The majority of induced abortion procedures in Malawi are performed under clandestine and unsafe conditions. Complications from abortions have been estimated to account for between 6% and 18% of maternal deaths in Malawi. Abortion is only legal in Malawi to save a woman’s life. Obtaining an abortion for any other reason is punishable by 7–14 years in prison. A national debate is currently being held on whether or not to liberalize Malawi’s abortion law by providing more exceptions under which an abortion could be legally obtained.

In order to steer this debate to the right side (legalisation of abortion), Zenith organised a public campaign to get members of Parliament in Malawi to discuss and pass the Termination of Pregnancy Bill. The campaign includes a solidarity walk and the delivery of a petition to the District Commissioner.

Protect women’s reproductive rights

As the worldwide visibility of pro-life movements is slowly growing, we are more and more in need of activists like the Zenith Advocacy group. Safe abortion is essential to protecting Women’s Rights, as banning abortion does not eliminate abortion, it only makes it less safe.

Zenith’s goal is to protect the rights of women and girls. In previous actions they protested against street vendors who were harassing women for wearing miniskirts in the streets, they worked with traditional leaders to eliminate forced child marriages and they advocated against traditional and cultural practices that put women and girls at risk of contracting HIV/Aids. Het Actiefonds supports Zenith in their new project for safe abortion. Follow their actions on Facebook or Instagram.

In Bbale, Uganda, there have been over 180 HIV-positive women who have undergone forced and coerced sterilization by medical doctors from the Kayunga Hospital. Irrespective of efforts to seek legal help or try to voice this, authorities have swept the issues under the carpet, leaving the rights of many violated.

Many health workers deny that forced sterilization is happening. The Ugandan Health Minister Elioda Tumwesigye said the government’s policy was “clear”: “if you become pregnant we give you treatment.”

The NWM aims to expose the health workers who have been violating the reproductive rights of women and bring them under legal scrutiny. Moreover, it is imperative that the Ugandan government becomes aware of the illegal practices taking place at public hospitals to stop further occurrence. The NWM hopes to inspire other women’s movements who have so far been silent on these issues to demand the protection of their rights.

Concretely, a march is planned, ending in a sit-in in the gardens of the Kayunga Hospital. The local police has endorsed the protest and will escort the NWM. The protest is held keeping into account the Covid-19 safety measures of wearing a mask, hand-washing and social distancing of two meters.

Moreover, many forcibly sterilized women have been ignored by government authorities because of their illiteracy. Therefore, the NWM will hire a human rights lawyer to compile women’s testimonies and petitions to make a strong case for urgent action by the Ugandan government to stop these practices from happening and to punish the health workers responsible.

(Lacking media material, the photo above is from an article in The Guardian from SheDecides, an anti-abortion protest in Uganda in 2018).

On September 1st, the September rebellion kicked off in The Hague with a demonstration and a dive in the Hofvijver. On ‘Prinsjesdag’, they reflected on the sad state of the climate with their ‘Traanrede’ and a group of rebels chained themselves to Noordeinde Palace to draw attention to the Citizens’ Assembly. The rebellion continued in Amsterdam. A three-day event was organized on Museumplein. They blocked the Blauwbrug with a dance for life and with two massive blockades on the Zuidas, they stood up against polluting companies. The multinationals established at the Zuidas (the financial centre of Amsterdam) have a great influence on the meager climate policy through clever lobbying and therefore contribute significantly to environmental pollution. Enough to protest against.

Extinction Rebellion demands from the Dutch government to:

• TELL THE TRUTH about the climate and ecological crisis that threatens our existence and communicate the urgency for change.
• ACT NOW to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025 in a just and fair manner.
• LET CITIZENS DECIDE by establishing a Citizen’s Assembly which takes the lead on climate and ecological justice.

The climate problem is too complex to entrust to a government that has failed to act for decades. Under the influence of the lobby by large companies, parliament and the cabinet have proved unable to initiate a rapid transition. A Citizens’ Assembly can break this impasse. Hopefully this will soon be realized through XR’s actions.

Looking back over the past month, we can proudly say that the September Rebellion was a great success. For several days in a row hundreds of people took action against the failing climate policy. The protests were bigger and longer than last year; a good sign that the movement continues to grow. Climate justice now!

Would you like to join Extinction Rebellion? On September 27 and October 4, there will be online “Welcome to XR” meetings for new rebels. See the website for more information.

Indonesia is among the countries with the highest death rate due to Covid-19 but among the lowest in the amount of accessible coronatests in the world. Furthermore, the cost to fight the Covid-19 pandemic is being burdened on the working class and toilers’ shoulders. So said, the country suffers from rights violations and extreme living cost hikes in a financially difficult time.

Meanwhile the working class and toilers’ movement suffers from repression and silencing committed by the ruling class with various justifications under the pretext of handling the Covid-19 pandemic.

Time for action

From August 13th to 17th, all around the country there were protests under the umbrella of the large “100% Freedom! Free from Pandemy and Tyranny!” action. This simulaneous National Action aimed to reignite working class and youth’s resistance against bourgeois class attack.

