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.

Women in Silly do not have the same access as men to the ownership of land rights. The action group calls for the implementation of a number of measures, the most important of which is to grant women the same right of access to land so that they can benefit from the reputable land titles for their housing and production of their agricultural land. In Africa in general and Burkina Faso in particular, owning one’s own parcel of land is one of the scarce means of production accessible to the inhabitants of rural areas. Ownership of property deeds will promote the socio-economic independence of poor social strata, to which women unfortunately often belong.

The activists start a campaign to reach the tens of thousands of women in the area. As a first step, advocacy sessions will take place in the 31 villages of the municipality of Silly with the aim of increasing the knowledge of women and girls about their human rights in order to better defend them in the future. In addition, these sessions serve to put pressure on local administrators to change their political choices to promote the equal rights of women.

Second, the consortium will continue to create activist women’s movements. These movements will be established in all 31 villages of the Silly Municipality and will be led only by women leaders. All action groups together develop a large-scale, common platform of demands that advocate for equal rights for women. They will voice their activism through marches, workshops and exerting political pressure.

In early 2019 the Pakistan government, informed by its intelligence agency, decided to deny 42 registrations of NGOs in the country. This official registration is necessary for NGOs to operate in the country and to receive foreign aids. Since the alleged cooperation of an international NGO with the American authorities to track down Osama Bin Laden, NGOs have been under pressure. For decades, NGOs have also been criticised by the right wing for promoting ‘Western values’ and it is this toxic mix of perceptions that is hurting the vital third sector in the country.

The question is why this is necessary in the first place for service providing NGOs. Through the official registration the Pakistanian government would have sufficient access to information to monitor their activities. The ban on NGOs oppresses citizen rights to organise and carry out public services, upholding a discours of anti-western imperialism.

Saidu Falahi Tanzeem (Society for Women’s Rights) aims to revive activism for women’s rights in a dangerous climate. They aim at building a movement, basically from scratch, through social media campaigning, organising small and peaceful protests, and by reaching out to existing women’s rights organisations to combine forces. Het Actiefonds supported Saidu Falahi Tanzeem in organising protests and printing flyers.

Last month, Animal Rebellion reached a large audience through their actions. The worldwide action ‘Blood on your Hands’ has not gone unnoticed. In various cities they had the water of large fountains colored red by (biodegradable) paint. The red water symbolizes the blood on the hands of governments due to actively facilitating and promoting large-scale animal agriculture. The action was carried out in London, Toronto, Adelaide, Barcelona and Amsterdam, among others.

In addition, a protest was held last week on the Museumplein in Amsterdam. The participants were equipped with large banners and colored smoke torches, and had fake blood smeared all over their hands and clothes to reinforce the message.

In addition to the cruel exploitation of animals and catastrophic environmental impacts, the organization emphasizes the urgency regarding our public health in a statement on COVID-19:

 “It is time for the government to tell the truth about the cause of this public health crisis and the ecological emergency we are in. If we continue to exploit animals in the current way, the next pandemic is inevitable. We have to change course. We deserve a healthy planet. And we have the knowledge and capabilities to achieve that if we act now. “

Animal Rebellion continues to regularly organize actions for a sustainable, just and plant-based food system. Expect civil disobedience actions, but also speeches, lectures and workshops. Follow their facebook page to stay informed!

“You can’t be pro-black and anti-queer”

The yearly worldwide Pride festivities have activist roots, as we remember the 1960s Stonewall Riots that marked the beginning of the gay liberation movement. And even though this movement has brought a lot of good to society, there’s still loads of liberation to do. In our current discourse it is queer and trans people of color that are left out in the predominantly white activism of the LGBTQIA+ community. Which is extra poignant, as that is precisely the group that has historically been on the front line in every human rights movement. Black Queer and Trans Resistance NL is committed to the black queer community, a group of people intersecting those two identities. As Naomi Pieter, one of the founders of Black Queer and Trans Resistance Netherlands, stated;

“You cannot fight for the rights of one group within the community and leave the others behind. When you do that, you are actively participating in the oppression of someone else – thereby denying that racism exists. All oppression systems are interconnected.”

Black Queer & Trans Resistance Netherlands is a community and activist group countering racism, transphobia and homophobia through marches, intergenerational meetups and archival work. In the midst of the worldwide protests against anti-Black racism and violence, the need to march for the fact that Black LGBTQIA+ persons are disproportionately often victims of racist, homophobic and transphobic violence feels more urgent than ever. The main goal of the Black Pride protest is liberation for Black queer and trans people in the Netherlands.

Pride is a protest

Saturday the 25^th of July a crowd of hundreds of people gathered at Museumplein in Amsterdam to join the protest and raise their voices against the marginalisation, stigmatisation and criminalisation Black LGBTQIA+ people have to face on a daily basis. The organisation of Black Pride NL stated that the diversity in their communities makes their politics complex and multiple.  As everything is intersectional, the protest can be noted as a resistance against the imperialist white supremacist capitalist ableist cis-heterosexist patriarchy.

