Ende Gelände 2016

Environmental activist blocking the coal mine during Ende Gelände 2016.

Ende Gelände 2016 was a large civil disobedience protest movement in Germany to limit global warming through fossil fuel phase-out.

3,500–4,000 environmental activists from twelve countries blocked the Welzow-Süd open-pit coal mine and the coal-fired Schwarze Pumpe power station, then owned by Vattenfall (Spremberg), from 13 to 15 May 2016.[1]

Context

On 15 August 2015, in the first year of Ende Gelände, 1,500 activists blocked the Garzweiler surface mine owned by RWE (Ende Gelände 2015).[2][3]

Ende Gelände formed in 2015 as a coalition of German environmental groups and "people from the anti-nuclear and anti-coal movements".[4]

The activists of the first Ende Gelände 2015 were hosted by the climate camp "Rheinlandcamp". In 2016 the "Lausitzcamp" hosted the 3500 to 4000 activists and provided infrastructure and support.[5]

In German, Ende Gelände means "Here and no further".[6] Ende Gelände 2016 was part of an international wave of actions called "Break Free from Fossil Fuels".[7][8]

Description

During the 48 hours of mass action, the coal-fired Schwarze Pumpe power station (described as "Europe's tenth largest emitter of CO2") was cut to 20 percent of its power for two days.[1]

The nearly shutting down of the power plant over the weekend of Ende Gelände was seen by activists as a great success.[6] Vattenfall Europe´s chairman of the board said: "It is an absolute new quality, that a power plant shall be forced to cease its work by violent pressure, which has direct consequences for the German electricity grid. This does not any more only affect Lusatia."[9]

The short term goal of Ende Gelände was to stop the process of Vattenfall selling the mining area. The selling of Lusatia´s coal mining industry was described by Ende Gelände as the biggest single investment in coal power in Europe. Ende Gelände intended to stop the selling process.[10] Instead, Vattenfall should have, according to Ende Gelände, financed a social coal phase out and cover ecological follow up expenditures.[11]

The mining region was eventually, after renewed debates in the Swedish Parliament as a direct response to Ende Gelände,[12] sold to EPH in October 2016. Vattenfall initially expected to sell for 2 to 3 billion Euro, but finally had to pay EPH 1,7 billion for EPH taking over all (especially ecological) liabilities in the region.[13] Ende Gelände had the motto in 2016 "we are the investment risk".[14]

Organisers describes Ende Gelände 2016 as "the largest ever global civil disobedience against fossil fuels".[6]

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 Mass action blocking German lignite mining finishes after 48 hours, press release of Ende Gelände, 15 May 2016 (page visited in 28 September 2016).
  2. ↑ John Jordan, "The day we stopped Europe's biggest polluter in its tracks", The Guardian, Thursday 27 August 2015 (page visited in 28 September 2016).
  3. ↑ Ende Gelände 2015, 350.org (page visited in 28 September 2016).
  4. ↑ "about us – Ende Gelände". www.ende-gelaende.org. Retrieved 2016-05-19.
  5. ↑ https://www.lausitzcamp.info/pressemitteilung-vom-18-05-2016-groesstes-lausitzcamp-aller-zeiten-war-voller-erfolg/ Press Release Lausitzcamp, May 18, 2016
  6. 1 2 3 Oliver Milman, "'Break Free' fossil fuel protests deemed 'largest ever' global disobedience", The Guardian, Monday 16 May 2016 (page visited in 28 September 2016).
  7. ↑ Break Free from Fossil Fuels (page visited in 28 September 2016).
  8. ↑ (French) Mathilde Gracia, "Mobilisation internationale contre les énergies fossiles", Le monde, 13 May 2016 (page visited in 28 September 2016).
  9. ↑ Schwarze Pumpe weiterhin blockiert. MDR.de, 15. Mai 2014.
  10. ↑ https://www.ende-gelaende.org/de/aktion/aufruf/ Ende Gelände 2016 Aufruf
  11. ↑ http://interventionistische-linke.org/termin/ende-gelaende-und-wie-weiter
  12. ↑ http://www.riksdagen.se/en/
  13. ↑ https://www.ende-gelaende.org/de/press-release/vatteinfail-offener-brief-vom-23-06-2016/ Press Release from Ende Gelände, German language, 23.6.2016
  14. ↑ https://www.ende-gelaende.org/en/action/call-out/ Call for Action 2016, English

See also

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