Free transcription and translation of "A village to be evicted for coal - the
defense of Luetzerath in Germany". Anarchistisches Radio Berlin - 7 January 2023.Interview with an activist of the Lützerath occupation. ---- 2023 has arrived fora few days and we are already dealing with the first eviction of a radicaloccupation. But we are not just talking about the eviction of an occupation, butabout the eviction of an entire village: the village of Lützerath. ---- Thisvillage is located in an area rich in coal deposits, close to the Dutch border.---- We talked to a media-activist member of Radio Aalpunk ---- What is Lützerathand why is he being attacked by the police? ---- Lützerath is a village next to alignite mine in Germany. It is located near the surface mine called GarzweilerII. A few years ago there had already been protests in the area, against thedestruction of the Hambach forest, near another mine in the same region. It isone of the regions in Europe with the richest deposits of lignite.In recent years the village of Lützerath has been occupied by activists who havetried to prevent the planned destruction of the village to allow for theexpansion of the mine. A citizens' protest has been going on for about two years.The company that owns the mine is RWE AG[1]and has started the destruction of theroads around it; people from the region have started protesting and occupyingabandoned houses or building tree houses.Lützerath is important because it is in a strategic position. The governmentdecided that it would not destroy any other villages beyond this one to buildlignite mines. Lützerath is located on top of a large brown coal deposit.If Lützerath is destroyed and excavations begin in the surrounding area, Germanywill certainly not be able to meet the climate commitments made in Paris (ParisClimate Agreements of 12 December 2015. The goal is to avoid that temperatureswill rise by 1.5° Celsius by 2030, ndt). The amount of coal under Lützerath wouldemit more CO2 than all trees do in a year. So we talk about a lot of CO2. It isimportant that the lignite remains in the ground and is not mined. The use ofthis coal would lead to a further disaster.But beyond a clear ecological struggle, Lützerath has become a space where peoplelive together in a political way. Lützerath explicitly characterized itself as ananarchist occupation, where people tried to live together following anarchistprinciples. It was also an experiment in community life.So there is a struggle, both symbolic and concrete, against lignite mining, butalso this communal way of living together and building our utopia of analternative way of life.Now it's being attacked. The Green Party has signed an agreement with RWE banningthe use of coal by 2030 but allowing the destruction of the village of Lützerathfor the expansion of the lignite mine. This is the usual bullshit that the fightagainst climate change is being put off for the future. But that won't help usbecause we no longer have time to waste waiting for the years to pass.Lützerath is attacked by the police so that they can evict everyone and destroythe village, and then start digging for ligniteWell being attacked by the police already says it all. Can you tell us what ishappening now and what has happened in the last few days?[the interview is fromJanuary 7th, the eviction started on the 9th, ndt]Starting January 2, a lot of police arrive in the village and they startdestroying the outer barricades to fix their infrastructure and start theclearing out, thus isolating the village and preventing more people from coming.So they want to build a barrier around the village. It is a show of force and theuse of scare tactics, as there have been confrontations by police arriving inriot gear to deter people.So for many people it seemed clear that they would be confronted with the policewho would try to clear the village. How did people prepare for the eviction andhow did they plan to defend the place?There is a physical part of post defense, like building barricades, but there isalso a non-physical part, a psychological part. We held many assemblies to shareexperiences of past evictions so that we could be psychologically prepared. Butwe also discussed communication strategies, and that too was a lot of work.I think the two years of living there kind of prepared us for the evictionbecause you live with other people, you take care of other people, you formstrong connections with them. Affinity groups have formed, and how people in theoccupation intend to defend Lützerath.There is no single answer on how to defend the village; we realized that seekinga consensus level of actions to take was not working, we tried to promote avariety of defense tactics, and one of the defense strategies was to get as manypeople as possible into the village.There was a lot of variety in the people who arrived: one of our photos showspeople standing holding a Christian cross and others in black bloc attire next tothem. We are open to different tactics. We think that everyone decidesindependently and as they see fit according to their own morals. There are commonpractices in the occupation, such as refusing to identify oneself[to thepolice]to