Keep track of Black Queer and Trans Resistance Netherlands and Black Pride NL, as they plan to host a yearly recurring march in addition to the multiple other events organised throughout the year. For the coming Black Pride week (until August 6) there will be several events hosted in Amsterdam, follow this page for more information.

In 2014 the social movement The Alternative Uganda was founded to fight corruption and human rights violations, demanding fair governance, freedom and equal opportunity for all. Since then, they have led peaceful demonstrations and organised trainings for young Ugandans on creative activism and non-violent social movement building.

During the coronacrisis, the Ugandian government has taken advantage of food distribution programs by appropriating their funds, thus deteriorating the quality and quantity of food aid in times of crisis. Moreover, social distancing, disinfection measures and curfews have been used by state agencies to justify measures and actions that violate human rights.

The activists from The Alternative Uganda organised a protest march to occupy the avenue in front of parliament, wearing overalls, carrying banners and megaphones, to draw attention to the government’s malpractices, demanding change. Following this, The Alternative Uganda aims for widespread social and mainstream media attention for the issues. Het Actiefonds supports the organisation in their actions.

Just after Civil Defence was founded, in 2014 a law passed that made it illegal for minor trade unions to exist independently. They were forced to be a part of larger Republican trade unions. As a result, many independent trade unions ceased to exist. This was followed by a new Labour Code in 2015 that restricted workers’ rights. In 2016, the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions was officially shut down, followed by the imprisonment of three of its leaders. In 2018, another social rights activist was beaten up by unknown individuals.

On november 9th last year, Civil Defence organised a rally in the capital to tighten control measures in enforcing labour rights and democratising trade union legislation. Overwork and the non-payment of labour have become commonplace in the country as a result of the eroding position of the workforce. Demands were made, among other things to stop the criminalisation of independent trade unions, to expand the rights of workers in labour legislation and to expand the staff of labour inspectors.

Around 30 activists attended, after which the action gained a lot of national and international media attention. Among which was a conversation, in January, Civil Defense had with Dirk Wiese, a national politician of the German Social Democratic Party of Germany, and the Commonwealth of Trade Unions in Kazakhstan. Social activist were again able to raise a number of issues. This eventually led to legislative changes made by the government. The obligatory membership of independent trade unions to larger Republican unions, and the minimum requirement of organising at least half of the workers in an industry in order to form a union, were abolished, among other things, leading to an increase of the freedom of association.

Environmental crisis

As there continues to be an explosion of new buildings across the city, the resentment among locals grows. Besides the encroachment of their land, the construction work is also bringing about huge environmental problems. The citizens face problems like shortages of water, rubbish piled up in the streets and sewage being dumped openly in the sea.

Mother Nature Cambodia is one of the organisations using their platform to expose these destructive ‘developments’. A group of young environmental activists has turned to direct action to stop the illegal encroachment of their beaches and the massive garbage and sewage crisis. They have organised several protests like demonstrations, a community beach clean-up and an utterly peaceful bicycle ride that was nevertheless stopped by the police (read more about this here).

Hun Sen dictatorship

The environmental activists take quite a risk to protect their city and stand up for their rights. Under the Hun Sen dictatorship the repercussions against civil disobedience are grave, which is also one of the reasons they feel the necessity to speak out. Since the Hun Sen dictatorship had decided to abandon any pretense that Cambodia was a democracy (for instance by closing down the few independent media outlets and closing down the main opposition party) the only way to achieve change was through movements of people, demanding that the dictatorship makes way for a new truly democratic government. The only way to achieve this was to start by resuming peaceful protests and gathering people to unite for a better future. Cambodians in general have come to realize that uprising of the population is the only way that meaningful regime change will take place.

Het Actiefonds supports the environmental activists in Cambodia in their fight against the Hun Sen dictatorship and the destructive encroachment of Sihanoukville.

The Tanzanian government has undertaken little action to curb the spread of Covid-19. At the regular livestock auctions in the town of Pugu disinfection measures are scarcely implemented, while the country’s president called for the continued attendance of places of worship. The lack of instructions and measurements will impact vulnerable and marginalised groups the most. People with a low income, living in informal neighbourhoods, have little to no access to medical care and testing kits, as of which the virus will be able to spread fast in places where social distancing is difficult.

The organisation called for action together with citizens and activist by demonstrating in Pugu. The local government was asked to take seriously the international standards for safety measures to tackle the spread of Covid-19, especially in places where social distancing is difficult. Het Actiefonds supported the organisation further with flyers and other materials for campaigning and starting a petition.

The action has been successful. The livestock auctions in Pugu were temporarily closed to take disinfection measurements. Moreover, the national government started to do more to tackle the spread of the virus, among other things through the regular availability of information to take preventive measures.

*For safety reasons the organisation remains anonymous.