Among the demands from the activists were safe working environments for essential workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, a fair national wealth redistribution and centralization of means of production in the hand of the working class.

The protests coincided with important national momentums like President Jokowi’s annual state of the nation address, the People’s Consultative Assembly session and the New York Agreement of 1962’s historical momentum. The protesters called for a large strike among the working class, to show their discontent. In those series of actions, both working class civilians and youths participated. Outside the national mass demonstrations on August 14th, there arose a push to continue the protest. Yet, due to Covid-19, mass mobilization was not maximized but carried out in an online campaign.

After this demonstration the organisation got requests from other regions that didn’t participate yet but stated that they are interested and intend to participate in making this a nationwide movement against tyranny, aiming to overthrow capitalism and unite the working class and youth in a movement to build a socialist, classless society for Indonesia’s residents.

Organisation

In 2011, the Socialist Union was founded as KPO PRP, to strengthen the socialist struggle in Indonesia. It aims for the overthrow of capitalism by revolutionary means and to build a socialist society. By socialism the struggle of workers is meant to organise as a state in the form of people’s councils, strengthening democracy and ownership as compared to the current state of affairs. The organisation is mainly focused on education, propaganda, mass actions, publishing books and organising discussions.

Extinction Rebellion is a global movement that attempts halt the mass extinction of species and the risk of societal collapse related to the climate and biodiversity crises the world is facing today. In the face of government inaction, the movement declares an international non-violent rebellion against the world’s governments. Not long after images of the first actions in London swept the world, the Danish part of the movement started in November 2018.

Denmark is often seen as a green frontrunner. However, in recent months the government’s sustainable energy proposals have been scrutinised for protecting the fossil fuel sector and speculating on how to make money directly from CO2 emissions. This governmental green washing obscures the fact that economic interests are still put above social and environmental ones.

In light of this, in two weeks time the movement is organising mass-actions of civil-disobedience to disrupt “business-as-usual” in the city centre of Copenhagen. Different happenings will be organised with music, speeches, art-installations, and facilitation of peoples assemblies. The goal is to get broad news coverage that can generate public and political debate, raise awareness about the climate crisis and how this intersects with other social justice crises and issues. In other words, such direct action is aimed at encouraging a system-critical climate debate about how the current socioeconomic order in Denmark is fundamentally unsustainable.

Passive politicians, uncritical media and for-profit companies sustain a detrimental way of living. At an intersection of global crises of climate and ecological collapse, Covid-19, and social injustices, acknowledging this as symptomatic of an unsustainable and undemocratic system is the least one can do.

To keep up to date, see their instagram page.

Barcelona has seen one of the most strict lockdowns in the world due to Covid-19, and is still under stringent conditions. The city is normally characterised by a bad air quality. In its wide streets, cars, motorbikes and trucks are dominant. And many cruise ships port in the city. The lockdown turned Barcelona into a different kind of city. At night it was dead silent, from higher up parts of the city you the Mediterranean Sea appeared as clear as the sky, and wild boars roamed the streets.

In light of this, climacció, a climate organisation founded in 2019, is organising a new campaign “Recuperem la ciutat” (“We take back the city”) together with more than ten other organisations. In the middle of the transition from a strict lockdown to a new way of living, this is the moment to rearrange our public space for pedestrians and cyclists, for the citizens of the city. According to the organisation, a public debate about the role and the use of our public space and mobility is imperative.

In the last one and a half years, Climacció has organised demonstrations and non-violent direct actions, mostly using artivism (activism + art), to draw media-attention for the climate emergency. More specifically, it addresses subjects such as climate justice, anti-capitalism and ecofeminism. From the end of September three actions are planned: street paintings/graffiti, playful and frivolous street blockages and workshops. Het Actiefonds supports this campaign for buying the campaign materials.

The campaign is planned for the duration of one month, but ideally will continue in different ways as long as there’s no drastic action being taken in the mobility plans of the city, like an increase in bike lanes, car-free streets and improvements in public transport.

For more information, see their website and facebookpagina.

Oppression and wars raging around the world have a deep connection with Germany, as with all places where arms are manufactured. Kassel is one of the hotspots of the German arms industry, hosting its two largest manufacturers Rheinmetall and Kraus–Maffei Wegmann (KMW). They circumvent existing export restrictions and deliver to states that are actively involved in the war in Yemen. Turkey’s imperialist deeds are supported by German arms exports both directly, and indirectly – Rheinmetall’s sister company in South Africa delivers ammunition to Turkey’s forces in Libya. Both groups armed Germany in the two world wars and used forced labour during the Nazi era. Their common history serves to highlight the close relationship of anti-fascism and anti-militarism. Moreover, within Germany those issued with weapons -i.e. the police and military- have been exposed as harbouring fascist networks. Arms are at the centre of the capitalist-patriarchal nationalistic power complex. 

While the arms industry and German state earn money through arms, including the militarisation of Europe’s borders, the Covid-19 pandemic shows that resources are needed for health and social care systems around the world. The organisation demands ‘Healthcare not Warfare’. With their blockades in Kassel, the Bündnis Rheinmetall Entwaffnen showed that they oppose the German way of fuelling and waging wars at the expense of the health of people everywhere.

