Demo at Immerath

Klimacamp Coal Demo at Immerath

 

This weekend I went to the  Klimacamp im Rheinland. Every year this gathering is held in the area surrounding the lignite mine in Garzweiler – among the largest in Europe. One demonstration we had went straight through the village of Immerath, a ghost town. I think there were only three families still living there. And after the coal companies had dug up the cemetery probably even the ghosts had left.

The people in this region are living right in the middle of one of Europe’s largest sacrifice zones. Their lives and the places they call home are deemed worth less than the lignite being excavated. At the same time lignite mining destroys the landscape and is the biggest source of CO2 emissions in Europe.

 

Blowing bubbles

Blowing bubbles over Garzweiler lignite mine in the Rheinland

 

For us climate campers it was easy. We could just come and go when we had had enough. A little discomfort is all we had to endure for the weekend. For the people living there it is not that easy. The only options people have is sticking it out, hoping that mining company RWE comes to their senses, goes bankrupt and stops digging or being re-located to a different village and leaving everything that they love about where they live behind. Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place.

But even if they are in a rather crappy situation I found that people took some hope from us being there. It showed them that we know their struggles and that they are still there. It showed that there are people that do care and show solidarity with them. Unfortunately there are no easy solutions to the situation they are facing but we can make sure they are not being forgotten.

Back home in the Netherlands we have our own sacrifice zone in the Northern province of Groningen. Since the early sixties Shell and ExxonMobil have been extracting gas after the discovery of a large gasfield at Slochteren. Since 1986 this has been causing earthquakes which have damaged a lot of houses and disrupted the lives of countless people living there.

People feel that their safety is being sacrificed for short-term monetary gain – and that’s exactly what’s happening. The last couple of years decisions were made to scale down the production but it is not enough. In order to guarantee the safety of the people in Groningen and meet our emission reductions targets we need to completely stop gas extraction.

To empower the people in Groningen and show solidarity with them Fossielvrij.NL is organising a training weekend from 23-25 September in Assen which coincides with a big action at the HQ of the NAM ( Shell & Exxon’s joint company in Netherlands).

You are all invited to show the people of Groningen that they are not being forgotten either. See you there!

 

Groningen

 

Pictures: Klimacamp im Rheinland Flickr

 

FacebookTwitter