try to slow down[the repressive actions]; but no one is pressing for itto be done, it is simply done by people.In recent years there have been major evictions, such as the occupation of theHambach forest or the ZAD in France. What do you think will happen in Lützerathin the next few days or months?Until January 9, the protest is still legal, so people can come and support. Wethink that from January 14 the police will try to enter the village. Disclaimer:This is what the cops themselves told us, so we don't guarantee the informationis correct because cops tend to lie. From what we have heard, the strategy is to try to divide the interior ofLützerath, then put fences between the barrios and they will clear out anddestroy one by one. one. They will try to take us individually or make peoplecome down from the trees. We think this process will last around 4 weeks, but wewill try to make it last as long as possible, and of course we would like to makeit impossible for the police to clear out the village. We think that if there areenough people it will work. If we look at Hambach's occupation, the forest isstill there, so I think there is a chance of winning if we are enough.You are part of an independent media collective. What role do you have in thefight against the eviction?I am part of Radio Aalpunk, the Lützerath anti-eviction support team. As in thecase of Indymedia, or independent media in general, we are on the activist sideand want to show the rest of the world what is happening in Lützerath. When themainstream media talk about these protests they focus on small details they find"amusing" (e.g. when in the occupation of Hambach one person threw a bucket fullof manure on the policemen). Yes it is funny, but the independent media shouldtalk about why there is this struggle going on, what we are fighting for, whatthe enterprise we are fighting against stands for, and also highlight theanarchic aspects of the village, such as community life.I think our role is twofold: we want to collect information to get it to as manypeople as possible; so we collect updates from people in the village about, forexample, the police's moves, but we also want to keep company with people who arefacing the eviction.Evictions are usually very boring or very stressful: you can sit and wait or facethe eviction. People can ask us to air songs, podcasts, stories etc. So they havesomething nice to listen to in an emotionally difficult situation.I speak for myself: I would like to make known the love I have for Lützerath, andthe love I received in Lützerath, and make it known to the whole world.This is also a way to support my friends in the eviction and this would alsoallow us to understand why people care so much about defending the village andwhy they are fighting for it.What can people do to support Lützerath and where can they find more information?If you want to support Lützerath you can first come to the village, and werecommend that you come before January 9th. But if being inside an eviction istoo stressful an experience, the eviction of the occupation is not just about thevillage itself. There are activist camps in the nearby villages and from there weorganize ourselves to provide support to people in Lützerath, for example incommunity organizing to prepare food for everyone. Cutting carrots to make lunchfor everyone is just as revolutionary as gluing yourself to trees. I think it'simportant to avoid creating hierarchies in actions.There are also donations, both monetary and of goods: long-term food, batteriesin case the electricity cuts, power banks, battery-operated radios and the like.But also cute gifts like chocolate. Sharing information on social media is alsoan important thing that anyone can do from home.For more information about Lützerath see our websiteWe have lots of legal information on how to behave in the village, what to bringif you come to the village and links to our social media channels.FOR MORE EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION-Links to various social channels (German-English):https://luetzerathlebt.info/ticker-Donations: https://luetzerathlebt.info/en/donationsFor donations: if you want to support us with a donation, you can do so using thefollowing bank account details:IBAN: DE24 4306 0967 1204 1870 01Reason: Lützi LebtDonations on Paypal*: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=3DST4V8TZSR2W*We are aware of Paypal's use of fundsNote from the Galatea Anarchist Group[1]Acronym of "Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk". It is a Germanmultinational electricity supplier. The 2021 turnover was 24.5 billion euros, anincrease of 79% compared to 2020 caused "by the sharp increase in the price ofelectricity recorded[in 2021]". See "RWE. Focus on growth. Annual report 2021",p. 53. Link:https://www.rwe.com/-/media/RWE/documents/05-investor-relations/finanzkalendar-und-veroeffentlichungen/2021-GJ/2022-03-15-rwe-annual-report-2021.pdf?sc_lang=enhttps://gruppoanarchicogalatea.noblogs.org/post/2023/01/15/un-villaggio-sgomberato-per-il-carbone-la-difesa-di-lutzerath-in-germania/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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