic Mountain Guides will team up to lead a public tour around areas of Þjórsá threatened by three planned dam projects. A coach will leave Reykjavík at 12:00 noon and return by 18:00, costing 500 kr for the whole tour.
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Jul 13 2008

Africa Suffers as Aluminium Price Peaks

The price of aluminum has risen by more than 35 percent since the beginning of 2008. Aluminium prices hit a record high this week as China, the world’s biggest producer, ordered smelters to reduce production because of power shortages. In Africa, electricity prices for consumers skyrocket as ESKOM, Landsvirkjun’s South African partner, attempts to free up energy for aluminium. As electricity is redirected to aluminium corporations, people suffer blackouts. Read More

Jul 13 2008

Lethe and Anarchy with the Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin)

Due to Iceland’s current difficult economic situation (read our recent report Iceland Overheats) and the rapidly increasing aluminium prices. Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde (Independence Party, Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn), who is doing his best to negotiate new emission rights with the UN, and the Icelandic authorities are now more likely than ever before to approve new aluminium smelters.
Apparently the Social Democratic Alliance, who are part of the current coalition government with the Independence Party, drank too much of the Greek Lethe River. Those who drink from it experience complete forgetfulness, exhibiting concealment

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Jul 12 2008
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Media Policy and Contacts 2008

Here you will find Saving Iceland’s media policy for this year including phone numbers for our media spokespeople. If you are a journalist who would like to contact us, visit the action camp or report upcoming actions, we warmly recommend reading this document.

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Jul 12 2008
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Saving Iceland Prepares to Target Hellisheiðarvirkjun

The 4th Saving Iceland action camp has now begun in a beautiful threatened geothermal valley beside Hellisheiðisvirkjun in the Hengill area, where it will target the expansion of the geothermal power station for the Grundartangi plant and other Southwestern heavy industry projects. (1)
This year activists from Iceland, Australia, America, Denmark, Germany, Britain, Holland, France, Belgium and Italy amongst others have joined the campaign as information about the destruction of Iceland’s wilderness has spread. This year the campaign will focus specifically on the humanitarian effects of aluminium production, from the genocides associated with mining in India, South America, Jamaica and more, to the use of aluminium for arms manufacture and the defence industry (2). Read More

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