Press release on 30 July 2021 at 6 pm
++Ende Gelaende action weekend for climate justice begins in Brunsbüttel and Hamburg, Germany ++ Protests are part of a global day of action ++
Today, as part of the global action day by the worldwide alliance “Shale must fall”, over 2000 activist of the climate justice movement Ende Geleande (“Here and no further”) set off for a weekend of civil disobedience against LNG infrastructure and climate colonialism in Brunsbüttel and Hamburg, Germany. Simultaneously, 23 actions against fracked gas are taking place in 13 countries across South America, North America and Europe. The activists criticize human rights abuses and
environmental pollution by European fracking companies, that cause severe diseases and death, especially in countries of the global south and in indigenous areas in the U.S. and Canada.
Llanquiray Painemal, a Mapuche community activist, speaks about the consequences of fracking for indigenous communities in Vaca Muerta, Argentina: “Christina was murdered by fracking. She had been fighting against fracking since 2010 and died of a respiratory disease. We have always protected our environment. We refuse the kind of destructive “development” the Global North tries to push upon us.”
Due to the high risk of groundwater contamination and earthquakes, fracking has been banned in Germany and several other European countries. At the same time, Europe is increasingly importing fracked gas [1]. Due to the expansion of LNG infrastructure, a further increase in import volumes is expected.
Ronja Weil: “For the growing gas hunger of European industries, livelihoods in the Global South and in areas of indigenous communities in the USA and Canada are being destroyed. This perpetuates the centuries-long history of colonialism. As part of the “Shale must fall” alliance, we are now initiating the global gas phase-out ourselves.”
For this weekend, Ende Gelaende has announced actions against the construction of the planned Brunsbüttel LNG terminal and gas infrastructure. With the actions in Brunsbüttel and Hamburg, the climate justice alliance also opposes neocolonial structures. Ende Gelaende has been protesting against coal power with mass civil disobedience since 2015. In September 2020, gas infrastructure was blocked for the first time during an action.
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Contacts:
Ronja Weil +49 163 681 17 76 | Spokeperson from Ende Gelände
Joli Schröter: +49 151 413 745 27 | Spokeperson from Ende Gelände
(interviews only in German)
Elia Nejem: +49 177 967 68 05 | Spokeperson from Ende Gelände
(interviews only in German)
On the Ende Gelände flickr acount you will find photos of current and past action: https://www.flickr.com/photos/133937251@N05/albums
[1] European Commission. „Quarterly Report on European Gas Markets”, DG Energy, Vol. 12., issue 4, fourth quarter of 2019. Link: https://tinyurl.com/9e9jtswz