“We want to show that Germany, through its arms exports, creates refugees and then stops them from claiming asylum, while its arms companies profit at all stages of the war chain.”

This is the beginning of the end. We demand the end of the global armament race. But the fight against war is always also a fight against capitalism, against patriarchy and against racism, with the eventual goal of a liberated society, outside the capitalist-patriarchal order.

Het Actiefonds provided the financial means for the blocking materials needed for this direct action. The action group will continue their work against the arms industry. For more information on their next events, workshops and direct action, we redirect you to their website.  

The Epworth Residents Development Association [ERDA] was one of the parties that helped organizing this protest. ERDA is a social movement advocating and representing residents’ interests. They teamed up with political opposition parties, regional committees and Human Rights groups to gather thousands of citizens for the nationwide anti-government protest.

Residents all over the country are fuelled by anger — not only about rights violations, but also about the dire state of the health system and deteriorating living conditions. Corruption and mismanagement have led to the collapse of the economy and vast underinvestment in infrastructure.

Because of the tense political environment, there was a specialized team present for security monitoring during the demonstration. This was much needed, as they had properly foreseen the gravity of the situation. The government tightened their grip even more; the capital Harare was locked in advance of the protest, there were serious human rights violations and numbers of opposition activists were charged with a form of treason. The ERDA team was present to expose the savage heavy handedness of the Zimbabwean regime.

As this is an ongoing action, the ERDA, with other movements, will utilize every opportunity and gap available to radically oppose government corruption while pushing for dignified living for residents. Het Actiefonds supports ERDA in their highly needed fight for a better country.

With the Shell Must Fall campaign, Code Rood takes action against companies responsible for extracting, transporting and burning fossil fuels. In addition, they are taking action against governments that allow this to happen freely. The activists demand the public dismantling of Shell, because the company continues to opt for profit at the expense of the climate, nature and human lives.

The municipality of The Hague had limited the beforehand announced protest at the Shell head office to just 30 people, regarding the coronavirus measures. The organization has lodged an objection against this with the preliminary relief judge, but unfortunately lost the case. An appeal procedure against this decision is currently pending. There is a real danger that the right of demonstration will be infringed under the guise of coronameasures.

In order to give the demonstrators the opportunity to exercise their right of demonstration, the organization organized small demonstrations at two other locations in The Hague: a demonstration against the restriction of the right of demonstration, and one to demonstrate the ties that Shell has with the government. They kept a distance of 1.5 meters and the participants wear mouth masks. The main demonstration took place as planned at the Shell headquarters. There were various speakers and music and Extinction Rebellion gave an artistic performance on Het Plein and Spui.

In addition to the protests in The Hague, actions took place in nine other locations in the Netherlands. Code Rood is pleased that the groups that were planning to come to The Hague, but were unable to do so because of COVID-19, have taken the initiative to take local action themselves. There have also been considerable demonstrations internationally; various actions took place in the Czech Republic, Belgium, Denmark, Portugal and Germany. Gas stations were occupied, banners dropped, bicycle demonstrations organized and petrol hoses chained. The international movement for climate justice is – despite corona – not holding back!

Stay informed of future actions of Code Rood and Shell Must Fall via their website.

Galp Must Fall

Galp is the biggest oil company of Portugal. Only recently did it announce that it aims to double its oil and gas production in the countries in the Global South. Moreover, in the middle of this economic and oil crisis of the past months did Galp decide to distribute dividends to its shareholders, while firing workers from its refineries, which are mainly based in Mozambique. The Mozambican movement “Justica Ambiental” (Environmental Justice) urged Climáximo to also take action in Portugal against Galp.

Galp Must Fall started with a social media storm in which digital activists flooded Galp with critical questions. Later, at the Annual General Assembly, three activists demonstrated in front of the building. Others occupied a gasstation with banners calling out Galp’s ecocide. The day continued with an online event on Instagram Live which four hundred people watched, with conversations with activists, speakers and live performances on climate justice. At the same time, activist shareholders participated in the Annual General Assembly to pose critical questions, to which minimal responses were given. The day ended with a digital demonstration. For a full report on Galp Must Fall and more photo’s, click here.

Climate Quarantine

Over a time span of 3 months, 90 videos organised in 26 episodes were released as part of a webinar series to attract online attention for climate activism. Climáximo reached new audiences by inviting artists and experts in their sessions. The webinar series still continues, although in a less frequent, weekly format.

Bailout the Future, not Profits

As an exit-quarantine strategy, Climáximo organised a mass demonstration on the sixth of June. Under the slogan “Bailout the future, not profits”, 30 social movements organised themselves, attracting thousands of people in Lisbon and tens in other cities in Portugal. Especially the last couple of days were hectic, according to the organisation, with the murder of George Floyd in the US. In order to do justice to the rapidly changing global context, the consortium of organisations changed the emphasis of the demonstration. For more photos and a video, click here.